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drive upgrade - partitioning error
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<blockquote data-quote="etfloyd" data-source="post: 1160193" data-attributes="member: 183929"><p>OK, I've recently worked through a drive upgrade with my daughter's MacBook Pro, without the OS X install disk and using only free software. Here's an overview of what I did, posted here in case it is of use to someone else. It's tedious but it works. You will need the following:</p><p></p><p>a. CloneZilla - download .iso and burn to CD (Google "CloneZilla" to find, I used the Ubuntu-based version)</p><p></p><p>b. GParted - download .iso and burn to CD (Google "gparted" to find.)</p><p></p><p>c. A new hard drive with at least twice the capacity of the original one.</p><p></p><p>d. Temporary use of a USB drive with enough capacity to contain a copy of the original drive.</p><p></p><p>Here are the basic steps (Hint: power on or reset and hold down the 'C' key until the screen flickers to black to boot from the CD drive):</p><p></p><p>1. Boot the GParted CD and make note of the sizes and formats of the partitions on the original HD. (Hers were 200MB FAT32, and 114.71GB HFS+)</p><p></p><p>2. Boot the CloneZilla CD and make a full-disk backup of the original HD to the USB drive.</p><p></p><p>3. Remove the original HD and install the new one. (You'll need tools and steady hands for this! Google "upgrade macbook pro hard drive extremetech".)</p><p></p><p>4. Boot the GParted CD and create a new partition table (specify GPT in the advanced options) and then create partitions matching the originals in size and format. (I think the first 200MB FAT32 one is a boot loader, so it should be exactly as-is. The HFS+ one may be any size equal to or slightly larger than the originals, but make sure you leave enough free space for at least one additional copy of your system HFS+ partition.)</p><p></p><p>5. Boot from the CloneZilla CD and restore your HD. Use "expert" mode and tell it not to create the partition table on the destination disk. (It will ask right before starting the restore.) You want to use the partitions you created in the previous step. If you let CloneZilla create the partition table based on the backup copy (the default option) it will boot OS X but you won't be able to expand the system partition or add new partitions.</p><p></p><p>6. Boot from the HD. It should boot to OS X and look normal. Unfortunately, it's not; the system HFS+ partition is corrupted and we won't be able to expand it or use the full capacity of the drive, so we have to fix that. At this point, I've read that the system partition can be repaired by booting to the Mac install CD and using Disk Utility to Repair the system partition. I didn't have that option since I didn't have the install CD, so i'll need to copy the data from the corrupted system partition to a new, un-corrupted HFS+ partition.</p><p></p><p>7. Start Disk Utility and use it to create a new partition at least as large as the original HFS+ system partition. Then use Restore to copy your system partition to the new one. The copy operation will take a while (hours, maybe).</p><p></p><p>8. Boot the GParted CD. You should now see the original partitions you created in step 4 and one more that you created from within OS X in step 7. Delete the original HFS+ partition that you restored from the CloneZilla backup, leaving the new one that you created under OS X and copied with Disk Utility. Then, move the copied HFS+ system partition to just below the 200MB FAT32 partition. Don't change its size. (GParted can move it but it can't successfully enlarge it. OS X disk utility, on the other hand, can enlarge it downward, but can't move it. See where we're headed?) The move may take a couple of hours or more since, for some reason, GParted wants to read the whole thing through one time first before it starts to actually copy it.</p><p></p><p>9. Boot OS X from the HD, start Disk Utility, and enlarge the partition or add partitions, as needed.</p><p></p><p>Possible untried time-saving alternative:</p><p></p><p>In step 4, create TWO partitions, each at least large enough to contain the system HFS+ partition, then delete the first one, leaving a free-space hole between the FAT32 boot partition and the HFS+ system partition you're going to restore in step 5.</p><p></p><p>In step 7, use Disk Utility to create the fresh HFS+ partition in the free-space hole, then use Restore to copy the system partition data to it. This should position it right where it needs to be without having to move it with GParted.</p><p></p><p>In step 8, use GParted to delete the corrupt partition, but skip the move. The copy should already be in the correct location.</p><p></p><p>If it works, this would save quite a bit of time. I wish I'd thought of it sooner! If you try this alternative and it works, please drop a note here and let folks know.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="etfloyd, post: 1160193, member: 183929"] OK, I've recently worked through a drive upgrade with my daughter's MacBook Pro, without the OS X install disk and using only free software. Here's an overview of what I did, posted here in case it is of use to someone else. It's tedious but it works. You will need the following: a. CloneZilla - download .iso and burn to CD (Google "CloneZilla" to find, I used the Ubuntu-based version) b. GParted - download .iso and burn to CD (Google "gparted" to find.) c. A new hard drive with at least twice the capacity of the original one. d. Temporary use of a USB drive with enough capacity to contain a copy of the original drive. Here are the basic steps (Hint: power on or reset and hold down the 'C' key until the screen flickers to black to boot from the CD drive): 1. Boot the GParted CD and make note of the sizes and formats of the partitions on the original HD. (Hers were 200MB FAT32, and 114.71GB HFS+) 2. Boot the CloneZilla CD and make a full-disk backup of the original HD to the USB drive. 3. Remove the original HD and install the new one. (You'll need tools and steady hands for this! Google "upgrade macbook pro hard drive extremetech".) 4. Boot the GParted CD and create a new partition table (specify GPT in the advanced options) and then create partitions matching the originals in size and format. (I think the first 200MB FAT32 one is a boot loader, so it should be exactly as-is. The HFS+ one may be any size equal to or slightly larger than the originals, but make sure you leave enough free space for at least one additional copy of your system HFS+ partition.) 5. Boot from the CloneZilla CD and restore your HD. Use "expert" mode and tell it not to create the partition table on the destination disk. (It will ask right before starting the restore.) You want to use the partitions you created in the previous step. If you let CloneZilla create the partition table based on the backup copy (the default option) it will boot OS X but you won't be able to expand the system partition or add new partitions. 6. Boot from the HD. It should boot to OS X and look normal. Unfortunately, it's not; the system HFS+ partition is corrupted and we won't be able to expand it or use the full capacity of the drive, so we have to fix that. At this point, I've read that the system partition can be repaired by booting to the Mac install CD and using Disk Utility to Repair the system partition. I didn't have that option since I didn't have the install CD, so i'll need to copy the data from the corrupted system partition to a new, un-corrupted HFS+ partition. 7. Start Disk Utility and use it to create a new partition at least as large as the original HFS+ system partition. Then use Restore to copy your system partition to the new one. The copy operation will take a while (hours, maybe). 8. Boot the GParted CD. You should now see the original partitions you created in step 4 and one more that you created from within OS X in step 7. Delete the original HFS+ partition that you restored from the CloneZilla backup, leaving the new one that you created under OS X and copied with Disk Utility. Then, move the copied HFS+ system partition to just below the 200MB FAT32 partition. Don't change its size. (GParted can move it but it can't successfully enlarge it. OS X disk utility, on the other hand, can enlarge it downward, but can't move it. See where we're headed?) The move may take a couple of hours or more since, for some reason, GParted wants to read the whole thing through one time first before it starts to actually copy it. 9. Boot OS X from the HD, start Disk Utility, and enlarge the partition or add partitions, as needed. Possible untried time-saving alternative: In step 4, create TWO partitions, each at least large enough to contain the system HFS+ partition, then delete the first one, leaving a free-space hole between the FAT32 boot partition and the HFS+ system partition you're going to restore in step 5. In step 7, use Disk Utility to create the fresh HFS+ partition in the free-space hole, then use Restore to copy the system partition data to it. This should position it right where it needs to be without having to move it with GParted. In step 8, use GParted to delete the corrupt partition, but skip the move. The copy should already be in the correct location. If it works, this would save quite a bit of time. I wish I'd thought of it sooner! If you try this alternative and it works, please drop a note here and let folks know. [/QUOTE]
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