Trying to install bootcamp and keep getting this...

That is sometimes due to large files (.iso of a disc, a huge movie file, etc...). Try using Disk Inventory X to determine if you have any files of notable size (over 1 gb or so) and move them to an external before trying to partition again.

 

Yes, you do need to reformat- but you can make it a simple process if you clone your drive (with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) to an external drive, erase your internal and restore the clone to it. That will result in all the files currently on your internal to be effectively defragmented and the free space that is on your drive (that is currently broken up into little pieces all over your drive) being available to the Boot Camp Assistant as one contiguous block of free space as it requires. Once you have restored the clone, you can then immediately run the Boot Camp Assistant and all will be smooth sailing (or partitioning if you prefer!).

This is not an uncommon problem BTW, particularly in smaller internal drives where large system cache files get written all over the place on the drive.

The advantage to doing this (other than making the Boot Camp Assistant work in the first place) is that the clone residing on an external will be your system backup, which is never a good idea to be without under any circumstances.

EDIT: BTW, stick with using the Boot Camp Assistant for the partitioning rather than Disk Utility's partitioning for simplicity. And if you have not already, visit Apple's Boot Camp Support area and download the excellent Boot Camp installation guide too.

 

The HDD is fragmented, however, I don't believe either SuperDuper nor Carbon Copy Cloner when used to restore will eliminate the fragmentation.

What works for sure is this: http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php

Regards.

 

Actually they both will as long as the hard disk is erased before restoring as they write file by file on restoration. I've had occasion do that on several client systems and this one of those wierd times when a free solution actually works as well as (and I think more safely since you wind up with a full bootable backup before beginning rather than moving existing files around on the drive) the commercial solution that iDefrag offers.

EDIT: OK there is one situation I just thought of where CCC would not insure defragmentation, but that would only be in the case of the internal drive being the identical byte for byte size as the external it was being cloned onto, since then CCC would use it block level copy ability for speed rather than the far more common file level copy. My bad.