Disk Utility failure to erase/initialize

I have a 1 TB WD MyBook Studio Edition. I sent this drive to a firm that does video conversions (from film to digital). Drive returned with expected (good) results, but now I can't write anything onto the drive - says I can only read. So I copied all files on the drive to another disk, then used Disk Utility to initialize. First Aid tab action buttons are all greyed out. Erase tab shows default format as MS DOS. I changed to Apple Extended (Journaled) and pressed OK. Process starts, but fails after a few seconds with error "Write Failure". Now disk won't mount when I attach it - only Disk Utility "sees" drive, but fails each time I try to Initialize/Erase.
What's up, and how do I correct?
Thanks

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.

Similar Messages

Are my photos completely gone if i went into disk utility and clicked erase, or can i recover them?

i wanted to put my macbook pro back to factory settings and re installl the disk. so i went into disk utility and clicked erase, after that i realized i did not put my pictures on my external drive and now i'm wonder even though i pushed erase in disk utility for my HD are my photos just gone off my computer and hidden in files that i have to recover. because i tried a few softwares that i downloaded and i found some of my photos but couldnt get them cause the software was a demo.
main question is even though i clicked erase HD and my pictures aren't on when i re install the mac DVD can i still recover them somehow??

I'm assuming that you were booted from the Mac install disk or recovery partition when you clicked Erase? (It's impossible to erase a disk you're booted from, at least using Disk Utility).
Do you have a backup of your computer, perhaps using Time Machine?
If not, and you still want to recover your pictures, first, STOP. Do not re-install Mac OS X. Installing the system and applications will overwrite your hard drive and potentially permanently lose your deleted files.
The only way you can retrieve your files is by using data recovery software such as Data Rescue. No, it's not cheap, but you have to decide what your photos are worth to you. You would need to run it from another Mac, ideally, and connect to your Mac using target mode.
If you're uncomfortable with that, you should seek a local reputable Mac/data recovery consultant.
The utility kaz-k points you to is not a solution to your problem. It's an Unerase Trash program.
Matt

Disk Utility missing the Erase tab

Tonight, I was attempting to reformat my Mac Mini FileVault encrypted hard drive. I have Mountain Lion 10.8 installed on it, and I have a bootable Mountain Lion USB stick.
I booted from the USB device, and first tried to format. Everything was greyed out. I had to "Unlock" the encrypted drive and then it was available.
I then tried to do an Erase, and it failed with an error I didn't catch, and then only "Macintosh HD" shows up (no volume below it in Disk Utility) and the Erase tab is unavailable. The Partition tab is also locked and nothing can be chosen.
I can Verify and Repair with no problems, but I am unable to repartition or erase the drive.
Any thoughts?

I ran in to this issue once again, when trying to clean install Mountain Lion on my MacBook. I rebooted to the Recovery partition, and tried to format/erase using Disk Utility and that failed and left the system where only the drive (Macintosh HD) would show up, and Erase was greyed out. I was unable to format using the command line due to seeing the message:
"The disk is in use by Core Storage as a Physical Volume"
I found a solution here:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/59026/how-to-install-mountain-lion-on-a -disk-that-cannot-be-formatted-in-recovery-mode
See the post by Anderson, where he shows how to clobber this Core Storage volume:
Basically, you need to run diskutil CoreStorage list from Terminal. Identify the logical CoreStorage volume from that list and note the UUID string.
Then type diskutil CoreStorage delete UUID where UUID is the string you identified.
You can then partition with Disk Utility and run a Mountain Lion install.
This did the trick for me, and I was then able to 0-byte format the drive and do a clean install over the internet.

My disk utility refuses to erase my hard drive

I've been trying for a few years to find some way to reset my mac to factory settings. Every last thing I've tried has failed. I was hoping the disk utility thing to erase it would work but the erase button never lets me to click on it

If you previously encrypted your hard drive (FileVault2) then your drive was enrolled in apple's CoreStorage format. If so, diskutility won't let you perform certain operations, and you'd first need to use advanced diskutil options from the command line ( $ diskutil cs delete ... ) to trash the CoreStorage volume.

How to restore macbook pro 10.7.2 to factory settings .. disk utility what to erase?

how to restore macbook pro 10.7.2 to original settings .. step by step.. in the disk utility what to erase?

If the computer came with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installed,
you have to erase the drive and install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
You can buy 10.6 Snow Leopard disc from Apple Store for 20 dollars;
Apple Store: 1-800-692-7753.
Best.

Disk Utility Error - Secure Erase Free Space failure

I have encountered a problem which I can't solve: I've used the secure erase feature to wipe unused parts of the disk before without problem. Now I get the following error message each time I try to use Disk Utility to do so:
"Secure Erase Free Space failed
Secure Erase Free Space failed with the error:
Could not create temporary file"
I tried it with the hard disk on the computer, my external backup disk, and a USB thumb drive. Same error message in each case.
If anyone knows the solution I would appreciate the help. I've scoured these fora and the internet to no avail.
Thanks.

Tried booting from another hard drive and running Disk Utility Repair Disk? follow up with Disk Warrior after that.
I would just do a full volume clone, reinitialize, and restore.

Trouble with Fantom drive / Disk Utility won't erase it

Until a few days ago, i had no problems with my Fantom 160 GB titanium drive. Then when i connected it to a freind's Mac, it started out OK fora few minutes, when my brother was playing around with creating an air network between the friend's computer, to which my fantom drive was attached, and my laptop. When i tried to activate the network, the Mac semi froze for a few minutes and just didn't do anything. when it started to move again, the fantom drive was showing 0 files in the finder window, and wouldn't eject.
So i turned it off and back on, which was probably a mistake; then the drive gave a message that it was unreadable.
Since i wouldn't lose too much data, i had no problem reinitializing the drive, but Disk Utility kept telling me that the erase failed.
When i try to verify the drive in Disk Utility, i get the error -9972: "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)"
This is the same text i get when i try to erase the drive, but without the error number.
I see at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302411 that this message this is bad, as Disk Utility cannot fix it.
Currently, the drive does not show up on the desktop, but it does show up in Disk Utilities. It stopped telling me the drive is unreadable.
Is this drive beyond help?

Dale,
that post is helpful, but I'm not sure how much it applies to me. My ibook shows no problems when not connected to the firewire drive, while the firewire drive started acting up when connected to another computer. i have also not been able to get the firewire drive to work on two other macs. The Fantom drive showed up as unreadable on all three, and Disk Utilities on all 3 computers failed to erase the firewire drive. By brother's had Disk Warrior & it wasn't able to do anything for the fantom drive, either.

Disk utility error when erasing an external hard drive

Hi,
Not sure if this is the most appropriate fourm list to post this but I thought I'd give it a try.
I am running snow leopard on my MBP and am trying to use disk utility to erase and format an ext. HD. While the disk icon does not show up on the desktop when I connect it to my mac, Disk utility does show the ext. hd in the left column, but no matter what format I try, even just using one partition and selecting zero out all data, I get the following error: "disk erase failed with the error: POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory".
Is the hd dead? Are there other options? I do have disk warrior, version 4.1.1 and it does not regonize the ext. hd.
Please advise.
Thanks,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did select the ext hd as the one I wanted to erase (my internal hd is my start up drive). After I selected the ext hd, (there is no volume listed under it so the only thing I can select is the hd itself). that is when I selected erase and then Mac journaled, then named the hd and then after selecting erase, I got the error. Also as a matter of note, if I select firstaid, both the repair and verify permissions are dimmed, so I can't even try to repair the disk. That is when I tried disk warrior hoping that could examine the hd, but since it is not mounted on the d/t, it doesn't show as a drive to check. I don't understand why the ext hd shows up in disk utility, but not the d/t. Also of note is the fact that when I connect that ext had to my Mac with a fw cable, a window opens saying that the drive is not readable and do I want to initialize it or ignore. I choose to initialize and that is when I get the error. Also of note is that I have tried both security options of "don't erase data" and "zero out data" and still get the same error.
Hope this clarifies things a bit.

Please help. Disk Utility Failure.

I just ran my disk utility function and received this error:
Disk Utility stopped verifying “Untitled 1” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
Does this mean that my hard drive is compromised? I've tried to run the first aid function several times and keep getting a failure message. Any and all help and input would be appreciated! Thanks!

If you get the Disk Utility message "Failure on exit", or the one's you received, it means there is an issue that Disk Utility can't fix. In many cases, either Disk Warrior or TechTools Pro can be used to fix it, with Disk Warrior being the more popular program. However, if Disk Warrior/TechTool Pro can't fix it, then you may be looking at a new hard drive (although you can erase the hard drive and try with a restore to keep using it). Curiously, a new drive may be less expensive than the repair software.
Smart Utility can give you a view of the SMART sensors to gain more information on the hardware health of your drive. Download with a trial license from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php

Disk Utility doesn't erase a partition...

Hi.
I know, there are many topics about partitioning and BootCamp, but none could help me so far...
I just tried to install Windows 7 on my iMac...I got the black screen, now I found the solution on the AppleSupport page, but that's not the point.
Since I couldn't use the Windows Partition, I tried to erase it with BootCamp. It said that after the repartitioning, the size my Macintosh HD would have been 465 GB (it was 500 at the beginning) so it was deleting Windows, but not resizing the partition.
So I tried to initialize with Disk Utility, and I ended up with a partition initialized in HFS+, but that I cannot edit.
I'd like to erase it and get free space, in order to expand my Mac OS X partition, but for some reason I can't.
I even downloaded the Demo of Drive Genius, and it says that that partition is "read only" so it cannnot erase it.
How can I get my 40GB back??

You blew whatever chance you had.
And no, using Boot Camp Assistant, which is correct way to remove it, does not "return" all the space in every case. Some is "lost."
Using DU though your only choice is to delete the volume you created and go from there, and try to extend.
But never work without a safety net, a backup or two.
You don't need DG3. It is good to have Disk Warrior. But your issue is with the partition tables, and not a file system error. iPartition might. But in reality, SuperDuper is your best bet: clone your system and reformat your drive (booted from your clone) and do a restore.
Try again with Disk Utility to remove the space.

Install errors and Disk Utility failure

Hello!
My current install of Mac OS X must have been a newer install of Panther. The retail install I bought is v10.3.5. I think the install was originally 10.3.7.
I've tried to run Disk Utility from the install Disc 1 and get a message: "*The underlying task reported failure on exit.*"
And I tried to also perform an Archive and install of Mac OS X Panther 10.3.5 and get a message: "*You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume without changing your install settings. A newer version of Mac OS X is installed*."
So, I'm asking what my options are as to keep my current user Home folder that I mainly use and delete the Administrator Account to get a fresh install that I can maintain properly without problems like I just quoted.
This is for my DA 533 MHz.
Thank you!
-Mike

How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
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.) 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, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Disk Utility hangs when erasing external disk

In Time Machine I wasn't able to figure out how to attach an external drive via USB. I guessed that it probably wouldn't work on a MS-DOS filesystem, so I started Disk Utility, which I never have used before. I have formatted disks before on Linux and on Windows, so it's nice to see a great app for this.
In the Time Machine brief help text, there is not mentioned what kind of filesystem that is required or if it work with any filesystem. So I searched, and it seems as if HFS+ journaled case-insensitive is the filesystem that one should choose. Can anyone confirm this?
When I click erase then the Disk Utility program hangs and I see the spinning beachball. The Activity Monitor program shows that disk activity stops after a few seconds. There is no more activity, so after 5 minutes I stop the program.
I have tried several times, and I see the same behavior. I even tried restarting the computer. But no luck.
Now my external disk no longer shows that it's a MS-DOS filesystem, but shows that it's HFS+ journaled case-insensitive. Probably not ok so far. I try creating a single patition, with format: HFS+ journaled case-insensitive, without OS 9 drivers installed. When I click apply then spinning beachball again and diskactivity stops after a few seconds, and I stop the program after some minutes where it has been inactive.
My guess is that the disk-erasing task failed and has left the disk in a broken state. During this task Disk Utility began to hang for a reason that I don't know.
My second guess to why the create-partition task failed, is that the disk is in a broken state, and thus the partition cannot be created, and Disk Utility hangs.
How do I format the external disk from the command line?

In Disk Utility, select the drive mechanism (not the volume on it) and click the Partition button. Use the Options button to choose the GUID partition scheme, then make one HFS+ (Journaled) volume.
There is no point in using the command line for this task, because if Disk Utility cannot deal properly with the disk, Mac OS X will not either. Disk Utility is using diskutil to do the partitioning and formatting.

Disk utility won't erase a dvd-rw

i want to erase my dvd-rw and when i go to disk utility and click "completely erase" the status bar says "preparing the drive" and then "waiting for drive" and right after that a window pops up saying that i've just inserted a blank dvd, and it asks what option i want. (eject, ignore, ok;action) and the dvd doesn't get erased. any help is greatly appreciated

I am experiencing a similar problem. I have recently erased several CD RWs with Toast & Firestarter. Suddenly yesterday I try to burn a disc, but the only option showing in Disk Utility under Optiarc is The Erase section, stating "Waiting For A Disc To Be Inserted". (No First Aid, Raid, Partition sectors showing). Now, I have just erased about 10 discs but the Erase section is static. It's like it's on a loop, expecting all discs loaded to be erased. Normal CDs are rejected, but DVDs are just fine. Restarting doesn't help. Is this something that you were experiencing and have you found an answer yet.

Disk Utility won't erase iMac drive

I have a late 2012 27" iMac.
I was taking it to the Apple Store to fix The Mechanism™ broke. (The tilt hinge). As I knew fixing it would entail leaving the iMac there for several days, I cloned my drive and erased the iMac.
HOWEVER, when trying to do it, both form a USB install drive I set up AND from the Recovery Partition, Disk Utility would fail to erase the drive. It would quit and go back to the install drive directory.
I then booted back to the regular drive, manually dragged most of the stuff to the trash and emptied it. I then went back to the USB drive and tried one last time.
This time, the drive reformatted like it was supposed to. I tried again, it worked again.
I loaded Mavericks on, and packed the iMac up and went to the store (where it is now).
The "Genius" had no idea why the erasing didn't work earlier, and since things now did work, I couldn't replicate. They're diagnostic scan showed everything was good.
It's the 1TB + Fusion drive.
BEFORE I manually erased everything, there was around 120 gb free on the drive. After there was 900+gb free.
Anyone seen anything like this? Have ideas what was happening?

Kappy wrote:
There are no free utilities for defragmenting a drive. Only the cloning I described is free.
Here's what you should do:
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list.
2. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. +(Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)+
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
That's what I did and it didn't work.

Hard drive absent in disk utility - want to erase and reinstall MacOS

Hi there. Any help would be most gratefully received.
I have a Power Mac G5 Dual 2Ghz with 2GB RAM, one internal HDD (250GB serial ATA 7200rpm - the original one), two external HDDs and a Philips 170B display, running (or not) MacOS 10.39.
It was working fine yesterday but on startup this morning it hung for a while on the grey Apple logo and progress "clock" then froze on a blue screen.
I tried removing all cables except display and keyboard/mouse and restarted a few times but to no avail.
I tried entering safe mode but it wouldn't work. Upon subsequent attempts at startup it took me (instead of the blue screen) to the flashing question mark/finder folder screen.
I then booted from my install CD and tried to run Disk Utility to repair the disk. Disk Utility recognised the disk and allowed me to select it. But when I tried to verify it, it failed and told me to repair. When I tried to repair it told me "invalid b-tree node size".
I then tried running the Apple Hardware Test CD. It found no faults at all in the full test of the system.
All of my data is stored on my external HDDs so my next thought was to erase the internal HDD and reinstall my software. (I use the Mac solely for Video editing and the only applications I have installed - in addition to all the basics - are the Apple Production Suite.)
However, this time when I booted from the install CD, Disk Utility would not recognise the internal HDD. The only thing I had done since it had recognised it the last time was to run the Hardware tests. In addition, since running the hardware tests, the HDD started making a strange noise whenever the Mac was on - like clicking with almost beep-like access noises.
The last time I tried restarting and booting into Disk Utility, the clicking began again and then eventually stopped. But still no evidence of the drive in Disk Utility.
Soooooooooo. I don't need to save any data on the hard drive. I have all my software and OS discs. I just want to wipe the drive and start afresh (assuming this is the best course of action?). But I am unable to do so because of this new development in my attempts to fix the problem: the unrecognised hard drive (coupled with the strange noises).
If you have any ideas, please do get in touch. I'm pretty broke at the minute and I'm trying to find a solution without having to purchase a new drive. Obviously, if this is the only solution, then I'll have to bear that cost. But since it has recognised the disk just a few steps before, I'm hoping there's a way back.
Yours in optimism

I am not sure about battery, I still use G4 MDD which is unplugged for months, was always off at night (UPS was off) and still works.
But I would always use both SATA drive bays, and I think you need to invest in one or two new drives.
For now, try disconnecting your drive and see if you can boot from external drive and CD/DVD.
Also see if you can get into Open Firmware.
Resetting PMU would also be worth while when you get in to disconnect your hard drive (I think 3 yrs is more than enough for any OEM drive, too).
http://www.apple.com/support/powermac/

Disk Utility failure to erase/initialize

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