Partition Recognition Issue with HP Pavilion d6700

[Pickaxe]

I'm currently running Vista and I'm trying to dual boot OSX on my HP Pavilion d6700 using this guide:

 

http://dailyapps.net/2008/03/hack-attack-d...-windows-vista/

 

I'm using iATKOS v1.0i and have shrunk a volume of the C drive so there is an unallocated part of it. Basically I'm following the guide to the letter, however I've run into a problem. After Darwin is loaded and I go into the 'Disk Utility' menu, it won't recognize the unallocated space on the C drive. It just shows my main C drive, and the D partition (HP's recovery partition).

 

After further researching, I found out that it won't recognize the part of my drive because I need to switch from ACHI mode to Compatibility (IDE) mode in my BIOS.

 

The only problem is that I have a crappy Phoenix BIOS that doesn't let me do anything to it, so my SATA options aren't available.

 

Can I either:

 

a) Unlock my BIOS?

or

Change my SATA options in Vista? If so, how?

 

Another option would be to install OSX another way. I tried searching here, but couldn't find any HP Pavilion d6700 tutorials. Does anybody have a link?

 

Thanks.

[Kaush J]

I have the exact same bloody problem, still trying to find a solution, going to format the unallocated space with winxp installation cd and see, will post if I get any positive results.

[srs5694]

I have the exact same bloody problem, still trying to find a solution, going to format the unallocated space with winxp installation cd and see, will post if I get any positive results.

 

There are two distinct operations you need to keep separate in your mind:

 

• Creating a partition -- This just sets aside space for an operating system, including marking its partition type and perhaps setting some very low-level options, such as setting a "bootable" flag.
  
• Creating a filesystem -- This writes the basic low-level filesystem data to an existing partition. This operation is sometimes referred to as "formatting." You can create various different types of filesystems (FAT, NTFS, HFS+, etc.), and in theory you can do it on any partition that already exists; but the partition must already exist to do this.
  

 

Some utilities, including Apple's Disk Utility, combine the two operations, so it's easy to think that they're a single operation, but they're not. I say all this because problems can arise over either part of the operation, and understanding what might be going wrong is often key to fixing the problem. I don't know of any utilities that enable you to literally "format the unallocated space," although plenty will create a partition in that space and then create a filesystem in that (now allocated) space.

 

My own experience with Disk Utility is that it's not very good at creating partitions in unallocated space on disks with existing partitions. There's probably some trick to get it to work, but more often than not, Disk Utility just behaves as Pickaxe described. AFAIK, this is a Disk Utility limitation, not a problem with the disk access mode (IDE, AHCI, or whatever). I recommend using another tool to create the partition, and perhaps create a filesystem on it. Personally, I'd use Linux (even on an emergency disc, such as SystemRescueCd or Parted Magic to do the job. In outline:

 

1. Use the text-mode parted or fdisk, or the GUI GParted, to create a new partition. When using fdisk, give it a partition type code of 0xAF. GParted and parted might or might not enable you to set the type code correctly, but if they do, it'll be by creating an HFS+ filesystem on the partition when you create it.
   
2. If you didn't create a filesystem using GParted or parted, do so by using a command like mkfs.hfsplus.
   
3. Reboot into the OSx86 installer. With luck, it'll now see the new partition and enable you to install to it.
   

 

This is just a broad outline; I'm omitting numerous details. If you need help, use the manual system -- type "man fdisk" or "man mkfs.hfsplus" or whatever.

 

Tools to create partitions exist in Windows, too; however, utilities to format HFS+ in Windows are rare. You can probably get by with creating a FAT filesystem on the target volume and then using Disk Utility in the OS X installer to reformat that as HFS+. This might be necessary if you use a Linux utility without the mkfs.hfsplus tool, too. I've seen some people post to the effect that the filesystem must be FAT, not NTFS, to enable OS X to reformat it; however, I've not tested this, so I don't know if it's true.