godlich

Q: Cannot format partitions

Hi there,

 

I have several problems with my MacBook (2015). All data is saved, there is also a time machine backup.

My aim is to have:

  • a very small partition with OS X Yosemite
  • a partition with Windows 10, as big as possible

What I have:

Problems:

  • I cannot install Yosemite from scratch, I get the error message that I cannot use this volume as a start volume
  • I cannot delete the other partitions, the hard drive manager says "POXIS report: The process could not be finished. There is no folder or file or this kind" (translated from German)

What should I do to get one small partition with Yosemite and a bigger one with Windows 10?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), iOS 9.2

Posted on Jan 23, 2016 9:37 AM

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Q: Cannot format partitions

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  • Helpful answers

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 9:39 AM in response to godlich
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    Jan 23, 2016 9:39 AM in response to godlich

    this is what I get from diskutil list:

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS MacOS                   41.7 GB    disk0s2

       3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         107.7 GB   disk0s4

       5:                  Apple_HFS                         650.0 MB   disk0s5

       6:       Microsoft Basic Data                         1.5 MB     disk0s6

       7:       Microsoft Basic Data                         1.5 MB     disk0s7

     

    As you can see, there is one with 41,7 GB and one with 107,7GB, so there is a lot of space missing.

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:16 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:16 AM in response to godlich

    Please post the output of

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Loner T

    Thank you!

     

    It says:

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=251000193024; sectorsize=512; blocks=490234752

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 490234751

          start       size  index  contents

              0          1         MBR

              1          1         Pri GPT header

              2         32         Pri GPT table

             34          6        

             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

         409640   81435704      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       81845344    1269536      3  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

       83114880       1152        

       83116032  210302976      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      293419008        788        

      293419796    1269536      5  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      294689332     205764        

      294895096       2880      6  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      294897976       2880      7  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      294900856  195333863        

      490234719         32         Sec GPT table

      490234751          1         Sec GPT header

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:16 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:16 AM in response to godlich

    1. You have Free Space after GPT7.

    2. How did you end two Recovery HDs (the 650MB) partitions?

    3. There is an easy method to clean this up. It depends on the answer to 2 and whether you can reinstall Windows or do you want to preserve it.

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 10:43 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 10:43 AM in response to Loner T

    concerning 2:

    I think this was done by testdisk.

    I managed to downsize the mac partition, the I got a partition with free space. I wanted to add this to the windows partition, which did not work under apple. When I wanted to delete the partition with free space to add it to windows, I could not boot mac any more. So I started testdisk and now the partition scheme seems defect and I could not boot windows anymore (a blue screen appears).

    concerning 3:

    I can reinstall Windows. I could copy all the files to a external HDD. What to do.

     

    I started the recovery and wanted to reinstall Yosemite. But it keeps saying I cannot use this one as a start partition.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:13 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:13 AM in response to godlich

    We will leave the 41+ Gb as OS X and the first Recovery HD alone. We will merge disk0s4-disk0s7 into a single FAT partition, and add the Free Space at the end (which may need an additional step). Please ensure you have a backup of Windows (or your files) from OS X and old Windows before ewe make changes.

     

    When you are ready, merge disk0s4-disk0s7 using

     

    diskutil mergePartitions FAT32 "BOOTCAMP" disk0s4 disk0s7

     

    Please post the output and any error messages.

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 11:18 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 11:18 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks, it leads to:

     

    Simons-MBP:~ simon$ diskutil mergePartitions FAT32 "BOOTCAMP" disk0s4 disk0s7

    The chosen disk does not support resizing.

    Do you wish to format instead? (y/N) y

    Merging partitions into a new partition

         Start partition: disk0s4

         Finish partition: disk0s7

     

    Merging partitions encountered error "POSIX reports: No such file or directory (2)".

    The erase will not occur.

    Simons-MBP:~ simon$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS MacOS                   41.7 GB    disk0s2

       3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         107.7 GB   disk0s4

       5:                  Apple_HFS                         650.0 MB   disk0s5

       6:       Microsoft Basic Data                         1.5 MB     disk0s6

       7:       Microsoft Basic Data                         1.5 MB     disk0s7

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:26 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:26 AM in response to godlich

    Let us trick OS X...

     

    diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "BOOTCAMPH" disk0s4 disk0s7

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 11:31 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 11:31 AM in response to Loner T

    leads to the same:

    .... diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "BOOTCAMPH" disk0s4 disk0s7

    The chosen disk does not support resizing.

    Do you wish to format instead? (y/N) y

    Merging partitions into a new partition

         Start partition: disk0s4

         Finish partition: disk0s7

     

    Merging partitions encountered error "POSIX reports: No such file or directory (2)".

    The erase will not occur.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:44 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:44 AM in response to godlich

    diskutil eraseVolume jhfs+ "BOOTCAMPH" disk0s4

    diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "PartHFS" disk0s4 disk0s7

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 23, 2016 11:47 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 11:47 AM in response to Loner T

    Simons-MBP:~ simon$ diskutil eraseVolume jhfs+ "BOOTCAMPH" disk0s4

    Started erase on disk0s4

    Unmounting disk

    Error: -69874: Couldn't modify partition map

    Simons-MBP:~ simon$ diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "PartHFS" disk0s4 disk0s7

    The chosen disk does not support resizing.

    Do you wish to format instead? (y/N) y

    Merging partitions into a new partition

         Start partition: disk0s4

         Finish partition: disk0s7

     

    Merging partitions encountered error "POSIX reports: No such file or directory (2)".

    The erase will not occur.

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Jan 23, 2016 11:52 AM in response to godlich
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Jan 23, 2016 11:52 AM in response to godlich

    1. Backup OSX and all your files - Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support .

    2. Boot into Internet Recovery (Command+Opt+R) - OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support .

    3. Click on Utilties -> Disk Utility and Erase your internal whole disk.

    4. Restore OSX and your files - Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support .

     

    This requires a separate external disk which can accommodate TM backup - Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support .

     

    If you do not want to or cannot use Time Machine, another option is to merge everything back into the main OS X and re-install OS X to get Recovery HD back and then use BCA to carve a partition of the size you want.

  • by godlich,

    godlich godlich Jan 24, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 24, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Loner T

    This solved my question, thank you so much!

     

    I did not know about Internet recovery