Disk Utility has been trying to make a partition on hard drive for a long time

Disk Utility has been trying to make a partition on hard drive for a long time, I want to make 2nd partition and install the Snow Leopard on 2nd disk,
Lion is very slow on my Early 2011 MBP.

I am using MBP early 2011 with Osx Lion,
Lion was slow for me and I have no external HD to backup my files,
Than I want to make 2 partititon of my internal HD to backup my files to it, and also want to install Snow Leopard to that new partition using the CDs comes with my MBP.
After that.
I was using Disk Utility to partition my MBP to install Snow Leopard to my second part. While partitioning my Disk Utility did not complete and wouldn't continue the process, I waited about 30 minutes to see if it fix itself, so I cancelled it and restart the Mac, upon rebooting I opened Disk Utility to try again and I noticed I lost 400 gigabytes of space. I tried to "Erasing Free Space" but after a couple of minutes it finished and the same problem 400 GBs of lost space.
Is there a way to fix this and regain my lost hard drive space?

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Disk Utility has been trying to make a partition on hard drive for 5 hours what happens if I stop it

I have bee trying to make a partition on my mac Book Pro hard drive with disk utility. It says it is modifying partition map for 6 hours now, What happens if I stop this?

gaborneo wrote:
I don't want to erase my whole drive.
Your only erasing the Free Space of your OS X partition, meaning the areas where there is none of your data stored.
Because when Bootcamp works it's going to take some from that to create the Bootcamp partiton for Windows.
If I choose erase does it then give me the option before I press something else and wipe out what I don't want to wipe out just yet?
If you click Erase Free Space it give s a option and then you go.
My dvd player is bust and at the moment...
Well how are you going to install Windows and the drivers?
You didn't read the Bootcamp manual did you?
https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
IMO, your not up to doing this, I advise you to stop and forget about installing Windows, because your problems are only just started.
Good Luck

Disk Utility has been Shrinking disk for several hours....

I have an external HD (FW800/GUID) that has 2 partitions in it that I'm trying to reduce the size of one of the partitions to make room for a third without deleting anything on the drive. Disk Utility has been 'shrinking disk' for several hours and I'm debating if it's hanging. I see no activity on the drive, so I'm not sure what's going on.
How long should this typically take to finish?
the partition in question has about 1.3T of data on it and I'm trying to free up about 300G that's unused.
Should I be concerned? How long should I let this go before bailing the app?

What's the chance that the data will be corrupt if I force quit disk utility?
In the middle of repartitioning that has apparently hung? I would guess it would range somewhere from high to certain. You should immediately use Disk Utility to repair both partitions after force-quitting.
I didn't make a backup
I hope you're lucky, but I have the feeling you're about to learn your lesson about not having backups in a very severe way. If the drive cannot be repaired at this point, you may need a file recovery utility like [Data Rescue|http://www.prosofteng.com> or [File Salvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1].
In the future, you absolutely must have a minimum of two backups (three copies) of any data you can't afford to lose.

Disk Utility has been partitioning for about 3 hours now.

Ok so I wanted to partition my internal hard drive for time machine. So I went into Applications and opened up Disk Utility. I then Selected my internal hard drive, adjusted the partitions to the desired sizes and clicked apply. All the options grayed out and the little striped progress bar began moving. This was about 3-4 hours ago and nothing has changed. Someone help please, I'm afraid to force quit it or turn off my mac at the cost of my hard drive.

It's not really a progress bar just an animated blue and white "candy cane-like" bar
If that is the case, that is not a progress indicator, so it hasn't yet started to partition and is stalled. Just stop, there will be no damage.
The question now is why has this happened, and what can you change so that it doesn't happen on your next attempt, but goes to immediate partition, which should not take longer than 30 seconds or so.

Quitting Disk Utility in middle of an operation erasing a 2TB hard drive

Hello,
I have bought a 2TB external hard drive for backing up my files. I noticed when i plugged it in on my iMac that the files can be copied off the device but nothing can be altered and put on. So after a lot of research I heard that I should make a single pass erase on Disk Utility to reformat the hard drive to be used in both systems. So I did.
The problem is that I saw it would take about 10 hours for this to happen and it has been many hours more. I saw on some other sites that some people had problems where it took days. If I quit in the middle of a erase operation it warns me that quitting in the middle may render the drive non-operational. I don't want to lose it as I spent a considerable amount on it.
Shall I risk it and quit the process? If not, how long intuitively would it take for the 2TB hard drive to finish?
Thanks!

Hello azrael2010
Welcome to Apple Support Communities
A single or multiple pass erase +(writing 0's)+ is not necessary before reformatting a new drive, it is meant to write over and secure data from recovery.
To reformat a drive from NTSF to MS-DOS/FAT-32 all one needs to do is:
1. Select the External HDs first icon in the Disk Utility list of drives
2. Select the Partition tab
3. Select the number of desired partitions under Volume Scheme:
4. Select Options...
5. Select Master Boot Record and click OK (+setting the Partition scheme)+
6. Select MS-DOS (FAT) +(setting the format)+
7. Select the Apply button +(which should quick erase and format the drive in a few minutes)+
Also see > http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
Personally I have stopped a Secure Erase on many occasions and always opted for the quick erase when formatting a new drive from MS-DOS/FAT-32 to GUID Partition Table/Mac OS Extended and never had a problem...
Also note MS-DOS/FAT-32 has a single file size limitation of 4GB.
See >http://www.macworld.com/article/51972/2006/07/ww_drives.html
Dennis

HT4818 When I try to partition my hard drive for Windows 7, I get an error saying The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. I have a 2006 Macbook Pro I believe and I really need assistance as soon as possible.

I have Windows 7 Premium Home and I have downloaded the Drivers and when I click Boot Camp Assistance to partition my hard drive, it says, "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again." I can't do any backup really because I don't have an external hard drive to work with. I tried repairing disk permissions but that did not do anything. I really need a lot of help with this with some easy, step-by-step tutorials or something. I believe I have a 2006 version of Macbook Pro(4,1).

Once you have obtained an external drive and connected it you will 'clone' your internal drive to it.
Download Carbon Copy Cloner (it is not free but there is a fully functional trial version which is). Use it to clone your internal drive to your external drive. When that is done you will reboot from the clone and use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive (choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) as the format (this is normally preset, but check). Make sure to give the external drive a 'distinctive' name, don't want to get drives mixed up in this process.
Once that is done you will use Carbon Copy Cloner (from the clone) to restore the external to the internal.

Disk Utility - has been modified and will not be repaired.

I am running Disk Utility "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair Disk Permissions" then I've encountered an errors below. Please let me know how to get rid of it? Or do I need not to be concerned over it? Thanks.
2009-10-09 21:18:18 +0800: Disk Utility started.
2009-10-09 21:18:27 +0800: Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
2009-10-09 21:23:15 +0800: Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
2009-10-09 21:23:59 +0800: Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
2009-10-09 21:23:59 +0800: Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
2009-10-09 21:24:14 +0800: Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
2009-10-09 21:24:22 +0800:
2009-10-09 21:24:22 +0800: Permissions verification complete
2009-10-09 21:24:22 +0800:
2009-10-09 21:24:22 +0800:
2009-10-09 21:25:09 +0800: Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
2009-10-09 21:29:21 +0800: Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
2009-10-09 21:30:07 +0800: Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
2009-10-09 21:30:07 +0800: Repaired "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls".
2009-10-09 21:30:07 +0800: Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
2009-10-09 21:30:07 +0800: Repaired "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs".
2009-10-09 21:30:23 +0800: Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
2009-10-09 21:30:31 +0800:
2009-10-09 21:30:31 +0800: Permissions repair complete
2009-10-09 21:30:31 +0800:
2009-10-09 21:30:31 +0800:

Did you install SL as an upgrade over an existing system? If so I believe the parental controls message may be due to an old ACL. The ARD message is not unusual either. SUID messages should simply be ignored. We all see those. The messages themselves are innocuous. You can safely ignore them as they do not harm.

IMac disk utility not reading any FAT32/NTFS related partitions/CD/flash drives

Hi everyone!
I'm trying to access my drives and later on install bootcamp and windows on my iMac. At moment I can only start the iMac in safe mode (long story, if interested check out iMac 27" (late 2009), freezing - List of solutions tried). Any steps taken so far to read and format other drives has been in Safe Mode.
Problems:
- any formats except Mac OS X extended gets greyed out in Disk Utility.
- Not able to read/mount flash drives, external drives or CD's with any other formats.
Solutions tried:
- Tried to format using OSX on current iMac, MBP and PC and no change or luck.
- Tried on other machines and it works great. So it's related to my iMac.
- Disk Utility try to Mount drive/partition - getting error "The disk "BOOTCAMP" could not be mounted"
- Installed Paragon NTFS but no difference.
- Disk Utility no disk error reported
Searched on internet and forums for a solution w/o any luck. Haven't found anyone with similar problems or I'm using wrong keywords. Haven't found any Knowledge Base about other formats is disabled in Safe Mode state so it can't be that either. Below is a picture that shows any other partitions than mac is greyed out.
Any suggestions or anyone encounter with this wierd behavior?

Paragon NTFS MAC ÔS X is ideal for using NTFS insideOS X
You want Bootcamp forum
External drives not supported

AirPort Disk Utility doesn't show AE Base Station-connected USB Hard Drive

I've got my AirPort network up and running, but I can't get he AirPort Disk Utility to recognise my LaCie USB Hard Drive.
A menu popped up once saying it had "become available" and asked me to eneter a password, but when I did it said it was incorrect (it wasn't) and the drive had disappeared again.
Suggestions?
Rob
MacBook Pro 17 / 2,.16 GHz / 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

You may want to check the posts in the AirPort Extreme (802.11n) discussion area to see if a solution has been posted.

Disk Utility in Internet Recovery mode cannot properly detect new hard drive

I intend to format my new hard rive and install OS X into it.
Here is my problem, I bought a new 1TB HGST 7200rpm hard disk and put into the macbook. I boot up under Internet recovery mode, under the disk utility I tried format to MacOS Extended Journaled but it takes ages (stuck for more than 15 minutes). I simply just cannot get the macbook to read the drive under disk utility from Internet recovery mode.
Here are the things that I have tried:
1. Boot the MacBook from old drive, successfully use the disk utility to zero out format (MacOS Extended Journaled) with 1 partition (GUID). But when I boot the Mac under Internet recovery mode, the disk utility simply cannot mount the drive.
2. Restore the new drive (as an external drive) from the old drive using disk utility, successfully restore. I could startup the new disk as an external drive, but when I put it into the Mac it shows flashing folder. I waited for more than 30 minutes, the flashing folder just stays there.
3. Boot the MacBook on Internet recovery mode and connect the new drive as external drive, no problem. I reinstall OS X into it but it midway it stop and error message says something like cannot add additional components.
Not sure what is the problem, I think I have exhausted all method. There is no issue with the new hard drive and MacBook.

The MacBook is early 2013. It came with 1TB Mountain Lion, I left the DVD in my country so I don't have it with me. How do I download the installer? the Mac App Store only lets me upgrade the OS to Maverick.
I have tried to restore the new drive from my old drive, but the only way is to use Internet Recovery. The Disk Utility boot from the old drive OS (Mountain Lion) does not allow me to restore my new hard drive from the old (current boot) drive, the message instruct me to use the Internet recovery mode. From here I can see my new drive format as GUID, but when I boot to Internet Recovery the Disk Utility recognised my new drive format as Master Boot Record instead of GUID...?????

Has anyone tried a Western Digital SATA RAID hard drive on a non-RAID controler?

Because of a compatability problem, I want to try a different brand of SATA II drive on my non-RAID motherboard. The WD RAID drives have great specs but I don't know if they will work. WD says they are ONLY for RAID and not to put them on a non-RAID board. My theory is that they will be more reliable over the long term because they are a heavier duty drive.
Has anyone tried this and if so, what were the results?

I think there was some confusion about what I am asking. It is definately not a duplication of my other post and some of the information in that other post is incorrect because I JUST found out that my motherboard controller IS a RAID controller even though I am not using it as one. I will correct that when I am finished with this post.
The other post was about a specific model of Maxtor drive that doesn't work on my motherboard. This post is about Western Digital. The only reason that I even mentioned the word RAID in my previous post is that there is a known compatibility problem with RAID controllers and that drive. I wanted to emphasize that my problem was not the one of that known compatibility problem, but because it is a RAID controller, it might be that problem.
When you use the motherboard's controller as a non-RAID controller, you do format the drives individually, not as a RAID. I know that because I did it that way, not realizing I even had the option of using RAID on this board. That works fine on one model of Maxtor hard drive and does not work at all on the other model of Maxtor hard drive.
What I want to know now is: Will the Western Digital RAID drives will work on a non-RAID controller. The controllers on my add-in card is not RAID. Also, will that drive work on my motherboard's controller even though it is not being used as RAID.
Here is a link to the WD site's description of one such drive. There are several other WD RAID drives, this is just one example... http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=238&Language=en It does not state whether or not they will work well in a non-RAID environment.

Downloaded Mountain Lion from App Store, but it says by disk is locked and won't let me choose the hard drive for installation

I'm struggling to get Mountain Lion installed on my machine, but what is worse is that it has essentially rendered my computer useless (and of course I need to use it urgently). After downloading and installing from the App Store, I have run into some significant problems.
On install, when prompted to "select the disk where you want to install OS X" the hard drive is greyed out and a message comes up that says "The disk is locked."
So when I back out of the install, I am given the option for Disk Utility, Reinstall OS X (same results as before) or Restore from Backup (not backed up).
On the Disk Utility, I can hit Verify Disk and it names an error and says to hit Repair Disk. The error is an "Invalid Sibling Link. The volume Macintost HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired." Unfortunately, Repair Disk is greyed out and I can't hit it.
What I want to do is just forget the entire process at this point and scrap the upgrade until I have time to figure out what is going on. Is there a way to abort at this point?
Thanks for any help!

Your welcome!
You should always have and keep an up to date backup.
Sounds like you need something a little stronger than Disk Utility. At this point I have no way of knowing if Disk Warrior can or will help.
Depends..!
If you do format and install, then Yes it will.
If you reinstall OS X, then No it will not.
Problem is that according to the Disk Utility message, I don't think that you will be able to install either 10.6 or 10.8.
Those are very good questions. The only bad questions are the ones you have to ask yourself.

Trying to use new 500GB external hard drive for backup for first time

I'm doing our normal Clonezilla Backup procedure and ran out of disk space for the first time. The normal person who does this is on vacation. I put the new hard drive in for the backup, but when I ran Clonezilla it didn't recognize it.
I looked in Server Manger and it shows it as Unknown with a red arrow and not initialized. It's shown as unallocated. What do I need to do at this point? Do you have instructions or a link to instructions? I'm new to working with servers,
etc. I probably need to format the new external drive but I'm not sure how. This is a simple server, without VM's, etc.
Thanks!

Thank you for the updating.
If there is still anything we can help please just let us know.
If you have any feedback on our support, please send to [email protected]

I'm trying to make a purchase on App store for the first time and I forgot my security questions. What should I do?

I have set up my apple ID quite some time ago and I don't remember what I answered for my security questions. Can someone help me with how to change them so that I can make my purchase? Thanks

If you have a rescue email address (an alternate email address is different) on your account then you can use that to reset them : http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6170
If you don't have a rescue email address (you won't be able to add one until you can answer your questions) then you will have to contact Support in your country to get the questions reset.
Contacting Apple about account security : http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT5699
If your country isn't on that page then try this form and explain and see what they reply with : https://ssl.apple.com/emea/support/itunes/contact.html
When they've been reset, and if you don't already have a rescue email address, you can then add one for potential future use : http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201356
Or if it's available in your country you could change to 2-step verification : http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT5570

How can I sync my iPad to hard drive that has been replaced. It was on the hard drive that crashed

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Reset the iPad by holding down on the sleep and home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider if it appears on the screen - let go of the buttons. Let the iPad start up.

Disk Utility has been trying to make a partition on hard drive for a long time

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