Problem with 3 TB Fusion Drive, it can't be deleted, formatted or partitioned

Question

I want to clarify that I already followed the instruction with I think I messed up the Fusion Drive on my 1TB iMac (with BootCamp) but I think I have mayor problems.

I followed the instructions to 'Rebuild Fusion Drive' (recommended if you have a Time Machine backup) but when I tried to delete the LVG with diskutil cs delete LVGUUID, it showed an error that the disk couldn't be unmounted. After exiting Terminal and opening Disk Utility it seemed to work because it showed me the message that I need to fix the disk. I ignored the message and continued partitioning the drive, but when I tried to partition the HDD volume I got an error:

If you need more details, let me know, I am pretty novice in this kind of issues.

Hope you can help me, by the way, I never had installed bootcamp I don't know why my iMac stated to act so bad.

This are the results of diskutil cs list and diskutil list:

-bash-3.2# diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE   IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2
3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *1.3 GB     disk1
1:        Apple_partition_map                         30.7 KB    disk1s1
2:                  Apple_HFS OS X Base System        1.3 GB     disk1s2
/dev/disk2
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk2
/dev/disk3
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk3
/dev/disk4
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk4
/dev/disk5
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk5
/dev/disk6
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk6
/dev/disk7
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *6.3 MB     disk7
/dev/disk8
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *2.1 MB     disk8
/dev/disk9
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *1.0 MB     disk9
/dev/disk10
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk10
/dev/disk11
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *524.3 KB   disk11
/dev/disk12
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                            untitled               *1.0 MB     disk12
/dev/disk13
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk13
1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk13s1
2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         3.0 TB     disk13s2
3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk13s3
/dev/disk14
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *3.1 TB     disk14
-bash-3.2# diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group AA82B910-5B4C-4771-8CD9-DA1BB2DB1DB3
=========================================================
Name:         Internal Drive
Status:       Online
Size:         3121237860352 B (3.1 TB)
Free Space:   32768 B (32.8 KB)
|
+-< Physical Volume 4DE2EAE1-7F00-4EDB-9092-EA6FAB43EFA4
|   ----------------------------------------------------
|   Index:    0
|   Disk:     disk0s2
|   Status:   Online
|   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
|
+-< Physical Volume 709B7FB2-77ED-4528-B930-5E7E34E84235
|   ----------------------------------------------------
|   Index:    1
|   Disk:     disk13s2
|   Status:   Online
|   Size:     3000249008128 B (3.0 TB)
|
+-> Logical Volume Family 5D064113-84E2-4908-9889-BE30F336DF1B
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Encryption Status:       Unlocked
    Encryption Type:         None
    Conversion Status:       NoConversion
    Conversion Direction:    -none-
    Has Encrypted Extents:   No
    Fully Secure:            No
    Passphrase Required:     No
    |
    +-> Logical Volume 5F3DBA31-A6C2-4943-8330-45052D66507A
        ---------------------------------------------------
        Disk:                  disk14
        Status:                Online
        Size (Total):          3115739381760 B (3.1 TB)
        Conversion Progress:   -none-
        Revertible:            No
        LV Name:               Macintosh HD
        Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
        Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
-bash-3.2# gpt -r show /dev/disk14
gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/disk14': Resource busy
-bash-3.2# diskutil cs resizeStack 5F3DBA31-A6C2-4943-8330-45052D66507A 3115g
The Core Storage Logical Volume UUID is 5F3DBA31-A6C2-4943-8330-45052D66507A
Started CoreStorage operation
Checking prerequisites for resizing Logical-Physical volume stack
Shrinking Logical-Physical volume stack
Checking file system
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
Checking extents overflow file
Checking catalog file
Checking multi-linked files
Checking catalog hierarchy
Checking extended attributes file
Checking volume bitmap
Checking volume information
The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK
Shrinking file system
Shrinking Logical Volume
Resizing Core Storage Logical Volume structures
Resized Core Storage Logical Volume to 3114999996416 bytes
Shrinking Core Storage Physical Volume from 3000249008128 to 2999509622784 bytes
Shrinking Core Storage data structures
Resizing Core Storage Physical Volume structures
Resized Core Storage Physical Volume to 2999509622784 bytes
Copying booter
A problem occurred; undoing all changes
Growing Core Storage data structures
A problem occurred; undoing all changes
Growing Logical Volume
Resizing Core Storage Logical Volume structures
Resized Core Storage Logical Volume to 3115739381760 bytes
Growing file system
Error: 5: POSIX reports: Input/output error

Thank you for your help, I am starting to run out of options, and I want to avoid to go to an Apple Store.

In all it says The volume NUMBER appears to be OK but if I go to the details in all disk it showed Logical Volume Group has a 24 MB Metadata Volume with double redundancy, do you need the whole result? — pepesanti, Jan 12 '16 at 22:12
when I try to install the OS X download fine but it can't be installed because there is no recovery drive, so I can't install it. on the other hand when I try to delete the HDD disk it take too long like 10 days, and if I want to partition the disk it says that unable to write in the last block of the device, as you can see in the picture — pepesanti, Jan 12 '16 at 22:24
my understanding is problem with the hardware then? and there is no way around? — pepesanti, Jan 13 '16 at 17:58

klanomath · Answer 1 · 2016-01-12T23:49:17.730

In my opinion the Apple_Boot partition (name: Boot OS X, size 134.2 MB disk identifier disk14s3) on the 3 TB hard drive prevents OS X from creating a Recovery HD and subsequently the installation of OS X fails. To allow the installation of OS X the partition has to be removed. This probably works:

Booted to Internet Recovery Mode and after opening Terminal do the following:

Enter diskutil list to get the disk identifiers and the sizes of all partitions
Enter diskutil cs list to get the UUIDs and sizes of all CoreStorage items
Enter gpt -r show /dev/diskX diskX is the disk identifier of the 3 TB hard drive - not the CoreStorage Logical Volume which has a similar size
First slightly resize the CoreStorage Logical Volume Group:
```
diskutil cs resizeStack lvUUID size
```
In your case (with the data provided in your question) this is
```
diskutil cs resizeStack F9ECE596-8E42-4059-819C-7829C3FD4CB1 3115g
```
Unmount all disks related with the physical disks in your Mac

First unmount the Logical Volume. With the data provided in your question this is disk15:
```
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk15
```
Then unmount all physical disks. With the data provided in your question these are disk0 and disk14
```
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk0
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk14
```
Then remove the Apple_Boot (named Boot OS X) partition of the 3 TB hard disk
```
gpt remove -i index_number /dev/diskX
```
diskX is the disk identifier of the 3 TB hard drive and index_number is the number of the partition to remove in the index column. Disk identifiers may change, so always check the proper disk identifier with diskutil list before removing/adding/modifiying partitions.

With the data provided in your question these are disk14 and 3
```
gpt remove -i 3 /dev/disk14
```
Mount all previously unmounted disks
```
diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk0
diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk14
diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk15
```
Some or all of them may already be mounted after removing the Apple_Boot partition.

Now try to reinstall OS X again.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. — bmike, Jan 13 '16 at 17:55

Problem with 3 TB Fusion Drive, it can't be deleted, formatted or partitioned

1 Answers1