I have two recovery partitions and they prevent me from using Bootcamp

Question

Level 1

9 points

I have two recovery partitions and they prevent me from using Bootcamp

Dear all:

I upgraded to mac os sierra when it came out, however before that, I had been trying it out in the Beta Software Program, in a partition installed with El Capitan. After, I deleted that portion, but I wasn'taware there was an apple_boot recovery HD partition that remained.

However, now I am trying to install BootCamp on my Mac but I found that it has 2 recovery partitions. I´m guessing one for the Beta one and one for the final release. But, as I found out, in other to install BootCamp, I need to make my disk as a single partition.

The disk layout is as follow:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 2.0 TB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s4

After searching for a possible solution, I read that I would need to either delete or merge one of them to the Main Partition. However, I cannot figure out which one (either disk0s3 o disk0s4) I need to get rid because when I restart and press the alt/option key, I´m presented with two identical recovery partitions labeled "Recovery-10.12".

So, my questions are:

Which partition to delete
How to delete it in a (preferably safe) way that would make my hard disk "a single partition" of everything but my main Macintosh HD partition in order to be able to use Bootcamp.

Thanks

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 21, 2016 10:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 12:32 PM in response to Ondolinde

10.12 is Sierra. You should delete both, and re-install Sierra full-release which should create a new local Recovery HD. Test that it does offer Sierra re-installation (you do not need to actually install it).

Once the internal disk has Sierra and Sierra local recovery, then you can use BC Assistant to install Windows.

Reply

Answer 2

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 12:45 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for your response. I´m unable to delete them. When I go to use Disk Utility, they don´t show up there. Only when I go to Terminal, they both appear. Disk Utility v.16 doesn't support the Debug Terminal Command (defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1) which I've seen in many posts and is supposed to have them show up in Disk Utility, but not with the latest version.

So I don't know how to delete them. The only thing I´ve seen around is to use Terminal to merge them or it seems that there are commands to delete them, but I'm unsure how to properly use them. The only other post I've seen here somewhat related is: Re: Why there are two recovery partitions?, Why there are two recovery partitions? And then one outside this forum: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/211121/bootcamp-failing-with-error-the- startup-disk-cannot-be-partitioned-or-re… However, I just don't want to venture into following their advice because they are not exactly my case.

Moreover, if there is any other way I could fix this without having to re-install Sierra, I would prefer it. Any ideas?

Reply

Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 12:50 PM in response to Ondolinde

Boot into Internet Recovery, and click on Utilities -> Terminal. Run the following command.

diskutil eraseVolume jhfs+ RC1 disk0s3

diskutil eraseVolume jhfs+ RC2 disk0s4

diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s4 (do not interchange disk0s2 and disk0s4 otherwise you will lose OSX completely).

Now re-install Sierra and check the output of diskutil list.

Reply

Answer 4

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Loner T

Ok, let me try that. How would I go about re-installing Sierra. Would I do it through the App Store? Do I download it and create a bootable flash drive, I think that's how they are called.

Reply

Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:21 PM in response to Ondolinde

Download the Sierra Installer from the App Store. It should be in your Applications. You can also download it to a USB and boot from it.

Reply

Answer 6

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 1:25 PM in response to Loner T

Thank you, Loner T. I appreciate it. Let me work on all of that and I'll get back to you if I have a question or as soon I can find the time to get it done sometime today.

Reply

Answer 7

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 4:06 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T, sorry for this, but I'm not familiar with Terminal. Do I hit enter after each command line or type in all three lines together and then press enter.

Reply

Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:21 PM in response to Ondolinde

Each line is a single command and you press Enter/Return each. (Do not type such text).

Use Command+C (Copy) to copy the output of the Terminal session, quit Terminal, start Safari, and Command+V (pastes) it as reply on this discussion.

Reply

Answer 9

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:05 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T, unfortunately we had an electrical storm and I lost power right after it ran the command. After I was able to get back on, I ran "diskutil list" command in Terminal to see how it is now:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7MB. disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 2.0 TB. disk0s2

3: Apple_HFS RC1 650.0 MB. disk0s3

What do I do now? The disk0s4 became disk0s3, I guess.

Reply

Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:10 PM in response to Ondolinde

Please post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Reply

Answer 11

Ondolinde Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:17 PM in response to Loner T

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=2000398934016; sectorsize=512; blocks=3907029168

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

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

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 3907029167

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 3904080416 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

3904490056 1269536 3 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

3905759592 1269543

3907029135 32 Sec GPT table

3907029167 1 Sec GPT header

Reply

Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 21, 2016 5:35 PM in response to Ondolinde

Can you run

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3

This command will return an error because free space has no disk associated with free space. Do not run this command more than once under any circumstances otherwise you will lose data.

Once the erase is complete, run Disk Utility and extend Macintosh HD to it's full size. Run diskutil list and check that you only have EFI and Macintosh HD, and then re-install Sierra.

Reply