Partitioning Mac - Urgent

[krishgee]

Hello Everyone,

I have recently bought a Macbook Pro 15 inches. I am new convert to Mac.

I have a strange problem for which I am not able to find a solution.

My hard disk capacity is 500 GB. I want to split this into 6 different partitions with 1 for Windows 7. Before partitioning, I installed Windows via Bootcamp and that went through without any problems. However after that I partitioned my mac hard disk into 5 parts including the one for MAC OX. After I did that I am not able to login into Windows anymore. I could see that the Bootcamp partition is still in the system. I tried defining the first MAC OX as well as all other partitions as MAC OS Extended Journaled, but that didnt work. Then I defined the MAC OX as MAC OS Extended Journaled and the other partitions as MAC OS Extended, that didnt work either.

Please help.

 

[r0k]

Hello Everyone,

I have recently bought a Macbook Pro 15 inches. I am new convert to Mac.

I have a strange problem for which I am not able to find a solution.

My hard disk capacity is 500 GB. I want to split this into 6 different partitions with 1 for Windows 7. Before partitioning, I installed Windows via Bootcamp and that went through without any problems. However after that I partitioned my mac hard disk into 5 parts including the one for MAC OX. After I did that I am not able to login into Windows anymore. I could see that the Bootcamp partition is still in the system. I tried defining the first MAC OX as well as all other partitions as MAC OS Extended Journaled, but that didnt work. Then I defined the MAC OX as MAC OS Extended Journaled and the other partitions as MAC OS Extended, that didnt work either.

Please help.

Six partitions? Why?

I would recommend going with one HFS+ Journaled partition and one Windows partition (possibly ntfs). Six partitions sounds like the sort of thing I might have done 20 years ago but there is no need for such a complicated partition scheme when using OSX. I suppose you might have a third partition for Linux but since OSX is Unix there is really no need.

 

[Quad5Ny]

Your having trouble with the Hybrid MBR. - http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html

When you setup Boot Camp it converts the Protective MBR to a Hybrid one so Windows can be installed (Windows is very picky about being installed on GPT disks, Hybrid takes care of that).

The Hybrid MBR only holds the first 4 Partitions. Anything past that is ignored by Windows and will not be bootable (if it is bootable, it will show as un-partitioned space in Windows).

Open Terminal and type "sudo diskutil list" and then paste the output back here.

Six partitions? Why?

I would recommend going with one HFS+ Journaled partition and one Windows partition (possibly ntfs). Six partitions sounds like the sort of thing I might have done 20 years ago but there is no need for such a complicated partition scheme when using OSX. I suppose you might have a third partition for Linux but since OSX is Unix there is really no need.

I mostly agree, but it's still useful to keep a Media/Backup partition. It cuts down on fragmentation and makes it easier to reinstall.

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[krishgee]

Thanks for the immediate response.
I got used to having around 5 partitions in Windows and would like to maintain that. If I have more than 3 partitions including Windows then the system does not allow me to boot Windows. Right now I have removed all the partitions


/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS MAC OX S 448.0 GB disk0s2
3: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 51.8 GB disk0s3
Bobji-Krishnans-MacBook-Pro:~ BobjiK$

 

[Nogui]

Click on the little at the top left of your screen and then click on "System Preferences". Select "Startup Disk/Drive" and find your Windows partition and select it.

If it isn't there, make sure that your Windows partition is bootable by going to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility and clicking on the partition. Then click on Info near the top left.

If it says that it is bootable, try restarting your computer and when you see the white screen hold down cmd+c. It will then ask you to select a drive to boot up with.

If it isn't there either, then I don't really know what's wrong. I'm new to Macs myself.

 

[Quad5Ny]

Hmm, I guess diskutil doesn't list the Hybrid MBR layout.

Burn rEFIt to a blank CD and run it when your computer starts (Hold Command before the Apple Logo). After its started click Partition Tool.

This should print out both the Partition Maps on the screen. Take a picture of this and post it back here (or you can just write it down/type it). It will also ask you if you want to sync the partition tables, DO NOT let it make any changes.

I also want to be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure how to fix not booting with having all those partitions. Right now we just need to be sure your Windows Partition is listed in the Hybrid MBR and is marked as 'Active'.

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