Full memory not available after deleting partition

Jamie23 · 26 Mar 2015 at 22:02

Hi guys,

I installed a Linux partition and then deleted it after a while, however when erasing the partition it simply 'disappeared' and I can't work out how to reassign it back my mac partition.

As you can see in the picture below, I have 250gb of storage in the computer and yet both partitions only add up to about 170, I can't see how the 80gb I assigned to the erased Linux partition can be given back to the original partition.

Cheers.

memyselfandi · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:21

I would say that you haven't completely removed the partition you created for Linux and it is still listed in your screenshot as "05" in the top left pane.

Also be careful when looking at your screenshot that you are not getting confused between the Macintosh HD Volume Group and the Macintosh HD partition, the lower sub-window is talking about the partitions not the the Volume Group. I would have half expected "05" to be listed as well there given the layout in the main window.

How did you create the Linux partition initially and how did you try to remove it?

btw, if you are screwing around with partitions make sure you have a backup of any data on a external disk just in case.

edit:
What's the output of:

Code:

sudo diskutil list

Rainmaker · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:55

^ What he said. It sounds like your partition is formatted with a filesystem OS X can't/won't understand, such as the *nix default ext4. My best recommendation would be boot up a live CD/USB and run GParted (it's in the menu of most distros, including Mint). Penny to a pound you'll see your former Linux partition proud as punch, formatted as ext4. Just delete it, resize the OS X partition to fill the space, apply your changes and reboot. If you'd prefer, for double safety, you could just delete the Linux partition and boot back to OS X to let the native disk utility handle the resize (because GUID and Mac's journalled system).

NickK · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:47

Anytime I've had an issue like this - I've just reformatted completely.

1. Backup Time machine.
2. Format completely the disk
3. Restore from Time machine during the OS X install.

Probably a bit drastic but worked

Jamie23 · 27 Mar 2015 at 17:54

Thanks very much guys, currently at work but I'll give what you all said a go when I get home.

Cheers.

snapdragon69 · 8 Apr 2015 at 11:51

The screenshot shows the volumes, can you click the Partitions tab and post one showing partitions.
Delete the unwanted partition and resize one of the wanted ones to make used of the space by pulling it's handle down. Note this often doesn't work and you may need to be booted from another physical disk such as USB drive..