Installing Windows on Macbook Pro

Installing Windows on Macbook Pro - Problem

Hi,

I have a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 Macbook Pro, 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM with a 500gb Hard Disk.

I need to install Windows and I have a copy of both Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 (64bit). I have previously had Windows XP running as a virtual machine through Parallels Switch to Mac Edition. However this wasn't suitable as it wouldn't allow me to dedicate enough power to run the Windows applications I need (i.e. AutoCAD, 3DS Max etc.). Therefore I uninstalled it and restored the hard disk to a single partition.

However when I start Boot Camp Assistant and click continue to download the windows support software I get this message:

The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.

I have backed up using Time Machine to an external drive, and my drive appears to already be a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. I suspect that the partition created by parallels is still causing problems but when I use the Disk Utility to try and Erase the disk it doesn't give me the option to do so. I have tried Erasing the free space with 35 passes but it hasn't made a difference!

I have also noticed that 470GB of the hard drive appears to be used, leaving only 30GB free (obviously this is also causing a problem for Boot Camp). However I have no documents on it as I have moved them all to external. I cant locate where the files that are taking up this space.

Please help, I consider myself fairly competent with computers but this is driving me nuts!

Quentin

Thanks for your reply. I've looked at that thread and my problem seems to occur before I get the option of how large to make each partition. I think the problem is due to the state of my hard disk - possibly a rogue partition left from Parallels? - and that mysteriously I only have 30GB of space left despite not having anything on the computer.

How do I go clean up my Hard Disk so that I can start again? I've backed up with time Machine and I have an additional backup of all of my information. As I mentioned, the disk Utility doest give me the option of Erasing the Hard Disk.

Thanks,
Q

You do not need the Windows support software - that is for the MacBook Air only - skip that step, or tell it you already downloaded it. There is some glitch Apple is having in the setup currently.

Parallels does not create a partition.

chscag said:

...

You can try making the BC partition smaller as that might work. However, the easiest and fastest way is to erase your hard drive, reinstall OS X, and restore from backup. That will remove the fragmentation.

Make sure you backup first using Time Machine otherwise you will lose all your data.

Click to expand...

I would suggest grabbing WhatSize to see where your disk space is being used - there are a couple of freebies - but I found this one much better and worth the price of admission.