Disk Erase Failed internal harddisk

I am trying to reinstall Lion but it is giving me an error. Disk Erase failed . Its an internal harddisk.
Plz help

Guessing that error should end with "unimplemented trap" (error is cut-off in dialog window).
A second pass with erase/zero might do it, especially if drive was left unmounted after error and it re-mounts as it should.
I suspect it has something to do with presence of bootcamp/windows partition.

Similar Messages

  • Is my HD Dead? Reformat Disk Utility Error: secure disk erase failed with the error could not open disk.

    Hi,
    Fed up with seeing the spinning beach ball I decided to reformat my MacBook Pro...
    After backing up everything on an external hard drive I put in the OSX install DVD, restarted the machine and held down 'C'.
    I followed the install prcedure, clicking next a few times etc...
    I then went into Utilities > Disk Utility. I chose 7-Pass to erase the Macintosh HD and set it off erasing.
    I checked the process an hour in and message on screen read:
    Secure disk erase failed with the error:
    could not open disk
    The internal hard drive no longer exists in the disk utility so I cant retry erasing it.
    The only thing that appears in disk utility is the OSX install DVD.
    I can't even shut down the mac as everything under the apple tab is greyed out!
    I'm guessing this means my hard drive is broken right?
    If anyone has any other ideas of what to try I'd really appreciate that.
    How do I turn the machine off?
    If my hard drive is gone then should I consider getting an SSD drive?
    Any recommendations for such a drive would be great.
    Hope you can help!

    Did you partition the drive?
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

  • External Drive Disk Erase Failed with the Error Input/Output Error

    I have 2 hard drives in an external FW800 enclosure that I am unable to format. When I go to initialize the drives in Disk Utility, I get the following error message: "Disk Erase failed with the error: Input/output error."
    The drives show up in Disk Utility, but I can't repair them (that option is grayed out). Disk Utility correctly ID's the manufacturer of the drives (Maxtor), their size (200gb each), so it's obviously seeing that the drives are there. But it won't let me format them.
    The drives are new, by the way; they don't have any data/files on them. I have Disk Warrior, but the drives don't show up there to be repaired -- probably because they aren't formatted yet.
    After looking at other posts, I tried switching the jumper settings around on the drives -- from Master/Slave to cable select and back again, but it didn't help. I also tried doing a zero erase (even though the drives are new), zapping the PRAM -- again, no help.
    One question I had is whether this could be a bad FW800 cable? The cable is new -- it came with the enclosure, which is an OWC Dual FW 800 enclosure. Other than that, does anyone have any other thoughts about what's causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Matthew

    SOLUTION!!!!
    I had the exact same problem. I have the original 20 GB hard drive that came in my Powerbook G4 550MHz and a couple of years ago I traded up for a 60 GB drive and bought a FW/USB enclosure for my original drive to use it to backup my important files. I hadn't backed up in over a year (shame on me!) and I decided maybe I should erase the drive and start from scratch. It was connected via USB.
    At that point DiskUtility gave me the exact same Input/Output error. I tried partitioning the drive into 1 or more partitions but came up with the same error. I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I decided to startup in OS 9.2.2, I did that and let it start up, then plugged in the hard drive and it gave me the standard "This disk is unrecognizable, do you want to eject or erase?" so I clicked Initalize. It worked!
    Just make sure you choose the MacOS Extended option when initializing out of OS 9 (instead of the MacOS Standard option) so it can be read and viewed in OS X.
    If your computer is too new to be able to boot from an OS 9 folder on your drive or an OS 9 CD, then see if a friend or a local library has older computers that are running OS 9 or can boot from it. If not let me know and you can send me your drive and I'll reformat it.
    Kind of crazy...I haven't used the OS 9 partition on my HD in YEARS...was even thinking about erasing it since I don't use any Classic applications anymore...good thing I didn't!
    Nick
    Powerbook G4 550Mhz   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Disk Erase Failed

    Hello,
    I have 1TB WD external hard drive connected directly to my macbook pro, I have always used it without problems, but recently it was not recognized! I went to disk utility to format the drive but I get "Disk Erase failed" "Disk Erase failed with the error: unable to write to the last block of the device", I tried going to partition but it also gave the same answer. The status of the disk in the bottom are as follows:
    Name : WD Elements 1042 Media
              Type :           Disk
              Partition Map Scheme :           Unformatted
              Disk Identifier :           disk1
              Media Name :           WD Elements 1042 Media
              Media Type :           Generic
              Connection Bus :           USB
              USB Serial Number :           575846314137323034303939
              Device Tree :           IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC1@14
              Writable :           Yes
              Ejectable :           Yes
              Location :           External
              Total Capacity :           1 TB (1,000,202,043,392 Bytes)
              Disk Number :           1
              Partition Number :           0
              S.M.A.R.T. Status :           Not Supported

    The drive may be defective. You can try repartitioning it before the format to see if that helps, but if not the drive or the SATA controller in the enclosure is bad. I'd guess the drive. Try formatting as a single GUID partition, OS X Extended (Journaled) NOT case sensitive and see if you get anywhere.

  • Disk Utility _ Disk Erase failed with the error

    I have a 1GB Kingmax USB Stick which I am trying to erase or restore. I used in a PC at uni and it no longer works. When I try to erase or restore with Disk Utility I get an error message 'Disk Erase failed with the error:
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    I have tried also with Windows, but to no avail. The System Profiler recognises the USB stick.
    Any ideas?
    Cheers!
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    Shutdown the computer and remove the USB drive.

  • Disk Erase failed with the error- Operation timed out

    I've checked my computer- Mac Book White in Apple store, everything is fine just the hard disk has been corrupted. Needed to erase and reinstall. By the time I wanted to erase it, I can't erase and appears "Disk Erase failed with the error- Operation timed out".
    Anyone knows how to solve this question would be nice.
    Thanks

    Well give this a try:
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    Now download a utility like TinkerTool System or Leopard Cache Cleaner - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - and use it to clear out your system, user, and font caches.
    And, try this for the software update issue:
    Fix for Software Update
    See Troubleshooting Automatic Software Update in Mac OS X.
    Delete the following files:
    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist
    /Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist
    /Home/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.xxx.plist
    "xxx" is a number.
    /Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate/ (delete entire folder)

  • Disk Erase Failed. Disk cannot be dismounted on Mac Mini Server

    Ok, this is a bit crazy for me anyway. I have a Mac Mini Server running Snow. My Server HD failed but fortunately my Mac HD was being used as an image backup and I can boot from it fine and runs perfect. The bad disk was not showing in Disk Utility at all. So I bought a new one and replaced it.
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    I have my original Snow DVD but I have no external DVD. I have a MacBook Pro Mountain Lion.
    How do I erase my new disk so I can copy everything back?
    Any help is appreciate it.

    Although thats an excellent suggestion but in the end I attached an old usb backup drive and restarted and held down the Option key to select it to boot. Then it went into Disk Utility, and I reimaged the 2nd drive to the new drive.  After the reimage I restarted and held down the Option key to allow me to select the first drive.
    The only issue I had was to rename my boot drive back to Server HD, which I did by using Finder and one more restart.
    I guess the rule is you cannot unmount the boot original boot drive unless you boot from an external drive.
    All is good now and thank you.

  • External Drive "Disk Erase Failed"

    Hi All,
    This is my first post to the supportcommunity and want to confirm i have searched around and while i found similar stories to my own, i did not find anything specifically helpful.
    Recently i had the bright idea of moving my whole iTunes collection to a WD 500GB USB External Hard drive. The transfer was fine and iTunes was ok with the move of data. I Progressed and plugged the WD Drive in to my Airport Extreme and my Mac Book Pro recognised the drive no problems and again iTunes was able to connect to all my movies, songs etc etc.
    I also tested this with my Apple TV 2 and found streaming a breeze in each room.
    This morning however i noticed an error on my Apple TV 2 "Your Device does not have any movies" (or something similar), i checked my MBP and noticed the hard drive was no longer mounted nor available under the "Shared" drives list in Finder.
    I tried the obvious steps first
    Restart MBP
    Restart APE
    Restart MPB & APE after disconnecting WD Drive
    Nothing above worked. I opened "Disk Utility", reconnected my WD drive directly and found my drive listed as expected. However if you see the image attached to this post you will see while my MBP recognises the drive, it does not recognise the partition created only a few days ago called "iTunes". Also the Verify Disk & Repair Disk options are not available which is a real bummer.
    Finally i tried connecting the drive to a spare windows xp laptop i have, windows will start to install the device drivers which are the usual generic type and confirm the installation was complete, however My Computer does not show any drives attached.
    I know i "Erased" the drive before moving my data in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and i did not set any security options.
    I can understand Windows not recognising the drive, of course it is not NTFS or FAT32. But for my MBP to see the drive in Disk Utility and not show the partition is strange and frankly worrying.
    Litterally every song, movie and TV series i ever purchased via iTunes is on that drive.
    My iPhone has my music but im struggling to get that off the phone and back to my MPB, my iPad has a couple of movies but not all.
    Finally i fogot to mention i tried to use disk warrior however this didnt recognise any drives other than my MAC HD.
    Any help would be amazing thank you very much.

    Hi guys,
    Wondering if you can help me out...
    I made a time machine copy on a 500gb external hard drive of my 13" MBP with a HDD currently in it.
    Then took my 500gb SSD from an old 15" MBP, removed the HDD and put it in my 13" MBP.
    Opened up 13" MBP in restore mode. Chose restore from time machine back up.
    Choose the time machine external drive as source. Then chose the SSD drive to restore to.
    Said it was erasing the drive... Asked for a password...
    I typed in my usual password. It then said the SSD drive couldn't be erased.
    Took the SSD out and put the original HDD back in.
    Plugged the SSD into a firewire 800 caddy to try erase it in disk utility as an external.
    This drive will show up in disk utility but the erase option isn't available.
    I can repair the disk but it says the disk is perfectly fine.
    I can click on the partition option but everything is greyed out and I can't partition it at all.
    This drive will now no longer show up on the desktop or finder.
    This is driving me crazy!
    Just want to erase the SSD, use time machine to restore onto it and get busy.
    Please help!
    Thanks,
    Chris

  • MBA 2010 Can't Erase/Partition internal SSD

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  • FileVault 2 Disk Encryption failed

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