Merge Partitions disk0s2 and disk0s4 (leaving disk0s3)

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Level 1

8 points

Merge Partitions disk0s2 and disk0s4 (leaving disk0s3)

Dear all,

As the title says, I need to merge disk0s2 and disk0s4 without touching disk0s3 as the latter is my recovery partition. I have not dared to try, but I guess I cannot use this command in terminal since it also merges disk0s3:

diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ NewName disk0s2 disk0s4

right now when I type the "diskutil list" command I get this:

asger$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 278.5 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Apple_HFS BOOTCAMP 40.6 GB disk0s4

As I am using El Capitan, disk utility does not work either because apple changed it to a useless poor beta like program on El Capitan.

I have considered just typing the above merge command and then somehow reinstall the Apple_Boot Recovery HD, But I really don't want to go down that road if possible.

And no, Bootcamp assistant can't do it since the Bootcamp partition is already erased and formatted into JHFS+.

Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), early 2011

Posted on Feb 24, 2016 4:01 AM

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Answer 1

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,217 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:06 AM in response to asgerssc

backup your computer with Time Machine

boot into recovery mode

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

reformat the drive

reinstall the OS from recovery mode which will restore the OS that shipped with your computer or use an bootable installer of OS 10.11

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

either way your recovery partition will be recreated if it is not destroyed.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,530 points

Feb 24, 2016 10:02 AM in response to asgerssc

You cannot merge discontinuous partitions, even using diskutil. They must be adjacent on the disk.

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Answer 3

asgerssc Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:12 AM in response to Barney-15E

Okay. So I can't get back the 40 GB unless I reformat the disk?

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,530 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:19 AM in response to asgerssc

You may be able to merge 2,3, and 4, but you'd then have to reinstall the OS to restore the Recovery partition which I'm not sure is possible.

I Haven't ever uninstalled Windows using bootcamp assistant, but that appears to be the way it should have been done.

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Answer 5

asgerssc Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:24 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Thanks, but I really want to avoid this since it is so time consuming until I am absolutely sure it cant be done in any other way

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Answer 6

asgerssc Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:40 AM in response to Barney-15E

I think you are right about boot camp was the right way. Do you think I can convert 4 into free space and then resize 2?

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,530 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:41 AM in response to asgerssc

man diskutil specifically states it is not possible. I dont know if any third-party disk partitioning will do it.

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Answer 8

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 24, 2016 10:01 AM in response to asgerssc

If you have the Install OS X El Capitan.app file hang onto it. Otherwise download it but don't install it. Quit the installer instead. Download the Recreate Recovery Creator 3.8 utility. This will recreate your Recovery HD from the Install OS X El Capitan.app file. Note - this utility does not work with Fusion drives or Corestorage volumes.

Back up your system first!

You can try to erase both disk0s3 and disk0s4 with Terminal.

diskutil eraseVolume JHFS+ ErasedDisk1 disk0s3

diskutil eraseVolume JHFS+ ErasedDisk2 disk0s4

Then merge the partitions with Terminal.

diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ ErasedDisk3 disk0s3 disk0s4 <---- this should show ErasedDisk3 as disk0s3 afterwards. Do a diskutil list afterwards to confirm.

diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3

Last, run the Recreate Recovery Creator utility using your Install OS X El Capitan.app file. This utility will ask where you want to create the Recovery HD - select the Macintosh HD and ask where the installer app is. You will also see some buttons to click 10.7 10.8 button and 10.9 button. Click the 10.9 button. The developer has never updated the 10.9 button to include 10.10 and 10.11. After you run this utility and Quit it do a diskutil list again and hopefully you see your Macintosh HD and Recovery HD without the Bootcamp partition.

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Answer 9

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,217 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:44 AM in response to asgerssc

I don't know if you really can with what you have in front of you. I would think the straightforward approach is start with the clean slate and restore from a backup to rule out any 3rd party pitfalls.

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Answer 10

asgerssc Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:56 AM in response to keg55

Thank you! Is Install OS X El Capitan.app necessary for recreate recovery creator 3.8 to work? I get another thought: If I delete the recovery HD and then update from 10.11.1 to 10.11.3 will it maybe create a new recovery partition?

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Answer 11

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 24, 2016 5:58 AM in response to asgerssc

asgerssc wrote:

Thank you! Is Install OS X El Capitan.app necessary for recreate recovery creator 3.8 to work? I get another thought: If I delete the recovery HD and then update from 10.11.1 to 10.11.3 will maybe create a new one?

Yes, the installer app is required for the utility to work.

If you update from 10.11.1 to 10.11.3 using the Install OS X El Capitan.app file, then yes, it will recreate the Recovery HD for you without having to use the utility. The FULL OS X installers always create or rewrite the Recovery HD. BUT if you UPDATE using the 10.11.3 Update or Combo Update, the Recovery HD will not be recreated.

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Answer 12

asgerssc Author

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Feb 24, 2016 6:06 AM in response to keg55

So, Is what you say that should not press "update" in app store but go to the el capitan page and press download, and then run the Install OS X El Capitan.app file. And that this will recreate the recovery partition whereas the update option will not?

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Answer 13

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 24, 2016 6:38 AM in response to asgerssc

So, Is what you say that should not press "update" in app store but go to the el capitan page and press download, and then run the Install OS X El Capitan.app file. And that this will recreate the recovery partition whereas the update option will not?

Correct.

But, also BEFORE you run the app file, save it somewhere so you have it for the future if needed. After it downloads and you see the installer screen, don't click Continue yet. Instead, go into your /Applications folder and copy the Install OS X El Capitan.app file to some other folder like your /Downloads folder. After the copy, click the Continue button on the installer screen.

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Answer 14

asgerssc Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2016 10:00 AM in response to keg55

Thank you so much! This worked flawlessly. Look at this:

diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 319.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

Thanks to all of you!

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Answer 15

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 24, 2016 10:59 AM in response to asgerssc

Cool. Good for you!

Try to remember now that you have a Corestorage volume. You can see this by looking at your diskutil list for # 2: (Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD). Or by doing diskutil cs list from Terminal. What does this mean? It means to restart into your Recovery HD, you will need to always use Command+R because your Recovery HD will never show up when you restart pressing Alt/Option anymore. Not a big deal. The Recovery HD is still there, just hidden from the Startup Manager.

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