how to merge partitions in mac os x Lion

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I had bootcamp running for a while before it got destroyed due to upgrade to Lion. I could not restore the Bootcamp partition, so I had reformatted the bootcamp partition to Max OS C Journalled type.

Now I want to merge it with my regular Max os x drive. How can I do that ?

FYI, this is on my MBP and it has one internal HDD of 200 GB space.

Please help.

Thanks.
 
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This might sound strange, but you need to erase that partition using FAT 32 formatting, and then open up Boot Camp Assistant and tell it to merge it with your OS X partition. I did this just the other day in fact. When it asks, just say you have the OS X installation disks. You won't need them anyway

Doug
 
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Doug, I am a newbie. Can you please tell me how to erase the partition using FAT 32 formatting ....I mean which tool to use to do this operation ?

Thanks.
 
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Ah, sure.. sorry bud. Open Disk Utilities (which is in the Utilities folder in Applications), then choose the partition you want to delete. In my first screen shot you can see that I've selected "roar" which of course is Lion.. yeah, I'm a doofus like that... Then go to the "erase" tab and click the drop down list where it says "Format" and change it from Mac OS Extended to MS DOS FAT.

I also normally choose the "zero out data" option that you'll see when you click on that "security options" bubble directly below. Once that is done, hit "erase". If it gives you an error message of any kind just hit erase again and it should take. It happened to me that way for some reason.

When all that is done, then go into Bootcamp Assistant, which is also in the Utilities folder in Preferences.

Doug

Screen shot 2011-07-24 at 11.03.56 PM.jpg

Screen shot 2011-07-24 at 11.05.25 PM.jpg

Screen shot 2011-07-24 at 11.09.48 PM.jpg
 
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Just please make sure you don't delete the wrong disk/partition!

Doug
 
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Hi Doug,

I tool an alternate route and I am kinda scared to loose the data. So here is what I did:

I first deleted the bootcamp partition from the parition tab, and then extended the size of Max OS X partition to 200 GB. When I clicked "Parition" to tell go ahead and do it, my mac book pro hung.

After that I re-started but it is taking too long to boot. It is already like 10 minutes and login screen is not appearing.

I am scared. Can I loose the date if I changed the partition of mac os x size ?

Can you please help me ? How can take a back up of my stuff...? Please help.
 
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Now when I boot, I only see Apple's logo and spinning gear that indicates things are being processed.
 
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Hi Doug,

I tool an alternate route and I am kinda scared to loose the data. So here is what I did:

I first deleted the bootcamp partition from the parition tab, and then extended the size of Max OS X partition to 200 GB. When I clicked "Parition" to tell go ahead and do it, my mac book pro hung.

After that I re-started but it is taking too long to boot. It is already like 10 minutes and login screen is not appearing.

I am scared. Can I loose the date if I changed the partition of mac os x size ?

Can you please help me ? How can take a back up of my stuff...? Please help.

Are you saying that your "alternate" route is something other than what I had instructed you to do? Try hard booting your computer again (hold the power button) while holding the alt/option key. See what happens. At the very least, you should be presented with Disk recovery mode.

Read about that here: http://itpromate.com/2011/07/now-‘l...repair-or-reinstall-os-x-lion-without-a-disc/

Doug
 
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Well Doug, I tried to use the Recovery option mentioned in this link, and my MBP was able to boot fine and I got a command prompt. Luckily, the re-partition that I had started using DiskUtility was not done and my system is currently back to the stable state.

Thank you so much for your help.

My hard drive has 200 GB space. My Mac OS X has around 155 GB and 45 is kinda of raw and unused partition. I am afraid if I extend the Max OS partition I will again see all the things that I mentioned before.

What's the safest and best way to do this ?
 
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Strange enough

The funny story is that in this way i was able to merge to MAC OS partitions!
 

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