Problems installing Bootcamp on new iMac

I have been having some issues installing Bootcamp on my new iMac.

I migrated from a mid 2011 iMac to a 2012 model with a 1TB Fusion drive. My old data was migrated across via Time Machine.

When I went to install bootcamp I got an error message that required me to reinstall OSX (2.5 hours to download OSX*) and reformat the hdd. This error came up when bootcamp was about to partition the HDD.

I am now sitting in front of my machine and it has been partitioning from about 1 hour. Am I right in thinking that this shouldn't take this long?





*I also had to download OSX twice on my second Mac which I have given to my wife to use. I reinstalled OSX but because I had not erased the HDD I had to go through the whole process a second time including downloading from scratch again.

Unfortunately my machine now won't boot. I can't install OSX on it. I can't format it. In layman's terms it is borked.

Apple told me that is sounds like I have a faulty drive and they can replace it - but that will take 3 weeks.

I waited 3 weeks for this to arrive and I can't afford to be without a machine for another 3 weeks as I use it for work. I am going for a refund.

Pretty hacked off with Apple.

Mackilroy said:

What you should have done was format the drive before copying over your data–but it happens. It's not as if Apple intentionally gave you a computer with a bad hard drive. I had a 1.5TB drive that was DOA, while its twin was perfectly fine.

Do you have an external hard drive that you could install OS X to? Doesn't help your internal disk being useless but you could at least get to work.

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I did format the drive before copying the data over. I was moving from a 2011 iMac (in sig) to a 2012 iMac and giving the 2011 iMac to my wife.

I had a time machine backup of my 2011 iMac. I called Applecare and asked them how I would go about removing all my data from the 2011 iMac and then migrating data from a Windows machine to it. They told me to reinstall OSX on the machine.

I reinstalled OSX on the 2011 iMac. This took 2 hours to download OSX in full to do this. After this the machine installed the OS and rebooted. My old data was intact and I called Applecare again. I was told that what I should have done was erase the HDD before reinstalling OSX. I then did this which involved downloading all of OSX again (another 2 hours of downloading) before installing it.

While doing this I had migrated my data from my 2011 iMac to the 2012 iMac. I then tried to install Bootcamp. I received an error message telling me that Bootcamp couldn't move data on the HDD to partition it. Another call to Applecare and they told to me format the HDD and reinstall OSX. I then had to download OSX again. (For the third time in a day) This was now past 6pm in the evening and the download took three hours this time. After reinstalling OSX on the new 2012 iMac I tried installing Bootcamp again. Unfortunately this hung on while attempting to partition the HDD. I received advice to reboot and try again - which would probably involve reinstalling OSX again. (with a 4th download of the OS inside 24hours)

When I rebooted I had a borked install. The recovery console showed 800GB as available from the 1.12TB on the Fusion array. It wouldn't allow me to repair the drive, it wouldn't allow me to format the drive. I was stuck.

It was at this point that Applecare told me the drive sounded like it was faulty and they could replace the computer but it would take about 3 weeks.

The computer has since gone back to Apple for a full refund and I am back using the 2011 iMac.

I am not suggesting that Apple gave me a machine intentionally with a dodgy HDD. What I am hacked off about is that it was going to take them 3 weeks to sort out a problem with a brand new computer.

As an aside whoever at Apple decided that OSX had to be downloaded from scratch every time it had to be reinstalled is a cretin of the highest order. Installing Windows 7 on Bootcamp without an optical drive also adds unnecessary suffering. These factors cause me to question the wisdom of using anything from Apple in the future. I am currently considering making my next machine a Windows based machine. From my own experience - they just work.

Mackilroy said:

You don't. I put Mountain Lion on a flash drive so if I need to reinstall it I can do it from there.

Sucks that Apple would take so long, are you far from an Apple Store or authorized reseller? Won't help you now, just consideration for the future. It sounds like you basically did everything the hardest way you could have.

Believe me, I know waiting sucks. When my 4890 died I had to wait a month for a replacement-but that's life.

Click to expand...

If that is possible why didn't anyone at Applecare suggest it? I actually mentioned to two different people that I though that having to download the entire OS again just hours after downloading it previously was bonkers. I'm not suggesting that you are wrong - just dismayed that nobody I spoke to at Apple had the wit to suggest it. If I went about things in the most complex of ways then it is only because I followed the instructions Apple gave me.

I have an Apple store just down the road from me. The problem is lack of stock of BTO 2012 iMacs. If the machine was 2 years old then waiting a month for a part wouldn't be unreasonable - it wouldn't be ideal. The problem I had was that there was such a long delay for a 3 day old machine.