Expand Boot Camp partition (is this the right way?)

[MythicFrost]

So, I plan to copy my entire Windows partition from my Mac, delete old partition, make a new Windows partition (~500GB), copy it over onto that partition, and go!

Do I have that right? All I need to know is what I should use to do the copying? Or cloning I should say.

Thanks

[balamw]

Read: http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend_o...Camp_Partition

Many ways to skin this cat.

B

[MythicFrost]

Thanks a lot, I think I'll try doing it the native way first but I'd like the backup that drive.

Does anyone have any idea how I should back that drive up? Can I go "burn image" (for the Windows 7 partition) in Disk Utility and save it to my Mac? And then I can burn it back onto the drive if I need to? Does that work?

EDIT: I'm looking into using Carbon Copy Cloner - will it work for saving an NTFS partition? EDIT: No, it doesn't.

[balamw]

Originally Posted by MythicFrost

Thanks a lot, I think I'll try doing it the native way first but I'd like the backup that drive.

Does anyone have any idea how I should back that drive up? Can I go "burn image" (for the Windows 7 partition) in Disk Utility and save it to my Mac? And then I can burn it back onto the drive if I need to? Does that work?

EDIT: I'm looking into using Carbon Copy Cloner - will it work for saving an NTFS partition? EDIT: No, it doesn't.

If you have plenty of disk space, just use dd from within Terminal. It'll need as much space as your NTFS partition has which may make resizing difficult.

Otherwise, Winclone 2.2 is still the best game in town.

B

[MythicFrost]

Originally Posted by balamw

If you have plenty of disk space, just use dd from within Terminal. It'll need as much space as your NTFS partition has which may make resizing difficult.

Otherwise, Winclone 2.2 is still the best game in town.

B

All right, thanks. I have plenty of disk space, (1.1TB available) and the partition I'm cloning is only 150GB.

Can I create the disk image of my Windows partition using Disk Utility? I was doing that but wasn't sure if it was the right thing or not?

[balamw]

Originally Posted by MythicFrost

Can I create the disk image of my Windows partition using Disk Utility? I was doing that but wasn't sure if it was the right thing or not?

You probably can, but Winclone handles some bookkeeping for you.

Winclone mainly uses ntfsclone from NTFS Progs to do its stuff.

B

[MythicFrost]

Originally Posted by balamw

You probably can, but Winclone handles some bookkeeping for you.

Winclone mainly uses ntfsclone from NTFS Progs to do its stuff.

B

Oh? I see. I downloaded Winclone, but wasn't sure about running the installer for NTFSProgs... I'll have another look at it.

[Rodus]

Word of warning, don't use CampTune (an 'on the fly' repartitioner) Tried it yesterday and had to reinstall my OS X partition so great was the damage it cause.

[MythicFrost]

Thanks for letting me know, I'm glad I didn't.

[MJL]

Originally Posted by Rodus

Word of warning, don't use CampTune (an 'on the fly' repartitioner) Tried it yesterday and had to reinstall my OS X partition so great was the damage it cause.

Apologies for seemingly resurrecting an old thread but there is reference to a posting in this thread so it is better to keep everything in one place.

I did succesfully use Paragon Partition Manager 11 to resize Windows 7 / OS X Snow Leopard partition (Windows was set as default boot partition).

Other observations: When you have windows running in BootCamp (dual boot OS X and windows on the same internal HDD): It is possible to use to use the Windows 7 install DVD and delete the OS X partitions leaving only the Windows partition(s). Then reboot and once again start from the Windows DVD and do a repair. The disk is converted to a MBR partitioning scheme and will happily boot Windows.

However using subsequently Paragon Partition Manager 11 to move the partition from the "end" to the "front" of the drive (have the empty space "behind" the Windows partition failed but that may be because I got impatient since the progress bar had stopped and I suspected a hang. When I get some time I might try this again and then extend the Windows 7 partition instead, doing a defrag and then shrinking it. (If I do then I'll report back on the results.)

Windows 7 will also install happily as the only OS (wiping the HDD) and will create a MBR partitioning scheme. The only thing needed is the install DVD to install "Boot Camp" which does install all the required Mac drivers for Windows to run and installs the Apple Update program ( it will then detect if updates to Boot Camp is available plus it will give options to download Safari and iTunes/ Quicktime for windows). Windows 7 backup and restore works fine after you have made a recovery boot CD as prompted by Windows.

If you opt for only Windows (and no OS X) then Apple support is unlikely going to troubleshoot a Windows installation so you are out on your own.

After a long absence I am returning to Apple and BootCamp had me confused. It is nothing more than under OS X partitioning the HDD and in Windows loading all the drivers.

If installing only Windows then the OS X partitioning is not applicable so no hybrid HDD partitioning scheme is created. (Elsewhere I found references that a hybrid partitioning scheme is unpredictable and potentially unstable - I certainly have had my share of issues while experimenting different failure / backup / restoring scenario's.)

Having said all this, Windows 7 as the only OS on the Mac (no OS X) has proven to be the easiest Windows install I've done, all is there left to do (after the windows install DVD has done its thing) is to insert the OS X install disk (under Windows) and run the BootCamp install which loads all the Windows drivers. No hybrid partitioning scheme is created and this has the potential for being an extreemly stable environment. (and you finish up with an extreemly quiet and compact desktop with the Mac Mini)

A word of warning: If you remove the HDD with GUID partition (because you are replacing the HDD with a SSD or a 7200 rpm/16Mb cache) then do not try to manipulate the GUID on this HDD as an external drive. I lost the internal drive and had to reinstall. (I discovered GUID manipulation does not work on an external drive.)

[balamw]

Never hurts to reshash old stuff.

Just to note that even when making W7 the only OS on the Mac is usually beneficial to maintain the ability to reboot eaily to OS X. Even if that is only on an external FW or USB drive.

Firmware updates and the like for your machine can only be installed from OS X.

B

[MJL]

Originally Posted by balamw

Never hurts to reshash old stuff.

Just to note that even when making W7 the only OS on the Mac is usually beneficial to maintain the ability to reboot eaily to OS X. Even if that is only on an external FW or USB drive.

Firmware updates and the like for your machine can only be installed from OS X.

B

Yes, I think that is a given.

Some more information: I used the windows 7 install DVD to remove the OS X partitions ( Go to Install, then delete the partitions and do a refresh. Use the back arrow, select repair and let it repair and then restart). After booting into windows use Partition Disk Manager to extend the windows partition all the way to the beginning.

Note: Do not allow Paragon Partition Manager to do a defrag, it will corrupt the filesystem. This can happen if you try to make the partition smaller at the end.

I did try to install (or recover) with Time Machine the OS X installation on an empty space behind a windows installation but no go - OS X insists on a GUID partitioning scheme.(edit: on the internal HDD, external cannot have GUID)

I have a mission critical system running under windows and the 2010 Mac Mini is just fast enough to run this natively (and not under Parallels) so for me recovery and stability is of the utmost importance. (Hence me experimenting with all the recovery scenario's before putting this machine into production).

When windows is the only OS installed in the Mac Mini the basic 17 Gb installation takes about 10 minutes to restore which for my purposes is satisfactory and better than an equivalent laptop with external USB HDD. I am presently using the same external USB HDD but have a firewire 2 bay raid on its way, a Newertech Guardian Maximus and expect even better times through that. I may get another external raid and use that for the OS X to use for my recreational stuff (music, photography) for which I like the Mac Mini 2010 very much. (I love the internal DVD/CD)

I can now also change the internal HDD to a SSD without having conflicts with TRIM, the Intel X25M 80 Gb is large enough for me and will produce less background noise than any HDD. And it has a toolbox which schedules a regular TRIM command. (It is having a partition of only 48 Gb which has the result of an approx 5 times longer life expectancy and an approx 5 times increased performance..... This results in a lower TCO - total cost of ownership ).

Happy with this solution since an issue with one OS is not impacting the other OS and I can reboot (barring a HW failure of motherboard etc) and do some urgent internet actions from the other OS. It is a pity to have to use an external disk but the raid is small enough (and is buspowered) not to be a major inconvenience.