Problem when trying to increase Bootcamp partition size

[preppy]

Hello all,
Here is my situation. So I am wanting to increase the size of my Bootcamp partition from 5gb (for some reason I didn't pay attention and it was set to 5gb as the default the first go around) to around 7 or 8gb. Here's what I've done so far and the problem I continue to encounter....

1. Winclone to clone current 5gb Bootcamp partition
2. Delete current Bootcamp partition
3. Create new Bootcamp partition with 8gb
4. Use Winclone to restore original 5gb Bootcamp partition onto new 8gb Bootcamp partition

Everything goes smoothly, BUT now I have essentially three partitions on the hdd. My OSX, my Bootcamp (which reads a little over 5gb) and now one that is an "empty" partition with the left over space from my new Bootcamp partition...why is it creating an empty partition when I use Winclone to restore?

What am I doing wrong?

 

[balamw]

Winclone is not expanding your image for some reason. Can you post your Winclone log I think it's ~/Library/logs/Winclone.log? Or at least tell us which Windows, which OS X, which Winclone, FAT32 or NTFS, ...?

If it is W7 you might just be able to resize it to fill the empty space when booted Windows.

B

 

[preppy]

Running Winclone 2.2, OSX 10.6.5, Windows XP, FAT32

I pulled up the Winclone log and here is the interesting part of the log...

Volume BOOTCAMP on /dev/disk0s3 mounted
Fri Nov 19 09:15:38 MST 2010
unmounting
Volume BOOTCAMP on disk0s3 unmounted
expanding...
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
ERROR(22): Opening '/dev/disk0s3' as NTFS failed: Invalid argument
The device '/dev/disk0s3' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong partition? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? This error might also occur
if the disk was incorrectly repartitioned (see the ntfsresize FAQ).
unmounting
Volume BOOTCAMP on disk0s3 unmounted
expanding...
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument.
ERROR(22): Opening '/dev/disk0s3' as NTFS failed: Invalid argument
The device '/dev/disk0s3' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong partition? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? This error might also occur
if the disk was incorrectly repartitioned (see the ntfsresize FAQ).

I just tried the whole process again and got the same exact results...my Bootcamp is restored but the "free space" is still created.

I also tried to do the "Expand windows NTFS" option under "Tools" in Winclone, but it gave me an error (probably because I am under Fat32 rather than NTFS).

I am really confused.

Luckily, I don't really need to use Windows at all...

 

[balamw]

That's what I was checking for.

FAT32 is not well supported by Winclone, and the resizing features implemented for NTFS is definitely not supported for FAT32 installs.

At this point you have two options (maybe more).

1) Reinstall in the new larger partition
2) Convert to NTFS, re-image, and restore to the larger partition

I don't know if XPSP3 will boot off of exFAT, but now that 10.6.5 supports exFAT that might be another choice.

B

 

[preppy]

Thanks for your help

I just tried to convert to NTFS from FAT32 and while I got the prompt in WinXP saying it was converting, I noticed nothing about the partition changed when I was back in OSX. Still, I created a new Winclone copy and did the whole Bootcamp delete and creation and restore with Winclone....still the same problem. Apparently WinXP did not convert to NTFS like I asked it to do.

I just also attempted to do a fresh install but noticed my XP disc is warped after getting error after error in certain files not installing? Turns out the center of the disc is bowed slightly outwards and thus when the disc is sitting on a flat surface, you can push the middle of the disc down and then it will pop back up when you release the pressure. What on earth...now I need to borrow my friends disc so I can do a fresh install...

We'll see how it turns out...

 

[balamw]

Apparently WinXP did not convert to NTFS like I asked it to do.

The conversion is done upon reboot. It's not clear from what you posted if you rebooted and let it do its thing.

There is also a "bug" that seems more common recently where the Boot Camp partition is seen as FAT32 even though it is really NTFS. There have been a number of threads about this recently. This might also be your case in that the GPT partition table may not have been updated and things might be a bit confused.



Worst case scenario, you have the old partition of the original size backed up. Keep it until you find another way to fix it.

B

 

[Zultner]

Create, Resize, Delete partitions

I wanted a three partition Boot Camp setup: one OS X partition, one NTFS data partition, and one Windows 7 partition. After trying some of the other comments, I found a very easy way to accomplish this:
1. Run Boot Camp assistant and install Windows 7 as per the installation and setup guide.
2. Purchase Coriolis System's iPartition software (about $36). Upon downloading it, you are directed to create a bootable CD. Boot with this CD, and use iPartition to resize the Macintosh HD and Bootcamp partitions to whatever size you want, and create a new partition for Data with whatever format you want (NTFS in my case). iPartition can resize almost any type of partition, or change it to any format. Very handy...
3. Reboot and run Verify Disk Permissions and Verify Disk, just to make sure everything is OK.

The Bootcamp and Data partitions show up as disks and can be read by OS X. For read/write access, you can purchase and install Paragon Software's NTFS for Mac on the Macintosh HD, and HPS+ for Windows in Windows. Then all disks are fully accessible to both operating systems.

I also suggest immediately making sure Time Machine has a fresh backup, and getting WinClone to make an image of the Windows partition, as a further backup. If there is any problem, you can delete the Windows partition, recreate it, and restore it from WinClone. [In my experiments before finding this solution, Restoring Windows from WinClone was so much easier than doing a re-installation of Windows!]