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"Phantom" Harddrives in Disk Utility.
- Thread starter mlansdell
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They're unmounted partitions on that physical drive.
You can click on them for more details down at the bottom of the window, but generally speaking they're probably leftovers from either whatever formatted the disk originally, or a utility (for example, something to repartition on the fly like BootCamp, or a hidden utility partition from a disk repair tool).
If the computer isn't misbehaving (and assuming the regular partition is showing up as the correct size for the physical drive) you can safely ignore them.
If they're really bugging you (which, I admit, they would be if it were my computer), the only safe way to get rid of them would be to completely erase and repartition the drive as a single partition (not just reformat the main partition). Which would of course involve cloning your disk to an external drive first, then cloning back, so it'd be a fair amount of hassle.
You can click on them for more details down at the bottom of the window, but generally speaking they're probably leftovers from either whatever formatted the disk originally, or a utility (for example, something to repartition on the fly like BootCamp, or a hidden utility partition from a disk repair tool).
If the computer isn't misbehaving (and assuming the regular partition is showing up as the correct size for the physical drive) you can safely ignore them.
If they're really bugging you (which, I admit, they would be if it were my computer), the only safe way to get rid of them would be to completely erase and repartition the drive as a single partition (not just reformat the main partition). Which would of course involve cloning your disk to an external drive first, then cloning back, so it'd be a fair amount of hassle.
Well, my computer is being quite slow, which is why I was in Disk Utility in the first place. But I'm not sure if I'm up for cloning my hard drive to an external one, it sounds quite scary!
I don't have bootcamp, so not sure what could have made them, but if they're not bad as such, then I shall live with them for now. Thanks!
I don't have bootcamp, so not sure what could have made them, but if they're not bad as such, then I shall live with them for now. Thanks!
How big are they? Select the 200.5 FUJITSU... item in the list, click Partition, and see how the drive is laid out.
Here's a screen grab:
It actually says when I do this: "This disc appears to be partitioned for Boot Camp. Changing the partition map may this disk unbootable using Windows."
Huh, didn't even know I have Boot Camp. I certainly don't have windows.
It actually says when I do this: "This disc appears to be partitioned for Boot Camp. Changing the partition map may this disk unbootable using Windows."
Huh, didn't even know I have Boot Camp. I certainly don't have windows.
You'll need to actually select each phantom partition to see how big they are; that visual representation isn't necessarily accurate at all in terms of relative size. If you click one in the left sidebar it should give you the actual size down at the bottom of the window.
Well, if you open up the BootCamp app (Utilities folder, I think), it should have an option to remove the BootCamp partition from the drive, if that's actually what's going on. If so, and you do that, it might remove one or both of those partitions. Since you're not using it, you won't be missing anything.
Actually, if the partitions are smaller than they appear in the partition display, they'll have an asterisk after the name. So yeah, select the partitions to see how big they are, but they look pretty big to me.
"Well, my computer is being quite slow, which is why I was in Disk Utility in the first place. But I'm not sure if I'm up for cloning my hard drive to an external one, it sounds quite scary!"
Actually, it's not difficult at all.
Do you have an external drive yet?
If not, I'd suggest something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Connecla...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253062702&sr=1-22
Then, go to newegg.com, and pick up a "bare" SATA drive that's at least the size of your internal drive.
Then, download CarbonCopyCloner:
http://www.bombich.com/
Use CCC to "clone" your internal drive onto the copy. If there's a lot on the internal it may take a little while.
When that's done, do this:
- Restart
- As soon as you hear the startup sound, hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN.
- The "Startup Manager" screen will appear.
- You should see both your internal and the external "clone".
- Click on the external (clone) and hit the return/enter key
- The Mac should boot from the external drive (or the "docked drive")
- When you get to the Finder it should look exactly as your internal (that's what a "clone" is all about)
Doing this proves that you have made a "bootable clone" of your internal.
Navigate to Disk Utility on the CLONED DRIVE. Do not make the mistake of launching the copy of DU on the internal drive.
Now, choose the re-partition the internal to ONE partition. YES, THIS WILL ERASE the internal drive. That's what you want to do.
Once that's done, quit DU.
Launch CCC from the external clone, and choose to "re-clone" the external drive BACK TO the internal drive. Again, it will take a while.
When done, reboot. I'd suggest the "option key trick" again, and then "hand pick" the internal so that you know you're booting from it.
Might be a good idea to go to "Startup Disk" in System Preferences and re-designate the internal as the boot drive.
You're now booting from a "cleaned up" internal drive with only one partition.
Keep using CCC to "dupe" the contents of the internal to the backup at regular intervals. You can set up CCC so that it does incremental backups which will go much more quickly.
Actually, it's not difficult at all.
Do you have an external drive yet?
If not, I'd suggest something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Connecla...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253062702&sr=1-22
Then, go to newegg.com, and pick up a "bare" SATA drive that's at least the size of your internal drive.
Then, download CarbonCopyCloner:
http://www.bombich.com/
Use CCC to "clone" your internal drive onto the copy. If there's a lot on the internal it may take a little while.
When that's done, do this:
- Restart
- As soon as you hear the startup sound, hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN.
- The "Startup Manager" screen will appear.
- You should see both your internal and the external "clone".
- Click on the external (clone) and hit the return/enter key
- The Mac should boot from the external drive (or the "docked drive")
- When you get to the Finder it should look exactly as your internal (that's what a "clone" is all about)
Doing this proves that you have made a "bootable clone" of your internal.
Navigate to Disk Utility on the CLONED DRIVE. Do not make the mistake of launching the copy of DU on the internal drive.
Now, choose the re-partition the internal to ONE partition. YES, THIS WILL ERASE the internal drive. That's what you want to do.
Once that's done, quit DU.
Launch CCC from the external clone, and choose to "re-clone" the external drive BACK TO the internal drive. Again, it will take a while.
When done, reboot. I'd suggest the "option key trick" again, and then "hand pick" the internal so that you know you're booting from it.
Might be a good idea to go to "Startup Disk" in System Preferences and re-designate the internal as the boot drive.
You're now booting from a "cleaned up" internal drive with only one partition.
Keep using CCC to "dupe" the contents of the internal to the backup at regular intervals. You can set up CCC so that it does incremental backups which will go much more quickly.
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