I have a 15" mid-2014 MacBook Pro (with a 256GB SSD). Today I wanted to install macOS High Sierra, so I created a bootable USB installation drive. Then I booted into the installer and fired up Disk Utility to wipe my internal disk. I erased the disk and created a new APFS partition. Accidentally, I clicked on the "Remove Volume" icon. Now my internal disk is completely gone from Disk Utility. That's why I can't select it as a target for High Sierra and start the installation.
In a terminal, diskutil list still shows the disk with two partitions I created earlier (it also shows lots of disk images, but I assume this is not related):
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk2 125.4 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_APFS Container disk1 125.4 GB disk0s3
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +125.4 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s3
/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +125.4 GB disk2
Physical Store disk0s2
/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *15.5 GB disk3
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1
2: Apple_HFS Install macOS High S... 15.2 GB disk3s2
/dev/disk4 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme +2.1 GB disk4
1: Apple_HFS OS X Base System 2.0 GB disk4s1
/dev/disk5 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +5.2 MB disk5
/dev/disk6 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk6
/dev/disk7 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk7
/dev/disk8 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk8
/dev/disk9 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +2.1 MB disk9
/dev/disk10 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk10
/dev/disk11 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk11
/dev/disk12 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +12.6 MB disk12
/dev/disk13 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +2.1 MB disk13
/dev/disk14 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +1.0 MB disk14
/dev/disk15 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +2.1 MB disk15
/dev/disk16 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk16
/dev/disk17 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk17
/dev/disk18 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +1.0 MB disk18
/dev/disk19 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +6.3 MB disk19
/dev/disk20 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +6.3 MB disk20
/dev/disk21 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +524.3 KB disk21
/dev/disk22 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: untitled +2.1 MB disk22
/dev/disk23 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *4.0 GB disk23
1: DOS_FAT_32 USB 4.0 GB disk23s1
Here's the output of diskutil info:
Device Identifier: disk0
Device Node: /dev/disk0
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk0
Device / Media Name: APPLE SSD SM0256F
Volume Name: Not applicable (no file system)
Mounted: Not applicable (no file system)
File System: None
Content (IOContent): GUID_partition_scheme
OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: PCI
SMART Status: Verified
Disk Size: 251.0 GB (251000193024 Bytes) (exactly 490234752 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes
Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: Not applicable (no file system)
Device Location: Internal
Removable Media: Fixed
Solid State: Yes
Virtual: No
OS 9 Drivers: No
Low Level Format: Not supported
Any idea what's wrong with my SSD?
Best Answer
The problem was that I erased the disk and created an AFPS partition. Apparently, this only creates a container, in which the actual partition must be added. I deleted the containers using the
diskutil afpscommands and then erased the disk by creating a new HFS+ partition.In summary, if you want to install High Sierra from scratch, boot from the installation USB drive, start Disk Utility and erase/format your target drive with GUID/HFS+ (the previous default). The installer will then automatically convert it to APFS during the installation process.