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For some reason I cannot join partitions in to one single partition

P

phobos

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 25, 2008
256
117
I'm stumped currently on a super basic step and I don't know how to proceed.

I have a 10TB drive that came from a RAID system I had.
I slapped it on an external case and was hoping to format it in to 2 partitions.
When the unformatted drive was connected to the computer it detected 5 partitions and for some reasons I cannot make the partitions show up underneath the drive so I can format the whole thing.

See attached image.
I'm really drawing a blank as to how to proceed.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2021-02-28 at 00.07.33.png
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This is unfortunately the show all devices option. It shows as 5 drives.
 
Could it be that the external enclosure doesn't support 10TB drives and somehow makes the drive show up as 5 drives? I connected the drive to my NAS as well and I also cannot see the drive as one.
 
I don't know why your disk is being displayed 5 times. Maybe it's a leftover from the RAID array.
How was the RAID array created?
 
Quackers said:
I don't know why your disk is being displayed 5 times. Maybe it's a leftover from the RAID array.
How was the RAID array created?
Click to expand...
Yeah I kinda think it's the RAID array that tweaked the drive in a weird way.
This drive was on a Drobo which has its own proprietary system to handle drives.

Thankfully I'm not using this subpar product anymore but I'm stuck with several 10TB drives now that show up as multiple drives each.
 
phobos said:
Yeah I kinda think it's the RAID array that tweaked the drive in a weird way.
This drive was on a Drobo which has its own proprietary system to handle drives.

Thankfully I'm not using this subpar product anymore but I'm stuck with several 10TB drives now that show up as multiple drives each.
Click to expand...
Presumably the RAID array puts some kind of marker on the drive that needs to be removed before it can be used normally. I'm afraid I don't know anything about that but there must be a way of doing it. I'll ask Mr Google :)
 
I think SATA 2 would have explained it as I think it only recognises 2TB drives.
I think SATA 3 has a 6GB limit. But I may be wrong.
Hopefully someone who knows more than me about this kind of thing will come along :)
 
At the moment I'm trying some stuff on the terminal. I'm writing zeroes to the beginning of each partition to destroy the partition tables and break the RAID. I'll update once I'm done...
Keepping fingers crossed!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Quackers
Do all 5 "drives" show the same volume names?
I'm asking if they are formatted exactly the same, with the same volume names?
(click the disclosure arrow next to each "drive")

If the Drobo did something "weird" to the drive firmware - there's some pretty good disk tools that run on Windows. Maybe you will need to do something on Windows to get the drive completely cleared.
 
I really thought I could remove the RAID information but it looks like it's not happening...
 
phobos said:
I really thought I could remove the RAID information but it looks like it's not happening...
Click to expand...
Reading about drobo I'm not sure there is anything.
Your 10TB drive seems to be recognised as 5 x 2TB drives. What you see are drives not partitions.
I don't think that's RAID related. I suspect more of a drive recognition type problem.
 
Your screenshot says the drive is connected via USB. What is the USB controller used by the enclosure?

I think the disk should work properly if you put it in a Thunderbolt enclosure.

2 TiB = 2199023255552 bytes = 2.2 TB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Quackers
It's not the enclosure that's the issue. It's the fact that the drive has RAID partition data that makes it show up as multiple drives. The same thing happens if I use another 3TB RAID drive on the enclosure.
That shows up as 2 drives.

I just can't seem to target the right table to erase it from the disk and make the drive act as one again.
 
phobos said:
It's not the enclosure that's the issue. It's the fact that the drive has RAID partition data that makes it show up as multiple drives. The same thing happens if I use another 3TB RAID drive on the enclosure.
That shows up as 2 drives.

I just can't seem to target the right table to erase it from the disk and make the drive act as one again.
Click to expand...
Have you tried in the enclosure a non-RAID drive that is larger than 2TB?
The only thing you've shown so far is that the enclosure treats drives that are greater than 2TB as multiple drives. I say use a different enclosure.

Information from System Information.app will show how the drives are connected.
system_profiler SPUSBDataType

Maybe diskutil list will show something to help explain the situation.

Or this: diskutil info -all

Or this: ioreg -iw255 -c IOMedia
 
Quackers said:
Presumably the RAID array puts some kind of marker on the drive that needs to be removed before it can be used normally.
Click to expand...

Had the same problem with some SoftRaid volumes. SoftRaid does not play well with Disk Utility, probably the same with the Drobo drives.

1. Is the Drobo still around? Can you remove the RAID configuration and erase it there?

2. I eventually got rid of the SoftRaid tagging by deleting all of the paritions in Paragon's Hard Disk Manager:

www.paragon-software.com

Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac | Paragon Software

Paragon Software Group delivers solutions for hard disk management, partitioning, drive backup
www.paragon-software.com www.paragon-software.com
 
Have you tried in the enclosure a non-RAID drive that is larger than 2TB?
The only thing you've shown so far is that the enclosure treats drives that are greater than 2TB as multiple drives. I say use a different enclosure.
Click to expand...

The enclosure had a 6TB drive without issues. The issue is not related to the size of the drive.
I'm posting the list view of the terminal even though I went through all that but a pair of second eyes does not hurt.

Had the same problem with some SoftRaid volumes. SoftRaid does not play well with Disk Utility, probably the same with the Drobo drives.

1. Is the Drobo still around? Can you remove the RAID configuration and erase it there?

2. I eventually got rid of the SoftRaid tagging by deleting all of the paritions in Paragon's Hard Disk Manager:
Click to expand...
I do still have the Drobo but unfortunately it cannot really format to anything beyond it's own BeyondRAID system. I tried it but it doesn't really do anything different.

I gave up on Paragon's Hard disk manager after the 7th time it requested for me to restart my computer to install the software. Even though it has an uninstaller the amount of remnant files it left is disconcerting.
 

Attachments

  • list.jpg
    list.jpg
    210.1 KB · Views: 113
Last edited:
**********

Device Identifier: disk2
Device Node: /dev/disk2
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk2
Device / Media Name: 0EFAX-68LHPN0

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: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2199023255040 Bytes) (exactly 4294967295 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available
Virtual: No

**********

Device Identifier: disk2s1
Device Node: /dev/disk2s1
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk2

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: EFI
File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32
Type (Bundle): msdos
Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 0CEFA249-17EC-476F-8E3A-2CFB3C5BED34
Partition Offset: 20480 Bytes (40 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 209.7 MB (209715200 Bytes) (exactly 409600 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk2s2
Device Node: /dev/disk2s2
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk2

Volume Name: Untitled 5
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Untitled 5

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
File System Personality: Journaled HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Journal: Journal size 172032 KB at offset 0x4000000
Owners: Disabled

OS Can Be Installed: Yes
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 1F3CCEAC-41C7-306D-A87D-CB7E14D10904
Disk / Partition UUID: 19FFC582-06A6-4F05-944A-443144E624BD
Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Used Space: 875.5 MB (875454464 Bytes) (exactly 1709872 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
Volume Free Space: 2.2 TB (2197803827200 Bytes) (exactly 4292585600 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: No

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk3
Device Node: /dev/disk3
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk3
Device / Media Name: 0EFAX-68LHPN0

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: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2199023255040 Bytes) (exactly 4294967295 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available
Virtual: No

**********

Device Identifier: disk3s1
Device Node: /dev/disk3s1
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk3

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: EFI
File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32
Type (Bundle): msdos
Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 75841D6C-236F-410B-9035-6AEFA9B2798C
Partition Offset: 20480 Bytes (40 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 209.7 MB (209715200 Bytes) (exactly 409600 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk3s2
Device Node: /dev/disk3s2
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk3

Volume Name: Untitled 2
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Untitled 2

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
File System Personality: Journaled HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Journal: Journal size 172032 KB at offset 0x4000000
Owners: Disabled

OS Can Be Installed: Yes
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 401B39C6-9B9E-3FDC-ACF0-F6614CB31745
Disk / Partition UUID: 6BC87446-A88F-4B2D-86FE-FD60A3900377
Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Used Space: 875.5 MB (875454464 Bytes) (exactly 1709872 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
Volume Free Space: 2.2 TB (2197803827200 Bytes) (exactly 4292585600 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: No

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk4
Device Node: /dev/disk4
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk4
Device / Media Name: 0EFAX-68LHPN0

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: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2199023255040 Bytes) (exactly 4294967295 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available
Virtual: No

**********

Device Identifier: disk4s1
Device Node: /dev/disk4s1
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk4

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: EFI
File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32
Type (Bundle): msdos
Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 01B6394E-D669-4F1E-9400-32EF047FF07B
Partition Offset: 20480 Bytes (40 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 209.7 MB (209715200 Bytes) (exactly 409600 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk4s2
Device Node: /dev/disk4s2
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk4

Volume Name: Untitled 3
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Untitled 3

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
File System Personality: Journaled HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Journal: Journal size 172032 KB at offset 0x4000000
Owners: Disabled

OS Can Be Installed: Yes
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 84BD2876-1C4E-3681-8EC6-ABD8A4FA1C6B
Disk / Partition UUID: C1F4A90B-B160-4EAB-BD1E-8DD07EE8F4ED
Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Used Space: 875.5 MB (875454464 Bytes) (exactly 1709872 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
Volume Free Space: 2.2 TB (2197803827200 Bytes) (exactly 4292585600 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: No

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk5
Device Node: /dev/disk5
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk5
Device / Media Name: 0EFAX-68LHPN0

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: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2199023255040 Bytes) (exactly 4294967295 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available
Virtual: No

**********

Device Identifier: disk5s1
Device Node: /dev/disk5s1
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk5

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: EFI
File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32
Type (Bundle): msdos
Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 2ABD2229-6087-476B-9E5D-E7F74B505C99
Partition Offset: 20480 Bytes (40 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 209.7 MB (209715200 Bytes) (exactly 409600 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk5s2
Device Node: /dev/disk5s2
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk5

Volume Name: Untitled 4
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Untitled 4

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
File System Personality: Journaled HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Journal: Journal size 172032 KB at offset 0x4000000
Owners: Disabled

OS Can Be Installed: Yes
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 47376791-2296-3A2D-96DE-5DA5F7B5745F
Disk / Partition UUID: 61D3D7DF-8AB5-464B-A9E4-6CA4DF75BF5B
Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 2.2 TB (2198679281664 Bytes) (exactly 4294295472 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Used Space: 875.5 MB (875479040 Bytes) (exactly 1709920 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
Volume Free Space: 2.2 TB (2197803802624 Bytes) (exactly 4292585552 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: No

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk6
Device Node: /dev/disk6
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk6
Device / Media Name: 0EFAX-68LHPN0

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: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 1.2 TB (1204738326528 Bytes) (exactly 2353004544 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available
Virtual: No

**********

Device Identifier: disk6s1
Device Node: /dev/disk6s1
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk6

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: EFI
File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32
Type (Bundle): msdos
Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 5ED81668-6974-46BD-A5D1-04FEAFA41AFC
Partition Offset: 20480 Bytes (40 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 209.7 MB (209715200 Bytes) (exactly 409600 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********

Device Identifier: disk6s2
Device Node: /dev/disk6s2
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk6

Volume Name:
Mounted: No

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
File System Personality: HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended
Journal: Unknown (not mounted)
Owners: Disabled

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Disk / Partition UUID: 17CB86C3-0079-47F2-A4A3-AFB29C71E7F4
Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 1.2 TB (1204394352640 Bytes) (exactly 2352332720 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space: 0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)

Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (not mounted)

Device Location: External
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: Info not available

**********
 
Last edited:
What happens if you connect this drive to a pc running windows, and try to erase it that way??

The RAID system "that you had"...
Was there software that was used to manage it?
If you run that software on the drive, can it see it "as a single drive"?
Can it then erase it?
 
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