Boot Camp / Partition / Clean Install Help

[rcmorgan540]

Hello, At one point I had Windows 7 on my machine in a partition. I needed the space, so I nuked the partition. Well , my computer program for firing my fireworks this year is PC only. So ... I need to get it back. When I open bootcamp to make it happen I get the message :

The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.

So, I am not sure what is going on. I may not have removed the old partition (Win 7) right.

I figured I may as well backup stuff, nuke, and start over. I have an external 1 TB laying around with nothing on it. Do I need to do this, or can I get around doing a clean install.

Thanks in advance.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You can not get around a clean install, as data on your HDD is scattered around the HDD, thus there is not enough continuous space on the HDD to create a partition.

 

[rcmorgan540]

Thanks!

Thanks! What backup process would you recommend?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Thanks! What backup process would you recommend?

Use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to make a 1:1 copy to an external HDD, then boot from that clone and erase the internal HDD and clone back to the internal HDD.
Then boot from the internal HDD and create a Windows partition via Boot Camp Assistant.
Cloning is faster than a Time Machine backup and restoration.

 

[rcmorgan540]

Thanks

Thanks again!