Resizing BootCamp Partition - Snow Leapord/Windows 7

Kazuya · Feb 1, 2010

Basically, I created a BC partition for my W7, however, I only gave it 32gigs of space (I only wanted to use it for gaming).

However, now I want to install Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2010 on W7, however I don't have enough space on my BC partition to do that...

I've researched enough to know that I will need to use one of the following programs:

iPartition
CampTune
WinClone

I've read up on all the programs and done some research on them.
Ive noticed most people are having problems with all of these programs when trying to backup a W7 image whilst on Snow Leapord (Mac OS x 10.6, which I am running)

I've been thinking about it, would I somehow be able to backup my Windows 7 onto an image/ISO.
Then delete my existing bootcamp partition and create a new one with larger space (100gig).

I know that is the function of the 3 applications above... But to my knowledge... In theory - I should be able to just backup my W7 using a reliable backup program (Can someone recommend any?) and then delete the existing BootCamp partition, create a new one of 100gig and then just load up the backed up image for Windows 7...

Thus creating minimal problems...

However, I can't find any reliable programs for backing up W7...

Anyone recommend any? Or give me any tips on what I should avoid/do?

Thanks...

Kazuya

psxtreme · Feb 1, 2010

You don't need any additional programs. Windows 7 and OS X both have partition resizing functions built in. In OS X go to the disk utility manager and manually shrink the mac partition. Then in windows re-allocate the freed space to the windows partition.

Kazuya · Feb 1, 2010

Interesting!
Very interesting indeed!

How would I manually allocate the size in Windows 7?

I've already allocated some of the drive in Mac OS x =]

psxtreme · Feb 1, 2010

go to the start menu and type "disk management" into the search box then hit enter. You should get an overview of the drives you have and the individual partitions. Right-clicking on the partition gives an "Extend Volume" option.

gigas65 · Feb 1, 2010

Resize Bootcamp?

psxtreme said:
go to the start menu and type "disk management" into the search box then hit enter. You should get an overview of the drives you have and the individual partitions. Right-clicking on the partition gives an "Extend Volume" option.

Have you tried this? I mean are you sure that it will not mess Bootcamp partition?

psxtreme · Feb 2, 2010

It shouldn't cause any problems but as with anything make sure to have a backup of all your data just in case anything goes wrong

balamw · Feb 2, 2010

psxtreme said:
It shouldn't cause any problems but as with anything make sure to have a backup of all your data just in case anything goes wrong

Always good advice! If you have a full and verified backup, you don't have to worry about losing data during operations like this.

EDIT: I added this option to the MR guide.

B

dan5.5 · Feb 4, 2010

its a great option, I have never thought about doing it that way... good idea

Link00seven · Feb 4, 2010

Interesting find. I've been doing some research on this very issue (I made my Windows 7 partition 120GB for gaming and I already see myself making it larger later on) and if the built in utilities work (either Disk Utility or the Windows 7 equivilent) that'd be pretty nifty. I was looking into using GParted (load it from a LiveCD) to make the change.

bennettmac · Feb 5, 2010

psxtreme said:
go to the start menu and type "disk management" into the search box then hit enter. You should get an overview of the drives you have and the individual partitions. Right-clicking on the partition gives an "Extend Volume" option.

Hi all

Do we know yet if this actually worked?

Thanks

aawil · Feb 6, 2010

I'm curious about doing this as well. Sounds a lot better than reinstalling 7, that was a pain. Anyone have any luck with this? Or is it possible to install a 3rd partition then delete the old one when done?

jimschoe · Feb 20, 2010

Extend option is greyed out

Perhaps Vista is the lesser cousin but extend is greyed out. Shrink partition is available, but that's not exactly what I had in mind. Any thoughts? Thanks,

jas

Nyk0n · Mar 3, 2010

I was looking for a way to re-size as I only allocated 20GB to my Win7 partiton then got into Star Trek Online (couldnt download extract it and installit with Win7 on 20GB!!!

didn't have a lot of room on my 400GB mac drive so deleted 20k photos from iPhoto, all my movies in iTunes and that freed up about 100GB so my Mac HD is shrinking right now to give me room but also allow my win7 drive to extend if it will Will post back in a bit if it worked for me

although if Win7 shows same issue as Vista with extend greyed out its likely because the free space in in front of the win7 partition in which case a utility like Partition Magic is likely the only way to resolve that

but we shall see resizing mac drive is about 50% at this point might be a little bit but like I said will post my results when I get into windows

Yeah I am an Apple Nut

macbook 2.06GHz Core 2 Duo
24" Imac
8GB Iphone
16GB Iphone 3G
16GB Iphone 3Gs
4Gb Ipod nano 4th gen
160Gb 1st gen iPod Classic
30GB Ipod Video
Apple TV

nman040 · Mar 22, 2010

Hey guys, I managed to shrink my OSX volume. I then booted into Windows 7 and went on to Disk Management to extend the volume. I right clicked the Bootcamp partition but "Extend Volume..." is greyed out. The only option is to "Shrink Volume..". I have 8.xGB unallocated disk space (from shrinking the OSX volume).

Help...!

Nyk0n · Mar 23, 2010

nman040 said:
Hey guys, I managed to shrink my OSX volume. I then booted into Windows 7 and went on to Disk Management to extend the volume. I right clicked the Bootcamp partition but "Extend Volume..." is greyed out. The only option is to "Shrink Volume..". I have 8.xGB unallocated disk space (from shrinking the OSX volume).

Help...!

Hey nman you need to make sure the unallocated space is between the mac partition and windoze partition if it's not go back into mac re-allocate the 8xGB and reboot then try again

for me I had to use a back tool to backup my whole mac hdd then reload from back up it then put all my files at the beginning of the drive which allowed bootcamp to make the windows partition

panzer06 · Mar 23, 2010

bennettmac said:
Hi all

Do we know yet if this actually worked?

Thanks

You would need to use Disk Utility to shrink the OS X partition first. Once that's done you should be able to resize the Windows partition.

If that does not work you could use Winclone to back up the Windows partition and then delete the Windows partition, shrink OS X and create a FAT partition in the new larger space. Use Winclone to restore the Windows partition.

As always, make sure you have a complete backup before attempting anything that changes partition tables.

Cheers,

nigameash · Mar 23, 2010

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/camptune/

balamw · Mar 23, 2010

nigameash said:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/camptune/

Mentioned in the OP and in the guide. No longer free.

B

nigameash · Mar 23, 2010

Sorry my bad, didnt see it in the OP earlier. I do have a beta version of the software though. So if you require it, pm me

deadpoet · Oct 2, 2010

panzer06 said:
You would need to use Disk Utility to shrink the OS X partition first. Once that's done you should be able to resize the Windows partition.

This does NOT work, repeat, it does NOT work. Windows will not let you increase the size of a boot partition. The "extend volume" option is always greyed out.

I just tried this myself and have mucked around with the settings and have googled the issue, and it seems there's nothing you can do to get around this.

I wish people would actually try things out rather than assuming they will work.

Anyway, I ended up expanding my Boot Camp partition using the WinClone method, which seemed easy enough but was a bit time consuming. Afterwards though, when I booted into Boot Camp it automatically ran a CHKDSK because the volume was "dirty". Found a few errors which it fixed, but things seemed fine afterwards. It also now thinks my Windows 7 installation is a "Windows Vista (TM) Business (recovered)" when it boots up. Rather strange. And Parallels 6 choked with various crashing errors when it first tried to launch the new enlarged Boot Camp partition. After deleting the VM settings a few times, it seems to be working again.

All in all, not an elegant process, and a minor pain to get all this done.

Altaira · Dec 1, 2010

nigameash said:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/camptune/

Paragon seems to be a great answer, not only to the resizing problem but also to the simultaneous use of otherwise incompatible file systems. Thanks!

Meanwhile, I instinctively shudder when I hear the world "should," as in "this should work." If I remembered all the times I actually tried something that should work, I'd be standing in blood up to my ankles.

nevrozel · Feb 6, 2011

I had the same problem: windows 7 partition was too small. Winclone is the way to go.
- get the latest version of winclone (2.2),
- create an image of your bootcamp partition with Winclone
- put this image on an external drive
- create a bootable clone of your OS X partition with SuperDuper on an external drive,
- open bootcamp assistant from your internal OS X and restore your BootCamp partition
- create a new BootCamp partition
- restore the Windows image (created with Winclone) with Winclone to the new larger BootCamp partition.

In my case BootCamp Assistant stalled and could not recreate a larger bootcamp partition. What I did is boot form the external OS X drive, format the entire internal drive in 2 partitions (one of OS X and one for Windows) and then restore both images (OS X with SuperDuper and Windows with Winclone).

It worked perfectly. Time consuming but it works.

balamw · Feb 6, 2011

nevrozel said:
It worked perfectly. Time consuming but it works.

This is why I usually recommend that the resizing operation also include an upgrade to the internal drive at the same time. This way, you clone OS X to the external drive and then swap it in to the internal bay (super easy on all unibody MB/MBPs).

Then just create a new Boot Camp partition and restore with Winclone.

B

JohnJay · Jun 15, 2011

Can OS X's "Disk Image" be used?

Hello, is it possible to complete this procedure using the "Disk Image" option in OS X instead of Winclone? Does it not produce a restorable exact image of the partition???

Has anyone tried it in OS 10.6 with current updates???

balamw · Jun 15, 2011

JohnJay said:
Hello, is it possible to complete this procedure using the "Disk Image" option in OS X instead of Winclone? Does it not produce a restorable exact image of the partition???

Has anyone tried it in OS 10.6 with current updates???

The problem is that Disk Utility won't handle NTFS or the resize operation properly.

Winclone essentially uses the same tools behind Disk Utility along with ntfsprogs to enable the resizing.

In generally Winclone still works fine, as long as you set it for uncompressed DMG.

B

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