Will a complete Mavericks reinstallation fix disk utility partition problems?

I tried to delete a bootcamp partition after a failed attempt at installing windows 7. I only got as far as the partition selection screen during the initial windows installation. I actually clicked "delete" for the bootcamp partition and it essentially erased the partition but it still shows up. All partition options are now greyed out. I cannot make any changes. The bootcamp partition still appears but I cannot click on any of the options. I am beyond frustrated at this point after researching the issue for hours. I haven't attempted a reinstall yet because I'm not even sure if that will help.

When you don't do things correctly, be prepared for bad endings. Reinstalling won't fix a thing. You need to backup your OS X volume, if you can. Then you must repartition the drive and reinstall OS X or restore the backup.
It would help to know exactly which iMac model your have. It would also be helpful if you would open Disk Utility, select your main hard drive entry (shows mfgr.'s name and size) then click on the Partition tab in Disk Utility's main window. Now take a snapshot of the Disk Utility window and post it here.
To post screen shot do this:
Press COMMAND-SHIFT-4 which will change the cursor to crosshairs.
Hold down the mouse button and use the crosshairs to select the part of the screen you wish to capture.
Release the button and the image will be saved to your Desktop.
Click on the Camera icon in the toolbar of the forum message editor.
Drag the image onto the Choose File button and click on the Insert button.

Similar Messages

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    Any help is greatly appreciated.
    Clyde

    OK. You really didn't answer all of my question 2. Sounds like it was partitioned into 2 or more partitions on the PC and at least one partition was formatted as NTFS. Mac OS X can read, but not write to, NTFS volumes. You might want to try reformatting the entire drive as FAT32 on a PC, then seeing if you can reformat it as Mac OS Extended (HFS+) on the Mac.
    You might also want to contact the manufacturer of the enclosure to see what they think.
    Good luck!
    Dr. Smoke
    Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

  • Problems with External Hard drive, will not mount and errors in disk utilit

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    Hi, hjbugs, and welcome to Apple Discussions. Disconnecting the drive while your Powerbook was accessing it probably caused your problem. It may be repairable using DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro, but if you don't have access to one of those and aren't going to buy one, reformatting the drive with Disk Utility may be the only other way to make it usable again. If it contains data you need to recover first (i.e., data that isn't also stored on your internal HD or other storage media), download the free demo version of one of the data recovery utilities mentioned in this thread and use it to see what is recoverable. If the files you need are recoverable, buy the full version of one of the utilities and recover them.

  • I have a 32GB thumb dr and I wanted to encrypt it. I used disk utility, Partition, apply. Then went back and tried to encrypt it and it still ask that GUID be setup  on it. What must I do now, or how is the better question?

    I have a 32GB thumb dr and I wanted to encrypt it. I used disk utility, Partition, apply. Then went back and tried to encrypt it and it still ask that GUID be setup  on it. What must I do now, or how is the better question?

    I have a 32GB thumb dr and I wanted to encrypt it. I used disk utility, Partition, apply. Then went back and tried to encrypt it and it still ask that GUID be setup  on it. What must I do now, or how is the better question?

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    3: Reboot the machine holding the option/alt key held down, boot from the clone.
    4: Use that clone of Snow Leopard to upgrade to Mountain Lion via AppStore.
    5: If and when your ready, you can boot from the 10.8 clone and reverse clone or clone Snow Leopard to another drive or whatever you need.
    Most commonly used backup methods

  • Phantom restarts / crashes with Maverick. Restore Disk Utility, disk can't be repaired says "live system repair is not supported" Is there a fix yet? Or is Maverick "FREE" because Apple no longer offers free phone support?

    Phantom restarts / crashes with Maverick. Under restore Disk Utility, disk can't be repaired says "live system repair is not supported" Is there a fix yet? Or is Maverick "FREE" because Apple no longer offers free phone support?

    Get onto the integrated iOS + Mac OS and end support for "legacy" Mac 10.8 and earlier.
    Force older hardware users like me to upgrade to new hardware which is where $$ are.
    Make apps work across tablets, phone, and computer with similar (though not the "same" app, but able to read and use the same file format).
    Simplify.
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  • 10.4.10 will show external hard drive in Disk Utility (in turn, mount)

    Here's the problem in a nutshell. When I'm running 10.4.10 my Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (installed in an external enclosure) will not show up in Disk Utility (in turn also unable to mount). My DVD-RW burner will work, the enclosure is fine. When I boot off of the Mac OS X Install CD and run Disk Utility the drive and its partitions display. I did an archive and install and they were back in Mac OS X (10.4.7). - Rather than using Software Update, I decided to download the 10.4.10 Combo update manually and install (with the drive ejected and unplugged of course). Same issue once booting in Mac OS X 10.4.10...
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    This bug popped up after 10.4.9 was released and many folks (myself included) have experienced the same problem - after the install external hard drives, both FireWire and USB, are no longer accessible or visible.
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    Here are some other threads about this and 10.4.9 that might be of use to you:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=897541
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=892387
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  • Hard drive will not mount shows up in Disk Utility

    I have an external drive with a bootable OS X 10.6.8. I was in a transition between building up a SSD swapped drive. The SSD is installed in the CPU box but I have my old installation running from an external.
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    I attempted Archive and Install however when it went to show what target drives were available it was a blank box and all buttons were grayed out.
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  • Macbook pro will not restart. goes straight to disk utility

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    Because you haven't made a TM backup in a month, this presents a lot of problems, likely the easiest is to use another Mac and Firewire Target Disk Mode (Firefire 800/400 cable and adapter if needed) to get the latest copy of your files off the machine.
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  • After restart maverick starts in Disk utility and wants to re-install?

    For many days, my computer wanted to restart, because off 10.9.3 update. Havent had the time to re-start yet, but today i was forced to because off other problems and my macbook hanging.
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    If you were to get a copy of one of the utilities that I mentioened earlier, they come with a bootable DVD if your Mac is supported to boot from their DVD.  If not, they would need to be installed on a bootable drive from a working Mac and then you would boot your Mac from that external drive.
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  • Disk Utility - Partition map needs repair because a data partition needs loader space.

    I just finished setting up both my OSX and Windows installs from scratch after fitting an SSD, which in-turn was right before my logic board died and Apple replaced it, now it looks like I have some sort of hard drive issue brewing.
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    ** /dev/rdisk0s2 (NO WRITE)
    Can't open /dev/rdisk0s2: Permission denied
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    Anyone have any idea what's going on? It seems like the sort of issue Disk Utility should just handle, at least in Recovery mode, but it's not playing ball. It also doesn't seem like a massive problem since my files all look fine and performance is OK, so I'm reluctant to do anything major.
    I'll update with a shot of the drive in Disk Management from Windows in a few minutes, in case that sheds light on anything. Thanks!

    Similar issue here. I manually partitioned my hard disk for triple boot (using Gparted on Linux), then everything was just fine until I ran bootcamp, to do something as simple as create a boot USB.
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    I suppose that the cause in my case is that some operation "scratched" the protective MBR. See this:
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    IF Disk Utility can fix it, from the external media, then fair enough. The hassle is unpleasant but it files as "a choice".
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  • Disk Utility sees problem invisible to Disk Warrior?

    Hi all,
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    Jason
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    Hi Allan,
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    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Checking multi-linked files.
    Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    Checking Extended Attributes file.
    Incorrect number of Extended Attributes
    Checking volume bitmap.
    Checking volume information.
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    Checking catalog file
    Checking multi-linked files
    Checking catalog hierachy
    Checking extent attributes file
    Invalid leaf record count
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    Repair attempted on 2 volumes
    1 HFS volume repaired
    1 HFS volume could not be repaired
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    On the other hand, Allan, possibly DW isn't the right tool for the job. In that case, do you know what is?
    Thanks,
    Jason
    Dual G5 2.5Ghz 2GB RAM, Powerbook G4 1.33Ghz, iPod 60GB   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   500GB internal HDD

  • Disk utility restore problem: cannot drag internal hdd to destination field

    I'm currently trying to restore a time machine backup after my boot ssd recently failed, but am having trouble restoring the backup to my secondary internal drive in the optical bay. My set up isthe following:
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    I managed to complete the restore and you may have been right - I booted from the internal hdd then restored the time machine backup stored on the usb drive to a different partition on the internal hd. Seemed to work fine now running of the hd in the optical drive bay but has still crashed a couple of times which is pretty odd. Perhaps the failed ssd in the main drive bay is still causing a bit of a nuisance (it registers for the first 3 minutes after booting up then disappears). Also didnt notice the responsiveness too much when upgrading from hd to ssd, but going the other way back to hd - can definitely now tell the difference. Painfully slow at times! I need to get that ssd replaced I think.  Anyway thanks for your advice!

  • Mac HD displays as "media" in disk utility, Other problems.

    Hey all,
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    Third, I can not get to single user mode.
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    I have exactly the same problem.
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    I did managed to get it to correctly appear and run following a very cold reboot, but it soon vanished when running disk repair.
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