Bootable Backup Win 7 Bootcamp?

[Dal123]

My Windows 7 is running really slow and I'm running out of space on my Windows 7 via Bootcamp.

How can I resize these partitions? I have important data on both Mac and Windows 7 and I'm terrified of loosing the data, and apps on both systems.

What do I do?

 

[macenied]

Partition resizing / HDU exchange

There are more than one solutions for what you want to achieve, I'll describe my method which always worked.

I use this method because disk partitioning and sizing will be done by OS X on a clean hard drive and not by a 3rd party product manipulating the Mac's partition table.

If you exchange your internal hard disk ( optional, e.g. replace with a SSD ) during the process, the method also ensures proper sector aligning of the partitions on the new disk.

What you need:

- A bootable media ( normally CD/DVD ) with disk backup/clone software like Norton Ghost, Macrium Reflect ( free ), Clonezilla ( free ) ... ( software of your choice ) . I did use all of the software products I mention here already and every product works fine for this process.
- An external hard drive

What you do:

1) Backup / Preparation

- Backup OS X with Time Machine ( I delete the contents of my Time Machine before to be sure to have a consistent backup )
- Make an image backup of the Windows partition ( not disk image !!! ) with the software of your choice
- Look at your current partition scheme in OS X and make a note how it's configured
- Make sure you can boot your bootable CD / DVD / whatever

2) Setup

Now you can exchange your Mac's internal hard disk, in case you decide for it ( optional ).

- Install OS X new. In this process you partition your disk ( OS X and Windows ) to your needs. Use GUID partition scheme and format the OS X partition with HFS+, format the Windows partition with NTFS.

3) Restore

- Restore OS X by starting it from the rescue partition and using Time Machine for the restore
- Restore Windows by booting from your bootable media and restore Windows partition with the software of your choice

Optional: If your inernal hard disk is a SSD now, enable TRIM Support in OS X ( I'm using "Chameleon" ( free ) for this ) and optimize Windows for the SSD ( disable indexing, disk optimization, power management, etc. - you'll find this information on the web ).

You are done. Partitions are resized, no data loss.

P.S. Please include "Partition resizing / HDU exchange" to this thread title, so other users can find a solution by searching the Forum.

 

[hfg]

I like and use "WinClone" to not only move my Windows around on different disks or change partition sizes, but it also serves as an excellent Windows backup program. But to me, the best part is that the entire process totally runs in OS X!

Operation is simple:
-- use WinClone to create a image of your Windows installation on your OS X disk.
-- delete your BootCamp partition to restore full capacity to OS X, then re-create a BootCamp partition of the desired size. Or, add an additional disk of your choosing, internal or external, sized to hold your Windows installation.
-- use WinClone to restore your Windows installation, previously saved on your OS X disk, to the location you just created.


-- use WinClone to create periodic backups when deemed necessary.


http://twocanoes.com/winclone/