Disk utility erase problem

I am trying to get my ibook G4 ready for sale. I want to do a secure erase of my hard drive. I followed Apple's instructions on the topic, did a boot from the CD, chose disk utility, then erase, then options, I chose 8 times random, then clicked to go ahead. It ran all day (I expected that) and into the night. When I woke up and checked on it, I saw that it was stuck on "partitioning", the blue progress bar was only about half way, and I had the spinning beach ball. An hour later, no change. So I forced a power down. Can anyone tell me what went wrong? It's a 30g Fujitsu original equipment drive and I use OS 10.3.3.

There's really no need to zero data more than one pass. Do the following:
Prepare Your Mac for Sale
Boot from the OS X Installer Disc One that came with the computer. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities (Installer menu if using Panther or Jaguar) menu. After DU loads select the startup volume from the left side list then click on the Erase tab. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click on the Options button. Select the one pass Zero Data option and click on the OK button. Then click on the Erase button.
Note: You can skip the Zero Data option if you are not concerned about removing sensitive personal data from the hard drive. If you choose to skip this part of the process then it is possible for others to recover data from the hard drive. The Zero Data procedure will prevent others from getting access to your personal information.
This process will take 30 minutes to several hours depending upon the size of the hard drive. After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Now complete the OS X installation. At the completion of the installation do not restart the computer. Instead just shut it off. The next user will be presented with the Setup Assistant when they turn on the computer just as it would if new out of the box.

Similar Messages

Disk Utility - Erase Free Space-what does it really do?

Hey Forum,
I am using mac os 10.6.4 on my macbook and i have a doubting question for quite sometimes, what does disk utility erase free space feature really do? Does it gives you more free space? or what? I know it prevents the recovery of deleted files but i want to know what more it does and do not do? Like, now my hdd free space kept increasing and decreasing, by a few 100 mbs or 50mbs etc, so do i erase free space so to solve this problem? Ok, i do not only want to know does it solve the previous problem, but also the questions stated in the whole long paragraph i have wrote. If you know anything related to disk utility's erase free space, feel free to tell me!
Pls help me, I need you guys' help!
Thank you.
Regards
Ala.

Erase free space simply writes zeros over the space occupied by deleted files to prevent data recovery. That's all it does. It does not give you extra disk space.
Your disk space goes up and down a bit because the system creates temporary files and logs which take up space, such as the Safari cache. You can clear these file using a utility like Onyx (which is free)

Killed Disk Utility Erase Free Space. Now 0 available

(I erroneously posted this earlier to the Safari forum; posting here again)
I ran Disk Utility "Erase free space" on my iMac G5 250GB boot drive (I had about 130GB free). It ran for about 50 minutes, and got to "creating temp file" and then seemed to hang (thermometer didn't move for 20 minutes). So I force killed it. It seems to have left that "temp file" that takes up all available space since Disk Utility now reports 0 bytes available (and MS Entourage says insufficient free space and exits). I ran Finder "Secure empty trash" to delete 57 files with no error. But Disk Utility still says 0 bytes available.
First Aid "Verify Disk" reports no problems. "Verify Permissions" reports no problems.
Is there a way to regain my available space?
Thanks,
Ken

Restart did it. Thanks very much.
Ken

Disk utility/erase and lost HD free space

HELP!
In an attempt to clear up space from deleted files I ran the disk utility>erase>erase free space>35-Pass erase deleted files programme. Then did verify disk permissions and repair disk permissions.
Iv now dropped from 7.8GB of free space to 1.8 of free space on the HD. So that things aren't working right. Plus, I can't download music that I bought on iTunes because there isn't enough space on the HD.
How do I get all that space back? What did I do wrong?
All I was doing was trying to free up space from deleted files that Iv been getting rid of. I know that when you delete from one portion of the HD it doesn't always delete it totally off the system only the portion where you're looking at it.
HELP

Do you by any chance have FileVault enabled?

Tip on How to Monitor Disk Utility Erase Free Space

When you use the Disk Utility Erase Free Space option, it can sometimes appear to hang and the progress bar isn't always a help.
By accident, I discovered that if you run the Activity Monitor and select Disk Usage, you can in fact monitor progress. The Space Free will gradually tick down, sometimes as slowly as 100K/sec, then when it hits zero, it will quicklt tick back up. If you observe this, just let Disk Utility complete to avoid any issues; Activity Monitor makes it easier to be patiet about this.
Hope this helps.

Great tip, thanks for the post!

Disk Utility erase free space problem

I tried to clean my hard drive by overwriting the free space using Disk Utility to make deleted files unrecoverable. But I got the message: "Your startup disk is almost full. Make room by deleting files." But my hard disk is 250GB (Capacity 232.6 GB) of which 197.4 GB is available and 35.2 GB used. I also have a 40 GB Iomega external hard drive which I use for automatic daily backup (using Chronosync). If I try to overwrite the free space on that drive with zeros, I get the message "Secure Erase Free Space failed -- Could not create temp file." There is 17.5 GB available. The Volume format is "Mac OS Extended (journaled)."

This may help:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1010.html

Disk Utility 13 problem with USB drives

There appears to be a problem with Disk Utility 13 (part of OS X 10.9). At least, so far as I can tell, everything traces back to this app, or possibly OS X 10.9 itself.
I recently upgraded my MacBook Air to OS X 10.9 (reformatted hard drive, installed system from scratch, updated with all the latest Apple updates). I pre-checked all my third party software to make sure it was 10.9 compatible before installing it after the system cleanup, so everything I’m running supposedly has been approved as safe for 10.9. But I’m seeing a problem formatting USB drives that I do not encounter when running under 10.8.
I have a Seagate STAA500101 (“FreeAgent GoFlex”) drive connected via Seagate’s USB3 adapter that I’ve used for some time as a Time Machine backup. Post-overhaul, I decided to erase the backup and start fresh. When I attempt to format it (single GUID partition) with Disk Utility, I see the following messages go by:
Formatting disk1s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Untitled 1
Could not mount disk1s2 with name (null) after erase
Then there’s a pause, and the format appears to conclude fine. But if I run a “Verify Disk” immediately, I get this:
Verifying partition map for “Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Volume on disk1s2 has 0 bytes of trailing loader space and it needs 134217728 bytes
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Partition map needs repair because a data partition needs loader space.
As the drive has just been formatted, that seemed odd. I took it over to another Mac still running 10.8.5 and formatted it there — it worked just fine. Verified just fine. Took the drive back to my MacBook Air and tried to verify the disk — same failure.
I wanted to rule out bad media, so I took a Lexar 16GB USB flash drive and tried to format it with Disk Utility 13 — got the same problem.
The only success I’ve had formatting USB drives under 10.9 is to boot up into OS X Recovery. Disk Utility there formatted my Seagate drive without an error. But once I booted back into normal 10.9 operating mode, the drive once again fails to verify; it makes me leery about using it as a Time Machine backup.
I suppose it’s possible there could be some background component like Sophos causing problems when formatting drives, but if I format a drive via OS X Recovery or another Mac under 10.8, that wouldn’t explain why the drives fail to verify.
Anyone got any other observations on this issue?

Problem resolved. I'm posting this note for anyone else who might run into this situation and come across this discussion.
It actually did turn out to be Sophos -- Cloud, that is. I'd been using Sophos' free Mac antivirus software on a variety of systems but forgot that I was now testing out Sophos Cloud on my own MacBook, which is their new endpoint solution, and supposed to be compatible with OS X 10.9 (although the Mac version is listed as "beta") Sophos Cloud includes a new feature called Device Control which allows you to create a company-wide policy to control access to hardware such as USB drives, optical drives, etc. But apparently it's still pretty buggy. I had my Device Control configured with the default setting of "monitor but do not block" but it was most definitely gumming up the system. With Sophos Cloud installed, here's what happens if I try to run "Verify Disk" on any attached drive. Note on the left side how "disk2s2" shows as a sub-volume for each hard drive.
So if I uninstall Sophos Cloud, reboot and rescan, here's what I get:
Works fine. Note that the "disk2s2" subvolumes are also gone. This is the way Disk Utility also appears on a 10.8 or 10.9 system, even if you have the standard free Sophos for Mac software installed. It's only Sophos Cloud that's not playing nice. It also appears to have stopped me from being able to play DVDs from an attached Apple USB SuperDrive -- that problem was likewise solved by removing Sophos Cloud.

Help! Can I recover Disk Utility erased files?

Hi guys,
Yesterday I was trying to install Leopard because I had software problem that made my ibook get stuck on the loading screen.
Anyway, I was on my last step before it started to install when I got a message saying that I didn't have enough disk space to install the CD. I had just 2.7 GB available and the system required 11 GB. After trying to figure out what to do, I saw the Installer Menu Bar, clicked Open *Disk Utility*, clicked on Erase window, then clicked on one of the drives I saw on the left window. I didn't choose the 27.9 GB TOSHIBA disk, but the one under.
Then from the Volume Format drop-down menu, I selected Mac OS Extended, and selected security option: "Don't Erase Data". Finally, on the right pane of the Disk Utility window, I clicked the Erase tab., and suddenly I had 27 GB available
I thought that this “Erase” option just deleted previous deleted files, but not my whole hard disk.
Then I went back to the install window, and clicked “Install"...knowing that I maybe lost all my data.
I have tried to find my pictures and documents, but they are no where to find.
Have I lost all my data? Is it possible to get it recovered?
Please help me!
Thanks in advance!

sorry, but you are too far into this in order to be able to recover much. Data Rescue II or File Salvage are 2 decent utilities but you then installed software on top of your drive. This is assuring that a huge chunk of that drive is gone forever.
what disk utility meant was that it wouldn't securly delete the data - that is write stuff on top of it. you did just a basic delete / format which deletes the info containing pointers to the files, not the actual files themselves.
but installing OS X after that is going to permanatley delete 11GBs or so of data.
you will need an external drive to even begin this process & there's no garuntee it will work. you can try data rescue for free to see if it finds anything, as file salvage does too.
at this point, it's a shot in the dark.
ALWAYS keep backups & NEVER erase a drive with such important info.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Message was edited by: kmac1036

Disk Utility erase fails after computer wakes up

I'm having an annoying problem with Disk Utility on OS X Lion 10.7.5 failing to erase a harddrive thats plugged into a HDD Docking Station via USB after computer wakes up from screen-off. I have an OCZ Agility 4 SATAIII 512.11 Gb SSD. I'm trying to do a complete erase with 7-Pass Erase so I can use this SSD for my Sony VAIO Laptop so I can ready it for fresh install for Ubuntu.
Now the problem with Disk Utility is that when I've selected 7-Pass Erase, I go away and leave the computer to do it's thing while it erases it, however when I come back and wake the computer screen to come back on, Disk Utility then tells me the erase failed. –– In my System Preferences for Power Saving settings I have the computer set to NEVER sleep, but only put the screen off after a while when not in use (ie; after 30 minutes). My other Sys Prefs settings are also set to ask for login after waking, I've not yet tested without this setting turned off to see if it's cause of problem, but I'll probably give it a shot anyway and see what happens. But I don't see how that would cause the problem since anything working in the background should still remain active while the screen is off just like Time Machine does for example when it does backups since it's USB powered.
Anyway… I think is either some kind of bug/error in Disk Utility or OS X itself. I've tried other Hard Drives and SSD's and they've all worked just about the same, and I don't think it's the HDD Docking Station either because it mounts everything perfectly and runs fine for continus use, I just hope there's a workable solution to fix this annoying problem when waking the screen from sleep. I have tested that it is screen-off that's causing it to fail by pressing the following keys Ctrl + ⇧ + ⏏ to put the screen to sleep, then waking again then entering my password to get back in. I have 1 other thing I've yet to try out, I've currently got it plugged in via USB port on my keyboard, I'll have to try it out on my iMac's main USB's ports to see if that may be part of the problem too.

Please boot into Internet Recovery (Command+Opt+R) and ensure you see the spinning globe. If you do, you can use diskutil cs commands to initialize your disk and re-install/restore from a TM backup.

Disk Utility repair problem

I am running Yosemite on an mid-2011 iMac. I ran the Disk Utility and got this message after running Verify:
<< Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility. >>
I followed the instructions, but when the Utilities window appeared, I was unable to start the Disk Utility from the menu. There was a dialog saying that OS X had not been successfully installed.
What could be causing this problem?

The startup drive may be failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault.
Back up all data on the drive immediately if you don't already have a current backup. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

Disk utility erase failure

I purchased a new 5G iPod two days ago and encountered the same problem as addressed in this question. However, the posted fix for the iPodDriver.kext didn't work, so I attempted to erase my iPod in Disk Utility as someone had suggested. My iPod is now stuck repeating the startup screen, my Mac isn't recognizing it at all, and I can't seem to get it to turn off (or do anything for that matter...) I'm guessing this means that in my haste to fix things I erased something vital and now need to send it off to be repaired, right? Are there any possible fixes outside of sending it off, or at least a way to get it to shut off in the meantime?
Thanks
Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If you haven't fixed this yet, you may be able to use Disk Utility to completely erase and reformat the disk.
Click the top line of the drive, then the Partition tab. Click +1 partition+ (or however many you want) under *Volume Scheme*, then Options at the bottom. Select GUID for an Intel Mac, +Apple Partition Map+ for a PPC Mac. Setup the partition(s) you want to use on the Mac as +OSX Extended (Journaled),+ then click Apply.

Disk Utility Erase Error

I am formatting a Hard Drive by booting from the Mac OS X Panther Installation Disk 1 and running disk utility. I choose the following settings:
Volume Format: *Mac OS Extended (Journaled)*
Name:*Macintosh HD*
*Install Mac OS 9 Disk Driver*
*Zero all data*
I then click erase and it begins to erase the disk until the progress bar is about a third done. Then it stops and I get the error message:
*Unknown Error: -20*
I have looked on this website (Link: [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1618]) and I know that it is a Write Error but I don't know what is causing it or if it can be sorted.
It is a new hard drive on an iMac G3.

Hi, Garnon. I'm glad to hear you got things running properly at last.
Now that that's the case, yes, you can do some things from time to time to make sure the drive is operating properly and continues to do so.
Start up from your latest OS X installer disc and open Disk Utility on that disc. Select your hard drive mechanism in the left pane of DU. Click the First Aid tab in the right pane, and see "SMART Status" near the bottom of that pane. If it says "Verified", your drive is probably fine. If it says "Failing", the drive should be replaced immediately: it has a hardware fault. (Note that SMART testing, which is built into most modern drives, can only report on a snapshot of the drive's present condition. Nothing can guarantee that a drive in good working condition today won't fail tomorrow or five years from now. This is why it's essential to keep backup copies of all your important data on other media at all times.)
Then run the *Repair Disk* routine. This will verify your hard drive's directory and, if necessary, try to repair any problems that may have arisen in it. It's a useful preventive maintenance step when you aren't having trouble, and a good first step to take when you are. (Note: the *Verify Disk* button performs the same verification process, but doesn't try to repair any errors it encounters — it just reports them. There is almost never any reason to use it.) *Repair Disk* is a software repair process — it can't address any fault in the drive's hardware.

OS X Lion Disk Utility - "Erase Free Space" option greyed out

After installing OS X Lion on my iMac, the option to Erase Free Space from Disk Utility is greyed out and can't be selected. Is anyone else experiencing this problem, and if so, does anyone know of a possible solution?

I'd not noticed that, and am not on Lion at the moment.
But it's not a good idea to do that on the volume you're running from. OSX collects all the empty space into a huge folder (so the free space on the disk goes to zero), then writes zeros to it, and releases it as it does so. That will take a very long time (241 GBs, in your case). If something goes wrong, or you cancel it, it can be rather difficult to get it to release the space.
It does not gain you any space; all it does is prevent the leftover data from files you've deleted and emptied the trash from being recovered.
If you really need to do it, use the Recovery HD. See Using the Recovery HD.

Disk Utility Says Problem! Help?

I checked my disk utility this morning and it says there is a problem, and when i try repair it, it doesn't work.
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect size for file host.frm
(It should be 0 instead of 9148)
9148
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume bitmap.
",0)
The volume Daniel needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Is this a big problem?

Is this a big problem?
Well, yes and no. It might be a problem, so you should definitively backup your data.
Then, boot from Installation disk that came with your computer and once you get to the installer, choose from Menu bar: Utilities>Disk Utility and try to repair your disk. If this doesn't help, you should try to erase your drive and reinstall the system.
If you have AppleCare, you might also consider downloading TechTools Pro from Apple for free. It is said to be more powerful than Disk Utility.
If the problem reappears, call Apple.

Disk Utility erase tab for hard disk is missing after accidental OS deletion when installing Win 8.1 (BootCamp)

Hi there everyone,
This is my first post and I hope I can get this issue resolved with your help .
So the issue that I am having is that my Disk Utility is not showing giving me the option to reformat my entire hard drive.
The reason I want to this is because my Boot Camp Assistant won't partition my drive. This error comes up:
So after looking through the internet and forums i couldn't resolve this Boot Camp issue. So I decided to try and just wipe out my whole disk but as you can see I am unable to do that.
Prior to this issue, I had tried to download Windows 8.1 using a bootable USB stick and have accidentally deleted my Macintosh HD partition from the Windows install menu by opening up a terminal (fn+option+F10 was the key used to open up this terminal if I remember correctly). I was pretty upset about that, thankfully I have a backup around. Not knowing what to do I proceeded to installing Windows 8.1 anyway. Half way through the installation there was an error which I did not record. I simply exited the installer and proceeded to the Recovery System start up menu and it installed a version of OS X Lion from the internet. Then I installed Yosemite thinking everything is OK.
I decided to try to install Windows 7 now and the issue mentioned at the beginning ensued. Previously there was a disk0s1 and disk0s2 that can be seen from the Disk Utility but I could delete one of them. The other one I could only erase but could not delete the partition itself. From terminal i determined these two partitions were from the previous Windows installation attempt. The size was relatively small for both.
I ran a disk repair for the Macintosh HD volume and this error pops up:
I am using MacBook Pro (15-inch, early 2011) with:
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphic 3000
750.16 GB TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF (SATA)
Yosemite V10.10.1
Below are the drive info from terminal:
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *750.2 GB   disk0
   1:                  Apple_HFS disk0s1                 314.6 MB   disk0s1
   2:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s2
   3:          Apple_CoreStorage                         748.7 GB   disk0s3
   4:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s4
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *748.4 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s3
                                 C0E588EC-8B91-43D2-8493-392DB9911387
                                 Unencrypted
and
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group CF5FCF1D-64F3-4F5C-8A32-583BDF73FA2A
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         748741939200 B (748.7 GB)
    Free Space:   18960384 B (19.0 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 79D6A32D-71A9-479B-82AF-E287ABF820E9
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s3
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     748741939200 B (748.7 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 5A69641B-025B-438B-A572-AE008B8138B0
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume C0E588EC-8B91-43D2-8493-392DB9911387
            Disk:                  disk1
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          748370657280 B (748.4 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            Yes (no decryption required)
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
I hope someone out there can help me out here. I have tried all I could to no avail. Looking forward to your replies
Cheers

Please boot into Internet Recovery (Command+Opt+R) and ensure you see the spinning globe. If you do, you can use diskutil cs commands to initialize your disk and re-install/restore from a TM backup.

Disk utility erase problem

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