partitioning - Unable to delete or re-partition internal drive using Disk Utility

08
2014-07
  • roosteronacid

    When using Disk Utility, after booting onto the recovery partition, I can't...

    • Re-partition
    • Delete partitions
    • Repair partitions
    • Answers
  • roosteronacid

    There are limits to how much you can do with your hard drive when you've booted the recovery partition. Even though the recovery partition is a separate partition, it still locks your drive to some extend, and prevents you from doing "live edits" - primarily modifying the partition table.

    Instead of holding down the ALT key, and booting onto the recovery partition; hold down COMMAND + SHIFT + R -- doing this will download the utilities package from the Internet, and put it in memory. This "unlocks" your hard drive, and let's you re-partition it.


    • Related Question

    mac - Difference between using disk and its only partition in disk utility?
  • Nicolas McCurdy

    This isn't a problem but a simple question. In Mac OS X's included disk utility, you can perform actions on volumes through the list on the left by click on a drive, or any of its partitions. I've always wondered, is there any difference between running utilities (disk repair/verify, permissions repair/verify, etc.) on the drive itself and on the only partition on that drive? (For example, I have 100 GB [serial/model number here] Media in the left of disk utility, as well as Macintosh HD right under it, which is the only partition, and I can run utilities on both.) Disk utility lets you choose both, and I've always found it a little weird.

    NOTE: I know that you can edit the partition table only on the drive itself (partitions don't have partitions, drives do) and that reformatting may be different, but I'm more interested in other utilities.


    • Related Answers
  • Seasoned Advice (cooking)

    There is no difference, if there's one partition.

    However, the fact that you can run on both is relevant for drives with more than one partition, should you only wish to perform those tasks on one partition.

    Makes sense, yes?