Which partition type - formatting startup drive

I just got a new white 2.16 intel imac. Before I put any data on it, I want to partition it to put a superduper sandbox on it.
I've been reading about how to do it and the only thing I'm not sure about is which partition type to choose. So far I have read that on an intel, it needs to be GUID. I went into disk utility and clicked on info for Macintosh HD - and it says the partition type is Apple_HFS. This is not making sense to me.

Not quite correct. GUID partition map is required to install Mac OS on an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac); however, you can clone a good ICBM system onto a HD/volume that's formated with the Apple partition map and it'll boot the ICBM.
*For the OP*
I strongly recommend getting an external, bootable FireWire/USB 2 HD, use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper!, Disk Utility, etc. to make a bootable backup/clone onto it, boot from it, ensure it looks and acts like the original, and then partition the internal HD. Reverse the process and you'll have what you started with and also the means to routinely backup your stuff.

Similar Messages

Thunderbolt partitioned and formatted hard drive not recognized on USB2/3

I have a MBA (mid 2012) and recently purchased a Seagate Desktop Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE129), a Seagate Backup Plus 4TB USB 3.0 external drive (STCA4000100), and Apple Thunderbolt cable. The 4TB hard drive can be separated from the USB 3.0 adapter and the drive placed on the Thunderbolt adapter. I created two partitions (3TB and 1 TB) on the 4TB drive while it was mounted on the Thunderbolt adapter and formatted them Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using partition map scheme GPT. Everything works as expected, the drive hits r/w speeds in the 180 MB/s range (using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test), and no issues at all transferring data to the 3TB partition and using the 1TB partition for TimeMachine.
However, if I disconnect the hard drive from the Thunderbolt adapter and place it on the USB 3.0 adapter and connect it to my MBA, Mountain Lion says "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer and gives me the options to Initialize, Ignore, or Eject. Going into Disk Utility app, the drive shows up without the partitions I created when the same drive was mounted to the Thunderbolt adapter (just shows disk1s1). In fact, the drive label (Disk Description) is different too and the Partition Map Scheme now shows MBR!
To try work-arounds, I went ahead and repeated the partitioning and formatting steps with the drive attached via USB 3.0 and all works fine until I put the drive back on the Thunderbolt adapter where once again OSX reports that the disk is not readable. I've even tried a single partition with no luck. In short, the drive partitioned and formatted on Thunderbolt is unrecognized under USB and vice versa.
Shouldn't the disk preparation and data be consistent across these different interfaces? I would think so. My biggest concern is that if I had a failure in the Thunderbolt setup (assuming the drive itself does not fail), then I can't access my data. This is not a very comfortable situation.
I'm assuming I've overlooked a very basic detail. Appreciate any steer to solve this problem.
Thanks,
Rob

Thanks for that, I recently ran into the same problem. I even chatted with Seagate tech support and they didn't know the answer.
My situation is a bit different from you. I bought the 3 TB Thunderbolt version of the drive directly and then purchased a USB 3 adaptor seperately. You see, I still own a 3 year old Macbook Pro that doesn't come with a Thunderbolt port. I was looking to upgade to a MacBook Air later. I thought that I might as well buy the TB version now.
In anycase, my old MacBook Pro won't see the drive when I use the USB3 adaptor. I get the same exact error message as you did. I can't really test it on Thunderbolt since I don't have one. I'm going to go install the Thunderbolt drivers now and hopefully, it will recognize the drive afterwards. I'll let you know what happens.
BTW, I was thinking of reformatting the drive with NTFS so that I can use the drive on PCs. My mac has the NTFS drivers loaded so it's no problem. I hope this won't screw up the Thunderbolt connection later when I do get the Macbook Air?

Which partition type option i use and when and why?

hi
i really confused with the types of partition available with essbase, i really want to know which partitioning option i use and in which situation and why should i use that partion type.
ok

Hi This kinda question is already answered in this forum many times.
See the below threads, you will get a better idea of using partitions.
Re: using partition in real time
Re: Partition between Essbase and Hyperion Planning Cube
Re: Transparent Partition - REQUEST HELP
Re: partition aso to bso error

How choose which partition of my external drive I use for my network

Hi,
I just bought a Linksys E3200 router for my network house. The setup was easy and everything work fine... well.. almost everything. I have a Iomega 1To external drive whit 2 partition ; the first one is a mac os extend for my Time Machine backup and the second one is NTSF for sharing my picture and music. I use the cisco connect software for setup my storage whit my external drive but I can't see the NTSF part. I can write/read in my mac partition but I don't want to use that part on my network.
My question is : Can I have 2 partition on my network? If not, how can I choose the partition I wanna use.
Thanks.
PS: I'm sur you notice it but english isnt my first language, sorry if isn't clear.

ksu62 wrote:
The infection names are: classload.jar-719ef6a5.zip
                                          classload.jar-5db452le31.zip
                                          ar3.jar-6ce3b2f-45l483f.zip
                                          classload.jar-lef99412-63bsd3fl.zip
Those look alot like file names and not infection names. I don't find any reference to anything like that on Norton or VirusTotal. Since you said these were Trojans, I would expect to see "Trojan" as part of the infection name.
".jar" files are executable Java applets. The random alpha-numerics would seem to indicate a cache file, likely from a browser with Java enabled. And we all know what ".zip" means.
Worst case is that you had Java enabled in a browser and were infected by one of the late variants of the Flashback Trojan over a year ago or one of a couple of other attacks using the same vulnerability but targetted against a small number of political sympathizers. Much more probable is that thes were Windows only Trojans. Hopefully you have a fully up-to-date OS X, including Java, and have disabled Java in all your browsers by now.

Problem changing startup drive?

I have a G4/dual 533/800+RAM/OSX 10.3.9. Three internal drives: 1 with 2 sections, 1 with 5 sections (one of which is the current startup drive, and 1 unsectioned. System preferences does not recognize the remaining 4 sections of the 5-section drive or the unsectioned drive (which I would like to be the new startup drive).
In the "About this Mac" menu, all drives and sections are listed.
Functionally, the computer recognizes all the drives and sections.
I need to change the startup because I am attempting to install iLife '06 and there is not enough room on the current startup to do it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Dennisd:
It may be that when you partitioned your partitions were not formatted as bootable drives.
However, to locate drive you want to use as a startup, from a cold start hold the Option key while you hit the power button. The desktop will come up with all the available bootable drives it finds. If it is does not, hit the refresh button (circular arrow) and see if it comes up with the drive for which you are looking. Then select the drive you want and click the directional arrow.
If your drive does not come up you need to set up your drive as a bootable drive.
Good luck.
cornelius
Pismo400, 100GB 5400 Toshiba internal, 1 GB RAM; Pismo 500 OS (10.4.4) Mac OS X (10.3.9) Beige G3 OS 8.6

Maximum Partition Size for External Drive using DU

Hello,
I just purchased a 750g Maxtor USB drive for use with Time Machine. When I went into DU to partition and format the drive I was surprised to find that every time I went to create a single partition using all available space, the operation would error out. I was however able to create two partitions with the largest one sized around 650g or so. I was using the Mac file system.
This just seems odd to me. Does OS X have a maximum allowable partition size that prevents me from creating one large partition?
Thanks,
Robert

Hi Robert
You should be able to delete the partition, try again using the instruction in the following article:
http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilitysize_5.htm
Dennis

Disk Utility options - partitioning types

I'm wondering what the Options button in the disk utility actually does.
When I click on a hard drive then click on partition, and the press the options button, I am presented with three options: GUID partition table, apple partition map and master boot record.
What do each of these do? I am trying to put to format my new eSATA enclosure work fast with my MBP in OSX as well as windows. Ideally I'd like to format it with HFS+ and NTFS.

In order to make a bootable disk for an Intel Mac you must select the GUID partition map option. Once partitioned you format the drive using Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) If you intend to install Boot Camp, then you should use the Boot Camp software to create the Windows partition. If you make the Windows partition with Disk Utility, then you can not remove the partition without re-partitioning the drive with Disk Utility. If you use the Boot Camp software then you can also use it to remove the Windows partition if you decide to at a later date.
Most if not all this info is available if you read the MBP User Guide and the user guide PDF that accompanies the Boot Camp software. Use Disk Utility Help from the DU Help menu to find out about all of DU's options. This is what documentation is for. Consult the documentation before you post questions here.

How to partition/format external drive?

Hi,
I bought a WD MyBook 320 GB external drive. It is by default formatted in fat32. However, fat32 has a ridiculous file size limitation! (<4GB)
I have 2 Macs, one windows and one linux boxes at home, one linux and one windows boxes at work. I want that all the machines has access to it. But maybe I can forget windows box. I need some advice, which one is better:
1. Format it as HFS+, forget windows, maybe I can use hfsutils for windows, and maybe I can access to it by this (is there anybody using hfsutils???)
2. Format 120 GB in HFS+, the rest fat32. I will use HFS partition just for full image of my mac's harddisks, and fat32 will be accessible to every computer.
Any suggestions?
Thanks...

You cannot format the drive with both Mac OS Extended and FAT32 partitions. If you need FAT32 you must format the entire drive FAT32. If you format the drive Mac OS Extended, then you will need software on the Window's PC that enables reading/writing Mac disks such as MacDrive.
To format the drive:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
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 (this does not apply to external drives.) Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button and select the GUID partition scheme then click on OK. 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, if supported.) 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, if supported.) 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.
If you prefer to format the entire drive as FAT32, then in Step 3 select the MBR partition scheme instead of GUID.
If you plan to use the external drive to backup your main hard drive then do that by cloning the main drive:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
3. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
4. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Data Recovery from Partitioned and formatted Bit Locker Encrypted Drive

Recently because of some issues in windows 7 installation from windows 8 installed OS. it was giving as the disc is dynamic windows can not be installed on it. so at last after struggling hard no other solution i partitioned and formatted my whole
drive so all data gone included the drive which was encrypted by bit lockers.
For recovery i used many software such as ontrack easy recover, get data back, recovery my files professional edition but still i couldnt able to recover my data from that drive. then i found some suggestion Using CMD to decrypt my data first
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523219(WS.10).aspx
where it shows it successfully decrypt my data at that moment my drives were in RAW format excluding on which windows is installed and then in CMD i check Chdsk which also shows no problem found. but now problem is still i coudnt able to recover
my data then i format the drive D and again tried to recover data using above software after decryption still no result.
Now i need assistance how i can recover my encrypted drive as it was partitioned and also formatted but decrypted also as i have its recovery key too. thanks

Hi ,
I am afraid that we cannot get the data back if the drive has been formatted even if use the
BitLocker Repair Tool.
You’d better contact your local data recovery center to try to get data back.
Tracy Cai
TechNet Community Support

Format external drive partition under 10.2.8

Hello. I have been trying to setup a WD My Book 500gb with 2 partitions to be used as on offsite backup unit for our business computers. We have one Mac (this G5), and 4 Windows stations (3 XP/ 1 98SE). I am trying to setup this unit with one partition using NTFS and the other with Mac HFS or HFS+ file systems. I have found a utility that allows me to format the partition that I intend to use with the Mac as a FAT32 partition. I then tried bringing the WD MyBook to the G5 and reformatting that partition as HFS. When I run Disk Utility, I click on the partition showing as Fat32 under disk2 and then click on the Erase tab, select Mac OS X Extended file system, no OS9 drivers, have tried various names (Mac BU, My Mac BU, My MacBook, etc), then click Erase, Confirm Erase. The progress bar comes up for a moment or so, says that it is erasing the volume, then exits out as if done. Unfortunately, it never mounts the drive and the volume no longer shows up in Disk Utility (only shows the Drive without any recognized partitions) until I close and restart Disk Utility. When I restart Disk Utility, the volume I am trying to format once again shows up under the drive, tho now with no name. Under Identification, it says Mount Point: Not Mounted/ Format: MS-DOS/ Capacity: 116.44gb. After doing some browsing around onthe internet trying to troubleshoot this on my own, I found some reference to Disk Utility logs (supposedly avail in upper right corner, tho didn't find there). I searched in the Library/Logs/Crash Reporter and found 'Disk Utility.crash.log' which says:
Date/Time: 2008-09-17 21:25:42 -0400
OS Version: 10.2.8 (Build 6S90)
Host: Joanns-Computer.local.
Command: Disk Utility
PID: 540
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERNPROTECTIONFAILURE (0x0002) at 0x01215088
Any suggestions on how I might get this partition formatted for a Mac file system? I would use Fat32, but I plan to use RSyncX to backup this G5 and would like to make the backup bootable in case of critical failure. And since I am using this drive as a backup storage device rather than file sharing system, I have no need to access files on either partition from the opposite operating system.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be rendered. Also, if more info or more of the log file is needed to diagnose, please let me know.
PS: Sorry if this is in wrong forum. Wasn't sure if this falls under Setup, Customizing or something else.

You can either format the drive entirely FAT32 that can be used on both Windows and Mac or you can format the drive entirely for the Mac, but you cannot have one partition of each on the same drive (not with Jaguar. You would need Leopard to accomplish that and an Intel Mac.)
There is this article/hint explaining a method for doing so, but I do not know if it is doable with Jaguar. Maybe Panther since the hint appeared about the time Panther was released.

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.

I've just bought a new iMac with 2 TB hard drive. Can I partition the startup drive?

I've just bought a new iMac with 2 TB hard drive. Can I partition the startup drive?

Glenfern wrote:
The reason I'm considering partitioning is - I'm going to transfer about 50 GB of family photos & music to the iMac. Over time the photos & music library is going to grow. My idea was to point the iphoto & itunes library to the new partition so that the application programs (that will will reside in partition 1), will not get congested with photos & music over time & degrade performance. Also, I dabble a little bit with the music editing program LOGIC & Sound Track Pro, which creates lots of little music files in the process.
In your case I would strongly recommend against partitioning, as dwb mentions a drive loaded with data on an
O SX system doesn't equate to performance loss. However partitioning does. If you were going to tell me you were partitioning to load different OS's on the computer then you would have a good reason to think about partitioning. My suggestion is do not partition.
What I would also recommend is getting some high quality high speed external HD's to store your photo and music libraries on. This helps keept the 2GB drive available while maintaining performance. I have 3 external HD's attached to my iMac, two are backup drives (1 Time Machine & 1 Bootable Clone) the third drive is for storing my my music, photo & movie libraries on. If you go this route the 3 drives I'd recommend are:
http://g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10330
Personally I use the Lacie's however OWC or G-Tech would also be welcome on my desk.
Again if you want to take this path Apple has instructions for how to move the libraries to EHDs, if you want those links let me know.

Need to format the drive on a 2006 MacBook Pro 10.6.8. Command R does not get it to recovery mode. I need to format, reload OS10 and partition the drive.

I tried command R to get into recovery mode. My goal is to format the MBP drive, partition the drive and load Windows through Boot Camp. Disk Utility will not allow access to reformat the drive. Is there another access method to format the drive?

jjoside,
Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8) does not come with Recovery mode; you’d need Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) or newer for that. If you’d like to reformat your internal disk and reïnstall Snow Leopard on it, you’ll need to boot from the white retail Snow Leopard DVD which was originally used to install Snow Leopard on your MacBook Pro. [Your 2006 MacBook Pro came from the factory with Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4.something) installed.] If you no longer have your white Snow Leopard DVD, you can purchase a replacement Snow Leopard DVD from Apple.

Re: Installing WinXP Pro SP2 / Boot Camp - Drive Bay 2 - which partition?

I am stuck and I can't seem to find the answer through Google searches.
I have a Mac Pro and I am working on installing WinXP Pro SP2 on a second SATA drive. It is a 500gb drive by Western Digital and it happens to be the same size as the Mac OSX drive - 500gb.
Because they are alike in size I can't tell which is which in the installer. Here are my options:
476938mb Drive
H: Partition 1 (Unknown) - 476938 free
476938mb Drive
I: Partition 1 (Unknown) - 200mb free
C: Partion 2 (Unknown) - 476938 free
My guess is to install WinXP on the H: partition and I just want to confirm this as I don't really wish to wipe out my MacOS on the drive in Bay 1.
Can anyone confirm this? I wished this was addressed in the Boot Camp Installation Guide. They only address one drive that is partitioned, not two seperate drives. Also nothing listed shows up with the label BOOTCAMP.
Thanks in advance.
Rob

Pull your OS X drive.
XP and Vista 32-bit only give you 1.9GB of RAM.
If you don't need native access or 3D you might just want to later use it with Fusion, VirtualBox or Parallels.
Apple uses GPT (GUID) which creates those small 200MB and 128MB partitions you see that are essential.
For me, I would just format the drive as MBR, and FAT/MSDOS or if you have NTFS from MacFUSE or Paragon, format as NTFS (preferable), and pull OS X and then install.

Need help to partition and format new hard drive for T400

The HDD failed in my T400. I bought a new 1TB HDD and fitted it. The diagnostic software in the BIOS did a read and controller test (Passed). When I put the Windows XP disk in the CD reader, the setup started - then stalled at the "Windows setup" page. I thought the hard drive had a write problem but apparently it must be partitioned and formatted first, before Widows setup can commence. The thing is that I can't get to the option where Windows formats the drive. In old computers, there was always a partitioning option in the BIOS setup but in my T400, there doesn't appear to be any such option. The computer has 4GB RAM, the actual model is 2767-RV8.
Does anyone have any suggestions how to get this up and running?
One other question is - (assuming I can get the thing working) - Is there somewhere I can load the operating system on part of the hard drive where it can act as a fall back in case the operating system gets corrupted? - i.e. something that can't get attacked by malicious software?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Ian

Hi irivlin,
If you are trying to clean install XP, then you have to do following setting in BIOS first:
Press F1 to BIOS, Config -> Serial ATA (SATA) -> change to "Compatibility"
You can change XP partition only if you are doing clean installation, otherwise you have to use 3rd party to do it.
For backup part, there are lots of choices in the market. You might consider using XP own backup function. Lenovo got a program called Rescue and Recovery can also do backup as well.
How to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders in Windows XP Home Edition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820/en-us
Rescue and Recovery® 4.23 by Lenovo
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=MIGR-76225
Fred
T61 + X201i

Which partition type - formatting startup drive

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