I have an external HDD with ~40 GB of data (~200 GB free) and my internal HDD only has 25 GB free. How is it possible that I could resize the HFS+ partition and add a FAT partition to the external drive without losing any data (like Disk Utility will do)? Thanks.
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Change format of partition [SOLVED]
- Thread starter IntellEJent
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Disk Utility can do that for you.
If I understand you correctly, you want to resize the single HFS+ partition on the external drive and add a FAT partition, correct?
Open up Disk Utility and select the drive containing the partition you want to resize (usually named something like "320GB <brand name>"). Click the Partition tab, and drag the handle on the lower right of the partition you want to resize up until it's at the desired size, or just click it and choose the size you want. Hit the plus sign under the list to create a new partition, and choose its name, size, and file system. Then, hit Apply to complete the operation.
Note: If done properly this will not destroy your data, but make sure it tells you that! When you hit Apply, it should tell you something like "Partitioning your disk will change one of the volumes. No volumes will be erased." and ask you to confirm it.
If I understand you correctly, you want to resize the single HFS+ partition on the external drive and add a FAT partition, correct?
Open up Disk Utility and select the drive containing the partition you want to resize (usually named something like "320GB <brand name>"). Click the Partition tab, and drag the handle on the lower right of the partition you want to resize up until it's at the desired size, or just click it and choose the size you want. Hit the plus sign under the list to create a new partition, and choose its name, size, and file system. Then, hit Apply to complete the operation.
Note: If done properly this will not destroy your data, but make sure it tells you that! When you hit Apply, it should tell you something like "Partitioning your disk will change one of the volumes. No volumes will be erased." and ask you to confirm it.
I am unable to resize the partition this way. Is this because I'm not using a GUID-formatted partition table?
edit:
Output from terminal:
edit again:
could GParted do this?
edit:
Output from terminal:
Code:
$ diskutil resizeVolume disk1s1 limits
Error obtaining resizing information
Resizing encountered error on disk disk1s1 EXTERNAL: Could not modify partition map (-9986)
$edit again:
could GParted do this?
Hmm. In Disk Utility's GUI, there are no resize handles for my external (which uses a MBR), so you might be out of luck. I can't recommend any other partitioning programs because the only ones I've ever used are Disk Utility and Acronis Disk Director (Windows). You could also try booting the Mac from a Gparted live CD, but I'm not sure if that supports HFS+ directly (as the site says that it requires a program called HFSPROGS also. Be careful with this though, and try to find something else before trying Gparted.
In order to help out people with similar problems, it is always more helpful to share what worked for you so they can see if it would apply in their situation. Please do!