The GUI based "Disk Utility" wasn't letting me break down the multiple partitions and reform my external USB drive... but your command line method worked like a charm. Thanks for making it simple and being so concise. Your soft voice was a pleasure to hear and I followed alongside knowing that you wouldn't lead me astray. Kudos and much thanks to you, my friend.
How do you only have 277 likes??!!!! Other videos have terrible explaining and they didn't even fix the problem and you? You are amazing and I can't believe it actually worked you are a lifesaver
Brilliant! I was having issues with disk utility formatting large volume disks to only 1.6TB. I was losing my mind and all the forums just point to the driver being the issue. This totally sorted it out. You've earnt a new sub and a big like!
Hey man I would appreciate it so much if you could do a short follow up video explaining how to expand your windows partition in boot camp! There’s no real recent tutorials on how to do it and I think a lot of people would find it helpful/useful.🙏🏾💯 great channel btw!
Thank you, thank you, thank you my friend. This was spot on. I had just briefly forgotten about the file formats but this quickly jarred my memory. With the changing of the guard from HFS to APFS, bumping the external up to APFS (format-wise) was the call now that most current systems are running 10.14 or higher. Brilliant video, I will be checking back from time to time. Cheers!
Hi thank you for this video I followed it to the letter and the message I get is Started erase on disk2 Unmounting disk Error: -69877: Couldn't open device Any idea what I can do?
I had the same problem and followed the steps, although in the end I had to erase the disk from the terminal. It has been a whole day and it is still in the erasing process. Will it take longer? Or is there a possibility that it has frozen?
I am switching my 2012 macbook pro to an SSD from HDD but disk Utility is throwing a osStatus error 49157. I have searched and removed time machine snapshots, but same result. Super Duper and Carbon Copy Cloner are non-effective. (Tried, both failed.) Any suggestions or (preferably) solutions? Great video with precise details about formatting. Thank you!
I am trying to reinstall after deleting it previously for a new owner for my laptop. Now I want to install the OS. It keeps on giving me error saying "an error occurred when preparing the installation". Changed the date and time still nothing. So I am trying to start from the beginning by erasing everything again. APFS is greyed out. When I choose Mac OS extended journaled, it gives me an error.
I have an internal hitachi hd that appears to be fine when verifying the disk and repairing it. Expect I"m not able to repair disk or verify the permissions for it. Is there a way to fix this problem let alone mount the disk by chance?
I do so like your videos for erasing etc Mac drives. Can you help erasing and formatting etc a Seagate 2TB disk originally meant for an Acronis True Image. I've tried all sorts but it always fails with, presumably, an error message -69877. Thanks
great video. i have an HD that is now not working well with Carbon Copy Cloner, to make a sparse bundle clone. i can restore a volume on this HD from an existing clone but i cannot create a new clone from it without an error. it has a few bad blocks. the data is backed up. would reformatting the drive using Secure Erase (vs Quick Erase, as shown here) allow me to get around this issue or are Bad Blocks already handled by the drive's Firmware and there's really nothing i can do about this? thank you.
I used “diskutil eraseDisk jhfs+ Internal /dev/disk17” it started to erase, in mount, create partition map, waiting for partition map to activate, formatting disk17s1 as Mac OS extended (journaled) with name Internal. BUT THEN IT SAYS “Error: -69850: The chosen size is not valid for the chosen file system. Idk what this means. Help?
I'm trying to erase my internal hard drive using diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ hardrivename diskN to do a fresh install but upon reaching 50% im getting error -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device. Im also getting the same prompt on disk utility. Does it mean that my hard drive or possibly hard drive cable is toast? Thanks for any help.
Hello, I have been trying a lot of your videos to try reset an external drive... I followed this video all the way to the erase disk command but got the error message "error: -69877: Couldn't open Device: I know you're not a tech help guy for random people on the internet like me, but I would really appreciate any help. The disk shows up with the diskutil command, but it seems to not let me do anything to it. thanks for any help.
Nice video mate! A question. Im using a raid 5 configaration on an external drive. Although I can see it and use normal the software and the hardware raid , my mac wont format it. I formated on a pc and now my mac wont mount it. Any sugestions?
How do I format the disk including the boot partition? When I do your command it says I can't format the boot disk. (I'm trying to format whilst in the recovery screen.
If you've booted into the recovery partition from the local disk, then it may not let you format the drive because you're booted from a section of it. Try these two optional key combinations to boot and they should help. Note, they boot over the Internet, so your boot will take a loooong time, so you'll have to wait for it. Option-Command-R Shift-Option-Command-R
It’s not really an issue. It should work fine for most Mac functions. It’s just if it’s a Time Machine dusk or a startup disk that it would need to be a Mac specific format.
Terminal is giving me this message: Joemar:~ jose$ diskutil eraseDisk APFS External /dev/disk2 Started erase on disk2 Unmounting disk Creating the partition map Error: -69877: Couldn't open device Joemar:~ jose$ Any advise on how to fix this? Thanks in advance.
The disk won't mount, which is why I couldn't use Disk Utility. I tried your method, but without a mounted disk, it can't erase. I tried anyway with /dev/disk2 but of course it gave me the error "Could not find disk for /dev/disk2", HOW CAN I FORMAT A DISK THAT WILL NOT MOUNT?!!!
@@gmlaster thank you for the quick response and I am truly sorry for your lost data. I guess I have the same fate my jnternal hard drive is in this unmounted state and I too have lost all my school work and research papers. I don't know if you have kept your external hard drive or not but if I find some videos which may help I can share the links with you and maybe you can try but chances are I won't find a good solution since all these videos talk about force unmounting not the other way round.
@@shikhab2250 I don't have the drive anymore. Luckily, I was able to take it back to the vendor and get a replacement drive for free. And they told me the same thing the repair people did: "ALWAYS keep your most important data backed up on two or more drives, because external hard disk drives really suck, and the manufacturers know it". Back it up while you're working on it so that you know you have it in more than one place.
This is a waste of time. I had to listen to a commercial when all I want is a command line. A few lines of text would be better and at least one could copy and paste.
The GUI based "Disk Utility" wasn't letting me break down the multiple partitions and reform my external USB drive... but your command line method worked like a charm. Thanks for making it simple and being so concise. Your soft voice was a pleasure to hear and I followed alongside knowing that you wouldn't lead me astray. Kudos and much thanks to you, my friend.
You're welcome! I'm glad it helped.
How do you only have 277 likes??!!!! Other videos have terrible explaining and they didn't even fix the problem and you? You are amazing and I can't believe it actually worked you are a lifesaver
Brilliant! I was having issues with disk utility formatting large volume disks to only 1.6TB. I was losing my mind and all the forums just point to the driver being the issue. This totally sorted it out. You've earnt a new sub and a big like!
Great ! Saved me a disk! super easy to follow video! Keep strong and have a great 2022
Very helpful video! Other formatting options not covered here, which can be inserted in place of APFS: ExFAT, FAT32, HFS+, or JHFS+
I nearly just turned this off thanks to the pair of you 💙 be safe people in these times
Nope unable to write to the last block of the device when I try to erase it ? Any tips 😇
Thank you. I'm a old novice and this helped a lot regards Vic
2024 and this worked like magic! thankls man
You are the best! Been searching for hours how to fix this!
Thank you so much. I have been trying to erase a partitioned disk and combine it with the internal main disk and your video helped me achieve that.
I wish I found this sooner! I wasted hours!! Thank you 🙏
Worked like a charm, couldn't do it on Windows PC's disk management... Didn't feel like doing it on diskpart
Hey man I would appreciate it so much if you could do a short follow up video explaining how to expand your windows partition in boot camp! There’s no real recent tutorials on how to do it and I think a lot of people would find it helpful/useful.🙏🏾💯 great channel btw!
Thank you, thank you, thank you my friend. This was spot on. I had just briefly forgotten about the file formats but this quickly jarred my memory. With the changing of the guard from HFS to APFS, bumping the external up to APFS (format-wise) was the call now that most current systems are running 10.14 or higher. Brilliant video, I will be checking back from time to time. Cheers!
I've been messing with this three days you save me 😜🥵😅
Thank you so much just got a new sd card that had an issue where it went from 128gb to 4gb and this fixed it thanks!!!
this was so helpful. Disk formatting wouldn't in disk utilities but worked great using the terminal. Thanks!
Hi thank you for this video I followed it to the letter and the message I get is
Started erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device
Any idea what I can do?
Thanks, that solved my problem. I had a disk with 5 partitions that normal Disk Utility would not be erased. Now it is back to 1 partition.
I had the same problem and followed the steps, although in the end I had to erase the disk from the terminal. It has been a whole day and it is still in the erasing process. Will it take longer? Or is there a possibility that it has frozen?
You Solved my Mac OS installation problem which was stuck in erasing hard disk
Super helpful! Thanks a ton, champion! This worked like magic.
You’re welcome! I’m glad it helped!
Thank you very much. It was helpfull and you have all my apreciation.
I am switching my 2012 macbook pro to an SSD from HDD but disk Utility is throwing a osStatus error 49157. I have searched and removed time machine snapshots, but same result. Super Duper and Carbon Copy Cloner are non-effective. (Tried, both failed.)
Any suggestions or (preferably) solutions?
Great video with precise details about formatting. Thank you!
Great video 😇 mine says can't write to the last block of device ? Any tips ? Much appreciated 🙏
I am trying to reinstall after deleting it previously for a new owner for my laptop. Now I want to install the OS. It keeps on giving me error saying "an error occurred when preparing the installation".
Changed the date and time still nothing.
So I am trying to start from the beginning by erasing everything again. APFS is greyed out. When I choose Mac OS extended journaled, it gives me an error.
Thanks so much buddy! The most helpful video amongst all others!!
Hi Can i format only a partition with terminal? not whole disk
Worked for me thank you !
Awesome and clean explanation
Great video!!!!! Very Helpful. 👍👍
I have an internal hitachi hd that appears to be fine when verifying the disk and repairing it. Expect I"m not able to repair disk or verify the permissions for it. Is there a way to fix this problem let alone mount the disk by chance?
hey thank, the best video
worked nicely
You are a LEGEND 😎
Thanks! I’m glad it helped.
I did exactly as it is in the video but got the following message Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device. Can you help me?
Pretty cool thanks
I do so like your videos for erasing etc Mac drives. Can you help erasing and formatting etc a Seagate 2TB disk originally meant for an Acronis True Image. I've tried all sorts but it always fails with, presumably, an error message -69877. Thanks
Hey, unmount the disk before running the command. Worked for me. Wooo
Error: -69888: couldn't unmount disk
I can not get this SSD to unmount or even erase in my MBP
Figured out the problem!
@@KRS_5150 Hi, I'm getting the same issue. Could you please let me know how you figured it out?
chris maister new sata cable! $10 on Amazon.
@@KRS_5150 Many thanks mate!!cheers
You have to unmount the disk in the finder first.
Thanks man, you are a PRO!!
Thanks uploader, it works
great video. i have an HD that is now not working well with Carbon Copy Cloner, to make a sparse bundle clone. i can restore a volume on this HD from an existing clone but i cannot create a new clone from it without an error. it has a few bad blocks. the data is backed up. would reformatting the drive using Secure Erase (vs Quick Erase, as shown here) allow me to get around this issue or are Bad Blocks already handled by the drive's Firmware and there's really nothing i can do about this? thank you.
an excellent guide. Thank you
Worked like a charm
TYFS!
Thank you so much you help me out alot
Awesome X10 . ...
This saved my day..
thanks mate
I used “diskutil eraseDisk jhfs+ Internal /dev/disk17” it started to erase, in mount, create partition map, waiting for partition map to activate, formatting disk17s1 as Mac OS extended (journaled) with name Internal. BUT THEN IT SAYS “Error: -69850: The chosen size is not valid for the chosen file system. Idk what this means. Help?
How does this work in the terminal if the hard disk is already APFS formatted and Catalina is present on it.
I'm trying to erase my internal hard drive using diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ hardrivename diskN to do a fresh install but upon reaching 50% im getting error -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device. Im also getting the same prompt on disk utility. Does it mean that my hard drive or possibly hard drive cable is toast?
Thanks for any help.
I'm getting the same issue with 2 diffrent cables and a new external harddrive 🤦🏽♂️
Very helpful, thank you!
You're welcome!
oh man! Thank you for saving noobs like me.
Hello, I have been trying a lot of your videos to try reset an external drive... I followed this video all the way to the erase disk command but got the error message "error: -69877: Couldn't open Device: I know you're not a tech help guy for random people on the internet like me, but I would really appreciate any help. The disk shows up with the diskutil command, but it seems to not let me do anything to it. thanks for any help.
Did you find any solutions?I have the same issue
@@gokayerenn I have not, the disk is still sitting unresponsive in my drawer lol.
Thank you very much!!
Hi I get this error "You cannot manually format an existing APFS Container disk"
Life saver!!!!Thanks a billion times!😍😍😍
Thank you!!! You saved me.
saved my drive....great tut
Bro how much time would it take to erase a 750 gb disk
Nice video mate!
A question. Im using a raid 5 configaration on an external drive. Although I can see it and use normal the software and the hardware raid , my mac wont format it. I formated on a pc and now my mac wont mount it. Any sugestions?
Please help me my mouse is not clicking I use external mouse still not clicking what could me the problem
it says ‘couldn’t open device’ , any way to workaround this? i’ve tried lots of different methods
same here :(
have you found any solution? TIA.
Hey jack did you find the solution for that?
How do I format the disk including the boot partition? When I do your command it says I can't format the boot disk. (I'm trying to format whilst in the recovery screen.
If you've booted into the recovery partition from the local disk, then it may not let you format the drive because you're booted from a section of it. Try these two optional key combinations to boot and they should help. Note, they boot over the Internet, so your boot will take a loooong time, so you'll have to wait for it.
Option-Command-R
Shift-Option-Command-R
I'm trying to uninstall linux and i installed it on the same drive as bootcamp and bootcamp is in my disk1 so do i just format disk1?
I did it exactly as you said and it still says it couldn’t unmount the disk
Hey, my external disk is ‘windows_fat_32’ how do I get it to say Apple? Or is this not an issue?
It’s not really an issue. It should work fine for most Mac functions. It’s just if it’s a Time Machine dusk or a startup disk that it would need to be a Mac specific format.
Terminal is giving me this message:
Joemar:~ jose$ diskutil eraseDisk APFS External /dev/disk2
Started erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device
Joemar:~ jose$
Any advise on how to fix this? Thanks in advance.
I was very hopeful but I got this error: Error: -69825: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed
My card is sis stuck on waiting for the partitions to open and then nothing happens after that
Hey!! I got "eraseDisk : command not found" message... someone knows any solution to that??
Having tried other tutorials that didn't work - THIS ONE DID! Tk U!
a trick : you can watch series on Flixzone. I've been using them for watching a lot of movies during the lockdown.
@Calvin Tobias Yea, have been watching on Flixzone for months myself :D
My nvme drive not showing.please help
Great! Thank you :)
The disk won't mount, which is why I couldn't use Disk Utility. I tried your method, but without a mounted disk, it can't erase. I tried anyway with /dev/disk2 but of course it gave me the error "Could not find disk for /dev/disk2", HOW CAN I FORMAT A DISK THAT WILL NOT MOUNT?!!!
Hi did you ever solve this problem of unmounted disk? I have been looking for answers for almost a year now without luck :(
@@shikhab2250 No. I took it to two repair shops and they couldn’t fix it either, or recover my data. It was a lost cause. I had to buy a new drive.
@@gmlaster thank you for the quick response and I am truly sorry for your lost data. I guess I have the same fate my jnternal hard drive is in this unmounted state and I too have lost all my school work and research papers. I don't know if you have kept your external hard drive or not but if I find some videos which may help I can share the links with you and maybe you can try but chances are I won't find a good solution since all these videos talk about force unmounting not the other way round.
@@shikhab2250 I don't have the drive anymore. Luckily, I was able to take it back to the vendor and get a replacement drive for free. And they told me the same thing the repair people did: "ALWAYS keep your most important data backed up on two or more drives, because external hard disk drives really suck, and the manufacturers know it". Back it up while you're working on it so that you know you have it in more than one place.
thanks
brill thank you
Hi it’s giving me an error- 69877: couldn’t open device
That might be a hardware error.
it stays at 50%???
dont understand why it doesnt want to finish....
Same problem, did you find a solution?
Couldn’t unmount disk
Does not work :-(
Pls help me bro
i dont even understand
This is a waste of time. I had to listen to a commercial when all I want is a command line. A few lines of text would be better and at least one could copy and paste.
Good narrative.. thank you so much 🙏🏼