Can't delete Mac OSX High Sierra partition

[tomadams21]

Hi everyone,

So I was trying to download High Sierra partition on a USB drive however for whatever reason that failed and I ended up with a PCI partition instead. I would really like to delete it however when i try to do so in Disk utility under partition it wont let me delete it (no minus sign). Also, whenever the mac loads it automatically uses that as the startup disk so everytime I have to manually press option to select main drive. Can anyone please provide some help?

Thanks alot,
Tom
[doublepost=1511821639][/doublepost]/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Install Mac OS X Hig... 5.7 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_APFS Container disk2 494.3 GB disk0s3


/dev/disk1 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme +2.1 GB disk1

1: Apple_HFS OS X Base System 2.0 GB disk1s1


/dev/disk2 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +494.3 GB disk2

Physical Store disk0s3

1: APFS Volume Preboot 86.5 MB disk2s2

2: APFS Volume Recovery 2.1 GB disk2s3

3: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk2s4

4: APFS Volume Untitled 20.5 KB disk2s1


/dev/disk3 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +5.2 MB disk3


/dev/disk4 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk4


/dev/disk5 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk5


/dev/disk6 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk6


/dev/disk7 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk7


/dev/disk8 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk8


/dev/disk9 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk9


/dev/disk10 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +12.6 MB disk10


/dev/disk11 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk11


/dev/disk12 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +1.0 MB disk12


/dev/disk13 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk13


/dev/disk14 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk14


/dev/disk15 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk15


/dev/disk16 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +1.0 MB disk16


/dev/disk17 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +6.3 MB disk17


/dev/disk18 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +6.3 MB disk18


/dev/disk19 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +524.3 KB disk19


/dev/disk20 (disk image):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: untitled +2.1 MB disk20

 

[Ebenezum]

Is the Mac booted from the internal recovery and you cant erase the drive? If so you need to boot it from external clone or install media (hard drive, memory stick etc.) and then you should be able to erase the drive.

If you don't have a clone or install media use these instructions: http://macworld.com/article/3204672...otable-macos-high-sierra-installer-drive.html

While you could try Internet recovery (Command-Option-R) it isn't very reliable in my experience and I prefer bootable installer.

Also make sure you have made a backup before trying this, you wouldn't be the first one who would accidentally erase the wrong drive...

 

[tomadams21]

ive done both. I booted from my USB drive however i still cant delete it. I cant remove it with internet recovery either. Is there any command in terminal i can use?

 

[BLUEDOG314]

If you want to just repartition it for APFS you could run "diskutil unmountdisk disk0" with disk0 being the internal physical storage, then run "diskutil erasedisk apfs "Macintosh HD" disk0".

 

[fouad.kajj]

This worked for me. NO command lines nothing. Just Erase it as MS-DOS (FAT) then without opening Boot Camp Assistant go to Disk Utility and click on partition button then select the disk you want to merge then minus sign then apply.
Here we are
I was surprised when this simple method worked after a lot of searching