Problems restoring disk to single volume

I got a new internal hard drive and partitioned it straight away-- one section journaled mac and the other fat32-- with the idea that I would install windows soon. The mac partition quickly got filled up with stuff from other drives while I've left the fat32 untouched.
Now I want to install windows and I've tried a version XP with sp2 and a version with sp3. The sp 2 version starts to load the drivers and other stuff from the cd and then just gives up after 3 or 4 minutes. I never get to the real install screen. sp3 doesn't even register.
Is there a difference between how boot camp partitions and formats and how Disk utility does it?
After reading apple support docs I decided to let boot camp assistant repartition the drive into one mac journal partition (they say that the repartitioning will not erase the mac drive) I started the repartitioning and it will erase the windows formated drive and rename the old partition to Mac OS X.
That was over four hours ago. I've noticed that my old mac partition no longer shows up in the finder window but the windows partition is still listed there. The drive is 500 gigs and was about half full (everything was in the mac partition).
How long should this take? Is there a way to monitor that it is actually repartitioning and not just frozen in some nether world? I've looked at activity monitor but am not quite sure what to look at there.
Any help or soothing words will ease my anxious soul.
Thanks

No soothing words. When you use Disk Utility to create partitons, you have to use it to remove a partition. You can't use BCA to remove one created by Disk Utility.
You probably realize by now that you have to reformat or try clicking the "-" sign to get it to one partition and then extend the existing partition. Not sure if that will then allow you to use the full capacity of your drive or not.
I suspect XP SP2 is looking for something Boot Camp Assistant does to let XP install on a GPL/GUID disk (Vista can and can be done w/o Boot Camp Assistant).
Mofidying partition tables should take a minute, no more.
Do you have backup still? if not, use TimeMachine or something so you can restore to a single partitioned drive, then use BCA to do the partitioning.

Similar Messages

Boot Camp error: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition. The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Jounraled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.

Hi!
I am getting the error:
"The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition. The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Jounraled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows."
I read up some on google, but all of them says that they have crated a partition and that is the problem, I only have the standard "Macintosh HD".
I tried to create a partition manually in disk utility but then the error message: "Partition failed with error message: Could not unmount disk."
Can anyone help me? It's driving me crazy.
Thanks.

This message, and threads like yours got asked daily for over two years, now it is only a couple times a week!!
Is it so hard to follow through? you were to have backup already, clones are best, then erase/format and restore.
Then partition.
Some have been able to use Disk Utility booted from OS X DVD or another drive, and repair the drive.
You have to use Boot Camp Assistant (99.9% anyway) to create and achieve a proper Windows Master Boot Record partition.

The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

Am trying to install Windows 7 using Boot Camp. Am receieving the following message in Boot Camp "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition"
In Disk Utilty, I get the following message after clicking Verify Disk and Repair Disk buttons
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Parition map check failed becuse no slices were found
Any solution for above message?

You will need to repartition your drive:
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal 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.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

Bootcamp Yosemite 10.10.1 "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."

I'm trying to install Windows on my Mac via Bootcamp. I start up Boot Camp Assistant, the introduction pops up, I press continue and then I get this error message.
"The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.
The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows."
So I head over to Disk Utility, the only partitions I have are Macintosh HD and EFI. I thought there might be some hidden partition, so I went into debug mode in Disk Util and there's nothing (Also used terminal, I'll put results below*). So that brings me to my current problem; it's already "formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume" and I can't make it "partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows." because this error message prevents me from doing that. Maybe there's an easy fix, but the information provided is so unhelpful/circular it makes me want to laugh and punch something at the same time. I saw that someone fixed this problem by merging their partitions, but as I already have the minimum number of partitions so that wouldn't fix anything (unless EFI is unnecessary, which I'm fairly sure it isn't).
-Running 10.10.1 OSX Yosemite
-Trying to install Windows 8.1
diskutil list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            3.0 TB     disk0s2
Thanks for your help in advance ;3, I hope this is an easy fix

I had a similar issue after doing a fresh install of Yosemite. Bootcamp assistant seems to want a Core Storage scenario before it will continue.
To convert your drive use the following command in Terminal:
diskutil cs convert disk0s2
Bootcamp will then let you proceed as normal. Be warned though!
After the windows install completes you may end up with something like my situation:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/27472857?ac_cid=op123456#27472857

Bootcamp error, 'the startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.'

I am trying to set up bootcamp for gaming purposes.
I attempted this several months ago and was able to proceed to the point of accessing the Windows disk utility but noticed that I was running out of memory on the partition. I believe I deleted the partition through mac OS, thinking I would simply re-run Bootcamp. Honestly, I have forgotten the details but now am unable to get past an error message on Bootcamp saying, "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."
Also, when I look at my disk utility settings I see I have two Macintosh HD with exactly the same numbers, i.e. 1.94 TB free of 2.09 TB.
Any assistance with this would be appreciated.
Thank you.

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         1.3 TB     disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:          Apple_CoreStorage                         905.9 GB   disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s5
   6:          Apple_CoreStorage                         801.4 GB   disk0s6
   7:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s7
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *2.1 TB     disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk0s6
                                 3D3FBA3D-8C26-4550-AD7E-CBF1FC688185
                                 Unencrypted
CoreStorage logical volume groups (2 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 31DCB352-9C95-43EC-8F16-FBFFAEF2EC92
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         Macintosh HD
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         2093598998528 B (2.1 TB)
|   Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 2D83E3CA-C968-4A83-9900-7FE4325B15F6
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk0s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     1292162457600 B (1.3 TB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 91499DB6-ED61-4BD9-A5FA-A3A469461673
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    1
|   |   Disk:     disk0s6
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     801436540928 B (801.4 GB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family 1AC34EBA-7E2E-4483-868A-9C1208206E73
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Status:       Unlocked
|       Encryption Type:         None
|       Conversion Status:       NoConversion
|       Conversion Direction:    -none-
|       Has Encrypted Extents:   No
|       Fully Secure:            No
|       Passphrase Required:     No
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume 3D3FBA3D-8C26-4550-AD7E-CBF1FC688185
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:                  disk1
|           Status:                Online
|           Size (Total):          2092978229248 B (2.1 TB)
|           Conversion Progress:   -none-
|           Revertible:            No
|           LV Name:               Macintosh HD
|           Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
|           Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 02021BDF-4B53-4A05-AE99-111B5ABAA416
    =========================================================
    Name:         BOOTCAMP
    Status:       Online
    Size:         905864802304 B (905.9 GB)
    Free Space:   905512476672 B (905.5 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 15BED824-E4C1-4AAF-8BB3-D4D4FAFA7ABE
        Index:    0
        Disk:     disk0s4
        Status:   Online
        Size:     905864802304 B (905.9 GB)
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 5860533167
       start        size index contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640 2523754800      2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
2524164440     1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
2525433976        1928
2525435904 1769267192      4 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
4294703096      262144      5 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
4294965240 1565305744      6 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
5860270984      262144      7 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
5860533128           7
5860533135          32         Sec GPT table
5860533167           1         Sec GPT header
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 - 4294967294] <Unknown ID>
2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

How to restore disk to a single partition?

I tried to partition my hard drive so that i could run windows on my computer using an external hard drive. I want to delete the windows partition but whenever I try to use bootcamp assistant to restore to a single partition it says that an error occurred while restoring the disk to a single partition. I also tried to delete the windows partition using disk utility but nothing worked.

Ok, I had this problem a week or so ago. Here's how to fix it:
-->Reboot the mac into single user mode by holding Command+S on bootup of the mac.
--> It will run some commands automatically, then ask for you to input a command. Type:
/sbin/fsck -fy
-->When fsck is complete, type "exit" or "reboot"
-->Boot the mac as usual and try again in disk utility. It should work fine now.

Disk Utilty - what is difference between single volume and single partition

In Disk Utility I can, should I wish, format a drive by using Erase to create a single volume. Also in Disk Utility, I have the option to use Partition to create one (or more) partition.
What is the difference between a volume and a single partition?
What are their relative merits?
In what circumstances would I want to create a single partition instead of a volume?
Disk Utility also prompts me to name the volume or partition. From experience, what would you suggest as a suitable name and where is this information subsequently used?

A "volume" or "partition" are the same thing. The subject of using partitions has been covered many times on the forums. Do some searching and you'll find quite a lot of information. Also try doing some Google searching.

Trying to get rid of error "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition". Recovery HD visible.

Hello,
I've been stuck for some hours now trying different things to install Windows 7 on my Macbook Air, and I think now is the time to call for some custom help.
I'm using OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks.
So some months ago I just wanted to run Linux on my laptop so I installed rEFInd, shrunk the Macintosh HD partition by 25GB and booted on a linux live USB flash I burned using dd.
Then I used gparted to create my linux partitions.
It worked just fine, even though disk utility from OS X seemed quite unhappy about this (it seemed to have incorrect informations about the filesystem on these partitions, seeing them as journaled Mac OS while they were clearly not). At this point already, the Recovery HD from mac showed up in disk utility, which I found weird but didn't bother me.
But recently I needed windows on my Mac. So after a few tries for the triple boot, I managed to create a bootable USB stick with boot camp, which already showed me the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" and hence refused to partition/install himself.
So I thought "OK, that's no big issue, I can just partition with disk utility and then boot on the USB stick and everything will work fine". But when EFI booting on the USB flash drive I got stuck at the beginning of Windows installer with no keyboard or mouse support.
After some hours spent googling, I was unable to find a working fix for that, and as there was no support for my case (where I used bootcamp to create the bootable flash but NOT to partition/reboot) I decided to give bootcamp a try.
So I erased my linux partitions, and cleaned up everything I could on the HD with disk utility. That means I now have two partitions showing in disk utility : Macintosh HD and Recovery HD.
When using disk utility from terminal, the list is :
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            80.0 GB    disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3
But boot camp still isn't happy, and the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" keeps popping after the intro and I can't partition/boot from bootcamp.
So, as I don't understand what is wrong here anymore, any help would be greatly appreciated!
I will be watching the thread a lot because I really would like this resolved (or windows installed one way or another) this weekend; so any questions on my past manipulations or config just ask!
Thank you.

keyboard issues are also something of a common issue.
I wish the best threads were voted to the top of forums, something! Me, I literally burned out here, but after installing 10 Preview, wanted to "see what was going on" after hiatus of a couple years and see if anything had changed (no, not really!)
Also, these new Communities are not putting "more like this" and failing to help too.
I think rewriting Boot Camp Assistant's built in help and pdf would help a lot, and needs to be clearer and go into details. And Yosemite was not it seems tested against Boot Camp, and drivers for new Macs + new OS also lag behind. Again, common and no sign of improvement or change.
One of the tricks to the "can't partition" is rather simple - of course backup is step #1 and is spelled out - SHRINK the main HFS+ partition! then stretch it back to full length. Sometimes a reboot is needed, and sometimes even do a Safe Boot - not sure what but Recovry Mode might be a good option too. That does seem to consolidate free space, move files that are locked and cannot be moved otherwise, and allow BCA to partition, jusst be sure to have enough space left and large enough for a proper Windows install (and fudge factor).

Hello Everyone, I have a MacBook older model with me.I am running 10.7.6 on that, I was trying to use BootCamp to install windows on my mac. Since BootCamp can only work on a single Volume, I partitioned my Hard Disk to one volume. Using BootCamp I

Hello Everyone,
I have a MacBook older model with me.I am running 10.7.6 on that, I was trying to use BootCamp to install windows on my mac. Since BootCamp can only work on a single Volume, I partitioned my Hard Disk to one volume.
Using BootCamp I installed windows and everything worked fine. After installing windows and testing everything, I switched back to OS X and this time I tried to make another partition on my single portioned Mac volume and named it Backup. That too worked. Now I have three Volumes
1)Development2)Backup3)BootCamp.
Next when I switched to Windows, It should the classic error, No Bootable device found, please insert a Bootable CD and press any key. When I tried to enter my Mac OS X install DVD and by pressing option key, it does not show me the proper Mac OS X development volume. It keeps going back to the No bootable device found message.
Any help will be much appreciated
Regards
Mithun

you can't add a partition in between - you put Windows to a new partition number.
GPT (GUID)
EFI
Mac HFS
Lion Recovery
Windows
And now you have two HFS
One partition and one Windows (plus Lion Recovery).
If you were to have more, it can't be before Windows for one thing.

Computer in constant restart mode, restore disk & wireless keyboard problem

I am have been trying to restore my system to factory settings with my installation CD however I am encountering a huge difficulty. I ran the disk and the computer restarted, however when it booted up I was prompted to restart again. I have restarted several times and it always takes me back to the gray screen that again prompts me to start my computer again (the restore disk is still in the computer). The major problem that I am facing is that I have a wireless keyboard from Logitech that does not have an eject button on it. In addition all of the safe mode commands can not be used because the wireless keyboard does not work as fast as the computer needs it to.
I am hoping that someone could instruct me on what I commands I could put in once the "gray restart screen" comes up, or if the restore CD is permanently stuck in my computer until I can make it to an Apple store where someone can eject the CD for me.

Hello avon:
Try restarting while holding down the mouse.
Are you really using OS X 10.2?
Barry

I was resetting my macbook pro 17 (early 2009) to factory settings but does not restore due to a problem with the restore disk. Please advice me on what to do next.

I was resetting my macbookpro 17 (early 2009) to factory settings but was indicating problems on the restore disk. I erased my macintosh hd drive so the hd is empty. What do I do next?

Get an external drive and make a clone of your internal, erase the internal, set it for 1 partition (OSX Journaled) and restore the clone.

Problems installing operating system from restore disks

Greetings all,
I recently had to change out the motherboard on my TECRA A11-S3540 due to a spill on the keyboard. The laptop worked OK afterwards for a week or so. It started hanging on bootup and continually got worse until it would only boot up in safe mode and then hang up at mup.sys.
I assumed the replacement motherboard was bad so bought and installed yet another one. Afterwards, I had the same problems as with the 1st replacement motherboard. I then turned my attention to the hard drive.
I removed the hard drive from the Tecra and then attached it via a SATA-USB converter to another PC so that I could run chkdisk on it. There were not errors reported. I then reformatted and repartitioned the drive and reinstalled it.
Now when I try to install the operating system (windows 7) with my restore disks, it seems to load information into the RAM, but hangs forever with the windows logo on the screen and the text "starting windows".
The motherboard has the latest bios, and indentifies the hard drive correctly. I am at a total loss and really need help on this...

Tecra A11-S3540
when I try .. with my restore disks, it .. hangs forever
We've seen occasional problems restoring to a drive with advanced-format technology.
Check into that.
-Jerry

Problem making restore disks on my X301

I tried to make restore disks on my X301 yesterday and it makes the first "start-up" disk fine. When done, I click OK and the Restore window just goes away and it leave the RR disk program. It does not prompt me for the 2nd or 3rd disk, it just ends.
I have tried over and over and resulted with nothing but 5-6 start-up disks
HELP
Solved!
Go to Solution.

It certainly makes sense to make recovery disks, 110%, you never know when you might need them.
Only you can decide if the change will improve your productivity.
Andy ______________________________________
Please remember to come back and mark the post that you feel solved your question as the solution, it earns the member + points
Did you find a post helpfull? You can thank the member by clicking on the star to the left awarding them Kudos Please add your type, model number and OS to your signature, it helps to help you. Forum Search Option T430 2347-G7U W8 x64, Yoga 10 HD+, Tablet 1838-2BG, T61p 6460-67G W7 x64, T43p 2668-G2G XP, T23 2647-9LG XP, plus a few more. FYI Unsolicited Personal Messages will be ignored.
Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español English Community Русскоязычное Сообщество
PepperonI blog

Unable to create restore disk image with Disk Utility

I've tried three times in order to create a restore image of the users' volume of my Powerbook. I followed exactly the procedure explained typing "man asr" in a terminal window. I booted the Powerbook in target disk mode while connected to my iMac G5 from which Disk utility was run. Every time the disk image creation failed with a log report like this:
Creating Image HOME_HD.dmg
Initializing...
Copying...
/Volumes/HOME_HD: Authentication error
Initializing...
Finishing...
Initializing...
Creating...
Copying...
could not access /Volumes/HOME_HD/./Users/delos/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/David Bowie/The Best Of David Bowie 1974-1979/01 Sound And Vision.m4a - Input/output error
Finishing...
Unable to create HOME_HD - Input/output error.
I don't know how my imported music could create such a problem to Disk utility, nevertheless I removed the incriminated song from the Music library but another one raised to be not accessible. Then I booted the powerbook from the supplied Tiger DVD too, and I got an error over the music file, something about an allocation that was 190 instead of 1, I got the volume repaired from Disk utility but the Disk image creation failed again without any hint because booting from DVD does not allow to save log file anywhere. Why on Earth I can't manage such a critical task as back up under Tiger while using Panther everything worked like a charm following the same procedure? Is anyone experiencing something similar?
Greetings
Gianmarco

Hi Lee, thank you for your answer, indeed I've just read carefully your article few hours ago, while I googled the net to find some hints on my issue. I think that I've followed exactly the right procedure to make the back up image, and can't find what is wrong. Actually Disk utility Repair disk successfully repaired the allocation bit (whatever that means) of the music files but that wasn't enough to let the creation of the disk image. Quite odd that the music files where recognized as messed up by Disk utility only booting from Tiger DVD and not while the Powerbook was connected to an iMac running Tiger too.
I'll do further investigation during weekend.
Greetings
Gianmarco

Trouble with restored disk after HD failure

My HD failed and I restored it using a backup from time machine (complete reinstall using the CD) Now, when I move something to the trash it asks for my password. When I move folders the changes don't stay made when the machine is restarted. So far I have:
1. repaired permissions both from the desktop and from the original install disk.
2. verfied disk...volume is OK
3. Trashed the com.apple.finder.plist file.
Still having the same problems. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Reading this thread here you may have a permissions issue with your Home folder. If that is the case then Kappy's post in this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10675415&#10675415 detailing how to reset the permissions on your Home folder should help (obviously substitute your own name where required).
Message was edited by: Sean Dale1

Problems restoring disk to single volume

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for