when formatting an external HD today [Mac OS Extended Journaled(HFS+)] i ran into the following error.
“partition size not a multiple of 4k”
after a quick google search, i found the following fix:
“When formatting using Disk Utility, remember to select GUID Partition Table as your “partition map scheme” instead of MBR (Master Boot Record).”
basically do as follows:
- 1. open disk utility
- 2. select the drive
- 3. select the “partition” section
- 4. under the volume scheme select the number of partitions required
- 5. select the “options” button
- 6. make sure “GUID Partition Table” is selected NOT “Master Boot Record”
- 7. click apply
you now should be good to go and the drive should function correctly. yay!
Matt is a Systems Development Director for a multinational franchise. Matt has lived and worked in Hawaii, Chicago, South Florida and currently resides outside of Atlanta. He enjoys his hobbies including Technology, Gadgets/EDC, Fountain Pens, Wetshaving, Clocks, Antiques & Coffee. He even roasts his own coffee weekly.
Thank you for this instruction.
you are very welcome =)
Thank you so much, this helped me a lot!
glad to help =)
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
I’m having the same problema when trying to follow this in Tiger, to format a Lacie disk.
I can’t find the “partition†section in Disk Utility. What am I doing wrong?…
hmm… i don’t have a machine set with tiger here, I will update this when I am at work with info from one of those machines.
Ah! exactly what I needed, thank you.
thsi saved my day. thanks.
glad it helped!
Thank you so much for posting that. It got my 1TB Western Digital Drive to work perfectly, and all because the partition was wrong! Tried formatting so many times and about three Drive Management programs. Nothing worked then read this! Good work my man!
i am very happy it helped you, this issue caused me much grief as well =)
THANK U SO MUCH!!!! 10000000000000… Kisses!
Bless you!
and curse Apple!
Thanks so much!
your very welcome!
Awesome!
Thanx lot! Great!
wow cant believe this post has helped so many people. glad to know i made a small difference in your day =)
dude, thanks. 😀
Nice… saved me a return or 2
God bless you for posting this info! It helped 🙂
THANKE YOU DUDE! YOU ARE THE BEST!!! :o)
You saved the day, dude. Thanks so much for the tip. SHAME ON SimpleTech for not including that info in their directions !!
Thanx man.
Somebody should tip Apple about this pitfall. Obviously this is something that a lot of people have trouble with, so it should be made easier.
In addition to the steps listed above, I found it necessary to first erase the Fat32 volume. That’s the lower indented volume name in the Apple Disk Utility window (on the left side). It’s counter-intuitive, but if you think data loss, it makes sence. After erasing that volume with Fat32 selected, I could then repartition the drive, selecting HFSplus and GUID in the Options. Before this, it kept putting up errors when I tried to repartition.
Holy good god, thank you so, so, SO much for this. I would have never figured this out on my own, and I'd been trying to “fix” my new hard drive for days without success. THANK YOU.
Im very glad this was able to help you. I remember how I racked my brain over this. It was rather frustrating, so I totally understand.
Superb
thanks for that
you are very welcome!
Great job
it worked a treat in about 45 seconds later all good. I was about to take the disk back and apple had no idea…
Thanks
Its funny how many people have this problem. this is one of my most visited web pages. glad it worked for you =)