PZR Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 (edited) Hi guys, I tried to install XP earlier so I could play EVE on my MacBook, but when I go to partition it, I get this. Now, boot camp says it needs 10gb avaliable, but you need a minimum 5gb partition. Do I actually need a 10gb partition? What's going on here? Thanks Edited January 30, 2007 by PZR Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
erbic Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 It means your drive is too fragmented. As much as Mac users try to deny it, OSX drives get fragged. The issue here is that Boot Camp Assistant doesn't include any type of defragging. You've got a couple options: Pay money for iDefrag, Drive Genius or similar; or go the long, involved and free way of imaging your HDD to an external disk, erasing, and then restoring the image. (frankly, I'd go for defrag software. It'll save you about six hours out of your day). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-289787 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonpool Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Try to backup some newly added software or document files to an external disk and remove them from you Mac OS. If you are lucky, you may happen to remove these fragmented files and leaving a larger block of space for partitioning. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-290339 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyman Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I have the same problem and I already tried the iDefrag solution without success. In fact everything seems like a vicious circle. I have two external SATA drives left over from my old Windows PC (now I have a MBP). These drives are formatted in NTFS with the MBR pattern. Trying to backup my OS X system disk fails because I can't write to the SATA disks, using CarbonCopyClonder fails too, iDefrag only allows Quick defragmentation and formatting the SATA drives in HFS+/GPT pattern requires to backup the data from these disks which is a task an impossible task because I would either have to backup some 300-600GB of data to DVD or to another disk which I don't have. I also tried backing up one of the SATA drive partitions with True Image and then deleting the partition so I can partition it afterwards in HFS+ which was not possible because the Disk app from OS X whipes the whole disk even when wou want to create a single partition and the other partition programs I tried (all of them) wouldn't allow me to partition an external drive. The last thing I was thinking of was to create HFS+ images with the OS X Disk app in order to back them up to another partition via MacFUSE or burning on DVD. But this doesn't seem to be the ultimate solution either. As I couldn't even partition my OS X drive with the BootCamp assistant I really have no other idea left how to get the thing done. I just want to use Windows natively that is all I am asking for! Maybe anyone can tell me how I can either partition one of my external drives without having to backup all the data or how to be able to partition the OS X disk via the BootCamp assistant. I am desperately looking for a solution! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-294581 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonpool Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 (edited) My suggestion: 1. Install rEFit in Mac OSX, which will allow you to select operating systems located on external drives. 2. Install Windows in one of your external hard drives if there is none, which can be done in your Mac machine. 3. Install a tool in Windows which can access Mac HFS+ drive. I think you can easily find one. 4. In Windows, backup the data and applications in Mac OSX to one of your external harder drives. 5. Remove the data and applications in Mac OSX you just backed up so that you may be able to partition using BootCamp. 6. If you still cannot partition, you can reinstall a clean Mac OSX, which just takes a short time you don't choose the bundled software, which are useless to me. 7. After you get a BootCamp partition, you can install Windows there. Edited February 5, 2007 by dragonpool Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-294710 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyman Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 There are two Windows installations on one of the hard disks. I have rEFIt on a burnt on a bootable CD and when I start with the rEFIt menu it shows the externa drive partitions but booting from them fails, I guess because Windows is not bootable from USB (at least without modyfying it). I am not sure about this, rEFIt gives me some error message but I can't even continue by hitting some key. When I connect the drives via eSATA, rEFIt doesn't seem to recognize the disks. For now, I won't get up although until now this was really a big hassle. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-295675 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonpool Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 (edited) OK, this is the method which must work for you. Install Parallels in your Mac and install Windows XP in Parallels. Windows XP in Paralllels fully supports HFS+ and NTFS partition. From there you can transfer files from one partition to another partition. But first you need to add some folders in these partitions to the shared folder list. Edited February 7, 2007 by dragonpool Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-296117 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyman Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 This is the method I am making use of, but that's exactly the point. I would like to natively use Windows in order to be able to play games etc. I am now trying to make a bootable CD with a partitioning program so I can partition the OS X drive. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-297570 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyman Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) OK, finally I was able to partition my drive via BootCamp. What I had to do: I created a bootable CD with my defrag program and performed a complete defragmentation. Afterwards, the BootCamp Assistant didn't complain anymore about unmovable files and partitioned my disk without any problem. Anyway I wasn't able to install Windows, because the installation didn't finish. I don't know what happened. First, everything went well, then the XP installation reboots the computer for the first time (after the console style installation routine at the beginning) and the screen stays black. I have to turn off the computer and turn it on again and then the installation continues. Unfortunately the CD stops loading and all I see is the initial screen (with all the new features of XP etc.) but then nothing. Is this a common "bug"? I am really getting sick of the whole thing! Oh, BTW, does anybody know an alternative to Coriolis CDMaker? A program capable to create bootable CDs/DVDs? Edited February 9, 2007 by Cyman Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/40522-boot-camp-problems-cant-partition-disc/#findComment-298253 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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