Hard Drive Partition Error

Hey Everyone,

So I am new to mac and was trying to partition my hard drive through bootcamp and everything was going well or so I thought until it went to install windows. It asked which partition I wanted and I tried to use the bootcamp one, but it said it would not do it because it was not formatted NTFS. So without thinking I reformatted it but that then erased the bootcamp. Now my computer only opens in windows. I cannot get back to OS X Lion and I am not sure how to fix the problem so that I can have both operating systems working properly. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hey Everyone,

So I am new to mac and was attempting to partition my hard drive to run windows 7 along with OS X Lion. Unfortunately somewhere I made an error. I think it was when installing windows it asked which partition to put it on and I tried to select the bootcamp one I created. However it would not allow me to because it was in the wrong format. So without thinking I reformatted it to work. This is fine however now I can only use windows and cannot get back into OS X. If you could give any advice on getting me back into Lion and then getting me to be able to properly partition the hard drive to use both operatting systems that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sounds like you may have well erased Lion setting up Windows. The Bootcamp partition is made in the BootCamp environment, not by the user in Disk Utility etc. Boot and hold down the Option key to see if you can find Lion. If not looks like removal of Windows, erase and format the drive and re-install Lion.

This may mean installing Snow Leopard to OS X.6.8 and downloading Lion again from the App Store.

Thats what I was afraid of. How do I remove windows and erase and format the drive?

@haney27:

Please do not cross post. Only post your question to one forum and continue with that same thread until it's finished. I've merged your cross posts together here in the correct forum.

What operating system are you running? If Snow Leopard use the install disc and if Lion trust your made a USB thumb drive copy?

I have a copy of Lion on dvd and I can currently only get into the windows operating system

Pop the Lion DVD in, reboot and hold down 'C' immediately after the chime until the gear wheel starts. If successful go into Utilities in the Menu Bar > Disk Utility and run Erase nd then into Partition and set up as a single partition, choosing GUID under Options.

It seems to take forever to boot from the DVD which will start off verifying. Eons quicker if you had used a USB thumb drive.

Keep us posted?

Will do. Thanks for the help. Im sure ill need some more advice when partitioning again. lol

It doesnt seem to be working. I hold down "c" at the chime but it just takes a while and then goes to a command screen with just an underscore "_" blinking in the top left corner and nothing really happens. I have an imac i dont know if i mentioned that or if it makes a difference.

still in need of help anybody have any suggestions??

The only thing I know to do would be to erase, format, and reinstall Lion like harry said above. I would try to boot up with the cd again and hold down "c" right after you hit the power button to turn it on. Then you should go into the menu bar and choose Disk Utility and erase the hard drive. Then make sure it is formatted into Mac OS X Journaled (Extended). Then install Lion. That's all I know to do. Try to google restoring iMac. You should be able to find a step by step tutorial on installing Lion and erasing the hard drive.

Good luck!