Bootcamp froze while partitioning...

[absynth]

Hey guys,

Earlier tonight I was partitioning my drive to install windows 7, and it froze halfway through partitioning.

I have a 2007 macbook, 120 GB hdd, so I gave mac 84 GB and windows 35 GB.

I hit partition and let it go. I waited about just over an hour, and with no response after that, I turned it off by holding the power button. I tried everything before resorting to this, Command+Q, esc, pretty much every key on the keyboard, it would not respond. So I shut it down the hard way.

Now when I just booted up again, apparently I have used a little over 100 GB on the mac, with about 9 GB free, which is incorrect. I'm assuming that bootcamp just about finished partitioning the disc before freezing (or maybe I just jumped the gun, but it never responded), and I don't have any WINDOWS drive anywhere on the desktop or in finder.

Does anyone know how to free up the virtual space? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[chscag]

With a machine that old, it's always best to use Disk Utility from your install DVD to first do a verify and repair of the hard drive prior to running Boot Camp. Also, always make a backup before using Boot Camp.

Try running the Boot Camp assistant again. But this time use the restore function. Let's see if that works. Also try to reset your PRAM-NVRAM.

If that doesn't work, you may have to use your install DVD to boot the machine and then use Disk Utility to remove the BC partition and get your drive back as a single partition.

What might have happened is that Boot Camp encountered disk errors and froze. Make sure that drive is OK before trying to install Windows again.

 

[absynth]

With a machine that old, it's always best to use Disk Utility from your install DVD to first do a verify and repair of the hard drive prior to running Boot Camp. Also, always make a backup before using Boot Camp.

Try running the Boot Camp assistant again. But this time use the restore function. Let's see if that works. Also try to reset your PRAM-NVRAM.

If that doesn't work, you may have to use your install DVD to boot the machine and then use Disk Utility to remove the BC partition and get your drive back as a single partition.

What might have happened is that Boot Camp encountered disk errors and froze. Make sure that drive is OK before trying to install Windows again.

Yes I did exactly that, I had a disc error and it was successfully repaired, also had a permission problem which wouldn't be fixed, however I was on Leopard, so I upgraded to Snow Leopard which should have fixed that permission error, and did a full software update to make sure everything was up to date.

There is no partition shown in either disc utility or anywhere that I can see. I just did a defrag using iDefrag and it appears to have done nothing.

I shall try resetting the PRAM-NVRAM and see how that goes. This is the second HDD I've gone through on this mac, really quite frustrating.

The first one stopped spinning spontaneously and was replaced under warranty, but that was some times ago, I doubt it'd still be under warranty, but I'm considering just buying a windows desktop and installing mac on a virtual machine, kind of like the opposite of what I'm trying to do here, but I've spent enough time and money trying to get this laptop back to a proper functioning condition.

Thanks for the reply,
Aaron.

 

[absynth]

Yes I did exactly that, I had a disc error and it was successfully repaired, also had a permission problem which wouldn't be fixed, however I was on Leopard, so I upgraded to Snow Leopard which should have fixed that permission error, and did a full software update to make sure everything was up to date.

There is no partition shown in either disc utility or anywhere that I can see. I just did a defrag using iDefrag and it appears to have done nothing.

I shall try resetting the PRAM-NVRAM and see how that goes. This is the second HDD I've gone through on this mac, really quite frustrating.

The first one stopped spinning spontaneously and was replaced under warranty, but that was some times ago, I doubt it'd still be under warranty, but I'm considering just buying a windows desktop and installing mac on a virtual machine, kind of like the opposite of what I'm trying to do here, but I've spent enough time and money trying to get this laptop back to a proper functioning condition.

Thanks for the reply,
Aaron.

I just finished resetting the PRAM-NVRAM with no change unfortunately. I even booted up from the install disc to use Disc Utility, but according to Disc Utility, there is only 1 partition, that being Mac OS X of course. I am not really in favor of deleting or backing up my current HDD and re-partitioning it, but if that's the only thing that would work I guess I'll have to.

If there is anything else that may work or be worth giving a shot, I'd be more than thankful for you to share them.

Thanks,
Aaron.

 

[chscag]

Unfortunately, it appears the partition table may have been damaged. The only way to repair that is by erasing the drive, reformatting, and install Snow Leopard. So yes, you'll need to back everything up first.

You might want to try Disk Warrior. I'm not sure if they have a trial version. Their full registered version is $99.95.

 

[absynth]

Unfortunately, it appears the partition table may have been damaged. The only way to repair that is by erasing the drive, reformatting, and install Snow Leopard. So yes, you'll need to back everything up first.

You might want to try Disk Warrior. I'm not sure if they have a trial version. Their full registered version is $99.95.

Yeah, ah well, have to bite the bullet on this one. Thank you very much for your help and advice.