BootCamp Partition issues

[ScottyMacUser]

I have 43GB available on a 120GB drive on my MacBook base model and I'm trying to partition via BootCamp.

I'm trying to allocate 32GB to the Windows partition but I keep getting the following error message:

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.

Now I've backed up my disk and launched disk utility, and try to follow above directions here but the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) area is grayed out and when I click apply after highlighting the MacBook are (in blue), it errors out and says the disk is out of space. Am I doing something wrong here?

MacBook info:
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook5,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MB52.0088.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.38f5
Serial Number (system): W89166LQ4R1
Hardware UUID: 37E70B8B-BA22-5980-B885-0E0D49EF4503
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
OS: 10.5.8

 

[MacDawg]

First, you will need to clone your Mac HD to an external drive (Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper, etc)
Then, you will need to reformat the internal drive, either by booting from the clone or your OSX disc
Finally, restore your clone from the external drive to the internal

After that, you will be able to run Boot Camp Assistant and partition the drive
The problem is, while you have the free space, it isn't contiguous

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Now I've backed up my disk and launched disk utility, and try to follow above directions here but the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) area is grayed out and when I click apply after highlighting the MacBook are (in blue), it errors out and says the disk is out of space. Am I doing something wrong here?

How did you backup your drive? Did you use something like Carbon Copy Cloner? If so, then you need to "restore" your drive with the image that CCC created. You see that "Restore" tab"? Use that.

If you meant that you used Time Machine to backup, you probably want to boot from your OS X disk, use disk utility to format the drive, and then use the Restore from Time Machine backup option, available from the Utilities menu in the menubar of the restore DVD.

 

[ScottyMacUser]

Thanks Dawg. I'm a bit nervous about messing with this when I don't know what exactly what I'm doing. Are there any step-by-step on how to do this that you know of? If not I could research it a bit more.

Also, the reason I am doing this is so I can do gaming on my Mac. Do you feel my setup will work out for gaming or am I trying to do too much with a base model laptop?

 

[ScottyMacUser]

How did you backup your drive? Did you use something like Carbon Copy Cloner? If so, then you need to "restore" your drive with the image that CCC created. You see that "Restore" tab"? Use that.

If you meant that you used Time Machine to backup, you probably want to boot from your OS X disk, use disk utility to format the drive, and then use the Restore from Time Machine backup option, available from the Utilities menu in the menubar of the restore DVD.

No, I just backed up all my files to an external. I wasn't sure what it meant by backup and I didn't realize I would have to backup my system.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

No, I just backed up all my files to an external. I wasn't sure what it meant by backup and I didn't realize I would have to backup my system.

Oh, you don't have to if you don't mind reinstalling your system. If backing up your files is good enough, then you should just be able to reinstall OS X (after erasing the partition and recreating it), and then run boot camp assistant again.

 

[ScottyMacUser]

Oh, you don't have to if you don't mind reinstalling your system. If backing up your files is good enough, then you should just be able to reinstall OS X (after erasing the partition and recreating it), and then run boot camp assistant again.

What would you suggest as the most "pain-free" way of doing this? I don't want to "F" anything up and don't want to make this a headache project. Is Carbon Copy Cloner something I should look into?

 

[MacDawg]

What would you suggest as the most "pain-free" way of doing this? I don't want to "F" anything up and don't want to make this a headache project. Is Carbon Copy Cloner something I should look into?

To clone your internal HD, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or SuperDuper (SD) can do this for you.

Carbon Copy Cloner is free

Woof, Woof - Dawg