Unable to remove unformatted partition from fusion drive

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Level 1

4 points

Unable to remove unformatted partition from fusion drive

Long story short, I was running bootcamp with Windows 7, removed it awhile back, but would like to set it up again. The issue I am having is that there is a 900GB “unformatted” partition where the Windows partition used to be that I cannot erase/remove/reformat for whatever reason. If I run diskutil from terminal in Recovery, I can see that it is still mapped as Bootcamp, but aside from that I can’t seem to interact with it at all.

iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)

Posted on Mar 10, 2018 9:37 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 11, 2018 3:33 PM in response to CaseyJones24

Let us check if there is a MBR on the 3TB disk. Post the output of

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

If you have an MBR, then using BCA and Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support (especially step 11), build a USB Install using Create and Download options. If you already have a USB2 Flash drive-based installer (USB3 will not work), you can boot from it and use the BOOTCAMP partition to install Windows.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 12, 2018 5:54 PM in response to CaseyJones24

Can you use the Rebuild MBR section of Re: El Capitan has deleted my bootcamp windows partition as a reference and use GDisk to create a MBR? You do not need to modify the GPT in the first section.

The MBR will use GPT 2 3 4.

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Answer 3

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2018 5:26 PM in response to CaseyJones24

I see you posted some similar instructions for another post - going to give those a shot. Assistance creating hybrid MBR/GPT on High Sierra to allow Windows to install

Edit: Just saw you replied already. I'll follow your new comment instead.

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 11, 2018 6:10 AM in response to CaseyJones24

You can post a text version of the Terminal session using

Select and Copy (Command+C) the Terminal output,
quit Terminal,
start Safari (Get Help Online)
Paste (Command+V) the copied output as a reply to this discussion

This will allow me to copy/paste UUIDs. Can you post the text version of

diskutil cs list

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Answer 5

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2018 7:14 PM in response to Loner T

Windows installation seemed to take, but upon restart to complete installation and import drivers from BCA, Windows won’t load. Getting this error:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
Click "Repair your computer".

If you do not have this disct, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

File: \windows\system32\drivers\AppleSSD.sys

Status: 0xc0000428

Info: Windows cannot verify the digital signature of this file.

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Answer 6

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 11, 2018 7:44 AM in response to Loner T

CoreStorage logical volume groups (2 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 1F7BD312-C5FD-486A-97E3-057E8D1528C8

| =========================================================

| Name: Macintosh HD

| Status: Online

| Size: 2220587753472 B (2.2 TB)

| Free Space: 126976 B (127.0 KB)

| |

| +-< Physical Volume 0806F819-EB92-4F34-9650-0FF17B01BC9F

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

| | Index: 0

| | Disk: disk1s2

| | Status: Online

| | Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

| |

| +-< Physical Volume 4D8E084B-FD3D-4920-AB18-721AAFCCAC52

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

| | Index: 1

| | Disk: disk0s2

| | Status: Online

| | Size: 1298162360320 B (1.3 TB)

| |

| +-< Physical Volume CE751C88-AABF-41EF-8061-217DE3D074A8

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

| | Index: 2

| | Disk: disk0s6

| | Status: Online

| | Size: 801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

| |

| +-> Logical Volume Family 5E58EADB-9506-4CE7-AF72-250E1805D3DC

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

| Encryption Type: None

| |

| +-> Logical Volume 384B6B0D-9683-4300-BFDA-0EF481D9287F

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

| Disk: disk3

| Status: Online

| Size (Total): 2205771890688 B (2.2 TB)

| Revertible: No

| LV Name: Macintosh HD

| Volume Name: Macintosh HD

| Content Hint: Apple_HFS

| LVG Type: Fusion, Sparse

|

+-- Logical Volume Group CF7D7B56-BE06-4286-B8F1-0D5C90CAEE11

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

Name: BOOTCAMP

Status: Online

Size: 899864850432 B (899.9 GB)

Free Space: 899512524800 B (899.5 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 0EE01399-C2DA-449D-A540-253088CDDFD3

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

Index: 0

Disk: disk0s4

Status: Online

Size: 899864850432 B (899.9 GB)

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Answer 7

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 11, 2018 2:49 PM in response to Loner T

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 1.3 TB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk0s3

4: Apple_HFS Untitled 899.9 GB disk0s4

5: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 801.4 GB disk0s6

6: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s7

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 121.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme +2.1 GB disk2

1: Apple_HFS OS X Base System 2.0 GB disk2s1

/dev/disk3 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD +2.2 TB disk3

Logical Volume on disk1s2, disk0s2, ...

384B6B0D-9683-4300-BFDA-0EF481D9287F

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk4 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +5.2 MB disk4

/dev/disk5 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk5

/dev/disk6 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk6

/dev/disk7 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk7

/dev/disk8 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk8

/dev/disk9 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk9

/dev/disk10 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk10

/dev/disk11 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +12.6 MB disk11

/dev/disk12 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk12

/dev/disk13 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +1.0 MB disk13

/dev/disk14 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk14

/dev/disk15 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk15

/dev/disk16 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk16

/dev/disk17 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +1.0 MB disk17

/dev/disk18 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +6.3 MB disk18

/dev/disk19 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +6.3 MB disk19

/dev/disk20 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk20

/dev/disk21 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk21

-bash-3.2# diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 1F7BD312-C5FD-486A-97E3-057E8D1528C8

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 2220587753472 B (2.2 TB)

Free Space: 126976 B (127.0 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 0806F819-EB92-4F34-9650-0FF17B01BC9F

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 4D8E084B-FD3D-4920-AB18-721AAFCCAC52

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 1298162360320 B (1.3 TB)

|

+-< Physical Volume CE751C88-AABF-41EF-8061-217DE3D074A8

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

| Index: 2

| Disk: disk0s6

| Status: Online

| Size: 801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 5E58EADB-9506-4CE7-AF72-250E1805D3DC

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

Encryption Type: None

|

+-> Logical Volume 384B6B0D-9683-4300-BFDA-0EF481D9287F

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

Disk: disk3

Status: Online

Size (Total): 2205771890688 B (2.2 TB)

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

LVG Type: Fusion, Sparse

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Answer 8

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 11, 2018 3:44 PM in response to Loner T

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 4294967294] <Unknown ID>

2: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

-bash-3.2#

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 12, 2018 5:21 PM in response to CaseyJones24

You will need to disable SIP temporarily. Boot into Local Recovery using Command+R, click on Utilities -> Terminal, run

csrutil status

csrutil disable

csrutil status

If disabled, boot normally and retry the GDisk steps.

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Answer 10

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2018 5:52 PM in response to Loner T

Sounds good. Just downloading the support software now for Windows onto a USB drive. Is there anything else that I need to setup/correct prior to attempting a new Windows install on the Boot Camp partition? Thanks for all of your help so far - I really appreciate it!!

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 13, 2018 3:32 AM in response to CaseyJones24

This specific driver is a known issue. On the USB Installer, there should be one or more folders called AppleSSD, remove these folders and the contents, and re-install Windows on the same partition by formatting it in the Windows installer.

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Answer 12

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2018 6:30 PM in response to Loner T

Windows install ended up going sideways, so I went through the steps again to reformat. I'm at the part using disk, but it won't recognize GPT partition #4 now... Output below

Command (? for help): p

Disk /dev/rdisk0: 236978176 sectors, 113.0 GiB

Sector size (logical): 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): 9739055B-6407-48B2-821A-D45E43DC33E2

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 236978142

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 13 sectors (6.5 KiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 409640 236715991 112.7 GiB AF05

3 236715992 236978135 128.0 MiB AB00 Booter

Command (? for help): r

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): o

Disk size is 236978176 sectors (113.0 GiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:

Number Boot Start Sector End Sector Status Code

1 1 236978175 primary 0xEE

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): h

WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,

just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will

be untouched.

Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be

added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4

Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): y

Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AF):

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AB):

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

GPT partition #4 does not exist or is too big; skipping.

Unused partition space(s) found. Use one to protect more partitions? (Y/N):

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Answer 13

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2018 6:32 PM in response to CaseyJones24

diskutil list output:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 1.2 TB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 1.0 TB disk1s4

5: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 801.4 GB disk1s5

6: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s6

/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD +2.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

53BE0F77-38B5-46D4-BD78-7FDEDBB79774

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GSP1RMCHPXFREO_EN_DVD *3.3 GB disk3

/dev/disk4 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *32.2 GB disk4

1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 32.2 GB disk4s1

diskutil cs list output:

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 5D9BA7CD-ED79-45C8-887E-5A9A927C657B

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 2074587881472 B (2.1 TB)

Free Space: 45056 B (45.1 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 1D3378FA-738D-4AF1-82ED-C40A16AC6135

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 905D7971-F628-4B73-8F8D-83A32A7D9277

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 1152162488320 B (1.2 TB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 9A92B423-0AC0-48A5-B0EC-7BFDF7D3CBB0

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

| Index: 2

| Disk: disk1s5

| Status: Online

| Size: 801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 66EE77D2-2C71-4294-9056-DA71A1598DCD

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

Encryption Type: None

|

+-> Logical Volume 53BE0F77-38B5-46D4-BD78-7FDEDBB79774

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 2068447232000 B (2.1 TB)

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

LVG Type: Fusion, Sparse

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Answer 14

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 10, 2018 9:43 PM in response to CaseyJones24

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Answer 15

CaseyJones24 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 10, 2018 9:53 PM in response to Loner T

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Unable to remove unformatted partition from fusion drive

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