simplespy
Level 1 (8 points)
Windows Software

Q: Help! 100gb Missing space after full OS X reinstall (following bootcamp partition resize)

I had a bootcamp partition running Windows 7 on my macbook pro.

I tried to resize the partition in Disk Utility so that i'd gain more space in windows. This caused all sorts of problems!

Long story cut short, I eventually got apple support to help me erase the drive & reinstall my original OS.

It worked fine, but now I'm missing about 100 GB on my hard drive (roughly the size of the original windows partition).

Heres where I think the problem lies: I had fiddled around with fdisk in terminal to try to fix the problems before the reinstall, so I think i've screwed it up good and proper!

 

Here is a screenshot taken from terminal:

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 15-1.38.37.png

Here is a screenshot taken from Disk utility, you can see I'm supposed to have 250gb space but I only have 157gb!

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 15.40.36.png

Two apple Technical assistants where unable to help me, so if anyone out there can help me, you'd be a true hero (especially because my warranty expired a week ago!)

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 24, 2016 7:55 AM

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (23,828 points)
Safari
A:

We do not need the external disk. Please connect to the network using a wired connection.

 

Boot into Internet Recovery and run Utilities -> Disk Utility and erase your whole internal disk. Re-install OS X (it will give you the shipped version of OS X, not the current version). Upgrade OS X to the latest version from App Store. Restore your files. Do not use Fdisk to manipulate the GPT partition.

Posted on Apr 24, 2016 12:46 PM

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simplespy

Q: Help! 100gb Missing space after full OS X reinstall (following bootcamp partition resize)

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 8:10 AM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Apr 24, 2016 8:10 AM in response to simplespy

    1. Your disk was partitioned as a MBR disk, which is not correct. It needs to be GPT.

    2. Do you have a Time Capsule and a Time Machine Backup configured? If yes, please backup OS X.

    3. Please post the output of

         sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

         sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

  • by simplespy,

    simplespy simplespy Apr 24, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Apr 24, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for the quick reply Loner T!

    Pics as requested:

    Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 16.19.53.png

     

    Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 16.20.19.png

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 8:45 AM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Apr 24, 2016 8:45 AM in response to simplespy

    1. Please install OS X on an external volume - How to install OS X on an external drive connected to your Mac - Apple Support .

    2. Install GPT Fdisk - https://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/ on this external boot disk.

    3. Boot from the external OS X Boot disk.

     

    We need to rebuild the GPT from scratch. This does not touch any data on your disk, but recreate the partition table. Please backup OS X to an external disk and save all your files, for safety.

  • by simplespy,

    simplespy simplespy Apr 24, 2016 8:57 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Apr 24, 2016 8:57 AM in response to Loner T

    Is an external memory stick ok? it's 16gb.

    So you're saying i need to install Fdisk to the memory stick once i've installed OS X onto it? Do I just change the destination directory?

     

    I don't need to back anything up as all my files where on an external HDD.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 9:24 AM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
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    Apr 24, 2016 9:24 AM in response to simplespy

    You need to use a USB Flash drive or a SD card in a USB adapter. SD Cards work, but Memory Sticks (like the ones used in Sony Cameras) are not supported. After the OS X installation on the external disk, if you boot from it, it will the destination for GPT Fdisk. Please be careful when you are installing OS X and choose your external disk.

     

    If you already have a full backup of your data on an external disk, then you do not need GPT Fdisk or an external OS X Boot disk, this can be accomplished using Internet Recovery. Is your back up using Time Machine?

  • by simplespy,

    simplespy simplespy Apr 24, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Apr 24, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Loner T

    My backup is just loose files, I don't use time machine.

     

    My mac uses Internet recovery.

     

    I tried to install OS X onto the flash drive (16gb) but it said it was short of space. I could use my external hard drive, as long as it doesn't format it or overwrite any of the data that is on there?

     

    I await your response before doing anything!

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 12:46 PM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Apr 24, 2016 12:46 PM in response to simplespy

    We do not need the external disk. Please connect to the network using a wired connection.

     

    Boot into Internet Recovery and run Utilities -> Disk Utility and erase your whole internal disk. Re-install OS X (it will give you the shipped version of OS X, not the current version). Upgrade OS X to the latest version from App Store. Restore your files. Do not use Fdisk to manipulate the GPT partition.

  • by simplespy,

    simplespy simplespy Apr 24, 2016 9:51 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Apr 24, 2016 9:51 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks, but I think this is exactly what I did with the help of the apple advisor a few days ago. The system was fully restored but still had 100GB missing.

    I'll give it a try in case we did something wrong and then report back.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 10:05 AM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Apr 24, 2016 10:05 AM in response to simplespy

    You only erased the OS X partition, not the whole disk. We need to erase the whole disk.

  • by simplespy,

    simplespy simplespy Apr 24, 2016 12:48 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Apr 24, 2016 12:48 PM in response to Loner T

    It's all sorted, thanks very much for your help.

    I'm almost certain thats what i did last time! Alas I must have made a mistake.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Apr 24, 2016 1:30 PM in response to simplespy
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Apr 24, 2016 1:30 PM in response to simplespy

    There are two different underlying erase functions for a disk...

     

    Full disk erase...

    diskutil eraseDisk

    Usage:  diskutil eraseDisk format name [APM[Format]|MBR[Format]|GPT[Format]]

            MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

    Completely erase an existing whole disk.  All volumes on this disk will be

    destroyed.  Ownership of the affected disk is required.

    Format is the specific file system name you want to erase it as (HFS+, etc.).

    Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions),

    or can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (newfs).

    You cannot erase the boot disk.

    Example: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ UntitledUFS disk3

     

    Partition erase...

     

    diskutil eraseVolume

    Usage:  diskutil eraseVolume format name MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

    Completely erase a disk (partition or whole), laying down a new file system

    volume.  Ownership of the affected disk is required.  Format is the specific

    file system personality name (or alias) you want to erase it as (JHFS+, etc.).

    Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions), or

    can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (to skip newfs). You

    cannot erase the boot volume.

    Example: diskutil eraseVolume JHFS+ UntitledHFS /Volumes/SomeDisk

     

    The former is what was needed, the latter would not have given you your disk space back. Fdisk use just complicated it further