remove osx+bootcamp?

[roblin]

I have a comp with OSX and win7 in bootcamp. right now i need to have windows+truecrypt but truecrypt dont like osx+bootcamp+windows so i want to remove osx+bootcamp and make it a pure windows computer but reinstalltion the windows installtion sucks. is there a way to do this without losing data on the windows partition?

 

[balamw]

I have a comp with OSX and win7 in bootcamp. right now i need to have windows+truecrypt but truecrypt dont like osx+bootcamp+windows so i want to remove osx+bootcamp and make it a pure windows computer but reinstalltion the windows installtion sucks. is there a way to do this without losing data on the windows partition?

Which Mac, version of OS X and version of Windows 7 are we talking about?

You might be able to get away with a variant of the Winclone method described in the MR guide. http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend_or_Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

1. Attach new external HDD to Mac
2. Clone OS X to external HDD using CCC or similar tool.
3. Backup Windows partition with Winclone to external HDD
4. Boot OS X from external HDD
5. Reformat internal HDD as single FAT32 partition (use MBR partition scheme if 32 bit W7 or if GPT is the problem with TrueCrypt).
6. Restore Winclone partition over new FAT32 partition

Could work, but isn't that much easier than a reinstall.

Alternatively, if you have multiple drives or a lot of space on your OS X partition.

1. Backup Windows partition on drive "A" with Winclone to OS X partition on drive "A" or external drive "B"
2. Replace internal drive "A" with new drive "C", place drive "A" in an external enclosure
3. Boot from drive "A" in external enclosure
4. Restore Winclone image to internal drive "C"

B

 

[roblin]

Which Mac, version of OS X and version of Windows 7 are we talking about?

You might be able to get away with a variant of the Winclone method described in the MR guide. http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend_or_Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

1. Attach new external HDD to Mac
2. Clone OS X to external HDD using CCC or similar tool.
3. Backup Windows partition with Winclone to external HDD
4. Boot OS X from external HDD
5. Reformat internal HDD as single FAT32 partition (use MBR partition scheme if 32 bit W7 or if GPT is the problem with TrueCrypt).
6. Restore Winclone partition over new FAT32 partition

Could work, but isn't that much easier than a reinstall.

Alternatively, if you have multiple drives or a lot of space on your OS X partition.

1. Backup Windows partition on drive "A" with Winclone to OS X partition on drive "A" or external drive "B"
2. Replace internal drive "A" with new drive "C", place drive "A" in an external enclosure
3. Boot from drive "A" in external enclosure
4. Restore Winclone image to internal drive "C"

B

thanks!

its a MBP 17" 2010. I do have a 1TB external fw/usb drive I could use. windows should boot normal on the new partition right?

 

[roblin]

so I will

1. ccc my osx onto external
2. winclone windows
3. bootup osx from external
4. partition hdd to 1 partition mbr ntfs(tuxera)
5. load winclone onto partition

edit:
tuxera made osx able to partition ntfs.

 

[balamw]

thanks!

its a MBP 17" 2010. I do have a 1TB external fw/usb drive I could use. windows should boot normal on the new partition right?

The only real risk is that Winclone doesn't get it right when it tries to make the new partition bootable, but that is easy to fix. Just run Startup Repair from the Windows 7 install disc.

The only hard part is making sure you have OS X bootable on your external.

EDIT: Winclone will create the new NTFS structure for you over the FAT32 placeholder. Mac OS won't create new NTFS partitions on its own.

B

 

[roblin]

The only real risk is that Winclone doesn't get it right when it tries to make the new partition bootable, but that is easy to fix. Just run Startup Repair from the Windows 7 install disc.

The only hard part is making sure you have OS X bootable on your external.

EDIT: Winclone will create the new NTFS structure for you over the FAT32 placeholder. Mac OS won't create new NTFS partitions on its own.

B

tuxera nfts makes disc utility do nfts. when i partioned the external osx made it apple partition map(loosely translated?!).

 

[roblin]

restoring now, wish me luck

 

[balamw]

tuxera nfts makes disc utility do nfts. when i partioned the external osx made it apple partition map(loosely translated?!).

You must have checked the let OS 9 boot from it box (loosely remembered) Intel Macs should use GPT for boot drives where possible. Especially if you want to use Boot Camp on it at any point.

Let us know how things turn out.

B

 

[roblin]

bah, it failed. winclone said some error but i tried anyways and booted up. nothing happened, ran a repair, it rebooted and got stuck with black screen and white _. did it a few times, realized that without my external drive windows wouldnt boot up. now doing a fresh install, whatever, i needed to clean out postgresql-**** anyways. thanks for trying....

 

[balamw]

winclone said some error

Just for completeness can you please post or PM me your Winclone.log file at ~/Library/Logs/Winclone.log.

Depending on the error I think it might still have been fixable so I'd like to know for the next time.

B

 

[roblin]

Just for completeness can you please post or PM me your Winclone.log file at ~/Library/Logs/Winclone.log.

Depending on the error I think it might still have been fixable so I'd like to know for the next time.

B

sorry, the log-fil was on osx on the external which by now have been reformatted to ntfs

truecrypt and everything up and running by now at least