Dr. Hurt Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 (edited) EDIT: I have been using os x for 1 year now and yesterday I broke my install but every-time I reinstall I get an HFS+ partition error. I have finally fixed it and thought I share my success. Well, first you must know that this error occurs either because of a bad master boot record (MBR) or the partition id is not af. To fix this, do the following: 1. Make sure that your partition id is af. You can check this by using spfdisk or diskpart. If you partition id is af, then carry on to the rest of the steps. 2. Boot into your installation DVD (any version) 3. Open terminal from the utilities menu and type the following fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 NB. If OS X is on your second HD then use rdisk1 instead of rdisk0 An alternative way is to get make an MS-DOS start-up diskette and put fdisk on it, and boot from it. In DOS, type fdisk /MBR I hope this helps the people who are having this problem. Edited February 10, 2008 by Joe Cargo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonefr Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 does it rewrites a new darwin bootloader? with multiboot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuXb Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 which command is needed when the OS X partition is not on the first harddrive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Sorry for taking long to answer but I was at school. This writes a new boot record with darwin boot loader. If the HD is not the first one, I'm not really sure what it should be. I think it should be the same but with a 1 or 2 instead of the 0. You can use diskpart in windows to check your HD no. In windows do the followng Run>diskpart>list disk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 1) Make sure you partition id is "af" and that it is active and primary (not extended)2) prepare your OS X installation DVD All well and good if you haven't yet installed OSX, but if you have installed OSX and have the HFS+ Partition Error, go straight to the "fdisk" command. does it rewrites a new darwin bootloader? with multiboot? from the "man fdisk" page for the "-u" parameter: Update MBR code, preserving existing partition table. which command is needed when the OS X partition is not on the first harddrive? fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 is for the first hard drive fdisk -u /dev/rdisk1 is for the second hard drive fdisk -u /dev/rdisk2 is for the third hard drive... You can use diskpart in windows to check your HD no. In Terminal (since you are there already), use: diskutil list to find your hard drive number Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Thank you Rammjet for making this clearer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuXb Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 fdisk -u /dev/rdisk1 did not work to make my attached USB drive bootable via Grub4DOS (as is other external USB drive) - Mac OS x86 on 1st partition and active, copied by RSyncX as a backup with option "make bootable Mac OS X" which is known not to be able to make volumes bootable on a hackint0sh. I checked if rdisk1 is the correct drive, it is. I did this from my standard OS x86 install in Terminal, even typed sudo -s before and entered my password. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 I don't think that this will work on usb drives. Only hard disks directly connected to the motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuXb Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 still, fdisk displays the info correctly, even pretends to be writing, but it doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonefr Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 from the "man fdisk" page for the "-u" parameter: Update MBR code, preserving existing partition table.fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 is for the first hard drive let me explain u my situation : im running a multiboot: my first partition disk0S1 is used by windows XP (which was named SATA) my second part is 0S2 and beeing used by OSX = MACOS (volume label=) ive changed the name SATA to XP but it's still named SATA in the darwin bootloader... does fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 will fix it , and without breaking any multiboot,?? thanx Rammjet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 ive changed the name SATA to XP but it's still named SATA in the darwin bootloader...does fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 will fix it , and without breaking any multiboot,?? I don't know if it will fix your partition naming problem, but it won't break your multiboot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonefr Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 hum it asked me "do u want to rewrite ur MBR" then i pressed 'y' is that fine? didnt seem to have done anything (1sec) still having the same SATA partition name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgg71 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 this did not work on either internal or external drive. "hfs+ partition error" internal and "NTLDR missing on external" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodshot710 Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 I am having the HFS+ Partition Error and tried this but I get "fdisk: /dev/rdisk0s1: Permission denied" when I try to do fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0. Any ideas? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaselineAce Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 I am having the HFS+ Partition Error and tried this but I get "fdisk: /dev/rdisk0s1: Permission denied" when I try to do fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0. Any ideas? Thanks Did you try sudo fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodshot710 Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Did you try sudo fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0? Tried that and it wouldnt boot at all after that. I just got a black screen. So I just reformatted (which I had already done numerous times) and that worked. So, thanks anyways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdg Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 I think I might have an issue I can't resolve. I just bought a 750 Gb Seagte 7200.10 HD. When it goes to initialize on my Hackintosh, it is initialized as a GUID partition by default, and then the partition is formatted with HFS+. I then go in to Partition, select option, and select MBR as partition type, and tell it to partition/erase. It goes through and creates the partition, but doesn't format the partition with HFS+. It never mounts the partition to format and the would be partition is just gray'd out as disk1s1. When I go to manually erase/format the partition, it give me an error that says something like the partition has blocks that are bigger than 4k, and DiskUtility just hangs (I have to force quit). I know the MacPro uses these 750's as primary (an upgrade option when you buy one), and I just put one in to a Dual Process G4, and it is being used as the primary/startup disk so I don't think it's the disk incompatibility issue, but could be with a Hack?? I am using an Asus 945G based motherboard (P5L-VM 1394) with SATA. I have 2 320's on there now and the machine works fine. To try to eliminate the machine, I hooked it up in to an external USB enclosure and to a second Hackintosh I have, and same thing. All of my Hanckintoshes are running 10.4. Semthex. Anyone know what's going on here? The drives partition no problem and format with HFS+ if I choose GUID or Apple Format, but when I choose MBR, the partition is created but cannot be formatted with HFS+. Many thanksi in advance for anyone's input/support. Kind regards, /mdg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 6) Open the terminal from the utility pulldown menu.7) Type the following: fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 8) When asked to confirm writing a new MBR accept it by typing "y" I hope this helps all the people having the same problem as me. This worked for me on my new Asrock Conroe and Seagate Sata 2, post install, so a big thanks to your good self. See if this sounds familiar to someone searching for a solution right now:- Using Acronis Disk Manager I had set up three partitions. FAT 32 primary, FAT32 primary active and FAT32 extended. Disk utility on the Mac Installer took a heck of a long time to erase the second FAT32 partition as journalled. I had to go back and erase it a second time because for some reason it was then invisible to the installer. Everything then seemed to work fine, quick and easy install, but on reboot I got the HFS+ partition error. I rebooted with acronis and saw that the first partiton had a red x against it. I deleted it and formatted it again, as before, as FAT32 primary. I found that the second partion, which I had renamed OS X, wasn't active and wouldn't give me the option to make it active, so I made the first partition active, then went back to the OS X partition and made it active... Reboot brought the same error message. I then did a search and found your suggestion. It sounded a lot like something I have done before in windows and... it worked perfectly. It's great to have OS X up and running with so little hassle after failing miserably to get it to install on a Asus P5VD2-MX. A very big thanks to you and also to the very hard working Rammjet (queen giving a knighthood emoction). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eds Posted December 16, 2006 Share Posted December 16, 2006 (edited) when I use the command fdisk -u/dev/rdisk0s2 (second partition on one drive) I get "fdisk: illegal option -- /". Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Please help!!! Edited December 16, 2006 by eds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted December 16, 2006 Share Posted December 16, 2006 fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 There is a space after the "-u" and drop the "s2". You don't repair MBR on a partition. The MBR is maintained by the disk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eds Posted December 16, 2006 Share Posted December 16, 2006 fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 There is a space after the "-u" and drop the "s2". You don't repair MBR on a partition. The MBR is maintained by the disk. Worked!! Thought I tried everything. Thanks Rammjet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xedek Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 just wanted to share how i got rid of my hfs+ problem...i tried everything in every fourm i came across. i was getting the permission denied when ever i tried to use the fdisk command in terminal, so i tried the sudo command and that got rid of the hfs problem but then it wouldnt boot at all.... to solve this, this is what i did 1. put the installation disk in the drive 2. when the darwin bootloader screen pops up press f8 and then type -s and enter to enter single user mode 3. single user mode is like booting from a windows floppy boot disk...you get just a command prompt 4 set the active partition and save the mbr a. fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0 (the drive location that OSX was installed on 0 based) b. flag 2 (the partition number OSX is on 1 based) c. update d. write e. quit f. reboot 5. take out your osx disk, you should now be able to boot into mac no problem. EDIT::: if you dont plan to use vista stop reading here...you should now be working with OSX and if you have it installed xp as well 6. after i did this windows vista would refuse to boot for me so i had to fix the vista install, but vista wont see the install unless you make it the active partition, so reboot back to the OSX disk and go into single user mode again then type the following a. fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0 b. flag 3 (in my case vista was on the 3rd partition this may be different for you) c. quit d. reboot 7. take out your osx disk and let windows vista try to start 8. vista should now give you an error while trying to boot along the lines of winload.exe is corrupted this is good 9. throw in your vista install disk and reboot 10. go through the first menu where you select your language and such and click repair on the bottom of the screen 11. vista should find the error and repair its self 12. now reboot and all your problems should be gone...i chose to use darwin as my boot loader so i used a partition manager to change mac back to active and make vista in active hope this helps those of you still having problems :::EDIT::: listed out my steps to get it working in stead of saying follow fdisk commands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javierdihu Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 nice, i'll try this later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepcat9 Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 It's didn't work for me, my partition id is AF, and run fdisk /mbr, but get the same error, now I use tboot to load OS X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArisingFlame Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 When I look at the partitions with either pieces of software (Arcsonis and Partition magic), It says the OS X Partition is logical, not primary. But it won't let me change it at all. Help please? (I have done all the other suggested methods and none have worked) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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