removing/merging a partition

[ciaronm]

Hi all, a spot of help would be much appreciated.

I have 2 partitions on my macbook pro that were rather annoyingly pre set up when the computer was delivered to me (computer was provided by my local education authority who pre-installed software on the partition) They have split my hard drive into 2 partitions that are both about 74GB and i would dearly like to just have the 1 as i intend to install Bootcamp and really do not want 3 partitions!

Ideally i do not want to have to format my whole hard drive and re install OS X as the apple official line seems to suggest. Even if this was the case i would still have no idea how to do this so any further guidance would be very much appreciated!


My partitions are as follows:
Macintosh HD Mac OS extended
Data Disk Mac OS extended (journaled)


PS. I'm brand new to mac so go easy on me please...


Many thanks in advance,

Ciaron

 

[ZachPruckowski]

I don't know how to merge two HFS partitions (and I'm not sure it's possible), but here's a bucket game you could try (note that you'll need your OS X DVD or a Linux LiveCD).

For this example, let's say you want 90 GB of OS X and 50 GB of Windows. I'm also assuming your current OS X install is pretty small (as it's new and hasn't been filled with apps and files yet)

WARNING: This is dangerous. Attempt at your own risk, and wait for someone to error-check me first.

1) Move all files you want to keep from the Data Partition to the main OS X one. Do this in the Finder via the usual method.

2) Erase the Data partition, and repartition it into 20 GB of FAT32 and 50 GB of HFS+.

3) Insert the OS Install DVD*, restart, and hold down the C key. Then navigate to Disk Utility (you have to close the installer and not restart). You'll do the rest from here.

4) Copy your OS X install over to the 50 GB HFS+ install. Click on the 50 GB HFS disk, go to the "restore" tab, and drag your OS X disk into "Source" and the other HFS disk into "Destination".

5) When that's done, erase the original OS X volume and the FAT 32 volume. You should now have about 90-100 GB of free space in the front of the drive, and 50 GB of HFS in the back.

6) Turn all the free space into an HFS+J partition.

7) Restore your OS X to its rightful place on the new HFS+J partition.

8) Wipe the back HFS partition and leave it as free space.

9) Boot into OS X. All should be well. Burn a Boot Camp driver CD from the Boot Camp application, but do not mess with drive formatting. Insert the Windows install CD and begin the Windows install process from Boot Camp, putting its partition in the empty space (which should be in the 50 GB realm).

10) When you finish the Windows install, insert the driver CD and install the drivers.

11) There is no step 11

* = if you don't have your install DVD on hand, all of this can be accomplished with another Mac connected via Firewire while you're in target disk mode.

 

[grumblinghive]

Almost Identical Problem for me

Hello, i saw this thread and i want to do almost exactly the same thing ie dual boot windows xp on a macbook with mac os x tiger. Please could someone help me?

"I" (actually not me, but i'm doing it) have the same HFS extended journaled setup with a "mac HD" on one partition and "data disk" on the other. The only difference is, both drives are 40Gb. This was also set up by some morons in the LEA. Now, ZachPruckowski's guide looks pretty good, i think i could handle it though i'm new to mac's too. I can think of a few queries and problems though.

First of all, the lady who owns the computer will be really, really angry if i screw everything up (again). I got something called "carbon copy cloner" to do a backup to an external drive or something. Basically i'd like to know how to restore the mac's current setup, in pristene condition, using this or a similar program, if possible.

The second problem i can forsee is that boot camp, as far as i know, is not available (for free) for tiger anymore. What's the best cheapest solution to this? Is "XPonMac" (XOM) any good?

Uhh, i'm sure there's plenty of other things that might go wrong. Any help at all would be great. Sorry to hijack the thread. Thanks for reading.