Using disk utility to format WD Elements 2TB drive

I recently bought a Western Digital 2TB external drive. When attempting to format this drive, using Disc Utility to format (Mac OS Extended - Journaled), it fails. I used the "do not erase data" option (mostly because I want to use the drive this century, and everything else takes forever). What am I doing wrong?

Hi,
did you use the 'Option' button in Disk Utility to set the partition scheme to be GPT (Guid Partition Table ?
Most (if not all) sold harddisks are using the Windows - MBR (Master Boot Record) as partition scheme.
Regards
Stefan

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I need help with boot camp. "Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

Can I use Disk Utility to erase Apple TV hard drive?

Can I use Disk Utility to erase Apple TV hard drive?

I don't know, but I doubt it can be done using Disk Utility. I suggest you consult the user manual for it or see if there is a Reset option in the onscreen menues. If you don't have a manual, then you will find one at http://support.apple.com/manuals.

External hard drive not recognised after using disk utility to format

i formatted two external hard drives using disk utility on my mac mini, now they do not show in finder. they can be seen in disk utility but the repair options etc are greyed out?

Try http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html
Allan

Using Disk Utility to format jump drives to work on a PC?

I have tried several times to format usb jump drives using Disk Utility and then I copy files to it and try to open it on a Windows computer and it prompts me that it needs to be formatted on the Windows computer. How do I format it on a Mac to work on a PC? I have tried this with different usb drives using the MS DOS format option.
Thanks.

Dude,
Of course this isn't a jumpdrive but for externals...
There's a bug in Apple's disk utility software when using USB. I just had this happen to me too. The work around is to use Firewire when formatting. Fortunately, I have a multi port interface so changing to Firewire wasn't an issue.

Using Disk Utility to formatting Micro SDHD 10 card

The first time I formatted the 32gb Micro sdhd card with MS-DOS/FAT for the car's camera...all was well. Then recorded some HD movies with the camera as I drive (the car's camera has a built-in DVR), then attached to the MacBook Pro via USB to download. The computer would not recognize the Micro SD card and want to initialize...hmm! So, open Disk Utility and format as ExFAT...5hrs pass and it's still half way...7hrs pass and it's still half way.
I don't think it's doing anything as it starts halfway, and a minute left which stretches to 7hrs. I tried both MS-DOS/FAT and EXFAT...same thing. Is there any solution?

Regardless where that SDHC card is formatted, you should take great care that it is properly unmounted from the Mac desktop before you disconnect the camera. Otherwise, you could corrupt that data card, as several posts in the community have discovered.
Secondly, it is important to know if the Camera is compatible with iMovie '11. Here is the iMovie Supported Camera selector. If your videos are in AVCHD video format, here is how to get them off the camera.

Using Disk Utility to format external drive as Apple extended?

Hello - I just bought a 750G Lacie USB hard drive, am attempting to reformat it from FAT32 to Mac Extended. However, when I attempt to 'erase' the drive and replace it with Mac Extended, I get the following error message:
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Preparing to erase : “ReadyNAS”+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Partition Scheme: Master Boot Record+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: 1 volume will be created+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Name : “ReadyNAS”+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Size : 698.6 GB+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Filesystem : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Creating partition map.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:26 +0100: Formatting disk1s1 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name ReadyNAS.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:27 +0100: Disk Erase failed with the error:+
+File system formatter failed.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Erase complete.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 0100:
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Disk Utility failed during an unspecified action with the error:+
I can reformat it as FAT32, no problem.
Any clues? Thanks!

Use the "partition" tab in Disk Utility, set it to "1 Partition" click the "Options" button, and choose "GUID".

Using Disk Utility to Clone/Duplicate entire hard drive.

I have read many post that touch on this question but none have cleared up my questions, and many have just lead to more questions on my part.
I want to use the included Disk Utility program to copy my entire hard drive to another.
Because I only plan on backing up the entire drive once or twice a year, I do not feel I need Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. Also I would like to understand how to accomplish this with the application I already have.
Having read all the help pages and posts I can find, I understand the general concept of using the "Restore" function in DU, but have these questions still:
1. My current HD is a 250GB partitioned with one volume "Macintosh HD" I am going to install another 250GB hard drive into bay 2. Do I need to partition this drive first?
2. Do I need to format this drive?
3. Do I need to erase this drive?
4. Do I need to use the security feature to "Zero" this drive?
5. It seems to me that if I am doing a bit for bit clone the partitioning and format from the source drive would just come over in the copy...no?
6. As the source for the "Restore" do I want to select the parent 250GB disk drive, or should I select the "Macintosh HD" volume?
7. As the destination for the "Restore" (if I had to partition and format) do I want the new 250GB drive or the "Backup" volume?
8. If I have to partition and format the new drive first, I understand that I want the GUID partition table and the MAC OS Extended (journaled), can someone explain what the heck that means?

I apologize for missing that part of the intro.
For a new drive here's the modified procedure I suggest:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
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. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
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 Options 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 will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

Disk Utility not formatting new internal hard drive

My 2011 mac book pro recently crashed giving me a gray screen with a folder(question mark). I tried reinstalling Yosemite, with no success. I bought a 2tb seagate hard drive, placed it into my macbook, however it's in master boot record. I tried partitioning it under GUID, but it is giving me error signs, as well "waiting for disks to reappear". I am currently erasing the hard drive, I understand that a 2tb hard drive is a huge hard drive and it takes time for it to be reformatted, but it's been over 12 hours and the estimate time remaining just continues to increase. What is happening? What am I doing wrong?

Just returned it, got the new one and same thing happened...I'm pretty confused with this right now. I used it as an external hard drive and it formatted fine. I installed Yosemite on it and ran fine as the operating system as an External Hard drive. However, as soon as I switch i put it into my laptop, it does not pick up or read. I just formatted the hard drive again and trying to install it, but now it is giving me a different error "this disk cannot be used to startup your computer yosemite". It's actually running as my internal hard drive right now and that's is what my computer is giving me.

Disk utility wont format external drive

Hi all
I have a friends 1 TB toshiba external drive, purchased at office works. I am trying to format it for NTFS so he can use it to watch the movies he is copying on any machine, xbox etc..
using disk utility I am erasing the 1tb drive with the NTFS format option, then I am creating the partition with NTFS but after formatting, it is only allowing me to read. I have tried formating the hard drive with Mac OSX journaled and then creating the partition at 1tb with NTFS, but getting the same issue.
I am a little confused as I just did the same thing with my 2TB drive I purchased from Office works as well.
any ideas?
bret

Hi Bret. I am not sure I fully understand the details of your problem - the mention of another drive (the 2TB one) confused me a little. I'll try to help though because it doesn't look like anyone has had a chance to reply to your question yet.
As far as I can see, OS X doesn't write to NTFS formatted drives by default. It appears you can enable it by altering the mount options, e.g. http://learnaholic.me/2013/11/11/enable-ntfs-write-on-mac-os-x-mavericks/
Alternatively, perhaps just formatting it as FAT32 would achieve your aim - although now that I check, it doesn't really look suitable as it has a 4GB file size limit and some of the movies could be over that.
Hope that helps.
Ivan

Using Disk Utility for Boot Camp to work

I'm trying to install Windows 7, but Boot Camp gave me the old error message about having unmovable data and needed to use Disk Utility to format it as a Single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Volume. So I backed everything up and am ready to go, but when I open Disk Utility and select my hard drive/disk, all the options under "erase" are grayed out. Any ideas?
Thanks!

You can't format what you are using.
If you cloned your drive you would be able to boot from that; if you used another method and you don't have OS X installed on another hard drive, you have to use your DVD.

Boot camp probl"back up disk and use disk util. to reform as single MAC OS.

The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.
I am trying to install win 7 32 bit but before i partition my mac osx an error message pops up with the above wording...I went to disk utility and it is already a single mac osx (journaled). any help would be great and much appreciated..thank you for viewing.

The error message must be the title of 100s of threads.
Do you know how to backup?
It can't move files, some are fixed, the free space has to also be unfragmented contiguous chunk at the end of the drive.
Disk Utility Restore tab (and Help menu).
and of course external backup drive. And backup is step #1. There is a PDF you can save or print from the Boot Camp Assistant.
If you only have TimeMachine for backup you might want to install OS X anyway on a small 30GB partition (shrink partition size) or use your OS X DVD.
From OS X DVD go to Utility and then Disk Utility. Restore to another drive and that should be then bootable.
Or pick up SuperDuper or Carbon Copy to clone-backup and use one of those.
iDefrag $$ may be able to optimize the free space.
But it is wiser to first insure any data and files are backed up before changing or installing another OS, and before changing partitions around.

Problems erasing window bootcamp partion using Disk Utility

Hi guys, ive removed my windows partion before in the past without any hiccups, but this time i seem to have run into some problems.
If i go into boot camp assistant, it wont let me proceed beyond the start menu. When i click continue it says
"The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.
Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
So i went into Disk utility to erase the Windows partion, only now i get this message
"Volume Erase failed
Volume Erase failed with the error:
MediaKit reports checksum operation failure."
I dont have any other programs such as diskwarrior, and in the past Disk utilitiy served me well. Im just wondering whats going on here, and if anyone is able to help fix this problem? Thanks in advance

Hi thanks for your help man, but i still cant get it to restore the partion. If i go into the partion tab i see my two partions under the Volume scheme... but i cant do anything as it is all greyed out. Would you or anyone else have any recommendations... or should i invest in Diskwarrior? at the moment disk utility is just not working out for me. Thanks

Boot Camp Assistant: Using disk utility? (PLEASE HELP!)

I am trying to download Windows XP with boot camp and I waited for the disk to be partitioned (I'm not even really sure what that means) and then it says:
The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot me moved. Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single MAC OS Extended (Journaled) Volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.
Okay, so I went to Disk Utility and now I have no idea what I am supposed to do. Please help!

If you use Time Machine you can reinstall Leopard and then using the Install Disc go to the Utilities and go to the Restore from Time Machine. You can restore your new drive to any of the saved days. It would save them to the hard disk defragmented. Another program is SuperDuper! which can make a clone of your Macintosh HD to an external disc as a bootable option. This is easier and faster though this program has not been confirmed to work with Leopard yet. And as I said before you can buy iDefrag for $30 and not have to restore and erase anything. But what ever you do, make sure to back your files up.

HT1553 Does using Disk Utility also backup MSOffice 2008 (Mac) software already installed on my Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard? If not, how would I do that?

Hi,
I'm looking to upgrade from Snow Leapord (10.6.8) to the new Mountain Lion. Have a lot of applications and softwares that I would like to back up when installing the new OS, such as MS Office, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Any ideas on what is the best way to do that.
I'm not too tech savvy, so a simple solution would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Shyam

If your not very tech savvy, I would have someone assist you in the upgrade process as your about to inflict major change on your life and computer.
There are some things to consider before you upgrade.
1: The age of your machine:
My advice has been if your Mac is less than two years old and has a dedicated graphics (not all only Intel HD 3000 or 4000 CPU graphics like the 13" has)) then you stand a very good chance of 10.8 (or 10.7) running fine on your machine.
In either case you need to check the specifications of your machine to see if it meets Apple's requirements, and unfortunately those requirements are a bit low, resulting in a slower machine when you upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X_Mountain_Lion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Lion
(note: 10.7 is no longer being sold via the AppStore, you should upgrade to 10.8, however some machines can't, you can call Apple Sales to upgrade to 10.7)
If your machine originally came with 10.5, I would say forget it. Mac's don't last forever and laptops usually have a life of about 4 years with normal use. Desktops last longer of course and can withstand more OS X upgrades if Apple allows it.
2: The age of your software.
10.7 and 10.8 will not run PPC based software of old like 10.6 does, also upgrading to 10.8/10.7 may require expensive software upgrades that can hit you unexpected. Consult this site and your other needed software and hardware drivers/software (for printers/scanners,custom keyboards/mice etc) BEFORE you upgrade the operating system.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
3: Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper "clone" (payware)
Your OS X boot partition to a new/reliable, blank powered external drive and use Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on both afterwards. You can hold the option key down and boot from this clone drive to use the computer like before if your OS X upgrade fails and the machine gets bricked. You can also use Disk Utility to erase the entire internal drive and reverse clone if you find out the OS X upgrade is not to your liking.
Make sure all other drives are disconnected, like TimeMachine when cloning or upgrading OS X, thus when you reboot TimeMachine doesn't self update itself, which can lock you out from going back in time to restore from.
Note: If you have Bootcamp, you can clone that with WinClone (payware) to another drive and recreate Bootcamp later and restore it.
4: Some firmware updates can possibly "BRICK" your hardware
Firmware updates progress in a forward manner and can't be downgraded, so what sometimes occurs is a software error by programmers or a hardware glitch on your machine won't 100% cooperate with the firmware update and thus your machine will fail to function. Sometimes even a interruption in the OS X upgrade or firmware update process will cause the problem. When this occurs, a trip to a Apple Repair is in order and if your machine is out of AppleCare (3 years) or the 1 years standard warranty your looking at a very expensive logicboard replacement. At this time you usually consider the cost not worth it and rather spend the money on the newer machine, especially if it's 2-3 years old. This can come as quite a shock as you expected to pay $20 for a OS X upgrade and now have to buy a whole new machine.
You can't not upgrade the operating system for security and bug fixes, however you make sure you have AppleCare that will protect you for three years if such a hardware bricking occurs. If you don't have AppleCare you might want to reconsider taking the chance upgrading the operating system and thus the firmware.
AppleCare can be purchased within one year of the original machine purchase, it gives one 3 years of care from the date of machine purchase, not from the date of AppleCare purchase.
5: Market share of OS x versions (apx)
10.4 4.5% security updates > no
10.5 15% security updates > no
10.6 52% security updates > yes
10.7 30% security updates > yes
10.8 2 million upgraded so far, just released
6: Your decision to upgrade or not
It depends upon your computer technical ability, the age of your machine, your software investment and your budget.
Can you afford to pay for professional assistance if your upgrade doesn't go as expected? Are you in AppleCare?
Can you afford to pay for upgrades to third party software?
Can you afford the downtime while your machine is being repaired?
Can you live without the "new features" newer OS versions provide?
Does your hardware even support the newer features?
You might decide the upgrade is not worth it for your older machine and decide to ease yourself into a new machine gradually. I took this approach with my 2006 MacBook Pro, buying a Early 2011 model. I then upgrade to 10.7 on the older 2006 machine and glad I did, because it got bricked. Turned out 10.7 was a pretty awful upgrade and I was out of AppleCare, however 10.8 seems to be "normal" far as OS X upgrades go, some problems but not mass bricking of machines.

Using disk utility to format WD Elements 2TB drive

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