01-30-2009, 03:35 PM

Hi everyone!
First time poster, not a first time Mac User (although it's been a loooong time).

Just got the new 15" MBP for my birthday and I am officially a switcher. I have an HP Pavilion notebook I used primarily for playing the Sims 2 (please don't judge) and surfing the web. I wanted to get back to my artwork and photography (my major in college) and we all know that Windows machines just don't do that stuff as seamlessly as a Mac.

K, moving on to the important stuff. I want to play Sims 2 on my Mac, but I want to use my Windows discs (have too many of the EPs to justify buying them all for a new platform). I have parallels and have Windows installed on that, but....it seems just a tiny bit sluggish and I've read that Parallels just isn't great if you want to game on your Mac through Windows. I know many folks prefer parallels, but I don't mind booting into Windows by itself. The only time I would need to do that is if I want to play my game or remote into my desktop at work.
I tried running BootCamp and came across some issues (that I've since discovered are user error....probably should have read the manual all the way through and I guess I got what I deserved).

So I went into Boot Camp and deleted the partition. (It was 32gb....btw, had to delete it twice..the first partition was 20gb... because I tried installing it through Boot Camp twice....and I'm a dolt).

So far, I have 20gb of music on my Mac (still in the process of moving the rest over). However, in the HDD information page, it says I have used 79.9gb of space. I have some other extra programs (CS4, Parallels, Final Cut, etc). I tried doing a repair disc, but that didn't give back the space previously partitioned, I guess?

Cliff's Notes:
Tried Boot Camp first time -20gb partition, deleted partition, ran disc utility to repair disc (per directions from some mac thread i googled)
Tried Boot Camp second time -32gb partition, deleted
20gb of music
Missing 59.9gb of space, although I assume a portion of that is used by the OS and installed programs.

How do I recover this without purchasing recovery software and/or losing data on my machine?

01-30-2009, 08:24 PM

Whew! Sure glad you included the Cliff's Notes. Looks like what may have happened is that one of the BC partitions you deleted was not properly removed and therefore still exists although it's empty. In other words, the space it formerly occupied was not returned to OS X.

You're probably in a situation where it may be best to erase the hard drive and reinstall OS X and your applications. Before attempting a reinstall, backup all your music and other documents to an external hard drive. Don't transfer any more data from the HP until you repair the Mac.

To reinstall: Boot your MBP with the original DVD media which came with your machine in the box. (That would be Leopard DVD 1.) After the machine boots, cancel your way out of the install program and select Disk Utility from the top menu. Highlight your hard drive and select erase. Afterward, select format (be sure to choose HFS +) and name the hard drive Macintosh HD.

Now you can continue installing Leopard. After Leopard is installed, be sure to download all updates. Continue installing your applications - and read through the instructions for creating a Boot Camp partition and installing Windows.

Regards.