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Can't erase partition - Mediakit reports not enough space on device


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I own a new Seagate Barracuda 7200 3TB 
I've created a new 500 GB partition in windows for my new Hackintosh. While trying to install ML , when I try to format the partition to Mac os file system I'm getting the error above. Tried to do it with the terminal - same error. Tried to load linux GParted partition editor - the software won't open and will give me the error "Mounted Partitions detected" (The partition is clearly not mounted)

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First in windows. Got the errors described above.

Then I tried to partition it inside the OS X install and the process got stuck with "preparing to partition.." inside the "Disk Utility" program. 

If I'll create a 500 gigs HFS+ on windows when running the ML install I'll get the msg "os x cannot start up from this disk" when i'll try to install on it.

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Thanks for your reply. I already moved all my backups to that 3 TB drive. :\.

Another weird thing is that when i try to repair it inside the OS X Disk Utility I'm getting the error "this disk doesn't contain an EFI"

Maybe it's a faulty drive?

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It's quite risky to mess with backup disk.

 

There are two most common types of partition schemes:

MBR

GPT

 

Windows XP (and earlier) can boot only from MBR type disks.

Windows Vista (and newer) can boot from both types of disks (provided 64-bit version OS and UEFI motherboard are used).

OS X can boot from both, but can only be installed to GPT disks (patched installer or cloning method can be used to boot OS X from MBR disk).

 

Therefore if the disk was partitioned with Windows, it most likely be MBR disk. If it is MBR disk, then OS X will not install to this disk.

 

As for the EFI, an EFI partition will only be created if the disk was partitioned as GPT in OS X or was partitioned (during installation process) in Windows Vista (or later) 64-bit in conjunction with UEFI motherboard (e.g. Windows was installed on the disk).

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I see. So theoretically if I format the 3 TB I can partition it to 2 partitions using diskutil, install OSX on it and still use the other partition on Windows (just use it for storage)?

I got a 250 SSD and the 3 TB drive. On the SSD i installed windows so i'm still considering where to go from here.


Another small update ( idk why it wouldn't let me edit)

I tried to shrink my SSD and create another partition to try to install OS X on it but diskutil won't let me do anything without. Everything is grayed out when I'm on that drive. Can't create new partitions , nothing. Maybe my bios is the problem?

 

efi.JPG

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I see. So theoretically if I format the 3 TB I can partition it to 2 partitions using diskutil, install OSX on it and still use the other partition on Windows (just use it for storage)?

Yes, granted that this would be done with Disk Utility. This would involve changing partition table type, so any information present on the disk would be deleted (sort of). As for the storage partition, Disk Utility can not create NTFS partitions (without third party drivers installed), so use either exFAT or FAT then formate it to NTFS in Windows (exFAT is fully supported by both OSs e.g. both read/write).

 

I tried to shrink my SSD and create another partition to try to install OS X on it but diskutil won't let me do anything without. Everything is grayed out when I'm on that drive. Can't create new partitions , nothing. Maybe my bios is the problem?

I doubt it has anything to do with the BIOS. Disk Utility may sometimes refuse to modify partitions if the disk was initially partitioned in some other OS (Windows/Linux).

 

It is better to have a separate disk for each OS (e.g. one disk for Windows and the other one for OS X), it would be much easier to maintain and troubleshoot.

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