Partitioning a Mac hard drive

[Lufbrarunner]

My drive is 1tb and my windows partition was approx 120gb.
When the installation reaches the point for the partition to be formatted it is not fully automatic the user chooses the partition to be formatted, I cannot remember if you are given the choice of format but I think the default would be exfat or ntfs

 

[John Emmas]

Thanks for all your help with this, guys. Apple admits that Mojave's Boot Camp doesn't work on some Macs and I'm starting to think Mac Pro must be one of the affected machines (even though Apple denies it).

Part of the problem is that it isn't restarting the machine in between steps 3 and 4. It simply carries on, then fails trying to format the new partition as FAT32. It never asks me if that's what I want.

This morning I ran the process again, up until the point where it fails. I then opened Disk Utility and asked it to format the partition as ExFAT. I gave it the same name ('BOOTCAMP') but by the time Disk Utility had finished, the new partition was named 'disk0s4' and was formatted as 'MSDOS FAT' !!

Interestingly... the Mojave partition is called 'disk1s1' and is inside something called 'Container disk1' (whereas the Windows partition has been created outside of any container). I don't know if that might be an issue?

Carrying on regardless, I then restarted the machine in the hope that Boot Camp would continue from where it left off (which it didn't). So I launched the Boot Camp assistant manually but it now says that it can't run because there's already a Windows partition present.! The only option it gives me is to delete the Windows partition. Obviously this just puts me right back to square one.

I'd love to know if it's possible to run an earlier version of Boot Camp Assistant? If that's not possible I think I'll need to abandon Mojave and install some earlier MacOS.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

The bootcamp partition should be outside of a Container

 

[John Emmas]

I'm guessing this might also be relevant...

If I open Disk Utility and run the First Aid option (after trying to format as ExFAT) it fails - giving me the error "Invalid sector size: 0". So it looks like Disk Utility's ExFAT formatter isn't working too well either.. .

Would Mojave still work if I abandon the GUID partitioning scheme and go back to MBR? Or if not - is there anywhere where I can obtain an installer for some earlier version of OS-X?

 

[honestone]

Darn! Sorry that did not work.

Regarding Formats and Partitioning Schemes, here is my basic understanding:

1. Mojave formats drives as APFS, with a Scheme of GUID Partition Map. Prior versions of the Mac OS always worked best with a Format of Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and again a Scheme of GUID Partition Map. Those "settings" typically apply for using the Mac OS and applications running under that OS.

2. For a Windows partition, the Format would be either MS-DOS (FAT) (ie, FAT32). ExFAT, or NTFS, and a Scheme of Master Boot Record.

As I mentioned previously, I have successfully formatted Flash Drives as either FAT32 or ExFAT, and a Scheme of Master Boot Record. This link explains the differences between FAT32, ExFAT, and NTFS:

https://www.ilicomm.com/whats-the-difference-between-fat32-exfat-and-ntfs/

Note that link states that the NTFS format is used for the Windows System Drive, which would seem to imply that is where the Windows OS would need to be installed. Part of the issue for you is due to the fact that Mojave (most likely) formatted your entire internal drive as APFS, with a Scheme of GUID Partition Map. It also seems that the "idea" of Containers comes into play.

Unfortunately, it has been a long, long time since I needed to run Windows programs on my Mac (and thus the need for a Windows partition).

I also wonder if such issues are encountered when using a program like Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion (as I mentioned previously).

Finally, what Format and Scheme needs to be "in place" on a Mac before one starts the process of creating a Windows partition? Again, Mojave formats drives as APFS, with a Scheme of GUID Partition Map. If I only want to run applications under Mojave, I would not want to have a Scheme of "Master Boot Record". Such a scheme should (logically) apply only to Windows "devices" (ie, partitions).

 

[John Emmas]

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate all your efforts with this.

This morning I unplugged my router and replaced it with an older one (which I'd originally used for my previous Boot Camp/Windows installation (that one was for a Mac Mini). I didn't think the router would make a difference but I'd totally run out of ideas so this was a last-ditch effort. As you can imagine though, it made no difference at all.

I then read (on the Apple discussions forum) that Win10's ISO #1803 is known to work with Mojave's Boot Camp Assistant. I'd already tried 1703 but nevertheless, I downloaded 1803 - only to find that it didn't make any difference either.

I can't help wondering if this is significant though...

When I use my usual router, the download phase (Step 3) starts off at about 17 mins and counts down. So I see 4 mins / 3 mins / 2 mins - but just when I'm expecting 1 min, it jumps back up to 4 mins and then continues.

The same thing happens when I use my older router. The older router is slower so it starts off at 70 mins, eventually dropping down to 13 mins but then - just when I'm expecting it to drop to 12 mins, it in fact goes up again to 20 mins.

This must surely indicate a problem with the upstream server?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

If it is any help the ISO that I used was Win10_1607_English_x64.iso
I have downloaded a copy of Win10_1803__English_x64.iso, I may give this a try when I have a bit of time.

 

[John Emmas]

Here's a bit more info on that 'time jump' I mentioned in my last post:-

With nothing more left to try, I took my only remaining option which was to upgrade Mojave to 10.14.3. Boot Camp has definitely changed in it because some of the messages are slightly different.

This time, Step 3 counts down from 17 mins to 1 min - but whereas previously it then jumped up to 4 mins, what happens now is that it continues down to zero at which point, a new message appears saying "Estimated installation time 3 minutes remaining". This then counts down to zero at which point, the same old error appears.

AFAICT Mojave's Boot Camp Assistant simply doesn't work (not for my Mac Pro anyway). Maybe it worked in an earlier version but 10.14.2 and 10.14.3 are definitely not working here.

 

[honestone]

Man, sorry you are struggling with this, John! And I can certainly understand how frustrating it can be. Not sure if any of the following suggestions would help, but here goes:

1. I assume you have a "somewhat" recent backup. If so, maybe try a clean, fresh, "virgin" installation of OS 10.14.3 after Erasing and Formatting your internal drive. If you don't have a bootable clone as your backup (like with either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner), you can do all that via the (hidden) Recovery HD partition on your machine. This link describes that partition:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Once that is done, you'll be afforded the opportunity to "migrate/copy" needed stuff from your backup. Not sure, though, if there is something "nefarious" on that backup that causes problems. Before you upgraded to Mojave, did you make sure that all your third party (ie, non-Apple) applications were compatible with Mojave? This link is useful for that:

https://roaringapps.com/apps

To check out whether or not there is anything nefarious on your machine, you could download and run the following 2 applications (in the order listed):

1. Malwarebytes, available from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

2. ClamXAV, available from here:

https://www.clamxav.com/

Malwarebytes is very good at detecting adware/malware. ClamXAV goes "deeper" that Malwarebytes.

If either of them find problematic files/folders, etc., and after you remove them, maybe make another backup before proceeding with the steps I stated above.

As far as your downloads issues, not sure if that is an issue with your ISP. Maybe try that download over night, when there is less traffic.

Also, for my 2 Macs (a late 2012 Mac Mini, and a mid 2017 13" MacBook Air), downloads go MUCH faster on my Mac Mini. My ISP is XFinity/Comcast, and I have a "somewhat" fast Internet speed tier with them. For example, earlier this morning, I downloaded the new versions of Thunderbird and Firefox on each machine. The Mac Mini "screamed" with these downloads, each of them taking less than 10 seconds. It was definitely longer with the Mac Book Air. Of course, the Mac Mini is with a direct connection to my Telephony Modem and Router, whereas with the Mac Book Air, it is via WiFi.

I also find that to be the case with downloading larger files.

2. Can you use either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion instead? Yes, neither of them are free, but from what I have occasionally read, they seem solid.

 

[honestone]

OK, when I did a google search of "Download Win10_1803__English_x64.iso", one of the "hits" was this page:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

I then proceeded to download, on my Mac Mini, the Oct 2018, 64 bit version of the file. It took about 5 minutes, and the name of the file in my downloads folder is "Win10_1809Oct_English_x64.iso". The file size is 5.08 gig.

 

[John Emmas]

Thanks for all your help, honestone.

This is a brand new Mac Pro only purchased a fortnight ago. The vendor provided some kind of USB memory stick although strangely, if I plug it into a USB slot, nothing shows up on the Mac desktop. However, if I then restart the Mac Pro and hit the Option key, it shows up as an extra drive called EFI Boot. I haven't tried booting from it but I've been given the impression that it'd allow me to re-install Mojave.

But Mojave seems to be causing most of the problems... if I'm doing something as drastic as erasing the hard drive, I think I'd prefer to go back to an earlier OS-X such as Yosemite. Firstly because I know Yosemite's Boot Camp does work and secondly, it supports Win7 and Win8 (which Mojave's Boot Camp doesn't).

Is there any way for me to create a similar EFI Boot stick that'd install Yosemite?

 

[honestone]

Unfortunately, Apple has recently been somewhat "anal" about obtaining prior versions of the Mac OS (unless it's still on your "Purchased Items" list at the App Store) and/or restricts which versions of the Mac OS can be installed on one's Mac. Our illustrious Cory Cooper recently had a post that described this dilemma, and I'll try and find it.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I have just installed windows 10 via bootcamp on my 21.5 inch iMac. I updated the Mac to Mojave 10.14.3, dropped the iso (1803) onto the desktop, boot camp offered me a 40gb partition for windows, the HDD has a 1tb capacity, I chose to up the partition size to 350gb. Then boot camp down loaded the support software and partitioned the drive, the machine the restarted and the installation of windows began. When it came to the format stage I just clicked on the partition I wanted window to be on and clicked install,. Approx 20 minutes later I had a working windows setup. The only problem I encountered was the apple magic mouse and keyboard did not work during the setup but work when the install is completed (drivers?).

 

[honestone]

With Lufbrarunner having success, it seems that there is a software issue with your machine, John. Hence, that is why 1) checking for anything nefarious on your Mac, 2) Erasing and Formatting your internal drive, 3) doing a fresh, clean installation of OS 10.14.3, and 4) finally migrating needed "stuff" from a "clean" backup should do the trick.

If though there is an issue with trying to use Bootcamp and Mojave on a Mac Pro, then one would think that Apple would make that known, and possibly provide a fix.

Then again, there is either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.

 

[John Emmas]

Hi honestone - I've tried Parallels on a previous Mac and it worked well (though admittedly, it was a bit slow).

Lufbrarunner - thanks for trying that for me. Apart from me having a Mac Pro, the only thing I did differently from you is that I didn't resize the Windows partition. I just accepted the default size created by Boot Camp (96GB), It's getting late here (UK time) and I'm working tomorrow but I'll give that a try at the weekend.

Thanks again guys for all your patience with this.

 

[honestone]

OK, you have the latest (and greatest) Mac Pro. I assume you have one of these, and you had it configured with a 1 TB drive:

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/

Did you get the 6-Core or 8-Core processor? Also, it seems the 1 TB drive is an SSD. Correct?

With those specs (especially the 1 TB SSD), I suspect the newest version of Parallels would be fast:

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21252/parallels-desktop

However, I still think you need to first check if there is anything "nefarious" on your machine, using Malwarebytes and ClamXAV. Also, what about backups? Are you making them to an external device?

 

[John Emmas]

Hi honestone - it's a 10-core CPU and yes, it has a 1TB SSD installed. I haven't made any backups so far because it's a brand new machine and I haven't used it for anything yet. The only 'backup' I've got is a USB stick (which came with the machine) and will apparently re-install Mojave for me.

Lufbrarunner - one more question if you don't mind... is your iMac running the GPT / APFS partitioning scheme or is it the older (MBR) scheme?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

The hard disk has a GUID partition map, the macOS sits on an APFS container and the bootcamp is NTFS The NTFS formatting was done automatically during install with no input from me.

 

[honestone]

OK, since you are not backing up, I suspect you do not need anything from your machine. However, it might be best to do a backup, so that after you do the fresh, clean installation of OS 10.14.3, you can "migrate"/copy back all your account information, settings (ISP, Network, etc.) from the backup.

Also, I am not surprised at what Lufbrarunner stated above regarding the "initial" formatting of his internal drive. As I mentioned, Mojave automatically will format the drive as APFS, with a scheme of GUID Partition Map. Also, note what he said about the NTFS format. That goes back to an earlier post I made above, as that format is needed for the Windows System Drive. Of course there is the question of "where is" the NTFS partition: inside or outside the APFS container? From what I understand, it needs to be outside that container. Maybe Lufbrarunner can clarify that.

One other thing, and I have mentioned before: do you plan on using any third party (ie, non-Apple) applications, and if you do, are they all compatible with Mojave? You might need to download and install updates for some of them.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Here are a few screen shots showing the partitioning info.