Can't expand my current partition

[Moncho]

It's well known that with the Disk Utility you can resize and create new partitions.
I was trying to expand my current partition (the Macintosh HD default disk) because I have a lot o free space.
The thing is that when i try to do it from de Disk Utility it shows me an error something like this:

" It has been unable to modify the partition's map due to a verification's error of the file's system."

Any ideas?? Thanks so much.

Attached is the screen shot (in spanish) of the error i got.

 

[chscag]

You've got some file corruption, therefore, Disk Utility will refuse to do any partition work. Use Disk Utility to verify and repair your hard drive first. Note: You can not repair the hard drive while it's mounted. You didn't mention which version of OS X you're running so we can't advise on how to proceed.

 

[Moncho]

Hey, @chscag! Thanks for the quick reply!
I've tried to verify and fix the disk and it says that it needs to be repaired (as you said) . It says that it has "Incorrect number of hard links of the file".

My OS X is 10.9.5 Mavericks in a 2011 Macbook Pro.

I'm not sure how to unmount the the hard drive, i'm kind of nooby at this..

Attached is the message that Disk Utility showed when i tried to repair the Macintosh HD.

Thanks!

 

[chscag]

OK. Here's how you do it:

Restart your MacBook Pro while holding down the command and r keys at the same time as soon as you hear the Bong! sound. That will get you into "recovery". From recovery, select "Utilities" and then select "Disk Utility". Highlight your hard drive on the left side (where it shows the size of the drive) and then select "Verify" from the right side. Keep repeating the process until all errors are repaired. After that, you should be able to use Disk Utility (from recovery again) to expand the partition.

 

[Moncho]

Great, lemme try! I'll tell you what happens.

 

[Moncho]

Hey again!
I managed to do everything you told me. I could repair the HD with the Disk Utility from the Recovery Mode.

Then, I tried to resize my HD, but a new error appeared. This time it said something like:

"Unable to resize partition: Disk couldn't be unmounted"

What can I do now?
Thanks for all the help, bro!

 

[chscag]

Did you try to expand the partition from Recovery? That's the only way you can do it otherwise the hard drive will remain mounted. Let us know.

 

[Moncho]

Yes, just after I repaired the HD in Recovery I clicked the partition tab and tried to drag the partition to the size I wanted. The process started, but after a couple of minutes the message was shown.

 

[chscag]

OK, that means there is another problem with that hard drive. The first thing to do now is make sure you backup all your data before doing anything else.

Next, go back into Recovery and Disk Utility. Click on the unused space and see if it allows you to format it. If it does, format it as Mac OS Extended Journaled. Then try again to expand the partition.

 

[Moncho]

Ok, I'll try to format it after I do the backup and I'll come back here to tell you my progress.

Maybe this is a very stupid question, but how do you backup your data so when I restore my data in the new formatted disk, i can see everything just as I see it just now?

What I mean is; is there an specific method for backup that can make my new disk look just like the previous one?

Thanks again, you've been of great help!

 

[chscag]

Yes, if you use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper you can clone your hard drive so that when you restore it will be an exact copy.

 

[ron4mac]

Boot into your normal system. Verify your your hard drive with Disk Utility. If it verifies okay, try resizing your partition from there (while booted into your normal system).

 

[johnodd4]

Wont work!!!

Let me explain if you partitioned your hard drive for lets say windows or linux and you removed the linux distro or the windows version off of that partition sometimes left overs are present on the partition and usually you have to format and start again because the partition on that drive can no longer be resized this also happens when the computer if firmware locked to a certain disk size and if you exceed that size and or it causes mac os x to become invalid it also won't let you resize

 

[ron4mac]

From the graphic above, it looks to me like there's room to grow the partition and it may work as I have stated.

@Mancho
No matter how you proceed, it is probably a very good idea to first have a backup of your system using tools as mention by chscag.

 

[Moncho]

Thanks everyone guys! After I repaired my disk from the recovery mode, I tried to expand my partition from the normal Boot as @ron4mac said and it worked perfectly! Now I can freely resize and create other partitions!

You were of a great help @ron4mac and @chscag ! Is there any upvote option in this page?

 

[Slydude]

Use the reputation system. Scroll to a post that was helpful and scroll over the icons in the right hand corner of the post. One of them basically says Add to Reputation. Click the icon and follow the directions.