Erase HD in disk utility is grey, not mounted, locked. help!

i have a 2011 mac mini running Mt. Lion. it's running really slowly and i want to wipe the HD and restore it back to orginal factory settings. like the day i brought it home. i boot in to the disk utility using command-R on start up, select disk utility but my mac HD is grey, erase is grey. i can verify it and repair, but cant erase it. when i click "get info" it shows it as not mounted and locked. where do i go from here to restore my mini!
thanks!.

i thought if you booted in recovery mode then you were booted from the partitioned part of your HD, and thus can errase all your data on the HD.
how else does someone restore to factory settings then?

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I have a fat32 formatted drive (WD my passport 500GB) that is showing in disk utility but does not mount. I am using a macbook with mac osx 10.5.8.

Disk warrior came highly recommended on other posts but because the drive is not mac os formatted it won't do its warrior magic...
The drive shows in disk utility but the options to repair are greyed out. The drive ejects sometimes but not others. The drive powers up with light and I can hear noise (not loud just a hum that confirms (i think) that it is spinning.). The drive is as it cames and booted on both a windows XP pc and my macbook with mac os x 10.5.8.
I have tried test disk but after running for a day with no other command prompts other than the first recommend I uninstalled it.
Any other suggestions?

Hi Christina,
It's quite possible the AC PSU has given out, if It's only Bus powered as it appears, that's the worst idea ever & asking for eventual problems.
What Format is it?
Did you install any WD SW?
Your best bet is DiskWarrio...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

External hard drive seen in Disk Utility, but will not mount.

My external hard drive has power and is spinning, but will not mount. It was fine yesterday. It shows up in Disk Utility and is verified and repaired. Tried the drive on 2 other macs with same result. Tried a new enclosure and that did not work. Tried all ports...usb and firewire. Any way to save my data?
I have screen shot of the partition info from Disk Utility for the hard drive included:

Hi Dominic,
If this is still not mounting, it may be worth trying a PRAM reset...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Ben

Disk Utility shows Disk1, not mounted, and no further information???

Disk Utility shows my correct disk partitions in the top section (my hard disk with two partitions and my superdrive). In the lower section, however, there is a "disk1" which shows no information. Under that is another "disk1" which shows only 'Not mounted' for 'Mount Point:' and '0 Bytes' for 'Capacity'. All other lines only show dashes.
I looked at my /Volumes folder in Terminal. It shows four entries:
x MPBWinXP - which is my boot camp partition
x MacBook Pro HD - which is my OS X partition
x MacBackups-1 - which is an external drive on my network (for my Time Machine backups)
x administrator's Public Folder - hunh?
So, this "disk1" in my Disk Utility must represent one of the last two, I'm thinking. And, I'm thinking the last one isn't supposed to be there - or is it there because I shared it at some point, maybe?
Any thoughts on this and what I might do to get rid of the "disk1" from my Disk Utility display?

I never received a reply to this, so I'm marking it as 'answered' just to close it out.

Erasing Securely in Disk Utility

Erasing Securely in Disk Utility
I wish I could send this directly to the Apple software engineer in charge of Disk Utility, but maybe there is someone on this Forum who is technically very savvy and would stake their reputation on their answer.
I would bet thousands have had this same question cross their mind...
I'm trying to understand the process regarding erasing a hard disk using Disk Utility.
For this example, use a 300 GB hard drive that has the following:
150 GB of readable files
100 GB of files that were sent to the trash and emptied (but not "secure empty trash"… so just their directory info was erased when trashed)
50 GB of never used free space
I'm confused by the wording in the Disk Utility's erase options.
One of the choices is Zero Out Free Space.
Does that mean it only writes zeroes over the 50GB of never used space?
Or does it write zeroes over the 50GB AND the 100GB spaces?
Another confusing choice is Zero Out Data
Does that mean it only writes zeroes over the 150GB of readable data?
Or does it write zeroes over the 150GB AND the 100GB of unreadable data ?
If the latter is true, then the sequence probably should be
erase free space (unless it ONLY writes zeroes to never used space)
then choose
zero out data (assuming it also zeroes the unreadable data too)
Thanks for any help

Perhps I did not make myself clear (or you misread a verb or two).
I did read your link,but it does not clarify the technical design of this software.
The Erase button lets you "Zero Out All Data", but data to me is a file (whether or not it is readable in the directory of not). Whereas Free Space can be either virgin territory or trashed files with the directory info stripped clean. So why do you say that Zero Out All Data would include virgin disk space when there was never data there ?
Also if Erase>Zero Out All Data "writes zeroes to every byte on the drive", and projects an erase time of 13 hours, then why does it estimate 2 days 9 hours when I choose Erase Free Space>Zero Out Deleted Files? (Which further confuses the reader with this Apple description: It writes zeroes over the UNUSED space in the disk.) (My capitalization for emphasis). Yes, parts of it are CURRENTLY not being recognized, but it IS filled with data (as opposed to the virgin space being filled with no data).
So you can see why I am confused.
And though you may be right, I alwatys ask. "Would you bet your child's or your mother's life on your answer?"
That's why I left it an Open question for the moment ... hoping to also snag an Apple Moderator.
Thank you for your help though.

No Erase option in Disk Utility for an SSD Drive!

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

Aha! I only looked at 'format' list, didn't notice the 'option' list.
problem solved.
thank you !

Hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute

hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute...
i tryed diffrent commands such as diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Disk1
diskutil list , wont show up my harddrive , i now its functionally cause it shows up in disk utility with name and i can get info about it , but everything is greyed out can only switch between "erase , partition , recover , Raid ,....
when i click the apple in the top left corner the whole menu is greyed out... what to do ? help me please
Sincerly AppleNoob92
p.s i have no experience in apple imac's at all never used before, but im kinda windows nerd so computers i understand but this imac make my insane, cant seem to find any solutions anywhere on the WWW....

Your HD may be crashed, so you probably should use the oringinal install discs to run Apple Hardware Test in extended mode. If error codes appear this confirms a hardware failure. In addition you cannnot repair the HD using Disk Utility from the startup disk, you have to use the origninal Install discs that shipped with the computer or the most up-to-date version of OS X on a disc that you have.

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed. Now disk utility only has the option to install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow. Anyone any ideas as my Mac won't load anything up but disc utility!

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed on initial setup, USB cable popped out Now can only access disk utility as won't load to log in screen. The only has the option in disc utility is to re-install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow or loading another time machine back up but after an hour of it processing, that didn't resolve the issue either! The time machine back up is the latest back up of my Mac Book Pro which was using OS X Maverix. I'm guessing I'm going to have to take my Mac to the store but that would be a hassle so does anyone have any ideas?

Follow this guide using another Mac.
Insert your newly created Mavericks USB into you Mac, press the power button and then hold down 'option,' until it gives you an option to boot from the USB. You will then be able to erase the internal disk with Disk Utility and reinstall Mavericks straight after.
After that you should be able to use Migration Assistant to restore your applications and user data.

I have a problem with disk utility that is not on my mac pro

I have a problem with disk utility that is not on my mac pro

Open your Applications folder then open the Utilities folder. It should be there.
If not, click the magnifying glass icon top right corner of your screen. That's Spotlight.
Type: Disk Utility
Hopefully it will show up.
Mac Basics: Spotlight

Partition Tab in Disk Utility is Greyed Out

Basically I wanted to try out Mac OS X Yosemite, so I created a partition on my hard drive. Now, I am trying to remove this partition, because it is no longer needed, but Disk Utility is simply not allowing me to.
I heard there may be a way to solve this using Terminal. Is that possible?
Any answers and/or helpful comments is appreciated in advance. Thank you.

And, this was from the Internet Recovery utilities window, right? OK, this next suggestion depends on which MBA model you have. Check the link below. If your model came with Lion pre-installed then it is capable of using Internet Recovery. If it came with a late version of Snow Leopard it can be upgraded via a firmware update. You will find this in the link below.
Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
            if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Once the Utility Menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Now try removing the partition again. If you have the same error, then do the following:
From the screen's menubar select Terminal from the Utilities menu. Enter the following at the prompt:
     diskutil list
Press RETURN. You should see a display of your devices. Next enter:
     diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/disk0
Press RETURN. Now, if this works your internal drive should be unmounted. Return to Disk Utility and try the process of removing the partition.

Os x could not be installed on Mac book pro because storage system verify or repair failed. When i open disk utility HDD does not let me repair.

os x could not be installed on Mac book pro because storage system verify or repair failed.
When i open disk utility HDD does not let me repair.

In order to repair the system disk you must boot from another disk drive. The operating system will not allow the disk drive it is running from to be repaired.
Book the MBP and create a bootable clone on an external disk drive. Then boot from the external disk drive and repair the system disk drive from there.

Erase functions on Disk Utility in Lion

Having installed Lion on my MacBook Air I find the erase functions on Disk Utility are no longer available. Any ideas?

Michael Superczynski wrote:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
Thank you for the link Michael.
I'm still wondering why I can't erase or partition my disk.
It works fine in SL on my MacBook Pro Unibody (late 2008). It even works on my old white MacBook from 2005 which I upgraded to the OS X Lion.

TS2176 my mac disk utility option is not showing drive where to install

my mac disk utility option is not showing drive where to install

Sadly, it sounds like the drive has died if it isn't showing there, but on the off chance it's just really messed up...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Disk utility's will not repair permission launch from option V 1.0(53)

Disk utility's will not repair permission launch from option V 1.0(53)

What is Option V in reference to? What happens when you attempt to repair permissions? Please describe your issue in more detail. Thanks.

My Bootcamp partition will not boot. It won't mount either. It shows up grey in Disk Utility and cannot be mounted or restored.

It appears some sort of hybrid GPT MBR error. It was the resut of of partition editing. I have programs installed that were liscensed through a robotics program. I would not like to format it. I would like to atleast be able to mount it, and hopefuly boot it.
I looked at this but don't quite understand it.
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/59118/how-can-i-mount-partition-disk0s4 -that-became-inaccessible-after-a-clean-install

Hello bechardj,
I would use the disk utility to verify and/or if needed repair the partition to help troubleshoot the issue
From the help menu item: https://help.apple.com/diskutility/mac/10.8/help/index.html
You can check a disk for problems without repairing it. If you used the disk to start up your Mac, verifying means that you don’t need to restart your computer unless you need to repair your disk.
As Disk Utility checks a disk for problems, your computer may become slow or unresponsive.
Open Disk Utility from Applications.
Select a disk or partition and then click First Aid.If you run First Aid on a disk, Disk Utility checks the partition maps on the disk and performs some additional diskwide checks. If you run First Aid on a partition, Disk Utility verifies the all the contents of that partition.
If Disk Utility tells you the disk or partition is about to fail, back it up and replace it. You can’t repair it.
Click Verify Disk. If Disk Utility reports that it appears to be OK, you’re done. Otherwise, you need to repair it Repair a disk.
All the very best,
Sterling

Erase HD in disk utility is grey, not mounted, locked. help!

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