Disk Utility - 'no options available'

[pshankland]

Hi,

 

I am following Lifehackers installation to get Snow Leopard restored onto an 8Gb flash drive so I can install on my PC but am getting really stuck when I get to the part about ensuring when creating the new partition that you click on Options and make sure GUID Partition Table is selected as the partition scheme.

 

I am using a borrowed 10.3.9 Mac and when I am in Disk Utility all it says is 'no options available'

 

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

Pete.

[tony74]

if it is the same problem i had my HD is partitioned with 2 MBR partitions. u cannot change it to GUID without erasing everything completely. Hence everything is grayed out, not options....

 

u can install to a MBR partition, there are a couple of files you need to replace. read here:

 

http://prasys.co.cc/2009/08/installing-sno...pard-for-osx86/

 

I havent ventured into it yet, but people have had great success from what i read.

[srs5694]

If you don't care about wiping out any existing partitions, you can use another tool to create GPT data structures. Personally, I'd use a Linux tool, such as GPT fdisk (aka gdisk), GNU Parted, or a GUI variant of GNU Parted. These are all available on some Linux emergency CDs, such as Parted Magic and SystemRescueCd. This preference for Linux tools is based on the fact that I'm familiar with Linux, though; somebody unfamiliar with Linux might find these tools baffling. FWIW, I'm the author of GPT fdisk, so I'm also biased in its favor.

 

If you want to preserve existing partition(s), I'd try to install OS X using whatever partition table exists (probably MBR rather than GPT), just creating one or more new partitions for OS X. If for some reason this isn't possible or practical, you could create a hybrid MBR configuration, in which both MBR and GPT data structures point to valid partitions. This type of configuration can work around some problems, but it's also extremely delicate and potentially dangerous, so it's not my first choice. On occasion it's a reasonable way to proceed, though.