Disk Utility Can't Format Drive

My Dad just bought a brand new 1TB Fantom external hard drive for his iMac. But Disk Utility cant erase or format the drive as a Mac format volume. I keep getting this error:
Volume Erase failed
Volume Erase failed with the error:
The underlying task reported failure on exit.
SOMEHOW I did get it to change from a MS-DOS format to a Mac OS X (Journaled) but I still keep getting errors when I try to Verify or Erase the drive!
Got this error when I tried to Verify the drive: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
And when I go to format the drive I get this wheel and the spinning blue candy-cane bar, and the operation never completes:
"......partition size not a multiple of 4K"
When I goto the company web site I get this error message:
http://www.fantomdrives.com/
ACCESS FORBIDDEN
Access denied. Please click on the back button to return to the former page.
Anyone know why Disk Utility cannot erase or even verify this drive???
Never had so much trouble formating a drive in my life...
Jeff

The underlying task reported failure on exit.
The above is not a good sign. And yes it's very odd that TM Utility was able to get the job done but not Disk Utility (since they address formatting drives in a very similar way). When you look at the drive in Disk Utility, is it reporting good S.M.A.R.T. status? Before seeing your post about using TM to fix the issue, I was going to suggest trying to erase and/or format the drive using a 2nd computer to see the results. I would run tests with DU on the drive and any other drive utility programs you may have (Techtools Pro perhaps) to see what the results are.

Similar Messages

Disk Utility can't format !

Hello,
Since Leopard, Disk Utility can't format external HD (or USB key or anything else). There is an error and the HD can't mount anymore.
If I use a Mac under Tiger, there is no problem to format ans the HD is usable under 10.5.x.
This problem isn't fix in 10.5.0, 10.5.1 or 10.5.2.
I tested with my iMac and my MacBookPro. Same problem.
Anyone got an idea ?
Thanks

To dechamp :
HD is connected with a FW hub. maybe it is the problem :/
I will retry when it's connected directly.
I have 4 FW external HD and only 1 FW 400 on the iMac ... so the HUB is really important
But to format, I can plug directly, or via USB
Time Machine is ON, but not working on this HD
I'll continue my tests
Thanks !

Disk Utility Can't format my USB drive

I've got a Transcend 8GB usb drive and i want to erase everything on it but i can't. I know that the best way to do this is the Disk Utility (Because Finder can't erase them too. When I drag and drop to the bin, it says "43 files cannot be deleted")
When i attempt to format, this message appears from disk utility:
What does this mean?
and also, another message appears at the same time.
What does this mean?
I just wanted to format my disk. But i can still see the content in the disk. But can't copy them to desktop.
Please help me!

Happens with corrupt drives may be due to partition table failure. may be a similar post can help you POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory

Disk Utility can't format my external HD - File System Formatter fails

Hi. I have a Freecom 1.5TB external hardrive that is connected by firewire to my Intel iMac. The drive has worked fine for a year and then suddenly the "error 36 code" appeared and nothing else could be saved to the drive.
Disk Utility told me that it could not repair the disk and that I should format it. At this stage the problems start!
DU fails to format the drive with the error "File System Formatter Failed."
I have read various conversations on this error on these forums and followed the instructions but nothing has worked. I have already
1) Partioned the disk making sure it is "GUID" - then formatted and it still fails
2) Used MS DOS to do it but that also fails.
I have noticed that the SMART status is "not recognised".
Is there anything else that I can do or am I just doing this wrong? I am thinking that I might be able to do something using the start-up disks but I don't know how to do that and don't want to jepardise my iMac whichis otherwise working fine!
Any help appreciated.
Rob

I went crazy last night with the same issue trying to format my Toshiba external drive. I could format as MSDOS but not Mac journaled. I tried the guid partition scheme etc... no luck. Then I read somewhere that Leopard has an issue with the partitioning schemes. I hooked it up to my macbook on Tiger and whalla, formatted no problem. Then I was able to hook it up to Time Machine and let it reformat it on my Snow Leopard version of OSX on the iMac. I'm on OSX 10.6.8.

Disk Utility Refuses to Format drive to GUID

I purchased a 1 TB wd 10eavs external hard drive, and have tried numerous things to get it to format. Every single time, Disk Utility comes up with an error saying "File system formatter failed" after about 2 minutes. I can format it to NTFS but that is useless as I want to be able to boot with it. Just so everyone knows, I tried many times at each of the following: Erase to Mac OS Extended, Partition to GUID and Mac OS Extended, Partition to Apple Partition Map and Mac OS Extended, and even partition to GUID and NTFS, which also failed, not surprisingly. The only time it successfully worked was when I used Erase to NTFS. Please help as the deadline is approaching to return and I need to know if I need to return it or not. Thank you all!

I am in the same boat. Picked up a 1TB Samsung 2.5" SATA and have been unable to reformat or partition just as bduff9.
Can you format to NTFS and then reformat to MacOS Extended?
I tried using Disc Utility to repair the disc and continue to get the same "File System formatter failed."
Is this just a bad hard drive?
Help me if you can
I'm feeling down
This new 1TB Hard drive won't spin round
Help me back up the files I have found
Won't you please
PLEASE
Help me...

Disk Utility can't format new HDD

So I just got a new 4TB drive (WD4003FZEX 4TB 7200 RPM) for my Mac Pro that I'd like to partition... one volume for Time Machine on the boot drive, the other volume for back-up for the two other drives I have in there. I just installed it and initialized the HDD, formatted to Mac OS Extended, but since that finished, I now have two problems:
1.) Disk Utility cannot/will not format the drive (the HDD itself, not the volume). It's not that the Erase option is greyed out or not working, it isn't even there. When I select the disk, it only has two options... First Aid and Partition.
2.) Partition only works partially. I can add a partition, but the Name, Format, and Size fields are all greyed out, so I can't rename the volume or adjust it's size.
What am I missing here?

Never mind. Found this thread, did what it said, and it all works fine now.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5039921

Disk Utility can see my drive but not mount/repair a volume on that drive.

Situation:
During a permissions repair on an external drive, the power went out.
Since then, it won't mount. It spins up, lights on etc, and the drive itself shows up in Disk Utility.
The volume is greyed out.
When I select the greyed out volume and select INFO, I get:
     OWNERS ENABLED: NO
     CAN TURN OWNERS OFF: YES
I would think it was a permissions issue since the power went off during repair, and I'm hoping to force-repair permissions.
Tried Disk Warrior (v 4.4)... it mounted but I got this message (despite hardware being fine):
          The directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36, 2747)
It's not a hardware issue; the drive is fine, it just won't mount.
What I've done:
Unplugged/replugged drive
Swapped out cables from a similar drive
Attempted Disk Utility on two laptops with same results
Booted from startup disk, ran DU, same results
Ran Disk Warrior
The only way to get the drive to show up in Disk Utility is to open DU, then plug in USB. It shows up every time, but once I attempt something, I have to pull/replug USB.
I cannot make a disk image in Disk Utility.
I have another completely empty 3TB drive that I could back everything up to.
Specs:
External drive, 3TB Western Digital, USB, HFS, no partitions.
Lion, 10.7.3
Mac Pro, 6GB memory, Intel processor
Drive name "WD My Book 1130 Media", Volume "Big Boy"
Suggestions?
Any force-repair terminal stuff?
Any software I'm not trying?
Any tricks?
Let me know if I'm missing some helpful info; I've done screenshots of every message screen; two are included below.
Thanks for any help!

Try this:
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select the desired 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, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

IMac Finder cannot see external hard drive but Disk Utility can

I have a WD external hard drive and it has been attached to my iMac for a year or two. About two months ago I upgraded to Lion 10.7.5 and hard drive still worked. Then suddenly about a week ago the iMac no longer sees the external hard drive in Finder.
I have connected the hard drive to the iMac with different USB cables and into different ports and it makes no difference so deduce there is no issues with the cables or the ports. I have connected the hard drive to an old Macbook and it can see the harddrive and read some of the info but I really need the hard drive attached to the iMac as I store all my music and photos on the external hard drive.
I read another thread and someone asked if you can see the hard drive in Disk Utility. I tried this and Disk Utility can see the hard drive.
What does this mean? Any suggestions as to how to get the iMac to see the hard drive so I can access the data on it?
I dont really know how Disk Utility works therefore if that is any help to me.
thanks

Open the Finder.
From the Finder menu bar click Finder > Preferences then select the General tab.
Make sure: External disks is selected.

External Hard Drive Disk Utility Can't Repair the Disk

Hi,
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?
Thanks
I have a Macbook PRO late 2011 running OS X Mavericks.

Use a more powerful utility such as DiskWarrior, or a product such as those listed here.
(108710)

Disk utility can't repair a partition on external hard drive

I have a 1TB Western Digital external FW drive that's only a couple years old (2 or 3, probably). I have it split into partitions, one of which I'm using for Time Machine. The non-Time Machine partition checked out fine with DIsk Utility, but when I ran Disk Utility on the Time Machine partition, I received this message:
Disk Utility stopped reparing "Time Machine." 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.
Does this mean the drive itself is failing? I erased the Time Machine partition and recreated it through Disk Utility, and then I verified it. Everything checked out okay, but I want to make sure, especially since I'm hosting my iTunes music in the other partition (it's backed up to a 2nd external drive, so if the drive does die, at least I don't lose everything).
Before this problem happened, both partitions dropped off the Finder and the light on the drive went off. I unplugged the drive and plugged it back in again a couple times, but nothing happened. Finally, the light went back on after plugging it back in for the 3rd or 4th time, but I'm wondering if the drive could be going bad, which would surprise me since it isn't very old.

Brad Cook wrote:
Disk Utility stopped reparing "Time Machine." 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.
Does this mean the drive itself is failing?
Possibly, but not necessarily. The File System on the disk was so badly corrupted that Disk Utility couldn't fix it. That might indicate a problem with the drive. It's not unusual for consumer-quality (ie, inexpensive) drives to fail after 2-3 years, although many will run for several years. It's a bit of a crapshoot.
Before this problem happened, both partitions dropped off the Finder and the light on the drive went off.
Whatever caused that is another good possibility -- if a drive is improperly disconnected, OSX can't "close it out" properly, and that can cause damage to the file system. Sometimes Disk Utility can fix it, sometimes it can't. And sometimes heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair apps like DiskWarrior can fix things Disk Utility can't.
A power dip or spike could have caused it, or an overheated electronic component, etc. If it has it's own power supply, be sure it's on a good (ie, not cheap) surge protector or U.P.S. system.
Otherwise, keep an eye on it. If you don't have "secondary" backups, this would be an excellent time to get another drive for that purpose. See #27 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for some suggestions.
Bottom line: personally, I'd not trust my only backups to that drive.
(But then, I'd never trust my backups to any single drive, no matter how new or high-quality.)

My hard drive is damaged. I'm using disk utility; can I safely use CHECKSUM? will it help or give me info?

my hard drive is damaged. I'm using disk utility; can I safely use CHECKSUM? will it help or give me info?

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
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.

Can Lion disk utility dynamically partition a drive?

Can Lion disk utility dynamically partition a drive? I see many posts that Leopard Disk utility can but nothing about Lion.

Yes. I'll post a link to instructions. Be sure to create a full reliable backup before you begin (don't just do the backup, test the backup to be sure it's good), and the only application that should be running until the process is complete is Disk Utility.
http://osxdaily.com/2009/11/20/resize-partitions-in-mac-os-x-with-disk-utility/
Some people have problems resizing partitions because of the hidden Recovery HD partition. It sometimes gets in the way because Disk Utility can move it "up" but cannot move it "down".

Macbook pro won't boot and when I tried to back up the hard drive I got "disk utility can't repair this disk backup as many of your files as possible"

My macbook pro froze and initially would not even recognize the power chord. Now it charges, but will not load up. I opened in in disk utility to try and back it up so that I could take it to apple to have it fixed but I got the message that said "disk utility can't repair this disk backup as many of your files as possible". How do I back up the files???

Nichelle215,
you can try the method described on this Apple page, in the “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility” section. (You can skip step 6, since you already know that your disk is irreparable.) Note, however, that this method is not guaranteed to work. Once you get your disk straightened out, you might consider purchasing an external hard disk for use as a Time Machine backup destination, so that a similar problem in the future won’t wipe out the only copy of your files.

Im attempting to start up from OSX 10.4.9 back up disc on my Macbook 13inch but it starts up and am able get to utilities then disk utility but my internal drive doesnt show in options on left can anyone help ?

Hi all my trusty macbook 13 inch 5 years old has let me down get a box with question mark in it when i switch on , so apple support tells me to try ans start by back up OSX 10.4.9 disk the built in drive doesnt work so i am using an external toshiba drive .
I switch on holding down c key an apple logo comes on and it starts up im able to acess utilities then disk utility but in the options on the left there is only the Backup disc and the external drive showing my internal mackintosh drive wont show so i cant move further any help

If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely." What do I do now? This is an iMac and I'm running 10.6.8.

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it. See below for how to clone a drive.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
You may be able to backup your data if you have an erased external drive you can use. Before you do the above but after you have opened Disk Utility you can try to clone your drive:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
       it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
      the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Now this will only work if the drive is accessible and can be cloned by Disk Utility. Otherwise, you would need to access your drive from another Mac that you can connect via Firewire - Target Disk Mode.

Disk Utility Can't Format Drive

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