MacOS – Cannot partition Macintosh HD

core-storagemacospartition

Pre P.S. From what I read online, sharing your UUID is not really a security issue, but if I just basically shared my social security number, please do tell.

Before I ask this, I'm a PC person and got this computer for school use, so please excuse my lack of Mac knowledge. Also, I understand that this question has been asked 10+ times, so please read my question fully and refer to my posted pictures to see the difference before flagging.

My Dad has had his old Macbook Pro sitting in a cabinet for 1-2 years at work since he got his new one. I'm not sure exactly what year it is, but I know it's a 17" and one of the first Retina displays. The computer has not been charged or turned on for those years. That information is just for if it's helpful.

I'm trying to install OS X Yosemite off of a 64GB Lexar flash drive (which you'll see in Disk Utility), however roughly 99.9% of the hard drive space seems to go towards Apple Core Storage, which is in Macintosh HD, while the other .01% is in the Recovery HD. Due to this, I cannot partition the hard drive to install Yosemite.

Here is the terminal window when I type in 'diskutil cs list' (top), and then terminal when I type in 'diskutil list' (bottom).

The response of diskutil cs list
The response of diskutil list

When I take the Local Volume Group UUID, and insert it into the command to change the amount of storage that Apple Core Storage takes ('diskutil cs resizeStack [AppleCoreStorage UUID] 700g'), I get the following error:

The error when I try changing the size of Apple Core Storage

Below are a few pictures of my Disk Utility. Please notice that 'Macintosh HD' is alone. There is no tab under it like I see in other people's questions. I feel like this has to do with why it will not let me partition the Hard Drive. Also, I think that it all goes back to not being able to resize the Apple Core Storage


When I verify the disks it all appears to be okay, as well.

Best Answer

Your CoreStorage Volume Group doesn't contain a complete stack which also includes a Logical Storage Family and Logical Volume(s) besides the existing Logical Volume Group and the Physical Volume(s).

Probably that's the reason why the command fails.

But there is no need to resize the stack since it's useless as it is configured now: it doesn't contain a valid volume to install to. You may now either create a Logical Volume in the existing LVG or completely delete the CoreStorage partition scheme and revert to a classical partition setup:

  • Create a Logical Volume:

    Quit Disk Utility, open in the menu bar Utilities -> Terminal and enter

    diskutil cs list #(and copy the Logical Volume Group UUID (=lvgUUID))
diskutil cs createVolume lvgUUID type name size

    In your case something like:

    diskutil cs createVolume 49D3CD66-F48B-4DB8-97D0-A8A1C7C5434F jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" 100%

    Enter exit, quit Terminal

  • Erase the CoreStorage Logical Volume Group:

    Quit Disk Utility, open in the menu bar Utilities -> Terminal and enter

    diskutil cs delete lvgUUID

    In your case:

    diskutil cs delete 49D3CD66-F48B-4DB8-97D0-A8A1C7C5434F

    Enter exit, quit Terminal and reopen Disk Utility

    Partition the empty space as you need it and quit Disk Utility afterwards

Now continue installing Yosemite

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