Unable to format / partition hard disk

First start with some up front info:
- This all started when the partition table on my SSD became corrupt out of no where (the result of a system freeze)
- I am using a 3rd party SSD from crucial (The M4)
- I have tried formatting it by using a USB connector and it works fine, connecting it via SATA on the MacBook has problems.
- Tried two different SSDs and the same result.
When I have the SSD connected via the SATA cable in my MacBook the drive is recognized as being unformated. Using Disk Utility I'm trying o create a partition to install OS X but Disk Utility tends to stall on "unmounting" the drive and creating the partition map with an expected wait time of up to 40 minutes (no secure erase selected, just a partition of the disk). Same result on two drives and connecting them via USB partitions the drives normally within a minute. Plugging the drive back into the SATA connector on the MacBook results in the partition not being seen by disk utility (the drive is seen though).
Is this a hardware failure of the MacBook Pro? I made sure that the SATA connector is firmly connected on the board and on the drive.
Any help would be appreciated.

I/O error is usually caused by a bad block.
The standard erase only overwrites the area where the directory will live. It does nothing to the rest of the data blocks.
On a rotating drive, the standard way of scrubbing out bad blocks and substituting spares was to write Zeroes to every block. This takes several hours, but if it finishes without error, you have 100 percent good blocks. On an SSD, there is an underlying problem with deleted data being carried along as if it were good data, and making the drive eventually seem near-full at all times. This can cause the drive to misbehave.
I recommend you try TRIM Enabler, a simple, Free utility that patches the SSD driver to pass TRIM commands to all Internal SSD devices, not just Apple Brand. When you run Disk Utility ( Repair Disk ) you get an additional line of output, " TRIM-ing unused blocks" and the drive may TRIM for several minutes.
TRIM-ing an "erased" SSD will cause all those newly unused blocks to be available for the SSD drive controller to shuffle around in ways that it deems best. This will allow the drive to know which blocks are actually free, and it can do a better, faster job for you.

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Unable to format/partition hard drive

So I've recently decided my previous three partitions, including a partition with windows on, are not needed so backed up the files and am trying to simply format the whole hard disk. It lets me format two of the old partitions, but not the one with windows OS on it (erase is greyed out).
In terminal I tried
diskutil reformat /dev/disk2
but get
disk2 does not appear to have a valid file system format
Usage: diskutil reformat MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode
Completely erase an existing volume with the same name and format as the
original. Ownership of the affected disk is required.
You cannot erase the boot volume, nor can you reformat any device which
does not have a valid file system (instead use diskutil eraseVolume).
The partition table is master boot record for the HDD. That's about as far as I can get. Anyone?

Hi there LazyGenious,
At this point you may need to boot into the Recovery HD to repartition and reformat your HDD, then reinstall OS X.
To boot in the the Recovery HD, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys. Once booted, you should be able to launch Disk Utility. At this point you will want to repartition the HDD using the steps outlined in the User Guide below. If you are going to be reinstalling OS X, make sure to select the GUID Partition Table option.
Partition a disk - Disk Utility Help
Partition a disk
Select the disk in the sidebar, then click Partition.
If you’re partitioning an external disk, make sure it’s connected to your computer.
Click the Partition Layout pop-up menu, then choose the number of partitions.
You can enter a size for each partition or drag the divider between the partitions to change their sizes. If a partition’s name has an asterisk beside it, it’s being shown larger than its actual size so the name can be displayed clearly.
Click each partition, then enter a name for it.
For each partition, click the Format pop-up menu, choose a format, then enter a size.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Uses journaling to protect the hierarchical file system integrity.
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): Uses journaling and is case sensitive to folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “hoMeWOrk” are two different folders.
MS-DOS (FAT): Use for Windows disks that are 32 GB or less.
ExFAT: Use for Windows disks that are over 32 GB.
Free Space: Use to extend the free space for the disk.
Click Options, then choose one of the following:
GUID Partition Table: Choose this partition scheme if you’ll be using this disk only with Mac computers.
Apple Partition Map: This partition scheme should only be used if you’re working with Mac computers using Mac OS X version 10.4 or earlier.
Master Boot Record: Also known as “fdisk,” choose this partition scheme if you’ll be using the disk as a secondary disk for the Windows operating system you installed using Boot Camp, or for an external disk you’ll be using on a Windows computer.
Click Apply.
Once this is process is complete, quit Disk Utility and reinstall OS X using the steps outlined in the article below, starting from step 2.
OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X
-Griff W.

Unable to format external hard disk as mac os extended (journaled)

Have just bought a 750gb Western digital HDD. To be able to use it to store video to use in i movie it needs to be formatted in mac os extended (journal). However when I try to do this in disk utility I get a volume erase error reporting an error on exit. the resulting disk is then unreadable until it is formatted back to MS-Dos (fat) again. Any tips or have I just wasted my money on a disk that is not compatible. On the box it says it is compatible with OSX 10.2.8+?

Try the directions in this article. They are for formatting a drive for Time Machine but will work just fine for your purposes.

Unable to format partition, disk may be damaged

I was experiencing a problem with my Windows XP installation on Bootcamp. The Windows side kept restarting, and I could not find the reason, so I formatted with the Windows XP disc and tried to re-install it, but it didn't work. I forget the exact error as to why. So I went back to the Mac side and re-formatted the partition sing Bootcamp, and now when I try to re-install the Windows XP on the Bootcamp partition, I get the error:
Unable to format partition, disk may be damaged
What can I do? I don't understand, because this disk has worked before and I am on the mac side right now, so the actual disk does not appear to be damaged. What can I do?

Do a full format as it will check for errors and mark bad clusters if it finds any (full format = quick + chkdsk /x ), but only create one OS partition e.g like 30GB or something , this will be plenty enough for the os ,instead of the whole drive . Will save you time .
Wait with partitioning the rest of the drive as an extra partition until the OS is installed using diskmanagement .
Also make sure sata-dma is enabled in bios .

HT1338 how to format my hard disk

how to format my hard disk ....my mac book came with no cds

You do this either with a Mountain Lion install disc or drive, which you have to make yourself, or from the Recovery System. For the Recovery System, you reboot while holding down command-R. This boots from a (hidden) recovery partition that is on your hard drive; then you access Disk Utility and do your formatting that way. The Recovery system can do a new install of Mountain Lion from the internet from apple once you have reformatted your drive. Or you can make a ML installer disk from the installer files that you download for future reference.
Here's a page about Recovery mode: OS X: About OS X Recovery
and here's how to make your own ML installer disk: How to Burn OS X Mountain Lion to a DVD or USB Flash Drive..
BTW, you could have figured out all this yourself with a google search.

HT5628 Is it possible to format entire hard disk and install windows 8 only in mac mini?

Is it possible to format entire hard disk and install windows 8 only in mac mini?

You can, but it's not recommended. If you are going to use Windows all the time, at least give some GBs to OS X, because you will need it to install firmware updates.
Use Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows partition. You can find it in /Applications/Utilities. Then, follow Apple's steps to install Windows 8 > http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.8.pdf You must use a 64-bit version, and note that not all Mac minis support Windows 8. Check if yours is supported > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Boot Camp Assistant will ask you to download the Windows support software onto a USB drive. You will need to install it in Windows, so it's very important to download it. If not, you will have problems in Windows.
If your Mac doesn't support Windows 8, install the Windows version the site gives you

I want to be format my hard disk, but want to take a backup copy of information from the Firefox and passwords and book marks so retrieved after formatThank you

I want to be format my hard disk, but want to take a backup copy of information from the Firefox and passwords and book marks so retrieved after format
Thank you

For backing up bookmarks, see [[Backing up and restoring bookmarks]]
If you want to back up passwords, you need to use an extension such as Password Exporter. This is located at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2848/ .

HT1349 How to format my hard disk and restart

THis aftrnoon my system wouldn't start. a black screen with OS X utility. Now I want to format my hard disk and install OS. X

Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless.

I am planing to format my hard disk on my PC.

I am planing to format my hard disk on my PC . I would like to know the needed preparation to sync my ipod again without losing my saved data.

if you were on a Mac, you'd use a cloning software to make a complete backup of your boot drive to an external, format the internal drive, then clone the clone back to it.
that would ensure everything will be there and your iPod would not note the difference as it is syncing with the same old library.
on a winsloth machine, you could use something like Casper to achieve the same.

How can i download and install lightroom after having formatted the hard disk?

How can I download and install lightroom after having formatted the hard disk?
I have the number of the order.

Lightroom - all versions
Windows
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Windows
Mac
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Macintosh

NTFS formatted external hard disks?

does mountain lion supports writing on NTFS formatted external hard disks?

I'm getting immense slow-downs using Tuxera NTFS (latest release as of August 2012). I moved my home folder to an NTFS shared drive. Reading/writing to the cache while browsing in Safari is slow. Takes about 30 seconds for Finder to open my NTFS drive, takes about 1 minute to open an app and close the app. If I disable Tuxera NTFS and make my drive read-only, everything goes back to snappy performance (except for write-errors, since disabling Tuxera means I can't write to my home folder).
What shocks me the most is that if you visit the Tuxera community forum on their corporate website, none of their support representatives have helped their customers since the release of Tuxera NTFS for OS X Mountain Lion. It's as if the company realized they messed up, so they went silent.
I'm about to try the latest version of Paragon. I had it for OS X Lion, but it corrupted my entire drive after 2 months of use, which is why I tried to give Tuxera a shot. Here's to hoping Paragon has fixed their issues.

Reinstall but deleting the previous system without formatting the hard disk

HI there, I was wondering if there's a way to reinstall Snow Leopard with the option that Tiger had: install and rename the old system folder and keep existing users. I'm having some issues with my iMac and and don't want to format the hard disk because I don't want to lose some applications and I don't have an external hard disk to make a back up. I tried reinstalling but it seems that it doesn't fix the issues.
Thanks for your help
PERCY

I agree with Allan. However, you should know that with Snow Leopard, a reinstall, not an erase and install, will, by default, give you new system files while retaining everything else. There is no Previous System folder.
I see you already tried that. What issues aren't being fixed?

Problems with partitioning hard disk

Hi, I have an external hard disk with 2tb capacity.
I want to create one partition of 1,5 tb to use with Time Machine and one partition with 500 gb to use both with windows and mac.
I have partitioned the first one in HFS extended and the second one in exfat, using the GUID partition table.
Now the problem: on the mac both the partitions work well.
In Windows, on the contrary, the exfat partition is not recognized. It says it is to be formatted a nd if I try to format it (in windows) it says it is not able to do this.
I don't know what is the problem, even if I think it can be in the GUID table used...

I think you can have only one OPTION for the partition table map scheme which is for the entire drive.
So, when you created your two partitions (1.5GB Mac OS Extended - Journaled format and a 2nd for the rest of the space as ExfFat format) you chose the partition table map scheme as GUID, Windows will not see either partition. For Windows to see the ExFat partition, the partition map scheme has to be Master Boot Record.
I have never formated two different partitions like you and made the partition table map scheme Master Boot Record. I know the PC will see the ExFat partition, but I don't know if the Mac will see the other. Understand you won't be able to boot from the Mac formated partition since the drive is MBR. Try it! You will need to reformat the drive with your two partitions when you change the partition table.

Does Labview RT 8.5 impose a limit on FAT32 partition / hard disk size?

We will be using a PXI RT system (spec below) to collect, analyse and store a
large amount of data (~30 to 40GB per experiment).
We don't want to keep the Windows host PXI attached
and so the RT PXI must be able to store all the data from an
experiment.
It would be desirable to keep data from all
experiments on the H/D, so a capacity of ~300GB would be useful.
Q: Is there a limit on the hard disk size imposed by the Labview RT 8.5 Operating System and if so what is
it?
An older
post (~2005) suggests that the partitioning tool limited FAT32 partitions to 32GB.
Thus the question I'm asking that if I created a large FAT32 partition with
a third party tool could I install and run Labview RT
8.5?
Q: Is there any other way of connecting a
large capacity H/D to the RT System? For example using H/D partitions, slave H/D. Other
ideas?
Thanks,
Michael
NI-1000B with
NI-8176 embedded controller
PIII
1.266MHz
128MB RAM
Labview RT
8.5
Solved!
Go to Solution.

> The size limitation has nothing to do with
the LabVIEW RT OS. FAT32 limits you to 32GB. This cannot be changed since it's a
limitation of the file system format.
Thanks for
reply.
I have, however, gained the impression from a
number of web sites that there isn't a 32GB partition limit on FAT32 -- see [**]
below -- but the limit is with the
partitioning tool. It looks like the
partitioning tool that comes with RT has a 32GB limit (Is that correct?). Hence
my question if you were able to create a large FAT32 partition could you install
and run RT?
Regards,
Michael
[**] The following was copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32
Windows 2000 and Windows XP can read and write to
FAT32 file systems of any size, but the format program included in Windows 2000
and higher can only create FAT32 file systems of 32 GiB or less. ... This
limitation can be bypassed by using third-party formatting
utilities.

How format the hard disk in single-user mode

Hi all, i would like to format the internal hard disk of my macbook pro 13'' through single-user mode. How can I do it, please?

Ok, to do that you need to hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk and second screen in under the Utilities Menu is Disk Utility.
You can then select the hard drive makers name (your "bare metal") and peform the wipe/format of the entire drive or a "partition" on that drive.
In the picture below there is only one partition, the Mac HD. In the picture above there are two partitions which both would show up under the hard drive makers name and both or either partition can be wiped in Disk Utility.
Use the Security Option to Zero your hard drive of all lingering data.
When you Quit Disk utiltiy, your back in the installer and can quit or install OS X.
Note: messing with Disk utility will erase all data on the drive, if there is something you need to recover better stop and ask!
If you don't see your internal boot drive in Disk Utility, the drive is dead.

Unable to format / partition hard disk

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