Partitioning problems...

I am having difficulties making the partition on my hard drive with the bootcamp assistant.
I keep getting an error message saying i need to format it as a "Single Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
However looking at the "get info" on my mac HD it seems that it already is.
Anybody got any suggestions or solutions? i bet its staring me in the face but i cant see it.

Anyway, screenshot attatched if it explains what i am trying to say better.

It seems that some of the system files are in the way of you being able to partition the drive, try making the partition smaller in small steps i.e try 65gb then 60 gb then 55gb etc etc

- Simon

That error is telling you that there is not enough free contiguous space on the drive in order to create a BC partition. You basically have two choices:

1. Reinstall OS X and use Time Machine to restore.

2. Purchase a third party utility - iDefrag which will consolidate your free space.

chscag said:

That error is telling you that there is not enough free contiguous space on the drive in order to create a BC partition. You basically have two choices:

1. Reinstall OS X and use Time Machine to restore.

2. Purchase a third party utility - iDefrag which will consolidate your free space.

Click to expand...

I will have to sound a bit thrifty here, but since it will cost me money, could you put on estimation on likely % of idefrag solving my woes?

If $29.95 is too much to pay, then use suggestion 1 instead. All I can tell you about iDefrag is that others in this forum have used it with success. Like anything else, your mileage may vary....

Yeah, its not so much the cost, just the likelihood of success for the cost.

The problem with 1. is my Snow Leopard disk is on another continent at the moment, would it work if i backed up with time machine right now (running SL), then installed the standard Leopard disk then used my SL back up on time machine?
Probably being a bit unrealistic now.

Not as likely to work because some of the file images may go along with the backup. But it won't do any harm, either. Probably worth a try. As to the likelihood of success, I think most people (90% or more if memory serves) find iDefrag to solve the problem. One other point - depending on the size of your drive, defragmentation can take several hours - best to run it overnight. And you should back up with Time Machine first in any case.

I think its probably worth the $30 - but its up to you. Good luck!

Thanks for the info then, i shall try idefrag tonight and see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

So after buying idfrag, running it successfully and having my macbook defragmented.... It seems my problems still persist. Still getting the message telling me to format my drive as a "Single Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Yet when i go to disk utility the option to format the disk is not available!!!!
This is driving me mad.

Storky1980 said:

Yeah, its not so much the cost, just the likelihood of success for the cost.

The problem with 1. is my Snow Leopard disk is on another continent at the moment, would it work if i backed up with time machine right now (running SL), then installed the standard Leopard disk then used my SL back up on time machine?
Probably being a bit unrealistic now.

Click to expand...

I would say no, you could not do this. Could be wrong, but I sure wouldn't try it without reading of others being successful at it.

Storky1980 said:

So after buying idfrag, running it successfully and having my macbook defragmented.... It seems my problems still persist. Still getting the message telling me to format my drive as a "Single Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Yet when i go to disk utility the option to format the disk is not available!!!!
This is driving me mad.

Click to expand...

iDefrag will do what you need to have done. You will need to use the Full Defrag option. Try running it again when you go to bed - as it is going to re-boot your machine into iDefrag and will be unusable for a few hours. It should look something like this when done - you'll notice - no data at the end of the drive.



If it leaves some stuff at the end of the drive before you re-boot back into the OS, don't worry about it - it is typically some cache files that are deleted on boot.

You can't format a disk that you're currently booted into. This would have to be done by booting up with the OS X disk. And you do realize a format will erase the disk.