Missing HDD space after removing Bootcamp Partition

[ajn360]

Hey guys, this is probably not the first case but I have tried various methods to recover my lost 50GB of space from different threads, all didn't work. (After removing bootcamp partition, took a little effort to finally remove all the partitions but the space used went missing)

Tried Internet recovery to go into Disk Utility app didn't work.


Tried using Terminal (not very good at it), so basically copied & paste some of the commands others have shared & changed the necessary disk numbers, didn't work for me.



So I figured, might be good that I just post & hopefully someone could give me some advise.

This is what I got;

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 449.8 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
4: EFI NO NAME 104.9 MB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS SG 15B 1.5 TB disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS SG 15A 1.5 TB disk1s3

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk2
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
2: Apple_HFS WD 499.1 GB disk2s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk2s3


Any advise or pointers greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[crjackson2134]

Without digging in my heels because I'm a little lazy at my old age, here's what I would do...

Use a spare drive and backup you macOS using CCC, and boot to that drive.
Then remove the original partition from your problematic drive with this (X is the enumeration of the drive you want to clear)

sudo gpt destroy diskX

Then re-partition/re-format/rename the clear drive.

Restore your drive by using CCC to clone back to that drive.

Just my 2¢

 

[Fishrrman]

If you follow these instructions, you can reclaim all of that missing space.
I guarantee a success rate of 100%.

What you'll need:
1. An external drive large enough to hold the contents of your Mac partition.
2. Either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper (both are FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing this will cost you nothing)

What to do when you have this stuff:
1. Connect the external drive and use Disk Utility to ERASE it to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format
2. Use either CCC or SD to clone the contents of the Mac partition to the external drive
3. REBOOT to the external drive. Restart and IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears. Then select the external drive with the pointer and click OK.
4. The Mac will boot from the external drive.
5. Get to the finder, then open Disk Utility
6. Use DU to erase the INTERNAL drive -- Again to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format. When done, the Windows partition will be gone.
5. Quit Disk Utility and re-open CCC (or SD). Now, RE-CLONE the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive.
6. When done, disconnect the external drive. You should now have a single Mac partition with "everything on it", and bootable.

If you follow these instructions, again, I guarantee a success rate of 100%.

One other thing:
Are you using Mojave, or something earlier?
I see "HFS" in the examples you posted above. That's why I suggest using HFS in the procedure above.
If you're on Mojave, I think you can use APFS instead.
I prefer HFS+ to APFS, and that's what I use on my own Macs.

 

[DeltaMac]

The best way to remove the Boot Camp partition, is to use the Boot Camp Assistant to do it.
If you have used some other method, or some other tool, then it's too late for that simple way out.
Almost any other method will leave you with unused space, which you can sometimes retrieve by running Disk Warrior, or some other good disk maintenance utility (not Disk Utility, which is unlikely to help until you need to use it to reformat the drive)
So, your best plan when the "best way" fails, or leaves you with un-usable space such as you have now, is what the two posters immediately above recommend - backup your drive, if you don't have a current full backup, then erase, reinstall macOS, and recover your apps/files/pictures, etc. Carbon Copy Cloner is the best/quickest tool for the backup/recovery.

 

[dannyyankou]

The best way to remove the Boot Camp partition, is to use the Boot Camp Assistant to do it.
If you have used some other method, or some other tool, then it's too late for that simple way out.
Almost any other method will leave you with unused space, which you can sometimes retrieve by running Disk Warrior, or some other good disk maintenance utility (not Disk Utility, which is unlikely to help until you need to use it to reformat the drive)
So, your best plan when the "best way" fails, or leaves you with un-usable space such as you have now, is what the two posters immediately above recommend - backup your drive, if you don't have a current full backup, then erase, reinstall macOS, and recover your apps/files/pictures, etc. Carbon Copy Cloner is the best/quickest tool for the backup/recovery.

Well I used Boot Camp assistant to remove windows and I have the same issue as the OP...

 

[ajn360]

Hey guys, sorry for the late reply as I have been plaque with ********s of overtime work.. could barely breathe.

Thank you very much for the input. Will try them out once I have found time to sit down and go through with it. Update again once I am done with it. Once again.. thanks very much.

 

[DeltaMac]

Well I used Boot Camp assistant to remove windows and I have the same issue as the OP...

Although the Boot Camp assistant is usually pretty good with adding or removing a Windows partition, there is the potential for problems, perhaps there was already a minor partition problem, and runnning the Boot Camp assistant exacerbated that issue (making things worse... ) Adding/removing partitions can leave you with drive errors, and the process might not complete, etc. Try a good repair tool, such as DiskWarrior. That may retrieve missing space. If you don't want to spend the money on a good tool, then the easiest way back is to backup your main partition, probably with CCC. Erase the device, so all partitions (left-over or not) are gone. Reinstall/restore from your backup.

 

[dannyyankou]

Although the Boot Camp assistant is usually pretty good with adding or removing a Windows partition, there is the potential for problems, perhaps there was already a minor partition problem, and runnning the Boot Camp assistant exacerbated that issue (making things worse... ) Adding/removing partitions can leave you with drive errors, and the process might not complete, etc. Try a good repair tool, such as DiskWarrior. That may retrieve missing space. If you don't want to spend the money on a good tool, then the easiest way back is to backup your main partition, probably with CCC. Erase the device, so all partitions (left-over or not) are gone. Reinstall/restore from your backup.

Unfortunately, I already tried backing up and erasing wiping the entire hard drive and had no luck. It’s only showing one partition, but it’s saying there’s a total of like 868 GB of space when there should be 1TB. I’m planning on getting a new laptop anyway, but I still want to resolve this problem. I’m thinking of just replacing the solid state drive altogether.

 

[DeltaMac]

Sounds like you erased the volume, but not the drive.
What I do I mean by that?
Open your Disk Utility. You should see your volumes. If you are running Sierra, or newer, you should see a View icon in the men bar. Click that, and select "Show All Devices". You should then see YOUR device, with the top of the list showing the manufacturer's info (probably the model number) for the device. If you erased your volume, but not that line showing the model number, then you only succeeded in erasing the volume, and NOT the drive. You don't reset the partition info unless you erase the device, and that's how you get your missing space back.
If you have something different, maybe you could show a screenshot, and someone will know what's going on to help you a bit better.

 

[ajn360]

If you follow these instructions, you can reclaim all of that missing space.
I guarantee a success rate of 100%.

What you'll need:
1. An external drive large enough to hold the contents of your Mac partition.
2. Either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper (both are FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing this will cost you nothing)

What to do when you have this stuff:
1. Connect the external drive and use Disk Utility to ERASE it to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format
2. Use either CCC or SD to clone the contents of the Mac partition to the external drive
3. REBOOT to the external drive. Restart and IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears. Then select the external drive with the pointer and click OK.
4. The Mac will boot from the external drive.
5. Get to the finder, then open Disk Utility
6. Use DU to erase the INTERNAL drive -- Again to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format. When done, the Windows partition will be gone.
5. Quit Disk Utility and re-open CCC (or SD). Now, RE-CLONE the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive.
6. When done, disconnect the external drive. You should now have a single Mac partition with "everything on it", and bootable.

If you follow these instructions, again, I guarantee a success rate of 100%.

One other thing:
Are you using Mojave, or something earlier?
I see "HFS" in the examples you posted above. That's why I suggest using HFS in the procedure above.
If you're on Mojave, I think you can use APFS instead.
I prefer HFS+ to APFS, and that's what I use on my own Macs.

I tried your method in cloning (using CC) my internal HD to an external one but when I press "option' key after reboot to choose which HD to boot into, the Cloned external HD did not appear. It only showed my internal HD and another drive which I use for time machine. I gonna give SuperDuper a shot & see what happens:3

*update* so I managed to boot into my external drive, erased my internal drive but I still cant recover the lost 50gb.

 

[DeltaMac]

You are choosing to partition/erase the same partition that you already have, so the result will be the same partition size as it already exists.
Back out of that Partition tab, then choose the Erase tab.
Select the device "Apple SSD SM0512G Media" (NOT the Macintosh HD partition)
(If you don't see that device, make sure that the View menu has "Show All Devices" selected.)
You can name that erased drive "Macintosh HD" if you like.
And, then click the Erase button.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You need to reboot from the external drive and TRY AGAIN.

THIS TIME, when you get booted (externally) and open Disk Utility, go to the upper-left corner and choose "Show All Devices" from the little (almost hidden) popup menu.

Now, choose the "topmost item" which represents the PHYSICAL drive itself, and erase that.

Now you have erased "the entire drive" (not just a logical partition ON the drive).

Now you can quit disk utility, re-open the OS installer, and try again.

 

[SoloReverse]

Solved it. Just had the same problem. Someone here hinted at the solution just trying to make it simple.

on the top left of disk utility. the view icon.
- click "Show All Devices"
- right-click on "APPLE SSD......"
- select partition.
- a pop-up will appear, DON'T CLICK "add Volume". instead click on "Parition".
- You will see the free space on the pie chart. Click on it. then the subtract icon underneath it.

and you are done. gg

 

[Moreck]

Solved it. Just had the same problem. Someone here hinted at the solution just trying to make it simple.

on the top left of disk utility. the view icon.
- click "Show All Devices"
- right-click on "APPLE SSD......"
- select partition.
- a pop-up will appear, DON'T CLICK "add Volume". instead click on "Parition".
- You will see the free space on the pie chart. Click on it. then the subtract icon underneath it.

and you are done. gg

I had the same issue as the original poster (I think.) Boot Camp Assistant failed when removing my Windows partition, to where it no longer appeared as a volume in Disk Utility but took up space on my main Mac partition. This is all it took to fix it! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was afraid I was going to have to do all kinds of complicated business with Terminal or something.

 

[Chris137]

hello guys I have the same problem when I deleted bootcamp I lost 130gb. I tried the same like you @Moreck but didn't work I can't see the missing 130gb on pie chart. Do you guys have any idea of what should I do? (I'm not great at all this stuff so if you could help I would really appreciate it)

 

[Fishrrman]

Chris wrote:
"Do you guys have any idea of what should I do?"

See this post:
#7

 

[Chris137]

Chris wrote:
"Do you guys have any idea of what should I do?"

See this post:
#7

I don't have a backup so I guess I'm gonna lose everything that is on my Mac but I'm okey with that. Could by any chance something goes wrong and ruin even more the Mac because I'm terrible at it and I'm kind afraid