BootCamp - Deleted Files by Accident - Newbie

[marisullivan]

I bootcamped my Macbook Pro with minimal assistance from my mac geek husband tonight - and messed up - BIG TIME. When in the "partition mode" of windows it asked which of the systems I wanted to FAT or partition. Well - me not knowing - thought the 200mb space was a little small and deleted it.

When the system restarted and I read the error - I knew I was in BIG trouble. So I went to boot camp assistant and got this message:

The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

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.

I am FREAKING out BIG TIME! Can you help me to restore the information - so I may go and humbly as my husband to help me do it right - or maybe google the directions before starting.

 

[Bill Gates]

Just to confirm what's been done, you only deleted the 200MB FAT32 partition at the beginning of the disk; you didn't delete anything else or lose any files, correct? If that's correct, then you have nothing major to worry about, since at the very worst you can backup your data, reformat, and reinstall.

I also am assuming that you ran the Boot Camp Assistant before you attempted to install Windows. If this is correct, then there may be a simple fix. A quick search on Google came across a guide that would appear to be the solution to your problem. You can find it here. The directions should be the same for both Vista and Windows 7, and possibly XP although I'm not sure. Note that it requires that you've already installed Windows, since you need to run a utility from within Windows. If you didn't create the Windows partition initially, or are unable to get Windows to work for other reasons, we can try to figure it out from the Mac side, using Disk Utility. However, I think it's best to try to follow that guide first. Please note that that I agree completely with the author of that guide that you should backup your data first, and I absolutely do not take any responsibility for any data loss that should occur as a result of following that guide or advice in any of my subsequent posts.

 

[Quad5Ny]

IF you can get into OSX use the boot camp assistant to delete your windows partition. And then go through the boot camp process again.

 

[marisullivan]

[/COLOR]

Just to confirm what's been done, you only deleted the 200MB FAT32 partition at the beginning of the disk; you didn't delete anything else or lose any files, correct? That is correct. If that's correct, then you have nothing major to worry about, since at the very worst you can backup your data, reformat, and reinstall.

I also am assuming that you ran the Boot Camp Assistant before you attempted to install Windows. If this is correct, then there may be a simple fix. A quick search on Google came across a guide that would appear to be the solution to your problem. You can find it here. The directions should be the same for both Vista and Windows 7, and possibly XP although I'm not sure. Note that it requires that you've already installed Windows, since you need to run a utility from within Windows. If you didn't create the Windows partition initially, or are unable to get Windows to work for other reasons, we can try to figure it out from the Mac side, using Disk Utility. However, I think it's best to try to follow that guide first. Please note that that I agree completely with the author of that guide that you should backup your data first, and I absolutely do not take any responsibility for any data loss that should occur as a result of following that guide or advice in any of my subsequent posts.

When I go to the windows side - I get a black screen that says "Disk Error - Press any key to continue". When I press a key it just sits their. I am not worried about losing anything on my computer, as I just got it back 2 days ago from having the hard drive redone by Mac.
But - here is the other kicker - since the hard drive was redone, I noticed that my OSX Macbook Pro Install Disk does not work either. I have just chalked it up to the new hard drive.

Here is another question - can't I just go to the Disk Utility and delete the partition - or b/c I erased the 200mb - it could completely damage my system?

Sorry - so many questions, I just wanted to bootcamp to play Sims3 with all the cool custom content that is MUCH simpler to download and play on Windows side.

Thank You - Mari

 

[Bill Gates]

Disk Utility normally doesn't show the 200MB partition, as it is hidden by default from view. However, since you have no data on the system the easiest fix would be to erase the drive, and then reformat it with one partition from the Snow Leopard install disc. It should work regardless of the fact that you have a different hard drive, since it's tied to the machine type, not the drive. What error comes up when you attempt to boot off the restore disc?

 

[marisullivan]

Disk Utility normally doesn't show the 200MB partition, as it is hidden by default from view. However, since you have no data on the system the easiest fix would be to erase the drive, and then reformat it with one partition from the Snow Leopard install disc. It should work regardless of the fact that you have a different hard drive, since it's tied to the machine type, not the drive. What error comes up when you attempt to boot off the restore disc?

When I try to boot off the restore disc - my screen turns white and the drive just turns the disc, makes the start sound and then goes blank. I just got the Snow Leopard installed yesterday - so should that be able to restore what I have lost?

 

[Bill Gates]

When I try to boot off the restore disc - my screen turns white and the drive just turns the disc, makes the start sound and then goes blank. I just got the Snow Leopard installed yesterday - so should that be able to restore what I have lost?

You can use the Snow Leopard disc to reinstall the operating system, and can install the iLife suite once Snow Leopard is installed by inserting the Application install disc (the second disc that came with your computer).

Here's what you need to do to restore your computer to a factory-fresh state:

1) Boot off the Snow Leopard disc
2) Once the Snow Leopard installer appears, choose "Disk Utility" from the taskbar at the top of the screen. I believe it's under the "Utilities" heading.
3) Erase the drive and format it so it has one partition formatted as "Mac OS Extended, (Journaled)." Verify that at the bottom of the Disk Utility window, it says "Partition Map Scheme: GUID Partition Table." Even though it says it's only creating one partition, it will also be creating the 200MB hidden EFI partition without your knowledge or interaction.
4) Exit Disk Utility, and follow the prompts in the Snow Leopard installer.
5) Once you've booted to your desktop, exchange the Snow Leopard install disc for the Application install disc that came with your Mac. Choose the option to install bundled software.

At this point your Mac should be set-up in a factory-equivalent state, and you can run the Boot Camp assistant to repartition the drive to have both a Windows and a Mac partition.

 

[Quad5Ny]

..Even though it says it's only creating one partition, it will also be creating the 200MB hidden EFI partition without your knowledge or interaction...

Hey Bill, do macs even use the EFI partition? I thought it was just there to comply with Intel's standards?

 

[Bill Gates]

Hey Bill, do macs even use the EFI partition? I thought it was just there to comply with Intel's standards?

I thought so too, but there may be more to it than that. See this article at Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2434

 

[Infrared]

Just to confirm what's been done, you only deleted the 200MB FAT32 partition at the beginning of the disk; you didn't delete anything else or lose any files, correct? If that's correct, then you have nothing major to worry about, since at the very worst you can backup your data, reformat, and reinstall.

gpt can recreate the EFI partition if it's gone.

 

[Consultant]

It's not that hard,

Bootcamp says: print instruction
The instruction says do not delete anything, only format the windows partition and don't touch anything else.

 

[Infrared]

It's not that hard,

Bootcamp says: print instruction
The instruction says do not delete anything, only format the windows partition and don't touch anything else.

If you have anything constructive to say, let's hear it.

 

[marisullivan]

still nothing...

You can use the Snow Leopard disc to reinstall the operating system, and can install the iLife suite once Snow Leopard is installed by inserting the Application install disc (the second disc that came with your computer).

Here's what you need to do to restore your computer to a factory-fresh state:

1) Boot off the Snow Leopard disc
2) Once the Snow Leopard installer appears, choose "Disk Utility" from the taskbar at the top of the screen. I believe it's under the "Utilities" heading.
3) Erase the drive and format it so it has one partition formatted as "Mac OS Extended, (Journaled)." Verify that at the bottom of the Disk Utility window, it says "Partition Map Scheme: GUID Partition Table." Even though it says it's only creating one partition, it will also be creating the 200MB hidden EFI partition without your knowledge or interaction.
4) Exit Disk Utility, and follow the prompts in the Snow Leopard installer.
5) Once you've booted to your desktop, exchange the Snow Leopard install disc for the Application install disc that came with your Mac. Choose the option to install bundled software.

At this point your Mac should be set-up in a factory-equivalent state, and you can run the Boot Camp assistant to repartition the drive to have both a Windows and a Mac partition.

I wasn't sure on line 3 when you said erase the drive - so I tried to erase the ms-dos drive - which is the smaller partitioned one - and that did not work. It then created a drive that now says OSdisk04 with the 250g hard drive that my computer already has. Was I suppose to erase the HD drive? I am so confused - I think I will have my geek-a-zoid hubby fix it when we get back from the holidays as I am in way over my head.

 

[Bill Gates]

I wasn't sure on line 3 when you said erase the drive - so I tried to erase the ms-dos drive - which is the smaller partitioned one - and that did not work. It then created a drive that now says OSdisk04 with the 250g hard drive that my computer already has. Was I suppose to erase the HD drive? I am so confused - I think I will have my geek-a-zoid hubby fix it when we get back from the holidays as I am in way over my head.

You need to erase the entire drive, not any individual partitions. In Disk Utility, click the disk that you have in your Mac, not a partition. For me, it would be "500.11 GB Hitachi..." Then click "Erase" and you should be able to reformat the drive to have one partition, and Disk Utility will also automatically create the EFI partition.

 

[Consultant]

Follow the directions NEXT TIME.

Or the obvious:
- boot from optical disk
- backup data to another drive
- format messed up drive
- reinstall

Or make appointment with apple store genius bar?

If you have anything constructive to say, let's hear it.

The long term solution is to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

Why don't you provide a guide for gpt?

 

[marisullivan]

fixed the solution

You need to erase the entire drive, not any individual partitions. In Disk Utility, click the disk that you have in your Mac, not a partition. For me, it would be "500.11 GB Hitachi..." Then click "Erase" and you should be able to reformat the drive to have one partition, and Disk Utility will also automatically create the EFI partition.

My husband finally got this fixed and I have vowed not to try to partition again without the directions printed. Thank you for all you have done to assist me with this issue. Have a great Holiday.

 

[marisullivan]

fixed the solution

You need to erase the entire drive, not any individual partitions. In Disk Utility, click the disk that you have in your Mac, not a partition. For me, it would be "500.11 GB Hitachi..." Then click "Erase" and you should be able to reformat the drive to have one partition, and Disk Utility will also automatically create the EFI partition.

My husband finally got this fixed and I have vowed not to try to partition again without the directions printed. Thank you for all you have done to assist me with this issue. Have a great Holiday.