OS X :: Unable To Partition External Hard Disk - How To Fix It
Sep 28, 2009
My intention is to partition an external HD in half allowing it to serve as a backup for a pc running windows xp, and the other half as a backup for a mac(10.5. I am using a Seagate external HD(new) that was initially partitioned on a windows xp computer.
The 1st half of the 1TB HD was formatted in NTFS format, and the second half was erased and (I thought) reformatted in HFS plus but when I attempt to use CCC(Carbon Copy) to copy the mac 1/2 of the hard drive, I get this message:
"You may have difficulty booting from this target volume, the underlying disk is not formatted with a partitioning scheme that Apple recommends for Intel Macs."
I have read the recommendations that the external HD need to be partitioned with APM or GPT, but I cannot seem to get to that option now for the mac side of the external HD.
In the Disk Utility, the external HD shows both sections of the partitioned drive(the xp section and the leopard). I do not want to reformat the entire drive(both sections) if at all possible.
I just want the Mac side of the ext drive to be properly prepared for CCC, and the windows side to remain as is.
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Apr 24, 2012
I have a 2TB Western Digital My Book Studio FW800 external that has 5 partitions, connected to my 2011 iMac. I had help doing the partitions and don't really remember the reasoning, but one is just for my SuperDuper! backup, one is Miscellaneous, one for movie clips off my camcorder, one for misc scanned photo's and one for my genealogy research. I back up using Time Machine to a Time Capsule and also to this WD hard drive with SuperDuper!
Recently I'm getting a pop up message that "Mac OS X can't repair the disk "Genealogy"'. And it needs to be reformatted. It's become a read only disk. When I look in Disk Utility it shows all the partitions as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" EXCEPT for the one in question. I also noticed that there are a lot of files with "date created" being the same date in 1969! These files may be letters I've written or photo's I added to that partition within the last few years.
I think I have to completely reformat the entire external hard drive to repair this, but I want to make sure. Because it's going to be a major hassle backing it all up to another external (having to get one first) and then figuring out how to make the files that have turned "read only" in that one partition, back to their original state! Does this sound right, that I have to reformat the entire external hard drive? And how do I get the read-only files back to their original state.
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Feb 23, 2009
I am trying to partition my current HardDrive so I can run a Macintosh on half of it. The other half will of coarse be windows. I've tried programs like BasiliskII and SoftMac, neither work.
I grabbed some spare 10.4 disks I had, and my computer refused to read them. So I got my hands on a different set of 10.4 install disks and my computer still refused to read them.
I am trying to do this because it's a project for my Computer Hardware class. I've spent way too much time on this without any progress.
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Sep 12, 2014
I have partitioned my external Hard drive into three different partitions, each of different formats. Two partitions for backing up my macbooks and one to copy to and from my windows PC. I would just like to know if in any way is it possible for me to be able to re-partition one of the partitions, without affecting my Time machine partitions, in case the need be in future.
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
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Sep 2, 2014
I've been running a Toshiba 1TB external drive on my Mac Pro tower and it's been working fine. But yesterday it wouldn't mount. I could see the drive in Disc Utility, but the partition wouldn't mount. I brought it into work where I'm running an iMac and it mounted just fine. Why would it stop working on one computer (where it was previously fine) yet work okay on another? And how do I get it working on the tower?
Info:
Mac Pro, iOS 7.1.2
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Feb 15, 2011
I've download a Seagate Diagnostics programme to check whether my external Seagate FreeAgent Desk is working properly or not. However, when I run the programme, it indicates that cannot find the disk.
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Jan 7, 2011
I have an external 750GB hard drive that I previously formatted as FAT 32 because I wanted to be able to plug it into Windows computers as well. I was not very thoughtful at the beginning and I just created one big 750GB partition. I currently have 450GB used and about 300GB free.
I would like to create a new partition in the free space without losing the data I have in the disk, and format the new partition as Mac OS Extended to use it for Time Machine backups. Presumably Disk Utility can do it, but when I go to the "Partition" tab it says "This partition cannot be modified" and the "+" sign below it is grayed.
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Apr 18, 2010
The hard drive is a 1TB Western Digital my book I bought it in January I think. I tried to format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when I got it but for some reason every time I try to erase the part thats named disk3s2 or partition the main one it stops a little before half way through. I don't think its the hard drives fault so I called apple about it one day and they helped a little but it didn't work. Thanks in advance if you can help me. Also a few times I waited about seven hours for it while I was at school and when I came home it didn't move.
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Jan 29, 2010
I have a 1/3 full external drive that is currently formatted for MAC OS External.
I want to partition the drive in half and use the 2nd partition for Windows FAT32.
However, when I try to do this with Disk Utility it does not give me the FAT32 option.
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Mar 18, 2012
How can i modify(delete,paste) the contents on the external hard disk that has an NTFS partition?
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Mar 30, 2010
I'm using a macbook and would like to copy over several games over to my friend's external harddrive. The files are rather large -8gigs, 6gigs, 4gigs.
For some reason it wont allow me to copy the files to the HD. only prompting me with the message "the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code 0)".
I presume that it's formatted correctly because I was able to copy a smaller file (363megs) without any troubles. However, whenever it involves these large torrents it prompts me with that same message.
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Nov 30, 2014
I'm using iMac 2011 model with OS Ver 10.9.5. The sharing and permissions option in the get info in External Hard disk shows "you can only read".
Info:
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
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Jun 9, 2009
I created an image of an external hard drive to back it up, then I checked it and it opened fine. I moved the file to another drive and initialized the original drive and dropped the dmg file back onto the drive. Now it won't open. I really need the files on that drive. Is there any way at all to open it if even for a short time to retrieve the files?
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Mar 24, 2009
I received an Acomdata 2Tb external hard drive today from Amazon and plugged it in. Time Machine popped up and I declined to link the hard drive to it. I went into Disk Utility and chose the new hard drive on the left column and went to erase. I chose Mac OS Extended. I named it and hit erase. It started going, and going..... and going... and a half an hour later I knew something was wrong.
Disk Utility was not responding and I eventually had to Force Quit. Now I cannot format the hard drive. I starts and then it stops with a disk error. I tried to run the First Aid verify and repair and both stopped after a few seconds with an error. What do I do?
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Sep 7, 2009
Anyone knows why my external HD (USB disk connected to Airport extreme) does not show up in disk utility? (It sits on my desktop just fine and is fully functional) I' want to erase a partition but now i don't know how.
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Feb 15, 2011
i had a External Harddrive.Currently i can Read//Write on it in Windows PC(Windows7)But when i use the same drive in Mac i can only read...but can't able to write. How to resolve this issue
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Jan 7, 2009
After my macbook hard drive kindly failed on me, I ordered a new Seagate Momentus 5400.5, 320gb hard drive. I popped that sucker in this afternoon and began to start up my macbook with the OS X disc 1. Everything was going smoothly, except that it can't find the hard drive. It is recognized under my disk utility, but when I click to partition it, select options, select GUID, click 'OK', I can neither Name it 'Macintosh HD' or do anything else.
I can't proceed with anything because when it asks me to select a HD, the HD does not show up. Again, everything works except that the hard drive is not found. I pulled the hard drive out. Made sure the screws were alright. Made sure everything was all snuggly, and yet it still won't work.
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Nov 19, 2009
I have a Mac Mini and on the internal drive I have Snow Leopard installed on the first partition and I'd like to install Snow Leopard Server on the same drive on another partition (I'm new to Mac, this is my only machine and my only drive, and this is only for testing purposes, so don't bother with stupid questions about why etc).
The problem I have is that I can't seem to create the necessary partition in Disk Utility. I have shrinken the Snow Leopard partition to get some free space and I've created a second partition for Server but for some reason I can't choose the options button to select GUID. The button is grayed out, see attached image.
What am I doing wrong? Or is it not possible to have two OS partitions on the same internal drive?
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Jun 11, 2009
I have a Mac mini with a 55 G internal hard drive with a 750 G One Touch Maxtor drive (actually just 698 G) attached via firewire. Later this month I'll be upgrading from Tiger to Leopard, and I'm assuming a clean install makes most sense. I'd like to partition the Maxtor drive to provide general storage as well as Time Machine backups. Although it's not vitally important, I could envision having a partition to handle Windows. Should I create three partitions: one for approx 55 G to handle the current contents of my internal drive for the upgrade; one for approx ?? G to handle potential Windows; and the remaining space to handle Time Machine.
- How large should a Windows partition be? There are some apps that would be useful to have, but highly unlikely it will be an important part of my routine. Should I be stingy? Can I get a Windows install in about 10 G? 20 G?
- Can I partition the Maxtor while it has data? Currently there is about 25 G of files. Many are expendable.
- Disk Utility seems to default to PPC settings, though the mini has an Intel processor. I'll want a GUID Partition Table for at least one partition, correct?
- Does it make sense to install Leopard on an external partition in case the internal drive ever fails? Or is that a waste of space for now? (One assumes I'd be able to rescue the machine via the install disks.)
- I suppose everyone's experience with Time Machine is different based on how they use their computers, but is there a rough guideline on how much space to devote to Time Machine?
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Nov 17, 2009
I want to partition my hard drive so I can run BootCamp, and my PowerBook is giving me the following message: The Disk Cannot be Partitioned because Some Files Cannot be Moved. So I'm assuming I need to format the whole thing and then partition with BootCamp. Totally open to other ideas, but, assuming I move forward with that, is the best was to save user settings, current Applications, data stored on the drive, etc. to create a disk image on an external drive? I've done that, but I'm sort of unclear on what I do with the disk image after I've wiped the drive and partitioned it up.
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Nov 30, 2014
On my Mac Pro I don't know how to delete a partition and make a new one on a hard disk.I used disc utility to initialize the partition, but it doesn't show any chance to delete or change the partition i created
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Apr 11, 2010
I am considering purchasing diskwarrior but want to make sure it can help my situation before I purchase it. My imac will not boot from the internal hard drive (Intel processor) When I use disk utility to try and repair the disk, I get error messages and it won't repair. I can see the HD but cannot repair it. When I connect using target mode with my mac book pro, the hard drive does not appear on my host (macbook pro) computer. I have reloaded OS X (Leopard) onto a firewire external drive and can boot my imac that way but I can not find my original internal Macintosh HD. Will disk warrior be able to help with this scenario. I would really like to access that internal Macintosh HD and retrieve my files.
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Nov 12, 2009
I was making a partition on my USB external drive in order to put a disk image of Snow Leopard on it, so I could boot off of it.
I added a 10GB partition to the drive, and clicked Apply. The following dialogue box came up:
Partitioning this disk will change some of the volumes. No volumes will be erased.
This volume will be added:
"Snow Leopard"
This volume will be resized:
"XXX HDD"
I clicked Partition, and it finished very quickly. I checked Finder, and the entire drive, BOTH partitions are completely empty.
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Feb 28, 2010
I would never opened a topic like this if I had not a similar experience with expanding 'dmg' in the past!
A truly bad experience! It is supposed that using 'disk utility' I can resize-expand-make bigger any dmg file. Every time I tried it, it was a totally fail process.The 'disk image' dmg did not resized at all.
I do not know why, it just happened to me many times.
Does anyone had similar experience? Any solution to this? So if I have a dmg that need to be bigger, I create a new one from scratch and I copy paste files from the old dmg.I need to do the same with hard disk partitions, using disk utility once again. I need to resize my hard disk partitions.Does this process works well as it should be, or it is a bad-implemented feature?
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Mar 31, 2010
I know it may sounds stupid to ask, I am thinking of partitioning my 500GB hard disk to 200GB and 300GB, with the 300GB holding the OS. Is it a good idea? Have anyone done it before? Any unwanted effects?
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Feb 15, 2011
Recently I purchased an external hard disk, to put all of my pictures of my baby due to space limitations on my internal laptop drive. Since my Canon camera 10 megapixel pictures take up a ton of space this was occurring at an alarming rate. My intention was also to back up to DVD but never got to it. This is both a comment and a question.
Now said baby, is getting really good at pulling cords etc. He managed to do this on the external drive firewire cable. As far as i know the drive was not in the process of actually writing. However, after a few minutes and trying to re-plug the drive the OS crashed with a Grey Screen of Death hardware error that tells you that you need to push the power button..
This apparently corrupted the drive's directory. Upon reboot the drive would not mount. Since there were time machine backups on the drive too Diskwarrior was not able to reconstruct the drive in the built in memory available on the computer. Time machine stores millions of files and Diskwarrior apparently wants to keep it all in memory at once. Since my computer has 2GB you would hope that would be enough but apparently not. So that failed. Other utilities seemed to be able to find the files but not restore the directory. I also took it to the apple store they were not able to recover it.
I have to say this is extremely distressing, and hard to believe that a simple accident like this could cost the loss of thousands of pictures. I did send it to a rescue company but that was expensive but I think apple needs to do something about this situation.
On Windows there is a way to disable the write cache for external drives. This is not available for Mac OS X. This would prevent this rather common occurrence of a plug accidentally becoming disengaged when the drive is not in the process of writing. This reduces the odds but I still think apple, in order to become clearly superior, needs a better solution.
I know Apple has experimented with ZFS would this not eliminate this possibility of this kind of disaster? Is this in Snow Leopard desktop? I know they are thinking this is a business customer focused technology but clearly if it can eliminate this kind of thing then I think it is extremely useful to their non server customers. Perhaps there are other ways of dealing with this issue but ZFS is designed to deal with these issues. HFS+ is extremely fragile to disk corruption.
I know my situation is not that uncommon and this is not the first time this has happened to me with an external drive. You would think I had learned. I hate to think of how many other people have had the same thing happen to them.
Information:
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Jun 27, 2014
I have a Seagate 1 TB Backup Plus Drive which was working perfectly fine until I plugged it into a USB hub. It detected it while in the hub and I was able to get files off of it, but when I ejected it from the hub and put it back into the USB slot on the computer it was not detected by finder. It shows up in the disk utility and I clicked verify and repair and it says:
Verify and Repair volume “Seagate Backup Plus Drive”
Checking file system
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Is there any way to get this to work properly again? Or if not is there a way for me to recover my files on the external hard drive?
I have a Macbook PRO late 2011 running OS X Mavericks.
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Dec 26, 2010
I can boot into bootcamp with no problems. I have been wanting to be able to open the bootcamp in Parallels. Here is the issue:
1. The partition 'disk0s3' is greyed out in Disk Utility. It is not mounted. Mounting does nothing.
2. For reference, the Windows 7 is formatted as NTFS. It is a Windows 7 64-bit install
3. Verify disk does the following:
Verifying volume "disk0s3" ** /dev/disk0s3
Invalid BS_jmpBoot in boot block: efbbbf
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
4. repairing does the following:
Verify and Repair volume "disk0s3" ** /dev/disk0s3
Invalid BS_jmpBoot in boot block: efbbbf
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can"t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
I have stuff on the Windows partition that I don't want deleted. I'm really stuck on this -obviously, I can just continue to boot into bootcamp, I just would rather open it from Parallels. I'm not sure what or if I made some mistake in setting up Bootcamp, I thought I followed the directions to that. I do know I formatted the partition as NTFS during the install - as I think Windows 7 requires it. I have tried installing NTFS-3G - it is installed, but didn't do any good when trying to mount the drive.
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Jun 30, 2010
I just bought a new Western Digital 750GB laptop drive for my 13" macbook pro. I have a transcend external enclosure, to hook it up as an external via usb, and I had planned on using CCC to clone my existing 250gb to the new drive, and then swapping them.
However, at first plugging the drive in, my MBP didn't see it at all. The lights came on, and the drive sounded like it started... but it didn't appear in disk utility.
I unscrewed it from the enclosure, and then re-attached everything, and the 2nd time around, this time my MBP saw the drive. So it's possible (I guess) that something wasn't fully connected in the enclosure.
My first action was to open disk utility and try to partition the drive. But when I chose the "1 partition" route, I got an error when it attempted to unmount the drive, and wouldn't let me continue. So I then opted to "erase" the drive, and it did that no problem.
Then I did a "verify" on the disk, and it again reported no problem. So just for giggles, I then attempted to "partition" the drive again, and voila, same error.
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May 16, 2012
how do i partition my mac hard drive if my startup disk is full and i have more space
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