Deleted Primary Partition, attempting to resize secondary

[marianok]

Hello all!

I partitioned my primary disk into 2 parts and installed snow leopard on the second. The problem was, the second was too small. So now, months after having used my secondary partition, I realized I no longer need the primary, so I have deleted it. I'm trying to find a way to resize the second partition into the space the first partition left. It seems like the only thing I can do is create a new partition with the free space, transfer all my data into that new one, and delete this one, then resize. but I'm sure there must be an easier way to do this without having to go through all that trouble. I know that if i would have deleted my secondary partition, I would have been able to resize my primary. Is there a way to resize now? maybe through terminal or a third party app?

 

[Fishrrman]

"It seems like the only thing I can do is create a new partition with the free space, transfer all my data into that new one, and delete this one, then resize. but I'm sure there must be an easier way to do this without having to go through all that trouble. I know that if i would have deleted my secondary partition, I would have been able to resize my primary. Is there a way to resize now? maybe through terminal or a third party app?"

ONE WAY:
Do pretty much what you have said above.
Create a new partition where the free space is, then use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone" the contents of the small partition to the bigger one.
Then (VERY important) -- do a "test boot" from the larger partition to be sure that it is bootable and that everything that is supposed to be there, IS there.
Afterwards, you can erase the smaller partition, and _attempt_ to use Disk Utility to delete it (with the hope that you will end up with only one, large partition).

ANOTHER WAY:
You will need an external drive.
Again use CCC to clone the contents of the small partition to the external drive.
Again, do a test boot and verify that all your data is now on the external.
While booted from the external, use Disk Utility to re-initialize the internal drive.
Use CCC to "re-clone" the contents of the external drive back onto the internal.
Again do a test boot to verify that the results are what you want before you erase the external.
NOTE: It would probably be a good idea to have an external drive with a cloned copy of your internal drive "as a bootable backup". It is ALWAYS desirable to have a second, bootable drive for emergencies!

 

[marianok]

I hope it is alright to post a link here. I'm not a forum expert, but I get the feeling it's against the rules. If it's wrong, I'll delete my post. But anyhow, I read this command for terminal which should resize partitions without loosing data on http://www.macworld.com/article/55274/2007/02/marchgeekfactor.html

The fact that I can't resize that partition looks more like an UI problem in Disk Utility rather than something physically impossible. I mean, if you could resize your primary partition if you deleted a secondary, why not the other way around?