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 !

Similar Messages

"Repair Disk" option in Disk Utility need to repair drive.

I have a Seagate GoFlex Desk 2TB external hard drive. I use it as a backup drive for Time Machine. When I plug it into my iMac it dosen't open, I opened Disk Utility and clicked "Verify Drive" and then I got this...
I have backups on this drive. If I click "Repair Drive" will I lose the data on the drive?

After I Repair the drive this is what I get...
What should I do now? Is my drive bad?

No gui option in disk utility for new hdd in white unibody mbp

Hello,
i replaced the harddisk in my white unibody macbook with an
Samsung Spinpoint M9T 1TB HDD out of a seagate backup portable drive.
disk utility can erase it, and partition it, but it does not show the option to create a GUI partition.
restoring from time machine backup does not work
installer for leopard, from the original dvd states that it needs that.
what can i do?
hope to hear from you.
ps:
on my imac and my mbp the bootable disk is mac os extended(journaled)
so no 'gui-partition' there

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

Using Disk Utility for backup - target drive must be same size as source?

Hello. I have a 250 GB data drive that I need to back up to an external drive using Disk Utility (restore) so that I can create a RAID-1 set using the 250GB drive. The files take up only 100 GB on the drive.
Does the target external drive need to be 250 GB or just 100+ GB in size for the Disk Utility to work?
Thanks
David

I you want to make a non mirrored drive into a mirrored one you can do that with diskutil. Copying it first is not needed.
man diskutil:
enableRAID mirror|concat device
Convert single filesystem disk or volume into a unpaired mir-
ror RAID set or concat set. Ownership of the affected disk is
required.
repairMirror raidDisk newDisk
Repair a failed mirror. Supply the existing RAID as the raid-
Disk parameter. Supply the new disk as the last parameter of
the request. newDisk and raidDisk are only Device Nodes or
Disk Identifiers. Ownership of the affected disk is required.
The second disk in the mirror set needs to be as big or bigger as the first disk.
Do this booted from another disk or DVD.

Disk Utility with an SSD Drive

Hello, I just updated my iMac with a brand new Samsung SSD drive. The drive speed is amazing now.
I ran Disk Utility to check that everything is fine, but got this message:
File system check exit code is 0.
It doesn't show that the drive needs repair, but neither shows like in past that de test went OK.
Should I be worried?
Thanks!

Yes. Search for "fusion drive" on Google to find the several relevant How-To articles.

I used the "erase free space " option in disk utility and now my imac says the disk is full and wont let me download songs. please help!

i used the "erase free space " option in disk utility and now my imac says the disk is full and wont let me download songs. please help!

You could try repairing permissions with disk utility, I don't think you will have the option to repair the drive but you could verify it.
This may help you delete the files that DU made but did not remove when erasing the free space.
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/317204-no-disk-space-after -failed-disk-utility-erase-free-space.html
When you get your SL disk it will not have the iLife applications, that would have been on the second install disk that should have been with the computer. I forget which version of iLife you will need for SL but I think it is this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iLife-Single-User-Mac/dp/B003XKRZES/ref=sr_1_1?ie= UTF8&qid=1409607702&sr=8-1&keywords=apple+ilife+11
A search of the forums will confirm or deny this.
As to whether a clean install will cure your problem, i.e. partition the HDD and install I would expect it to be yes, but there are no guarantees it is an old machine.

How do I access Disk Utility for 10.7.1?

How do I access Disk Utility for 10.7.1? I found it in the forums a few weeks ago, used it, then lost the directions. This is a last ditch attempt
to use OS Lion. I parted my hair incorrectly when I installed and have been plagued by the dread rainbow spinning ball in EVERY application. Yes, every. Name one, Safari, Firefox, Text Edit, Mail, Excel, Word, iTunes, Garage Band, Calculator, Calender, iPhoto....yes, every, and I cannot
find a solution that works. I have back up files on two different hard drives 500 gig and 1 terrabyte with all my music, photo and writing files.
I am a writer and a musician so imagine the frustration. OS 10.6 is an option of course. My dedication to Apple and each new OS is deep so
I am hoping that somehow there will a fix, an upgrade, something that does not require me to go bac to the much more endangered species named OS.
hahhaa! Just stalled waiting for the ball to finish with it's random spinning.... SO, this is like a last desperate .... it just did two more stalls.
NO OTHER apps running, just little Firefox holding on for dear life, last desperate request for a fix.
MacKeeper has been great in sending helpful directions for getting the Antivirus to work after it mysteriously decided to stop working, Quite MacKeeper, go to Activity Monitor, force quit helper, start up MacKeeper and run program. It works!
SO before my third stall stops me, please post directions to open disk utility in administration mode so that I can do any further repairs that have not worked by using it from the open system. Also keychain synching stopped working with Lion.
Thanks to any and all who can help.

Press and hold Command-R keys and reboot. You'll then start up in the Lion Recovery HD. You'll find Disk Utility there.
Command-R to the rescue.
Just hold down Command-R during startup and Lion Recovery springs into action. It lets you choose from common utilities: You can run Disk Utility to check or repair your hard drive, erase your hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of Lion, or restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. You can even use Safari to get help from Apple Support online. And if Lion Recovery encounters problems, it will automatically connect to Apple over the Internet.

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.

Re: How to Clone Using the Restore Option of Disk Utility

This is a revision to original post:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click on the Erase button. Wait for volume to remount on the Desktop.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
8. Select the destination drive icon on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked.
9. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

There is a checkbox option in the Restore dialog to Erase the Destination. Be sure you uncheck the option.

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.

HT2055 Disk Utility for OS X 10.9.2

I need a Disk Utility for OS X 10.9.2 to add disk space to a partition and fix permissions.

You will find Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
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.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

How does disk utility decide which optical drive to use for burn?

This is a somewhat daft question and purely out of interest.
How does disk utility decide which optical drive bay to open for burning?
I have two drives in a MacPro and both have the same capabilities (DVD-RW). Why does it sometimes open the lower one, and sometimes the top one?

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
The estimate is based on how long it already took to do how many blocks, and how many blocks are left to do. If you told it to overwrite 35 times, it will be a long, long time before it completes.
The estimate is made grossly large by the presence of Bad Blocks that need to be Read during the test (not the case with Erase and Write Zeroes).
Each Block is written with some redundancy bits, so that small errors can be corrected on reading. A Bad Block causes the drive to re-read. and re-read, and re-read, in hopes of getting correctable data the next time. This should NOT be an issue in writing. But if the drive stops responding (which can and does happen with a bad drive) the Erase function will just sit there, thinking it is making progress, and stretching out the time.
Thanks, Grant.
If I read your reply correctly, Erase and Zero Out free space shouldn't elongate the process, because there's no read occurring.
The drive will not be Mounted while Disk Utility works on it, so it will not be on the Desktop. But ask Apple System Profiler \[ About this Mac > More Info > Serial ATA ] if the drive is still THERE . If it cannot be seen, you have your answer -- the drive dropped out of sight while being tested -- Bad Drive.
Well, now I am confused. It's a FW800 drive. It's on the Desktop. And it appears under FireWire in System Profiler. AND Disk Utility shows a mount point. But the Unmount and Eject buttons are grayed out.
Will the drive be mounted if it fails to respond to Disk Utility? That doesn't seem to make sense.
How do I determine its status? It appears to be stuck at "1 day, 5 hours" but it'll take an hour for that to change. I think it's been that long since I first noticed the time.
Harv

Cannot boot. volume disappeared from boot option after Disk Utility (GUI) repair

I have a 13-inch MBP with the latest OS X version.
Problem
Yesterday, I went to the Recovery Mode and performed Repair on my boot volume. I was not having a problem, but I just wanted to verify and repair as a regular maintenance. The Disk Utility said some kind of error (I cannot remember, but something about EFI?), and I cannot start my computer since then (question mark folder icon when I try to boot).
I have tried the following
I tried to recover the drive by going into the Recovery Mode, but when I press Option key for boot options, I just have an empty grey screen have no option(not even the recovery volume). I have also tried to enter into the Single User Mode, but it goes straight back to the question mark folder icon. Just in case, I performed PRAM and SMC reset, but still no dice.
Next, I tried to boot with Command+R pressed, and the computer went into Internet Recovery Mode, which works fine. Then, I went to the Disk Utility, and my SSD is on the list with the volume that has OS X(only volume on the entire disk except recovery volume, etc). I use FileVault2, and I can unlock the volume and mount it without any problem. When I do Verify Disk, it says that the volume appears to be OK. Also, performed fsck using Recovery Mode's Terminal, and it still says that "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK," the exact same message that I got from GUI disk utility. I also tried to unlock and set the volume as a start-up disk, but I still get the question mark folder icon.
If you need further details, please let me know! Please save me!

Hello jukim,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Great troubleshooting done so far. Since you're still booting to the flashing question mark, even after repairing the disk, the next step would be to reinstall OS X.
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13871
Take care,
Alex H.

Im attempting to start up from OSX 10.4.9 back up disc on my Macbook 13inch but it starts up and am able get to utilities then disk utility but my internal drive doesnt show in options on left can anyone help ?

Hi all my trusty macbook 13 inch 5 years old has let me down get a box with question mark in it when i switch on , so apple support tells me to try ans start by back up OSX 10.4.9 disk the built in drive doesnt work so i am using an external toshiba drive .
I switch on holding down c key an apple logo comes on and it starts up im able to acess utilities then disk utility but in the options on the left there is only the Backup disc and the external drive showing my internal mackintosh drive wont show so i cant move further any help

If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Can one PPC Mac run Disk Utility for another's HD?

I have a PPC PowerBook that needs help. The Admin users are getting corrupted for some reason. I can still use other Users in Safe Mode.
I have another good PPC G3 desktop. Both running 10.5.8.
I can mount the bad HD on the good Mac's desktop but I can't run Disk Utility for it.
I've mounted with Ethernet and USB. Do I need Firewire? Do I need do try to use Target Mode?
Basically, I'm trying to use the good Mac as a startup disk for the bad one, I think.
Easy way? Thanks! JP
ps: My hunch is Firewire. I don't have any so I'm going to buy a cable soon. Unless someone here stops me! : )

Yes, you need Target Mode Firewire on both, a FW cable, then Disk Utility should be fine from one to the other.
Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Sometimes Laptops need to have the FW cable unplugged & replugged after they'e in t mode to have it finally show up.

No Erase option in Disk Utility for an SSD Drive!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for