Partitioning queries

[ndmccormack]

ok...
I've got an 80gb hard disk thats split between 2 partitions, 40gb each. One with apps, one with work stuff, but I want to merge them, as i'm tired of juggling data between the two to free up space for other things etc etc...

so if i backup all the data on my second partition, will i be able to 'extend' the first partition with out having to wipe OSX and reinstall the whole shebang. or do i have to wipe the whole disk and start afresh

cheers
Niall

 

[603]

ok...
I've got an 80gb hard disk thats split between 2 partitions, 40gb each. One with apps, one with work stuff, but I want to merge them, as i'm tired of juggling data between the two to free up space for other things etc etc...

so if i backup all the data on my second partition, will i be able to 'extend' the first partition with out having to wipe OSX and reinstall the whole shebang. or do i have to wipe the whole disk and start afresh

you should be able to extend the partition. don't stop at backing up the second partition though - back up everything if possible, you never know what will happen when you're working with your hard disk at such a low level.

a FireWire hard drive would be an obvious backup solution that i'm sure you've thought of. a FW drive would also prevent you from having to deal with partitions too (except for the swap file partition, which is something some people some strongly recommend).

some pre-built drives are expensive but you can build your own FW drive for very little cash with parts from a site like www.newegg.com. i'd suggest using a notebook drive so the drive can run on the FireWire bus power. you can get HDs up to 80 GB, which would effectively allow you to clone your system in the case of a major crash, or to provide an ultra-secure backup.

beware the reports of Panther eating FW drives though, and take the appropriate steps to ensure it doesn't happen to you.

 

[ndmccormack]

yeah its cool, i was just going to back up all the important stuff from both disks onto our firewire disks. Its just getting a bit of a pain because i've got a whoppign mp3 collection thats taking up too much room on my 'work' drive, so need to merge them both to get as much free space as possible without the constant juggling!

cheers for your concerns tho. i was basically asking if I have to reinstall EVERYTHING, then i'll probably just leave it for another time! this way, at least i have a chance of saving time by only having to reinstall all the data and not the apps, however if it all goes wrong, then i'll just have to have a lazy day at work 'fixing' my computer...

does this make me a bad person?

wish me luck...

 

[Westside guy]

The one time I repartitioned, I found Carbon Copy Cloner to be invaluable. I used it to put everything on my iPod. Then I was able to reboot from the iPod, repartitioned the drive, and copy everything back.

Saved me a ton of time.

Of course you've got more files than I do; but if your Firewire drive is big enough I'd think you could use CCC to back up the system drive, then copy the files from the second drive onto the FW disk as well.