Hard disk space lost when Bootcamp failed

Hei Loner T,

I installed the OS but things don’t seem to be as they should.

Output of 'diskutil list' is as below:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage MacbookPro-1TB 999.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS MacbookPro-1TB +999.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

131F96D3-9067-4E87-B1B5-6A6D00DB095B

Unencrypted

Please see that there are two disks: physical & virtual.

Recovery partition is shown only in physical disk.

Whereas, in virtual disk, there’s no recovery disk and EFI partition & 1GB space are missing.

Disk Utility is as below:

If I boot with ‘option’, it shows only the main partition, no recovery partition.

If I connect external disk and boot with ‘option’, it shows main partition of internal disk and main & recovery partitions of external disk.

The installation process went like this.

1. Booted into recovery partition of external disk
2. Disk utility —> Reinstall OS
3. Select internal disk
4. Installation started.

Note: In the first instance, installation was started around 12.00 PM on Saturday and it showed a remaining time of ~2.5 hrs. Around 1.00 PM, it showed ~1 hr and it was stuck at it till 2.00 PM. I then quit the installation and rebooted. Everything looked as it was before installation. Then, I restarted the installation at 3.00 PM and it showed remaining time of ~10 hrs. I let it proceed at its own pace. It was completed some time during the night and when I checked at around 7.00 AM on Sunday, it was completed.

After booting, the observations are as given above.

Why did I not get the recovery partition now? Why are there two disks, physical & virtual?

What’s the way forward?

Regards,

Babloo.

Hei Loner T,

Thanks for the pointer.

Basically, it tells to erase the internal HD completely and restore from TM.

The problem is that I don’t have a TM back-up and am not in a situation to get one immediately.

So, instead of this procedure, can I try one of the following?

1. Boot to recovery (local) and reinstall OS? Will this delete any of my files?
2. Boot to internet recovery and reinstall OS? Will this delete any of my files? What if internet connection breaks briefly during installation?
3. I’ve a bootable external disk (320 GB) with Sierra. Can I boot through this and reinstall OS on internal disk? Will this delete any of my files?
4. Create a bootable external disk with High Sierra and follow point no 3?
5. Delete recovery partition completely (thereby merging that space with main partition) and depend on internet recovery and hope it works when required. This will be temporary as I’m planning to buy an external HDD in a couple of months for back-up. Once I’ve a back-up, I’ll reinstall macOS properly on internal disk.
6. Any other better procedure?

In any case, can I not install Windows without resolving this issue? I'm ready to forego that extra space occupied by recovery partition till I have a proper backup and reinstall macOS.

Regards,

Babloo

Hei,

Installed Windows 7 finally yesterday.

Output of diskutil list is as below:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage MBP-1TB 900.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 99.0 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS MBP-1TB +900.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

8DD68F79-40D2-4FE1-8A1C-ADE11A43FC82

Unencrypted

My observations are as below:

1. Though recovery HD is listed above, I couldn't find it when I 'Option+Boot' the computer. I see only macOS & Windows.
2. macOS boot seems to take longer, though the startup disk is set as that of macOS.
3. Apps on macOS seem to take longer to launch after installation of Windows.

Are these normal or something is wrong?

Windows is running extremely slow. I installed everything afresh again and am observing it. Will post again with my observations in a separate thread if I require any help. Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions about this, I'll be grateful.

Regards,

Babloo

Hei Loner T,

Sorry for the delay in responding. Got busy with other things yesterday.

Now, my external HDD is ready with HS and am about start reinstallation on internal HDD.

However, my doubts are

1. Will I lose passwords & history from Safari?

--> If I back-up the folder "~/Library/Safari" and then replace after reinstallation, will I get back passwords & history?

2. How about other built-in programs like Notes, Messages etc? Will I lose that data?

--> I can copy the contents of Notes to TextEdit or something and copy them back after installation. Is this the best way?

--> I don't user Messages much. So, this is not a big worry for me. But, asking just for info.

3. I believe the user account and other related folders (Pictures, Music, etc) won't be disturbed. Right?

In your earlier post, you mentioned that internal non-OS files will be left intact. But, I don't know how separated are programs like Safari, Notes etc are, from OS. So, asking this.

Regards,

Babloo.

Hei,

I installed Win 7 Pro N successfully and everything was fine.

However, I wanted Win 7 Pro. So, in order to reinstall with Pro instead of Pro N, I deleted the BC partition from Disk Utility. Now, the windows partition is merged with Recovery partition.

Output of diskutil list is as below:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage MacbookPro-1TB 924.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 75.7 GB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS MacbookPro-1TB +924.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

131F96D3-9067-4E87-B1B5-6A6D00DB095B

Unencrypted

/dev/disk2 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GRMCNPRXFRER_EN_DVD *2.9 GB disk2

When I tried to merge Recovery partition with main partition using terminal, I got the following error.

"diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ MacBookPro-1TB disk0s2 disk0s3

The chosen disk does not support resizing.

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

Merge canceled".

Output of diskutil cs list is as below:

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group DFE64458-C942-4D4C-890D-B55B23E379AD

=========================================================

Name: MacbookPro-1TB

Status: Online

Size: 924345131008 B (924.3 GB)

Free Space: 18907136 B (18.9 MB)

|

+-< Physical Volume B11F2D54-CE46-4D9D-B298-7CCE3A43958D

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 924345131008 B (924.3 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 050FECBA-779C-48CB-9220-D5F79A9A9841

----------------------------------------------------------

Encryption Type: None

|

+-> Logical Volume 131F96D3-9067-4E87-B1B5-6A6D00DB095B

---------------------------------------------------

Disk: disk1

Status: Online

Size (Total): 923973902336 B (924.0 GB)

Revertible: Yes (no decryption required)

LV Name: MacbookPro-1TB

Volume Name: MacbookPro-1TB

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

So, how do I merge partitions?

After merging partitions, do I have to follow the same earlier procedure (Boot from external HDD Recovery partition--> Reinstall MacOS --> BCA) to install Windows?

I understand that I deleted Windows partition in wrong way. What is the correct way?

Regards,

Babloo

Hei Loner,

Thank you for the reply.

I followed the steps and started the reinstallation around 00.30 hrs today. At that time it showed a remaining time of ~8.5 hrs.

By 8.00 AM today, it showed remaining time as 3 hrs 5 mins and it got stuck there. Even by 11.30 AM, it remained there. So, I quit the installation and will restart it tonight.

I believe the installation files are being downloaded from Apple server and that's the reason for such a long installation time. Is there any way to install using the installer that I downloaded from app store?

Regards,

Babloo.

Hei Loner,

Output of diskutil list is as below:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS MBP-1TB 999.9 GB disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *120.0 GB disk1

1: Windows_NTFS On the Go 120.0 GB disk1s1

Right now, my MBP is working perfectly fine, even after cancelling the installation.

I'm writing this from my MBP only and will create the bootable installer form this only.

Regards,

Babloo

Hei Loner,

SMC & NVRAM were reset.

Booting with Command+R gave me the options to Install OS etc etc.

So, I believe things are fine.

There's a slight improvement in booting after reset. But, largely, things are same.

I think it's a candidate for a separate thread.

I feel the purpose of this thread is solved and hence can be marked as 'Solved'. What say?

Thank you very much for the continuous support. You have my heartfelt gratitude.

Regards,

Babloo.