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Unwanted 32G Partition

Big Ron

Big Ron

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 7, 2012
425
106
United Kingdom
Hope someone can help:

I tried to use Bootcamp to load Win on my MacBook but it failed at some point at the creating a partition stage.

I have now been left with a 32G partition on my MacBook SSD that I can't get rid of.

It is most infuriating, I'n not a guru and have tried Disk Utility to erase the unwanted partition and resize the SSD but nothing will budge it.

Can anyone suggest my next course, or any course, of action??

Thanks in advance.
 
If you can't use disk utility you might have to reinstall Mac OS from scratch to get rid of it.

Would be a good idea to make your second windows partition at the time of reinstallation.
 
robotica said:
If you can't use disk utility you might have to reinstall Mac OS from scratch to get rid of it.

Would be a good idea to make your second windows partition at the time of reinstallation.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply robotica.

I understand that I have the 'Nuclear Option' but was hoping for someting a little less drastic.

I was hoping that someone could suggest software that could help me.
[doublepost=1478167402][/doublepost]
Fancuku said:
32GB unknown partition? That's just Apple's way of doing 32GB RAM on their MBPs.









Sorry, couldn't resist. :D
Click to expand...

Good one - I would settle for that if I could use it that way. 32G of seperate storage isn't much use to me on a half empty 512G SSD :)
 
Last login: Thu Nov 3 11:24:15 on console

Rons-MBP:~ ronthompson$ diskutil list

/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_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 467.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: EFI NO NAME 104.9 MB disk0s4

5: Microsoft Reserved 16.8 MB disk0s5

6: Apple_HFS Apps Downloaded 31.3 GB disk0s6


/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Macintosh HD +467.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

F8C2066B-AA8A-42BE-85A4-FDCFDA638B86

Unencrypted


/dev/disk2 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *127.9 GB disk2

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage XD_CARD 127.5 GB disk2s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk2s3


/dev/disk3 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: XD_CARD +127.1 GB disk3

Logical Volume on disk2s2

FE7EF651-4025-4EE5-80E4-59DF97E48C3A

Unlocked Encrypted


Rons-MBP:~ ronthompson$
 
I have the same issue with my 2012 MBP. I gave 80gb to Windows and it wont give it back :(

My plan is to wait for my new MBP to arrive than hit the nuclear option and wipe it all (then sell it).
 
Steveuk82 said:
I have the same issue with my 2012 MBP. I gave 80gb to Windows and it wont give it back :(

My plan is to wait for my new MBP to arrive than hit the nuclear option and wipe it all (then sell it).
Click to expand...
All very resonable except I don't want to sell my MacBook Pro.
It can't be beyond the wit of man to sort this
 
@ Big Ron i was the same but just gonna use one of those companies that give you the set price etc (i know you get more on Ebay but cant be bothered).
 
robotica said:
Back up your OS X partition to an external drive then wipe it and copy it back
Click to expand...

I do have a 'Carbon Copy Clone' backup but it is untested, I guess I won't really know until I try it.

I assume I boot into recovery mode, use DiskUtil to erase & format the SSD, boot from my external backup and away I go??

Sounds easy when you type it out.
 
Just boot up from your ccc drive clone then use disc utility to sort your partitions out and the clone it back
 
Big Ron said:
...
Click to expand...
The partition table is quite messed up for a simple BootCamp installation. I think it can be fixed by diskutil but I highly recommend you make a backup first, it's not just simple precaution like given every time, it's a precaution that your partition table looks different than it should and there will likely be problems.
Also you'd need to get rid of Recovery partition and use Internet Recovery if something goes wrong thereafter (you can merge only adjacent partitions and Recovery partition prevents this).
 
Here’s a plan of action that’s guaranteed to work:

1. Use CarbonCopyCloner to create cloned bootable backup of your Mac partition on an external drive. CCC will also clone the recovery partition, as well.

2. Boot up from the cloned backup.

3. Open Disk Utility and RE-initialize the internal drive.

4. Now, RE-CLONE the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive. Also re-clone the recovery partition.

5. Now, boot from the internal drive. It should have just -one- partition (HFS+) “all Mac”. The failed BootCamp partition will be gone (wiped out when you re-initialized).

Yes, this takes a little time, but it is GUARANTEED to do the job.
 
Fishrrman said:
Here’s a plan of action that’s guaranteed to work:

1. Use CarbonCopyCloner to create cloned bootable backup of your Mac partition on an external drive. CCC will also clone the recovery partition, as well.

2. Boot up from the cloned backup.

3. Open Disk Utility and RE-initialize the internal drive.

4. Now, RE-CLONE the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive. Also re-clone the recovery partition.

5. Now, boot from the internal drive. It should have just -one- partition (HFS+) “all Mac”. The failed BootCamp partition will be gone (wiped out when you re-initialized).

Yes, this takes a little time, but it is GUARANTEED to do the job.
Click to expand...
Thanks I'll give it a go
 
Big Ron said:
/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_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 467.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: EFI NO NAME 104.9 MB disk0s4

5: Microsoft Reserved 16.8 MB disk0s5

6: Apple_HFS Apps Downloaded 31.3 GB disk0s6
Click to expand...

The problem is the Macintosh HD volume is in core storage and cannot be resized. Try this in Terminal and wait for it to finish. That will turn off core storage on the main volume. Then go back to Disk Utility and see if you can remove the 32GB volume at the bottom and resize Macintosh HD.

Code: 
diskutil cs revert "Macintosh HD"

This should not destroy any data, but backup first just to be safe.
 
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jav6454 said:
All these replies with a long process. Why not use Disk Utility and have it restore it back? Comes free with your Mac.
Click to expand...
Because with Recovery between Macintosh HD and Windows partition you can only increase Recovery and not Macintosh HD. I doubt you need 30G Recovery partition.
 
tryrtryrtryrt said:
Because with Recovery between Macintosh HD and Windows partition you can only increase Recovery and not Macintosh HD. I doubt you need 30G Recovery partition.
Click to expand...

There are two ways to access Disk Utility, one is through the Recovery option you mentioned and the other through the OS itself. Try the later one.

Also, Bootcamp helps restore an uwanted partition.
 
Ok, It is now sorted so a big thanks to all of you who contributed, it gave me the confidence to sort it.
By the way Weaselboy, you suggestion didn't help but thanks all the same.

To get my whole partition back I followed Fishrrman's advice, many thanks fella. Im to at 100% capacity, no unwanted partitions and a CCC backup that has now been tested.

Flush with success, I will now apply this known working backup to my main iMac, a computer that has successful been upgraded since from its original installation of Mountain Lion, but is now is feeling a little slow.

Once again VMT
 
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