File Share Encryption

It appears that Disk Utility on my new Macbook Pro 15 is still trying to use (or may actually be using?) the "PGP WDE” formatting scheme that should no longer be on my Mac and that this may be what is causing a host of problems in how my Sierra running new MBP works when asked to format disks. I removed PGP Desktop 10 from my prior Macbook in 2015.

Please see this link below - which is a dated (but ultimately inconclusive for my purposes) dialogue showing how a Symantec tech named Michael Arkeny tried to help someone remove the offending PGP partitioning scheme reference. In my case, my Mac frequently tells me that a third party partitioning scheme was used to format disks (com_pgp_wde_GUIDPartitionScheme_v2) and cites this as the reason that I can not, for example, create a recovery disk on external drives that I format or partition (and this result/blockage is the same, irrespective of whether I partitioned/formatted the disk in question with Apple's Disk Utility or with Drive Genius 4, by the way).

Can Symantec kindly conjure a Terminal script or other solution that will eradicate this lingering (!) PGP partitioning scheme problem? I simply want it removed so that my new Mac uses the default Apple partitioning/formatting schemes and so that I am assured that PGP is entirely removed permanently.

Please see this, not completely on point thread; perhaps it may offer a helping lead?:

https://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/urgent-how-remove-pgp-wde-mac<https://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/urgent-how-remove-pgp-wde-mac>

Also kindly note that I already ran through and entered all of Terminal commands recommended at the following link, but this does not seem to have removed the PGP formatting/partitioning demon (!):

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO100339.html

Finally, Mike Bombich at Carbon Copy Cloner also has tried to help me with this, but we did not manage to find, remove or otherwise make whatever changes may be needed to rid my Mac of this problem.

Your kind and prompt assistance will be greatly appreciated!

Best, Tom

We typically do not give out or create custom scripts. 

If a partition scheme is leftover after removal, the easiest way to get rid of it is to do a low level format. Make sure you're not using any "quick' option.

A common method is for people to use Darik's boot and nuke, which will overwrite the filesystem several times. Of course, you should make sure you have all important data backed up and have an OS available to re-install once the disk is wiped.

That being said, if this is an issue with a history, you should feel free to open a support case.

Please instruct me how to open a support case - the history is that this PGP gremlin has lingered for years and even across a migration to a new MBP. Thank you

You recommended, on this forum, for me to open a support case but nowhere is it clear how to do so and you did not respond to my request to tell me how to do so. Frankly, I am more than a little bit disappointed that Symantec has not assigned someone to fix my problem, given that it was wholly the creation of PGP software, a company Symantec purchased, as I understand it. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Tom

Please also see the attached, in case it adds some useful insight. Thanks. Tom

Attachment(s)

pgp-related-file (_var_db_uuidtext_E8_B2A5D71BFA367CD55D4...txt   12 KB 1 version

What version of PGP did you use originally, and can you send a screenshot of the message you are seeing now ?

What is it preventing you from doing?

Have you tried a low level format of the disk, with a third party utility such as Darik's Nuke and Boot or similar?

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/contact-support.html?

Contains the support info to open a case, assuming you have a support entitlement.

I licensed PGP Desktop 10 for Mac on 16 Nov 2010 (Product SKU 200215) and scarecely ever used it. I uninstalled it, from a Macbook in 2010 - or at least the programme told me it uninstalled.

I later migrated that Macbook - from which PGP Desktop 10 should have been completely removed - to a Macbook Pro in 2012 and then, subsequently, in late November 2016, migrated my 2012 Macbook Pro to my current, new, Macbook Pro (running the latest version of Sierra). 

As I wrote previously, the messages I now get happen whenever I try to format or partition any disk using Apple's Disk Utility and state that I appear to be using a third party formatiing/partioning scheme - please see my prior, original message in this thread.

I am reluctant to do a low level format of my disk because I have serious doubts whether the time and effort required will accomoplish anything at all; after finishing the nuking of my new Mac's drive, I will have to copy a clone back onto my nuked drive and I can only imagine that the same pesky pest PGP partitioning gremlin will remain on that cloned copy, no? This is because that cloned copy will have been placed on a drive that I also formatted/partitioned using my Apple Disk Utility - so the same dreaded PGP partitioning scheme.

Symantec needs to take responsibility for ensuring that one can entirely remove software - and without going nuclear. I hope that is not too much to ask. If you have specific and detailed instructions for what I can do to get rid of this PGP gremlin, please write them out, step-by-step, as I can not afford to mess around and lose use of this computer while experimenting. Thanks. T