Unable to erase or format hard drive

Hi... Im having a problem reformatting my macbook pro early 2011. I cannot erase or format my hardrive using the disk utility...
I've included a picture of my problem..
Any help would be very much appreciated....

Hi Niel,
Thanks for the reply... Actually this snapshot is through Utility disk on Lion's recovery... And when I try to directly reinstall the Mac OS Lion is says that the HDD is locked and the only hdd that shows is the Mac OS X Base System which is grayout...
And everytime I try to boot up it goes to the Lion recovery mode, which ask you first about the language that you use and then lets you choose weather you use the time machine back up, reinstall Mac OS Lion, Utility Disk and so on...

Similar Messages

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a 1 or 2 if there are no real files in them, and reboot.
If it does contain data...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

As john noted, eventually that external is probably not going to be big enough, but it certainly is for now. The HD just needs enough capacity to cover the amount of data on your internal HD, not the internal HD's total capacity.
Format/partition the external as follows and you should be set to go:
1. Connect the external HD to the MBP.
2. Open Disk Utility on the MBP.
3. Select the external HD in the left pane.
4. Click on the Erase tab.
5. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
6. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
7. Click the Partition tab.
8. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (just one in this situation).
9. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
10. Click Apply.
11. Quit Disk Utility.
Backup your internal to the external. What application are you using to backup with? I highly recommend both SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner.

Advanced Format Hard Drive not recognized by HP DV6000 Controller

Hello,
I have an HP DV 6000 laptop (6276 I think, I'm at work can't check) that came preinstalled with a Western Digital 160gb 1.5gb/s 5400 RPM drive (Vista) that failed a couple of weeks ago. So i bought a Western Digital 750 GB WD Black SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB drive to replace it. I read about people having some problems with Advanced Drive Format hard drives not being recognized by their controller, but also read that depending on the controller and specific Dv6000 model laptop they had-one wouldn't run into problems.
Well sure enough, when attempting to install Windows 7 I received the error that the hard drive was not detected. After researching online I came across an article on WD's site that noted
"Our SATA II hard drives use autospeed negotiation. This enables our SATA II drives to automatically detect the motherboard data transfer rate, making it backward compatible with SATA I data transfer rates. However, some older SATA I controllers are unable to support autospeed negotiation and cannot recognize the drive. This “drive not detected” condition occurs when a chipset is incapable of correctly negotiating the data transfer speed with a SATA II hard drive."
my drive is a SATA ||| but I'm pretty sure it's the same problem. The site goes on to say a fix would be to "purchase and install a third party PCI or PCI-Express Second Generation Serial ATA controller card for your Serial ATA hard drive(s)."
My question(s) are.
1)Is the problem that I am trying to install a Sata ||| hard drive on a laptop with a controller that will only recognize SATA | hard drive?
2) Or is the problem that the hard drive is an Advanced Drive Formatted hard drive and I need to buy a hard drive with out that specification?
3) Or Should I buy a SATA controller card as WD suggests on their website and if so will this definitely allow my laptop's controller to recognize the new hard drive and proceed with the installation?
4)Or Should I just return the hard drive and buy a SATA | non Advanced Drive Format hard drive? (question 2 basically)
Thanks for your help!

Hi @jasmine00
Welcome to the HP Support Forums.
I certainly understand your issue with the drive upgrade. Unfortunately it is a bit of the nature of notebooks, the sacrifice of a large amount of upgradeability, in exchange for compactness and portability. Whenever a new technology comes out, older notebooks are never really going to be easy to upgrade, it at all. Normally the unit as a whole is tested with a set list of hardware, and only those items are supported.
That being said there is this document that could be helpful with your problem.
Preparing Advanced Format hard drives for Microsoft Windows installations on HP Business Notebook PC...
And for your reference:
HP Pavilion dv6000 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide
Malygris1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click Accept as Solution if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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Cannot format hard drive on macbook pro.

Hi, I am trying to run bootcamp and install Windows but am having no luck. When I try to partition the drive through bootcamp it tells me that it cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. The message also says to format the drive after backing it up and partition after that. I have backed up my drive and am trying to erase the disk but the erase disk option is grayed out when I click on my disk to be formatted.
Also, I tried to partition the hard drive without using bootcamp, and it will not allow me to format the partition to FAT, or anything other than OSX Extended Journaled.
What am I doing wrong? Also, if I try to verify the disk for repairing it, Disk Utility freezes and I have to force quit it. My only thought in reading this is that maybe I should partition through Disk Utility if it will work, format to OSX Extended, and then format the partition to NTFS after. Is this the best way to do this.

plorelle wrote:
Hi, I am trying to run bootcamp and install Windows but am having no luck. When I try to partition the drive through bootcamp it tells me that it cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
this happens because your drive is too fragmented and bootcamp assistant can't find a contiguous piece of free space to make the bootcamp partition.
The message also says to format the drive after backing it up and partition after that. I have backed up my drive and am trying to erase the disk but the erase disk option is grayed out when I click on my disk to be formatted.
What am I doing wrong?
you can't erase a drive while you are booted from it. how did you back up the drive? you need to make a bootable clone and test that it works. boot from the clone and repartition (not erase) your main hard drive using the partition disk utility. then clone the clone back. boot from the internal and try using bootacmp assistant again. keep in mind that you need to leave plenty of free space on the OS X partition after you create the bootcamp partition. at least 15% of the OS X partition should be free to avoid disk fragmentation issues.

Quitting Disk Utility in middle of an operation erasing a 2TB hard drive

Hello,
I have bought a 2TB external hard drive for backing up my files. I noticed when i plugged it in on my iMac that the files can be copied off the device but nothing can be altered and put on. So after a lot of research I heard that I should make a single pass erase on Disk Utility to reformat the hard drive to be used in both systems. So I did.
The problem is that I saw it would take about 10 hours for this to happen and it has been many hours more. I saw on some other sites that some people had problems where it took days. If I quit in the middle of a erase operation it warns me that quitting in the middle may render the drive non-operational. I don't want to lose it as I spent a considerable amount on it.
Shall I risk it and quit the process? If not, how long intuitively would it take for the 2TB hard drive to finish?
Thanks!

Hello azrael2010
Welcome to Apple Support Communities
A single or multiple pass erase +(writing 0's)+ is not necessary before reformatting a new drive, it is meant to write over and secure data from recovery.
To reformat a drive from NTSF to MS-DOS/FAT-32 all one needs to do is:
1. Select the External HDs first icon in the Disk Utility list of drives
2. Select the Partition tab
3. Select the number of desired partitions under Volume Scheme:
4. Select Options...
5. Select Master Boot Record and click OK (+setting the Partition scheme)+
6. Select MS-DOS (FAT) +(setting the format)+
7. Select the Apply button +(which should quick erase and format the drive in a few minutes)+
Also see > http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
Personally I have stopped a Secure Erase on many occasions and always opted for the quick erase when formatting a new drive from MS-DOS/FAT-32 to GUID Partition Table/Mac OS Extended and never had a problem...
Also note MS-DOS/FAT-32 has a single file size limitation of 4GB.
See >http://www.macworld.com/article/51972/2006/07/ww_drives.html
Dennis

Installed m4 crucial SSD and I cannon erase and format new drive. I get an error "wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed"

Installed m4 crucial SSD and I cannot erase and format new drive. I get an error "wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed." any suggestions? Thanks.

are you trying to format/erase it while it's in your Macbook?
I have 2 Crucial M4 SSD.
Connect via external USB. Boot your computer with your old hard drive and proceed with the erase feature if you're planning on cloning your drive.

Best way to erase a portable hard drive?

Hi, I just got done installing a new hard drive in to an iMac and used a portable hard drive when I use SuperDuper. Everything transfered without any problems. But now I want to erase the portable hard drive that contained all of the transfered data. What is the best way to erase that data so I can use the portable hard drive so I have a clean drive and can use it to back up with Time Machine?

If it was set up for SuperDuper, it should be Apple-format.
Go into DiskUtility, select the partition of the external in the left column, and you should have an "Erase" option at the top of the main-activity window. You can decide if you need more than simple "Erase" (you can do a 7-pass erase, but nromally that is used when transferring a disk to a new user/buyer).

Recovering data from a newly formatted hard drive

Has anyone had any experience with programs that recover data from a newly formatted hard drive? There seem to be a lot of programs out there to do this, but, a) do they work, and b) which one worked best for you?

Ive had so and so success with a freeware utility called "Recuva"
http://www.recuva.com/
Its from the makers of CCleaner.
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I am not an employee of BBY in any shape or form. All information presented in my replies or postings is my own opinion. It is up to you , the end user to determine the ultimate validity of any information presented on these forums.

Trouble restoring/formatting hard drive.

I maybe did this wrong, so let preface with that but from my basic experience reading on the forums about how to do everything.
So let's start from the beginning.
Been having issues with what I believe to be a hard drive issue, been hearing screeching/scratching noises coming from my computer, and computer was constantly crashing when I tried to load heavy-duty cpu applications (i.e. Live or PS etc.) and then recently it was crashing when I would do certain things on firefox like load large video files or even attempt to use like VLC or Stuffit. Low CPU intensive things. So then it seemed to me as if it were a disk permission errors, repaired disk multiple multiple times, I once got an error that said something to the effect that disk was beyond repair.
Anyways. So I came to the conclusion that the hard drive was the source of my issues, so I thought maybe a wipe and reinstall would at least be helpful. So I begin by using my TimeMachine backup to create a recent restore point and upload some of my most important files to online storage. Now let's think of from here on out in steps.
1. I started my mac up in recovery mode and and then first tried a basic reinstall of the OS X and while it did take forever it did not really fix my problem of the crashing so, problem still there!
2. I started my mac up in recovery mode for the 2nd time, and I began the restoration.
This is where I may have taken a wrong step. [Never really done this before]
3. First I erased the internal hard drive.
4. I used the restore tab and chose to restore from the backup drive and put the image on the now erased internal hard drive. While this did also take forever, it seemingly did work.
Now my problem is I can't boot from this hard drive now nor can I erase it and try over. I am kind of stuck in a bad limbo. I am using the safari client from the recovery mode.
The error I get when I try to erase the original HD says that it cannot be unmounted, when I try to do the restore from time machine backup it says something like bad pipe. I am contemplating ordering a new hard drive but I was wondering if there was anyway of salvaging this one because from what I can tell it's basically bricked and is useless at this point. Would really love some help here as my laptop is basically a huge part of my everyday life as I spent $2500 dollars initially for it, and I wish I was more adept at macs but they are very unique and the error reports are not as simple as PC's.
Thanks for any help or consideration

You can't restore a Time Machine backup by using Disk Utility. Doing this, you will restore all the backups you have, keeping the Time Machine structure, so you just have turned your internal hard drive onto a Time Machine drive.
It looks like your problem is that you are trying to erase the whole hard drive while you are using it, and this can't be done if you have started in Recovery HD. Simply close Disk Utility, select the option to restore a Time Machine backup and follow its steps, but it will probably not do anything.
In your case, you should get a new hard drive, as the one you have looks like it's failing

Cd/dvd drive not found, can I format hard drive with an external cd/dvd drive. If so how?

My cd/dvd drive quit working and is not found in device manager so I purchased an external cd/dvd rw. Now I am having other issues with installing software and windows updates so I would like to format hard drive. Can this be done with external cd drive, if so how do I boot from it? presario v6000 laptop windows vista 32bit os.

Restart the notebook >> start tapping F10 key >> go to configuration menu >> Boot Order >> select the Ext DVD drive as 1st boot device >> save and exit >> Insert the recovery disc >> restart the PC >> press any key when prompted >> follow the instructions..
||-Although I am working on behalf of HP, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.-||
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I want to erase my mini hard drive. where do I get a new operating software

I want to erase my mini hard drive. Where do I get a new operating software to reinstall on the wiped hard drive?

If you have Lion or later boot to the Recovery partition and reinstall the OS
OS X: About OS X Recovery
Otherwise you have to boot from your install disk and reinstall the OS.

Problem - cannot format hard drive even after replacement

Dead hard drive. I was able to recover part of the data in firewire mode.
Rebooting from OSX disk hangs with a circle slash. Same if I try to reboot with Diskwarrior CD or TTPro. Removing the hard drive has the same result.
Booting from an external firewire utility drive is successful, however I'm unable to successfully reformat the hard drive. Disk Utility sees the drive, and begins to reformat, but hangs at about 10%, and it instantly shows more than 10 partitions but none of them successfully are created. Drive Genius just fails to initialize.
I tried a different hard drive, same result.
Apple Hardware Test and TTpro all show that hardware is OK.
Any ideas?
TiBook 500 MHz 512MB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Reply
Hi James,
I'm not clear on some things:
"Rebooting from OSX disk hangs with a circle slash.
Same if I try to reboot with Diskwarrior CD or TTPro.
Removing the hard drive has the same result.
Correct. I cannot boot from ANY bootable CD except AHT, not even with the internal drive completely disconnected.
Booting from an external firewire utility drive is
successful, however I'm unable to successfully
reformat the hard drive. Disk Utility sees the drive,
and begins to reformat, but hangs at about 10%, and
it instantly shows more than 10 partitions but none
of them successfully are created. Drive Genius just
fails to initialize.
I tried a different hard drive, same result.
Apple Hardware Test and TTpro all show that hardware
is OK."
First you say you can't boot with DW or TTP, then you
say AHT and TTP show hardware is OK. So you
can boot with DW and TTP?
I cannot boot from ANY CD. But I CAN boot from an external firewire drive. My iPod is a diagnostic drive, which includes TTP and AHT. Oh, and I CAN boot from an AHT CD but only into AHT, not beyond AHT into the finder.
Are you running an OS on the external HD that's at
least as new as the one that originally shipped on
the PB?
Yes. It's the brand new version of Protogo that just came out in Jan 07. I've also tried CD's from 9.1 to 10.4.
Have you reseated your RAM? Tried with just one
module? Switched that module to the other slot?
Repeated same process with other module?
Yes, that was actually the first thing I tried.
If still no luck, try removing the bottom cover,
gently snugging up all the screws you can find,
flipping the keyboard up and doing the same, then try
booting (with bottom cover off).
If still no luck, I would try the
href="http://www.posner.net/marc/projects/TiBook/TiBoo
k.html">Orange Ribbon Cable Fix.
If still no luck, sounds like a logic board issue, or
possible the display cables in the hinges.
Tried that too...no change.

HP System Recovery DVD incorrectly formats hard drive (WIN Vista HP SP1 64-bit 510141-001)

HP Pavilion DV4-1225dx
Vista Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Turion x2
I had previously posted the issue as "HP System Recovery Fails on new HDD", however it appears that the reason it is failing is due to incorrect formatting of the hard drive:
Went to purchase the oem HDD @ Tiger Direct (Hitachi 0A56415 Travelstar 5K320 Mobile Hard Drive - 2.5", 5400 RPM, SATA 3G, 250GB, 8MB Cache) but found it was out of stock. I purchased the suggested replacement (WD Blue 320GB Mobile Hard Drive - Designed for everyday computing - 2.5", SATA 3Gb/s, 5400RPM, 8MB C...)
I have attemptted the System Recovery several times each failing with errors. But after each failure the HDD is found to be incorrectly formatted as documented in the following link:
System Recovery Fails on new HDD
hp G71-340US WIN 7 HP 64 Bit
hp pavilion dv4-1225dx VIsta HP 64 Bit
hp pavilion zd7000 WIN XP Pro
hp pavilion xv886 WIN Millennium / WIN XP Pro
hp deskjet 6980xi
hp pavilion xt236 / ze4200 WIN XP Media Edition

Slolearner,
After doing a little research, I believe your issue may be related to your new hard drive being an AF (Advanced Format) drive. Please see "WD Scorpio® Blue™ SATA/PATA Hard Drives", which indicates your WD3200BPVT may an AF drive.
Please see "Cannot Recover the PC after Replacing the Hard Drive with an AF Drive (Windows 7 and Vista)" for information on this subject. While this document isn't for your specific computer, it is generic enough that it applies to your situation. If you wish to use your HP Recovery Discs successfully, you may need to purchase a non-AF drive.
If your computer boots into Windows, please see "Identifying an Advanced Format Hard Drive" to download and run the HP Advanced Format Hard Drive Information tool.
If it is an AF drive, please see "Preparing Advanced Format Hard Drive for Windows" and "Improving the Performance of an Advanced Format Hard Drive" for more information on the subject and possible steps to be taken to resolve your issue.
Lastly, it may be necessary to follow Paul_Tikkanen's advice and install Windows Vista from a Microsoft Windows Vista installation disc as follows;
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
If you can still read the 25 character Microsoft Vista product key on the bottom of your PC, you can make your own plain Vista installation media and use that to at least get the OS on your PC.
Here is how to do that if you can read that key:
Please click on the link below, click on the Windows Reinstallation Guide [27-07-2013] pdf link on the upper left of the page and then read the instructions for doing this starting on page 302.
http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
You may also consider purchasing a copy of Windows 7 and installing that instead. Windows 7 SP1 has much better support for AF drives than the previous versions of Windows.
Please click the white KUDOS star to show your appreciation
Frank
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About to format hard drive. How do I preserve I-Tunes?

Hi,
*About to format hard drive. How do I preserve I-Tunes*
Apologies if this has been asked before, but I need reassurance that I will not make an expensive mistake.
I have iTunes installed on my PC, but the library and any original music files are stored on a NAS external device.
What do I need to do in iTunes (or anything else) before I reformat my PC drive?
In addition, I am guessing, but I figure that that afterwards I reinstall iTunes and reenter some settings and I can make connection with my Library again? Is that correct?
Thanks in advance
flobbyblob

Are you certain that the iTunes folder containing you library databases is on the external drive?
If you have the iTunes folder containing your current iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml in My Music on the C: drive, then you need to back that up.
If you are certain everything is on the external drive then all you need to do with your PC is deauthorise it before reinstalling Windows.
You asked something else:
Yes after reinstalling Windows and iTunes, you redo the settings you used to connect to your library on the external drive. You will also need to reauthorise your PC.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Unable to erase or format hard drive

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