Guid partitioning

Have a MacBook with OS X 10.6.8 and downloaded Lion.
It won't install - says "the disk does not use the GUID partition scheme"
What is the best way to fix this without loosing all my data on the hard disk drive.
Disk utility says I have "Partition map scheme: Master Boot Record"
and "Mac OS Extended (journaled)"
Thanks

Actually it is reported that even though OSX refuses to install to non-GUID partitions for Intel machines, if you clone OSX to an APM drive it will still work with an Intel Machine. What you have done sounds fine, especially if you don't think you will ever want to install OSX directly on that second drive with an Intel machine.

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"GUID partition table scheme" Can't install snow leopard on my mbp.

I have a mbp that is partitioned as half mac, half XP. I put in the snow leopard CD and came up with an error that said I could not istall snow leopard because my partition did not fit the "GUID partition table scheme". I followed the menues to the partition section of the disk utility. From there, I don't know what to do. I can't click on the "options" button to change to the GUILD thing. Do I need to repartition my entire mbp? Will this erase my other partition? And will it delete all my data? Any suggestions on what to do???

GUID partition table (GPT) or map is a set of instructions at the very begining of a storage drive to tell the hardware what partitions and formats are where on the drive.
A Intel Mac now requires a GPT to boot OS X as it uses EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) which is a software firmware in a hidden EFI partition on the boot drive designed originally for copy protection by Intel. EFI loads into memory before OS X does, which can be seen if you have verbose mode activated upon boot time.
Setting up the boot drive with a GUID Partiton table WILL require backing up of all data off the machine and a complete erasure of ALL partitions on the drive, which includes ALL data, programs, operating systems and files not backed up off the machine previously.
Since a partition map is basically road directions, when it's destroyed so does go the partitions.
Also since you will be fresh installing 10.6, your free iLife won't tag along,, however you can erase/install 10.5 first then upgrade to 10.6 (no BootCamp) and that shoudl work.
Unfortunatly Mac's only now support Windows 7 in Bootcamp, however Windows 7 Pro (and above) will run XP programs natively or via free virtual machine XP downloaded from Microsoft, however since it's really not native, 3D games etc likely won't run very well.
If your not familiar or willing to take a chance, then I suggest you have someone else upgrade that machine.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Can I use gpt to recreate/unerase a partition table? (Rebuild the GPT/GUID partition table?) I don't want to do FILE recovery.

(Yes, I've googled a bunch and read threads like this one already.)
Can I use gpt or some other app to recreate/unerase a partition table? That is, how can I rebuild a disk's GPT/GUID partition table?) I don't want to do FILE recovery.
What happened: Instead of erasing a single partition off a disk with many partitions, the entire partition table was erased (using Disk Utility, w/o deleting the underlying files). Somehow the "Erasing a disk deletes all data on all its partitions." warning message was missed.
I have a copy of the output of df, with the number of blocks in each partition, from just prior to the erasure, so I should be able to recreate the GPT/GUID partition table. Editing the GPT with a hex editor is not feasible. Simply recreating the partitions with Disk Utility will overwrite the key filesystem tables on each partition, and I don't want to do that, plus Disk Utility doesn't allow me to specify exact partition sizes anyway.
Surely there's an app for rebuilding the partition table (other than emacs' hexl-mode!) for recreating/unerasing a partition table when the partition sizes and orders are known? I've looked at the advertising for a bunch of recovery software and none of them clearly indicate that they will do what I want.
I guess I can try using gpt on a copy of the reformatted drive I've made with dd, and see what happens. But perhaps someone knows of a tool that should do what I need, or knows if gpt is that tool or not.
There are answers and tools that will do FILE recovery - search for files and recover the ones that aren't fragmented or deleted. As far as I can find, they just look for files on the disk, and don't pay much, if any attention to the filesystem info or directory heirarchy, which in this case is valuable. Of course I could send it in to DriveSavers, or the like. But none of that seems necessary, and the scavenging file recovery apps won't do the job well,
E.g. some are mentioned here:
I don't want to do FILE recovery.
Thanks for any help.
The links in this post are to pages describing the underlined term, e.g. the man pages for df and gpt.
dd output includes:
Filesystem
512-blocks
Used Available Capacity Mounted on

Aperture has the ability to work with files in their existing location. They are called "referenced masters." When you import images, you should select the "In their current location" in the "Store Files:" drop down box. Have a read of the documentation for full specifics. Unsure how you can resolve your duplication; might be some work but next time have a read of the manual first
Information for versions is stored in the Aperture database (library file). The masters can be inside the library file itself, or they can be somewhere else.

FAT32 Partitions on GUID Partition Table External Drive Not Seen in Vista

I have an interesting predicament. I have repartitioned my external hard drive to have 5 partitions: 2 HFS+ and 3 FAT32. The external drive has a GUID Partition Table. The drive was formatted and partitioned using Disk Utility.
When I boot into Windows Vista using Boot Camp, Vista will ONLY mount the first Windows compatible partition. For example, if I have two partitions disk2s2 and disk2s3 (both FAT32), Vista only mounts disk2s2.
The described partition setup worked well with Master Boot Record, minus the bug with Time Machine choking every so often.
Any ideas on how I can get Vista to recognize these partitions?

Hi Karl87,
according to the german computer magazine c't there is a limitation/flaw in the Master Boot Record (MBR:
Only the first four partitions are shown in the MBR and since one of these entrys is taken by the needed hidden EFI-partition and the next two entrys are taken by the OSX partition, there is only one of your three FAT partitions shown.
This limitation to four partition entries is quite old.
See here for further informations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterbootrecord
To my knowledge there is no solution for this.
Regards
Stefan

Can I back up a bootable partition from an APM drive to a GUID-partitioned hard drive for storage, later to be able to clone restore the backup back to an APM and have it be bootable on a PowerPC?

Tongue twister of a question, huh?
I am creating a APM-partitioned hard drive for use with a PowerPC iMac G5, so I can have a fresh OS install on one as a reference, and the other be my usable OS. Now, I also want to back both of these partitions up on a storage hard drive that I also want to contain partitions that are bootable on an Intel mac (GUID). My question is, can I clone my APM partitions as backup to designated partitions on my GUID backup/storage hard drive (which I plan on being able to boot other partions on an Intel Mac), and have the option of later cloning the same APM partitions back to an APM-paritioned hard drive and have them still be bootable on a Power PC? I know I won't be able to boot a Power PC from off of the GUID-paritioned drive, but I want to be able to restore my APM-partitioned drive incase things go sour with it.
Thanks so much for your time, guys!

Block-level copier that copies not just the files but the filesystem structure as well. But files can be moved from GUID to APM partitioned devices without any effect on the file. The partition scheme affects whether an installed system will boot a particular type of hardware.
If you installed OS X on a GUID partitioned drive you would not be able to boot a PPC Mac.
And, you're most welcome.
Please note the items listed under Legend in the right sidebar of this page.

Why is my GUID partitioned HD not booting from external firewire

Hello everyone,
I have a new 2TB WD EARS drive which I have Snow Leopard installed on. It was cloned from my 1TB WD drive which was running Snow Leopard perfectly beforehand. I have the 2TB HDD installed in a firewire400/800/USB/eSata enclosure and I cannot boot up from the HDD. It is GUID Partitioned as you can see from the Info below:
    Name :     WDC WD20 EARS-19MVWB0 Media
    Type :     Disk
    Partition Map Scheme :     GUID Partition Table
    Disk Identifier :     disk1
    Media Name :     WDC WD20 EARS-19MVWB0 Media
    Media Type :     Generic
    Connection Bus :     USB
    USB Serial Number :     000001D919A8
    Writable :     Yes
    Ejectable :     Yes
    Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed :     No
    Location :     External
    Total Capacity :     1.8 TB (2,000,398,934,016 Bytes)
    S.M.A.R.T. Status :     Not Supported
    Disk Number :     1
    Partition Number :     0
Name :     CREAZNMIND
    Type :     Volume
    Disk Identifier :     disk1s2
    Mount Point :     /Volumes/CREAZNMIND
    File System :     Mac OS Extended
    Connection Bus :     USB
    Writable :     Yes
    Universal Unique Identifier :     22415261-328A-3D43-80BC-241D1051E78C
    Capacity :     1.8 TB (2,000,054,956,032 Bytes)
    Free Space :     1.3 TB (1,393,188,286,464 Bytes)
    Used :     565.2 GB (606,866,669,568 Bytes)
    Number of Files :     851,286
    Number of Folders :     186,288
    Owners Enabled :     No
    Can Turn Owners Off :     Yes
    Can Be Formatted :     Yes
    Bootable :     Yes
    Supports Journaling :     Yes
    Journaled :     No
    Disk Number :     1
    Partition Number :     2
I am unable to boot in both firewire 400/800 and USB. What is confusing is that if another drive with a partition format for windows is installed the drive is recognized without a problem and mounts. I can see the HDD in Disk Utility but only the Disk itself is selectable but the partition is greyed out. The drive also cannot be checked or repaired in Disk Utility when connected with the firewire enclosure. I have tried this on two seperate apple computers, one even being an older PPC. Another thing that confuses me is that if I attached the HD to the computer using only a SATA/USB adapter cable, I can boot off the drive just fine. And when connected to a PPC the drive mounts seemlessly. I went into the shop where I purchased my enclosure and after some testing they said that it was because of the GPT Protection which is just GUI Partition Table. They said this is a somewhat common problem with Firewire enclosures and even LaCie reported this problem. Has anyone ever heard of this? Is there a problem between GUID and Firewire interfaces? If Intel Macs can only use GUID partitioning how can I get around this problem? I've looked around and it seems it's possible to install SL onto an APM drive by cloning from an Intel system, but why won't it just work the way it's supposed to? Any insights would be helpful....
Thanks in advance!

Journaled isn't a requirement for SL to boot. All I can suggest for the OP is to erase and repartition the HD; then, try again.

How do I get my mac partition to use GUID partition Table Scheme?

I just bought the upgrade for Mountain Lion on my Macbook pro (Mac OS X 10.6.8). I went to install it and i had partitioned my internal harddrive with bootcamp to run windows 7. I went to select the Macintosh partition and it says that disk does not use the GUID partition Table scheme, and it will not let me select it for the upgrade. It says I have to use Disk Utility but I cant seem to figure out how to get it so I can upgrade it to mountain lion. Please help and thank you for your time
P.S. - Let me know if you need more information to get to the conclusion to this problem.

Bonjour is built-in to OS X. No download is needed.
Safari has a Bonjour browser which you can activate by opening Safari Preferences, selecting Advanced and enabling one of the Bonjour entries to add a Bookmark. If you then select the Bookmark, all devices on your local network that are advertising themselves with Bonjour will be shown.
With regards to the Air not finding the printer attached via USB, you can open System Information and select USB in the left column. The top right pane will show all the USB busses on the Air and if the printer and its USB cable are working correctly, then the printer should be listed under one of the USB busses. Do you see it? If not, try another USB printer cable.

I want to install OS X Mavericks on my MacBook Pro which is not with guid partition table

i want to install OS X Mavericks on my MacBook Pro which had both mountain lion & windows 8.1, its not in GUID partition table format, so i couldnt install mavericks, so is there any way to change into GUID partition table format & install Mavericks without losing Windows from my hard disk ?

Open the App Store and upgrade iPhoto to the Mavericks version.
iWork and iLife for Mac come free with every new Mac purchase. Existing users running Mavericks can update their apps for free from the Mac App Store℠. iWork and iLife for iOS are available for free from the App Store℠ for any new device running iOS 7, and are also available as free updates for existing users. GarageBand for Mac and iOS are free for all OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 users. Additional GarageBand instruments and sounds are available for a one-time in-app purchase of $4.99 for each platform.
The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.

I'm trying to install OS 10.6 onto my Macbook, which currently has OS 10.5.8. I clicked install (on the DVD) and selected my Macintosh HD drive. I was given the message that that disk cannot be used because it does not have the GUID partition????

I'm trying to install OS 10.6 onto my Macbook, which currently has OS 10.5.8. I clicked install (on the DVD) and selected my Macintosh HD drive. I was given the message that that disk cannot be used because it does not have the GUID partition. In order to have a GUID partition, it suggested I go to disk utility and make the change. I couldn't see the partition tabs in the disk utility application. So how do I accomplish the GUID partition?

The problem is, reformatting the partition may require you erase the hard drive. Normally Intel Macs are preformatted GUID. The fact that yours is not, says someone who initially installed the system on your Mac did you a disservice. Regardless, you should backup your data before you upgrade. GUID formatted drives generally are not compatible with iBooks (pre-2006 consumer notebooks by Apple) Powerbooks, and PowerMacs, and iMac G5s. So if you indeed have machine with the MacBook name on the screen frame, it was not properly formatted from the beginning.

Non guid partition on original macbook drive?! can't install leopard

Just got Leopard today, and tried to install - installation process gives me error that I cannot install on my current boot disk due to GUID partition table something something. And to fix it I need to reformat my drive!!
I am using a MacBook with it's original 80GB disk and 10.4 installation, I've never reformatted this disk or done anything weird. Why would Leopard require me to reformat my disk and wipe all my configuration, settings, files etc. when I am upgrading from an out of the box macbook tiger installation?!

Run DU and click on your internal HD. Select the HD itself, not a partition
At the bottom right you will see the Partition Map Scheme.
For Intel Machines with Leopard it must be GUID
For PPC it must be APS (Apple Partition Scheme)
You need a backup anyway. Nobody installs any new OS without one.
Create a bootable clone on an external drive, test it out, by booting it, then reformat your drive and if you wish, reinstall the cloned OS on your internal drive and then use the Leopard upgrade.
Disconnect your external drive before upgrading.

Cannot resize guid partition

I can't resize my partition on a GUID partition table.
It says "This partition can not be modified"
I don't understand this as I specifically wiped this drive from being a MBR (DOS compatible) and reformatted it with GUID.
Can anyone explain this or what I need to do to resize it? (Hopefully not including wiping the entire drive again)

Thanks to you both, luckily there's only 600GB on that drive at the moment.
I was wondering, though, why won't it let me make it bigger?
I already had a 1TB partition in the space below it. The screenshot shows me having already deleted it - but still no option to resize the other (larger) 2TB one.
If there is a reason why I can't resize now, then I can take that advice and try and make sure it doesn't happen when I reformat it again.
I would understand if the partition were MBR, but it's not, it's a GUID Partition Table (bottom right), so I'm confused - what is it's problem? ;-)

GUID Partition Scheme - Need clean install: can I restore files from TM?

So, here's my problem. I have an Intel PowerMac (first series after the G5) and when I try to install SL I get the following error message: "Can't Install Snow Leopard Since Disk Does Not Use GUID Partition Scheme". I guess it's something related to the fact thet I previously upgraded from an old iMac with a PPC processor (Apple partition vs. GUID partition).
Anyway, accoding to my understanding, the only solution for me is to do a clean install by wiping the HD and re-partitioning it.
Now, my question is: can I use my current TM backup to later restore apps/prefs onto the new SL system? I believe that TM now has an Apple partition scheme that reflects the one I have on Leopard 10.5. Is that right? Will I encounter any problem because of the different partition type of TM?

"Anyway, accoding to my understanding, the only solution for me is to do a clean install by wiping the HD and re-partitioning it."
Right, except that your drive will automatically be erased when you set up the GUID partitiion.
"Now, my question is: can I use my current TM backup to later restore apps/prefs onto the new SL system? I believe that TM now has an Apple partition scheme that reflects the one I have on Leopard 10.5. Is that right? Will I encounter any problem because of the different partition type of TM?"
Your TM backup should work. But, there are not many guarantees in life. You could tranfer you TM backup temporarily to your internal and then make a bootable clone of your internal on your external. Afterwards, you could transfer the TM backup back. Then, you'd have two sources from which you could restore items.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

This disk doesn't use the GUID Partition table scheme.

When I Install the Lion. It is stuck.
Lion This disk doesn’t use the GUID Partition table scheme.Use disk Utility to change the partition scheme.Select the disk,choose the Partition tab,select the Volume Scheme and then click Options.
The last step has problem.
I can not click Options.

In order to repartition the startup drive you will have to boot from your Snow Leopard DVD, select Utilities and then Disk Utility. YOU MUST ERASE YOUR DISK TO CHANGE THE PARTITION TABLE. The good news is that I see you have a Time Machine backup. Make sure that your backup is current before you erase your startup disk.
Even before doing this, save a copy of the Lion installer (it is in the Applications folder) onto an external device. Your external hard drive is a good spot; it won't interfere with your Time Machine backup. This will prevent you from having to download the installer again.
The easiest way to proceed after making sure your Time Machine backup is current, saving a copy of the Lion installer, and repartitioning your startup disk, is to reinstall Snow Leopard on your newly partitioned disk. This will take a little longer but it is simple and is fully supported by Apple. Once that is done and you are running Snow Leopard on your startup disk again, run the Lion installer from whereever you saved it, and then restore your files and settings from your Time Machine backup during the install process.
There is an unsupported procedure for making a bootable Lion DVD, but it is more complex and is not supported by Apple. If you are uncomfortable with any of this and have access to an Apple Store, make an appointment at the Genius Bar and they can help you through the process.

Lion This disk doesn't use the GUID partition table scheme

Hi I have downloaded and began running the installation but it says "This disk doesn't use the GUID partition table scheme", any ideas?! Running latest version of OSX 10.6.8
Thanks in advance!

ok, sorry if I offended you for wrong.
I did not knew Apple ships MBR partitioned disks or has official support for doing so. I always see Windows-PCs with that scheme ( Linux supports mbr and guid just like osx ) .
Of course I know that Disk Utility offers three options : GUID or MBR or Apple partition map for ppc devices.
Lion needs GUID, so a reformat is absolutely necessary for those that have one of the others.
Again sorry.

Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).only have one disk to select and my partition map scheme is GUID partition

just bough OSX Mountain Lion, my laptop operating with v10.6.8. Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).only have one disk to select and my partition map scheme is GUID partition table. 24.44gb disk available.

Verify your computer can run Mountain Lion:
Upgrading to Mountain Lion
To upgrade to Mountain Lion you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Purchase and download Mountain Lion from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mountain Lion is $19.99 plus tax. The file is quite large, over 4 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
     OS X Mountain Lion - System Requirements
       Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
         1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
         2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
         3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
         5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
Open Disk Utility and verify the drive is partitioned using GUID and formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. If it is then do this:
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.
Now try installing Mountain Lion.

Input / Output Error when creating GUID Partition on External Drives

I've been trying to setup an install of OS X on an external device and therefore need to partition them to the GUID Partition Scheme.
I've tried it with my iPod and an External Hard Disk Drive and no matter what I do, I get the error:
Exited with Error: Input / Output Error
Thats all I get. I can partition them with either of the other two choices, but of course those wont let me boot an Intel Based Mac.
The External HDD is USB 2.0, the iPod I've tried both USB and Firewire, and have not had any luck. I know it can be done, but am not sure why I'm having this problem.
Any suggestions?

I'm having the same problem. Trying to format an external drive with the GUID scheme fails.
# diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ Test GPTFormat /dev/disk1
Started erase on disk disk1
Creating Partition Map
error writing partition map: Invalid argument (22)
Partitioning encountered error Invalid argument (22) on disk disk1
I've tried this on my Intel MacBook and on my PPC Mac Mini. Tried using a generic USB2 flash disk and also an iPod shuffle. Always the same error.
Is GUID broken on external drives?

Guid partitioning

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