Inadvertently converted disk to dynamic: can't boot OSX or reinstall

Greetings Folks,
I am on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13 that received a few days ago so first ever post on a Mac forum - hope it's as friendly and useful as the one over at Lenovo.
Just came back to Mac. Long story, boring details, but in addressing an 18-month old tantrum and in a Homer moment I was being inattentive and converted my HD to dynamic under Windows 7 while trying to convert a partition to exFAT for sharing files.
Like some noob fool I did not make recovery disks at the get go and the fact that there were no disks shipped with the machine didn't register as it should have (my only complaint regarding the product - the rest is ALL my bad). And no, also like some noob fool I did not, having seen it for the first time, tuck anything into Time Machine either. So it's the short and curlies for me...ah yes, and under Internet Recovery when I tried to access the installation and recovery option in Safari, it told me there is no machine registered under my name, something I thought was addressed when I first accessed updates and etc. from the AppStore.
To get on with it, I can't boot into OSX and I can't erase the HD uneder OSX Disk Utility either - I am in Viet Nam and internet is slow so everytime I resort to CMD R to get Internet Recovery it takes hours to load. Verify says the OSX Base Operating System is ok. Error messages I get:
"Couldn't modify partition map" when trying to erase the OSX partition for a reinstall of ML;
"Couldn't write installion information to disk" when trying to reinstall ML and no disk visible to select
From years dealing with Windoze I know that there's only a clean wipe and reinstall to go back to NTFS from dynamic, so I suspect I will have to completely wipe and reformat the HD. I already tried wiping the original partition under W7 but still can't get Disk Utility to do anything with it. So my question (assuming a fool is correct) is this:
What is the best tool to wipe and reformat the HD to something my MBP will then recognize and I can (go through the days it will likely take to download and) reinstall ML?
Or is there an easier, softer way? My Spidey Sense says no...
H

Drive Preparation and Installation for Mountain Lion
1.  Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Similar Messages

  • Cannot convert disk to dynamic because security is enabled...

    I am setting up a new computer with two Crucial m500 960GB SSD drives.  I have Windows 8.1 Pro installed on the first drive. I am trying to mirror it to the second drive (using Windows Disk Management), but I get the error below.  I can't find
    anything online regarding this error.  Bitlocker is not enabled on the drive.  I tried turning off UEFI Secure Boot, but that didn't help either.  There is the System Reserved drive created during the Windows install, but I wouldn't expect that
    to cause this problem.  Any ideas?
    Virtual Disk Manager
    The disk could not be converted to dynamic because security is enabled on one or more partitions.  
    OK   

    Hi,
    According to your description, I suggest we try safe mode to check the result.
    Meanwhile,I would to know if you installed other security software on your PC.
    Regards,
    Kelvin hsu
    TechNet Community Support

  • Unable to convert disk to dynamic

    Hi
    I am trying to convert a 1 TB new LUN to dynamic disk on a VM (Vmware); it is giving me an error “Logical
    Disk Manager
    the operation did not complete. Check the system event log for more information on the error.”
    Tried below steps:-
    Removed the disk, added it back (RDM).
    Unmapped a LUN and presented a new LUN (RDM),
    Added a new disk (.vmdk) and tried that to convert,
    Uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them
    Replaced VDS.
    Reinstalled SP 2
    Please help me on this issue.
    Chaitanya.

    Well if you have converted the disk in another machine there is no more problems right?:)
    What OS is the server running?
    If you run the diskpart utility as administrator does anything work better?
    list disk
    select disk <from above, 0>
    convert dynamic
    Did that help? Otherwise did it work or did you get a good errormessage.
    Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. Even if you are not the author of a thread you can always help others by voting as Helpful. This can
    be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
    Oscar Virot

  • Disk startup full- can't boot normally. Now in target disk mode.

    Hello all, so here's my dilemma-
    My disk startup is full and now I am unable to boot my computer past the apple logo and the loading circle.
    Here's what I've tried,
    I am now in target disk mode attempting to transfer over my files to an external HD via a good computer and then wipe/restore the OS on my bad computer THEN transfer my files over to the bad(now good) computer however..... some of my files won't transfer, especially in my iphoto library (It's HUGE 82 gigs) & my very elaborate final cut pro projects that have taken me h o u r s to do.... For example, some video icons don't show up with a snapshot of the video as they are suppose to but instead they're shown with a a default video icon which almost makes me think they're damaged files but the thing is- I was just working with these files.. My comp passed all HD tests. I don't think it's damaged...I don't know what's going on. If I could just find a way to delete some files...especially from my trash(30 gigs in there) so I'm able to at least  boot properly, that would be great
    Is there anyway to retrieve these stubborn files via target disk mode or another option?
    Also do you maybe have an easier way for me to go about this entire process instead of transferring 500gb of data back and forth? I tried to access my trashcan via target disk mode and delete the 30 gigs I have in there but I was unable to delete it- and I do have "read and write" switched on.
    Thanks in Advance!! ANY help is appreciated. I'm at wits end here.
    Details
    -I have a mid 2012 macbook pro connected with the mid 2012 imac that I'm running on target disc mode via thunderbolt cable (I also tried a 2013 air- same issues)

    Before you spend a lot of money with a professional recovery service, look over these links:
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583
    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
    Ciao.

  • Hard disk errors, but can't boot from the install DVD

    My mini reports disk errors when I run the Disk Utility Verify on the main boot hard drive. However, I have not been able to boot the computer from the install DVD. I try restarting while holding down the C key, and still it boots from the internal drive. I've tried option-restart, and do not get the opportunity to select a boot disk. An external USB drive, on which I periodically clone the main disk, now does not mount. Disk Utility says it too has errors, and it is unable to repair them. A third external USB drive appears to be OK.
    The computer is still operating, apparently normally, otherwise. This computer should still be under warranty. I bought it in April, as I recall.
    Any help will be much appreciated.

    <sigh>
    I've attempted most of these things.
    The drive on which I had the system clone died at essentially the same time as the problem came up with the errors on the main drive. I suspect this was due to the same root cause, or a related problem, just because of the timing. I'd cloned the main drive approximately a week previously with apparently no problem.
    I also have been unable to boot from the install DVD.
    The other external drive, the one that still works, is one I use mostly for rolling backups of my documents, photo and music folders. It is not big enough to hold a clone of the main drive. In any case, I'm assuming that if I attempted to clone it now, it would either not work, or I'd simply copy the errors to the clone.
    I haven't used the Time Machine, since I didn't feel I had an external drive large enough to make it useful.
    What 3rd party software do you recommend? Keep in mind, as I also mentioned earlier, that the computer is still under warranty, and I'm loath to do anything that could be construed as voiding the warranty.
    I'm also on a pretty restricted budget, due to recent car repairs.

  • Unable to login. No recovery disk. How can I boot into command line?

    I am unable to login using my Apple ID, using the password reset option does not work. I have no recovery disk. Don't mind wiping it if necessary. Please advise, thanks

    Please carefully read  OS X Mountain Lion: Reset a login password

  • Installed windows 7, now can't boot OSX!

    I just installed windows 7 on my Mac Pro, now when I restart, hold option and select my osx partition, I get white screen, then apple boot logo, then progress bar for a second, then computer shuts off! Same thing booting from a backup I have.
    Disk utility reports an error with my main osx drive but no problem with the backup, but the backup exhibits the exact same behavior.
    What did bootcamp do to me! This *****!!!!!

    Windows 7 has not been tested for compatibility with Bootcamp, indeed most of the Bootcamp Drivers (drivers for Mac hardware) will not be tested to work with Windows 7. Since W7 hasn't been released yet I'm guessing this is an evaluation copy? Suggest you wait and use a genuine version of the final release of W7 or use Vista.

  • Can't boot up or reinstall OS 9

    Hello, I wrote in last week and received some help, it did not work. I tried to upgrade from OS 9.0 to OS 9.1 I borrowed a install disk, the same one I originally installed with. This time when I start up holding down the C key I get a message that scrolls up the screen...
    It reads:
    Default Catch, Code=300 at %SRRO: (this part changes)
    %SRR!: 0000b030
    This scrolls on forever with the #'s behind the first %SRRO: change they all start out ff8*** and then keep going and going.
    Does anyone have any ideas? or can anyone help me?
    Thanks,
    Tom D. Kerrigan

    It's hard to follow a new thread insterad of last week's…
    Could you please repeat what you wrote last week, together with what was suggested that didn't help, and whether that made any difference at all?

  • Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

    Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

    Which keyboard layout you were using? German, French ... I suppose your layout is reset to the default: US and you are unable to find the "?" or "/" ...
    Please have a look into the keyboard viewer, to see how the layout of your keyboard is actually.
    marek

  • Can't boot G5 even from OS install disk. Help?

    I've trolled the message boards 25 pages deep and searched all the "Can't boot my G5" threads and still haven't found anyone describing what my machine is doing so thought I'd start a new thread in the hopes someone can help me out.
    Ok I have a G5 dual processor machine. (Power PC chip, not Intel) Things went bad when I tried to do an Archive and Install of Leopard (OS 10.5) The install looked as normal until I got to one minute left on the install. At that point the install never progressed. I thought maybe it was doing some behind the scenes processing and decided to leave it over night. The next day my machine was still hung on that One minute left. So obviously it was a failure. Of course now the problem is I have an install that never completed of the OS and so that partition is, I assume, unbootable. Wiped away the Tiger OS and did a 99% install of Leopard. So I had to shut down by holding the power button.
    I think to myself, "No worries I can just boot from my 2nd partition holding down the Option key to select it on the boot up screen". I always keep a partition with an OS on it for times like these. So I reboot, hold option key, select my other partition, things look OK. I get the grey screen with the Apple logo and I get the wheel animation turning. (Not beachball of death but the typical circular, almost sun ray configuration thing) At this point, usually the screen will go black for a moment before the desktop loads. However, in my case once the screen goes black after the load screen, it stays black. Now let me say the monitor does NOT turn off. There is a definite difference when I manually turn the monitor off. When off it's truly black. But this is like a power on black, not true black. (If you need me to explain this better feel free to ask me to clarify)
    So the untouched, pristine Tiger partition boot is a No Go. I figured I'd then give up on trying to put Leopard on my desktop machine (I use it on my laptop) and reinstall the original OS and system software from the system disk that came with my G5. I boot machine holding down eject button, place the disk in, close the drive door and shut down again by holding power button. Reboot holding C key and the same routine happens with booting from the disk. Gray Apple logo screen, sun ray circle moving, screen goes black on the attempted transition to desktop .. but stays black. I also tried booting with my Disk Warrior disk to no avail. Same thing happens. (Also tried booting from disks by selecting them manually from booting with Option key down) At first I wondered if it was a monitor issue. That maybe my desktop was up but there was an issue with the signal being passed to the monitor on the resolution jump. Thought perhaps hitting the Eject key on the keyboard when I had attempted to boot from the partition (not from disk on this test) would tell me if it was a monitor issue. If it was a monitor issue, the disk tray should open. But alas, no.
    So since I cannot boot normally from any partition or disk I decided to boot into single-user mode.
    I did the fsck -fy thing and it told me everything was ok. I had also previously installed applejack and I ran that and short of correcting a few permissions and dumping some unneeded caches it came back with a system OK.
    At my wits end I booted into target disk mode and ran Disk Warrior on both the original half installed OS partition and the back up emergency boot up partition from my laptop. Again, everything OK. Hoped against hope that I could actually install an OS onto my G5 from my laptop but I was only given the option of being able to do it from my laptop with the Leopard disk and it would only allow me to do it if I used Disk Utility to completely format that drive first. No, thanks.
    Re-attempt to boot G5. Failure. So now I turn to hardware. Disconnected everything beside the keyboard and mouse. Try again. Fail. Pulled a couple sticks of Crucial memory out of the machine and left the stock RAM. No dice. Pressed the small power unit reset button under the RAM slots. No change. Zapped the PRAM. Still nothing. Try to boot in Safe mode holding down shift key. Doesn't work.
    It seems to me if I can't even get the machine to boot from the Install disk that there is something going on that is much more major than software issues.
    Bad motherboard? Any ideas? Because I'm all out of ideas.

    Brother, Sound74, I thought I was the only one pulling the hair out of my chest one by one the past two days. Your situation is very similar to mine, and I'm just as clueless as you are. I started getting kernel panic screens, then nothing on boot, until finally I brought it to the local genius bar. They ran all the usual software/hardware tests, updated Tiger to 10.4.11, recommended I buy Leopard and do an erase-install. My computer, of course, was working absolutely fine by this point. I bought Leopard, came home, backed everything up, then tried to install the new OS. Like in your case, it just up and quit half-way through. Screen went black and a "No DVI Signal" message came on my display (it does this when I turn it on without first turning on the computer).
    So I thought, well, maybe it takes a really long time to erase-install, and the monitor is just waiting for things to kick back in. I've always upgrade-installed before, so I couldn't tell if this was normal or not. But about half an hour later, my fans kicked in so fast I thought I had a P-51 Mustang taking off in my studio. I waited a bit more and finally force-shut-down my system. Not knowing what to expect, I nervously tried to re-boot.
    Nothing. Zip. I can't safe boot, I can't boot from the installer disc, etc. The only thing I can do is the option-key thing whereby you choose the startup disc. And of course, it only gives the Leopard install disc as an option, because now the entire HD has been erased! But when I choose the Leopard disc, of course it doesn't work.
    So I have a nice $3000 paperweight sitting in my studio. I guess I'll have to bring it back to the Mac store, where if it costs more than $300 to fix, I'm going to say screw it and put that dough toward a new iMac.
    Sorry I couldn't provide any helpful info, but I just wanted you to know you're not alone in suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous technology.
    Keep me posted on any solutions you discover, and I'll do the same.
    Noochy1
    PS My applecare expired a month ago! AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!! **** Murphy and his stupid laws.

  • Can't boot off Apple Hardware Test disk

    Can anyone suggest why my laptop won't boot off of its Apple Hardware Test disk anymore? I have not tried it in years, but want to try now. I have the original, and a copy I made years ago, and neither will boot. I can select them at startup disks in that preference pane in OSX, but then it fails to find it, and boots into OSX. I can boot into OS9 on the hard drive. I was able to partially boot off of a different AHT disk from my 12" Albook G4, but it gave the message that I can't use that disk since it is not meant for the Tibook. One idea is that TechTool tells me that "macintosh startup file was absent", and the Help file states:
    "The Startup file is intended for use by systems that do not have built-in ROM support for booting from HFS Extended volumes. The first eight extents of the Startup File are stored in the Volume Header. This makes them easy to locate and read into memory. This file contains information used by the computer’s ROM to determine what program will boot the computer. In almost every case, this will be configured to point to the preferred System."
    But it does not tell me how to restore this Startup file.
    -how can i get my startup file back?
    -my computer boots fine off the hard drive, so is this file used only to boot off a CD?
    -any ideas why i can't boot off my AHT CD?

    Hi, t. (That alias of yours sure is a mouthful.) I think in your shoes I would pose the question to the tech support people at Micromat (TechTool's developer). It's their error message, after all, and they should be able to explain it to you in as much detail as you need. Perhaps they'll shed some light on the original problem in the process.

  • Can't boot from Install Disk for Leopard

    I purchased the new xeon core dual which only boots in Leopard. I need to put Leopard on an external drive, so I purchased Leopard and tried to install it on an external drive. My computer starts to read the disk but before it even gets to the blue screen, it stops, scrolls down in a dark gray screen and says I need to restart by holding the power button down. The screen kind of looks like a kernal panic with oriental writing under the english.
    I have tried by restarting and holding down the "c" key with no luck. I tried again with holding down the "option" key and when the hard drive and disk show up as choices. I chose the disk and still no luck. I disconnected all my external drives and tried again with no luck. I called tech support and they said it may be my optical drive. They set up an appointment with the genius bar at my local apple store. The genius listened to my drive and said there was nothing wrong with the drive and that it probably was a bad disk so they gave me a new one. Went home and tried with the new disk and same problem. Can anyone help?!! Thanks.

    I purchased the new xeon core dual which only boots in Leopard.
    I need to put Leopard on an external drive, so I purchased Leopard and tried to install it on an external drive.
    There's your problem. Macs which ship with Leopard can't boot Leopard retail, unless it is newer than the Mac in question. Check the version of Leopard on the Leopard retail DVD you purchased in the second quote. If it is older than what was installed on your Mac Pro based on the Mac Pro install and restore DVD, then it won't work on your Mac Pro. If you want Leopard of the Mac Pro to be backed up to be an emergency boot volume for the Mac Pro on the external drive, use a cloning software*:
    http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
    Or follow these directions to backup your Mac Pro DVD*:
    http://www.macmaps.com/bootcd.html
    If you need an emergency Leopard volume for another Mac, install it directly from that other Mac. If that other Mac lacks a DVD drive, get a Firewire DVD drive to do it.
    - * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

  • IMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 running10.10.2 (14C1514). Trying to install Windows 7 64 bit from an install disc. When attempting to create an ISO image I can save the file in disk utility but can convert cdr to iso

    iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 running10.10.2 (14C1514). Trying to install Windows 7 64 bit from an install disc. When attempting to create an ISO image I can save the file in disk utility but can convert cdr to iso. I select the file and the hit return as in step 8 of the Creating an
    iSO image document but the box that should open to select use iso does not open. How should I proceed?

    The Mac SuperDrive built into your Mac is the Optical drive.
    1. Insert your Windows DVD in Optical drive. Disconnect any external storage.
    2. Insert a USB2 Flash drive. This will be used to hold the BC drivers.
    3. Start BCA. Check the options to download software and Install Windows. You do not need to download Windows. The BCA will download the BC drivers to the USB.
    4. Partition your drive.
    5. You can see the Windows installer screens at https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/#/bcmp173b3bf2.

  • I'm trying to backup a my harddrive with disk utility but I'm getting an error  Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen

    I'm trying to backup a my hard drive with disk utility but I'm getting an error  Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen and spinning wheel. I've tried everything https://discussions.apple.com/message/20580424#20580424
    any help will be greatly appreciated.

    Check here. Also have you done a TimeMachine back up?
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

  • Disk repair failed how can I back up my files when I can't boot from the start up disk

    When disk repair fails, and I can't boot from the hard drive how can I get to my files to back them up. I have a seagate 1 TB connected to the USB port.

    Perubbit,
    which model MacBook Pro do you have, and which version of OS X is installed on it?

Maybe you are looking for

  • Brand new Ipod touch 1g freezing up

    I received a new ipod touch today because my old one had a bad ear jack. well i restored the new ipod from my old ipod back up. and every app i click on or song i play the ipod freezes up. i have restored it back to its original factory state and it

  • Notes on JDev 10.1.3

    I watched the on-line presentation on Faces yesterday, and decided to dive in and try to build the same application myself. I noted the following problems, which no doubt have already been reported, but just in case... 1. The range validator presents

  • Finding relevant search results in sharepoint 2013

    I had a 5 word documents Test1, Test 2, test 3, test 4 and test 5 and i had variant, score, geoname and complex variant like the below. Test 1 Variant : 501 Score : 500 GoeName : 502 Test 2 Variant : 500 Score : 502 GoeName : 501 Test 3 Variant : 502

  • Help with slideshow, please and thank you

    My brother created a slideshow and sent me the link. I was able to download the slideshow to my desktop. Is there a way to individually move the pictures from the slideshow to an album in iPhoto? When I try moving the whole slideshow or individual pi

  • Year-to-date summarization

    Hi, I have to get the Year-to-date amount on an ALV output for a GL account. Is there any FM to do it?... Currently Iam just getting the output for the period that I put in selection screen. Thank you, SB.