Disk Partition Lost

Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
So I was trying to partition my hd so I could install windows via boot camp. I was using the boot camp assistant and in the middle of the partitioning process. It was taking forever to partition...like over an hour and was about 3/4 of the way done. All of a sudden a screen pops up saying that I need to restart my computer, but the partition was not done yet. I restarted my computer.

Now when I go back into boot camp assistant to try and finish the windows installation, it says I don't have enough free space for a disk partition and won't let me do anything.

Before I started to attempt the partition I had roughly 40gb free disk space. Now it says I only have 24gb free space. So Im guessing that there is a partition somewhere. Problem is...when I go into the disk utility, I only see the partition for my Mac HD and the rest is just free space.

Im really not sure what I should do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I thought about restoring to a previous time machine back up but realized that I don't have the mac start up disk in order to do a restore.

Please Help. Thanks
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Without an install startup DVD, (unless you're running Lion) you will be unable to restore the disk space. Post back the details of your machine and which version of OS X you have and perhaps we can sort it out for you.
 
OP
N
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Im running 10.6.8. The start up disk I do have is 10.4.8. I upgraded recently with my brothers start up disk but I no longer have that one.
 
OP
N
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Im really more curious about how I can find the free space that I am missing rather than restore to a previous date.

When I look at the size of my apps, music, videos, pictures, documents...basically the "places" tab in the finder....I only see about 60gb used. My hd is supposed to be 120gb. Where did all my free space go?

When I ctrl+click on my HD in finder and select "get info"...it says I have only 24gb free space.

When I go into disk utility and select my hd and the click on the "partition" tab, it says I only have 15gb free space.

Im confused...where did all my hd space go?
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You have unpartitioned free space on the drive because of the Boot Camp failure. You need to boot either from the Tiger disk or Snow Leopard disk, use Disk Utility to reset the drive as a single partition.

If you need additional information about what's taking up space on the drive, download the free Disk InventoryX.
 
OP
N
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
When I run the Disk InventoryX it says that my HD is currently only 70GB. Im assuming that means I should have 50GB free space.

When I open disk utility I only see the 1 partition for my HD. Im also guessing that the unpartitioned space is not viewable under the disk utility?

If I boot from the Tiger disk and then use Disk Utility to reset the drive to a single partition, will that erase my HD?

Is booting from Tiger and then reseting to a single partition a fairly easy process? Any thing or any steps I should be aware of?

Thanks for the help.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You can't really run Disk Utility while the disk is mounted and do any realistic testing of the hard drive. That's why you need to boot from a Tiger or Snow Leopard disk and test that way.

And no, booting with Tiger and resetting the drive to a single partition will not erase the data if you do it right. Of course make a backup of your hard drive first just in case.
 
OP
N
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
You can't really run Disk Utility while the disk is mounted and do any realistic testing of the hard drive. That's why you need to boot from a Tiger or Snow Leopard disk and test that way.

And no, booting with Tiger and resetting the drive to a single partition will not erase the data if you do it right. Of course make a backup of your hard drive first just in case.

Can you please give me some more advice on how to reset my drive to a single partition. I tried booting of the install disk and then running disk utility. When I went to partition the drive as a single partition, it said all data would be erased so I obviously don't know what Im doing. It also said that the size of my entire HD was only 111gb? Supposed to be 120gb?
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
111GB is correct after formatting. If you need to save anything, do not format and partition without backing up. If not, go and buy your own Snow Leopard disc - it is only $29 and Apple online still had them last months or so.
 
OP
N
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Points
6
And no, booting with Tiger and resetting the drive to a single partition will not erase the data if you do it right.

Can someone please give me a step by step on how to reset my drive to a single partition without erasing all my data? Im having a difficult time figuring this out and I don't really wanna have to delete everything and then reinstall mac osx because I don't have the leopard install disk, only tiger.

Thanks
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top