I would like to resize my Windows partition to make more room on my Mac OS X partition. What is the best way to go about this without going through bootcamp? How well well does iPartition work?
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Resizing Windows partition
- Thread starter ghall
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you're going to have to reinstall windows. you can't just "resize" a partition. best bet is to make a backup image of your current windows installation and then redo it
P.S. iPartition only works for HFS+ (Mac OS extended file system), not for FAT or NTFS (Windows file systems)
P.S. iPartition only works for HFS+ (Mac OS extended file system), not for FAT or NTFS (Windows file systems)
You don't have to reinstall Windows (probably). I resize Windows partitions all the time with the GParted LiveCD. Works wonderfully, I just used it earlier this week.
The real question is whether or not resizing affects the ability to use the Boot Camp Wizard. In the past, after touching my partitions the Boot Camp Wizard would no longer restore the volume to one partition.
That is the million dollar question. I suspect you're right, that any messing with the partitions will piss off Boot Camp. I just searched around on Google for awhile and couldn't find any mention of anyone doing this. If someone wants to be brave and try it...
I want to verify that you have used GParted LiveCD on a Macintel computer to resize the Boot Camp partition. Is this correct?
I haven't used GParted for Boot Camp, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Do you have a backup? If so, you have nothing to lose.
I do not have a backup.
So basically, there's really no easy way to do it?
Does GParted resize the OS X partition as well?
Since you have GParted, please give it a try and let us know how it works.
To everyone else on this thread, you might find this thread interesting:
Deleted file in Windows, will no longer boot.
tried it
I tried resizing my windows partition with no success. I wanted to shrink it and create a third FAT32 partition so that I could share files easier between the OS's, however, if I shrinked the windows partition using GParted then windows was no longer able to boot. I still want to try doing it one more way, but it's obviously a time consuming process (reformat the entire disk, Carbon Copy Clone MacOSX from my backup on an external drive, run boot-camp, install windows, resize the partition, fail again and curse some more)
I tried resizing my windows partition with no success. I wanted to shrink it and create a third FAT32 partition so that I could share files easier between the OS's, however, if I shrinked the windows partition using GParted then windows was no longer able to boot. I still want to try doing it one more way, but it's obviously a time consuming process (reformat the entire disk, Carbon Copy Clone MacOSX from my backup on an external drive, run boot-camp, install windows, resize the partition, fail again and curse some more)
Thanks for the feedback.
I completely understand the time that it takes. I've installed Windows so many times that I have the code memorized -- backwards and forwards!
Libparted can apparently shrink HFS+ partitions but can't grow them (i.e. make them take up any free space on the drive). Go figure.
resizeVolume command
Partitions can be resized on the fly using the diskutil resizeVolume command from the terminal. I hesitate recommending this if you are a Unix noob, however, this link contains pretty good instructions.
Unix is your friend.
Partitions can be resized on the fly using the diskutil resizeVolume command from the terminal. I hesitate recommending this if you are a Unix noob, however, this link contains pretty good instructions.
Unix is your friend.
I got a pointer to this discussion on Apple Discussions - looks like people have much success with it ( I can't personally verify just yet ) and the steps definitely make sense:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=569724&start=0&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=569724&start=0&tstart=0
If you want to re-size your bootcamp partition use winclone to make an image of partition. Then use bootcamp assistant to restore and then repartition the disk to the size you want. And then use the winclone to restore the partition with the image you made. Winclone restores the file system and everything that you previously had on your windows system.
Resizing 2 windows partitions
I have a MacBook Pro I use for Windows - and only Windows. OS X is mandatorily installed but I never use and when I power on the Mac I start directly in W7.
I have the Mac partition + the bootcamp partition (NTFS) with my W7 installation + a partition (NTFS) I use for my data.
I want to reduce the data partition size and add the freed space to the bootcamp partition.
How to do ?
PS:
I also want to make an image of the 2 NTFS partitions before resizing. Acronis True Image and Acronis Disk Director v11 cannot handle my requirements. Anybody who has experience with other utility tools that handles my 2 jobs ?
I have a MacBook Pro I use for Windows - and only Windows. OS X is mandatorily installed but I never use and when I power on the Mac I start directly in W7.
I have the Mac partition + the bootcamp partition (NTFS) with my W7 installation + a partition (NTFS) I use for my data.
I want to reduce the data partition size and add the freed space to the bootcamp partition.
How to do ?
PS:
I also want to make an image of the 2 NTFS partitions before resizing. Acronis True Image and Acronis Disk Director v11 cannot handle my requirements. Anybody who has experience with other utility tools that handles my 2 jobs ?
Holy thread resurrection Batman! We have a guide for that around here now. http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend_or_Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition
Acronis True Image Home should do it as long as you have the "Plus Pack", otherwise you can use a Gparted/Clonezilla Live disc like http://partedmagic.com/doku.php.
B