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carlosesca07 · Mar 23, 2008, 07:10 PM

Hi guys I finally decided to install windows on my MacBook Pro, but I had a problem right from the get-go.

I choose to partition the disk (110 Gb Mac, 9 Gb Windows = 120 total), I left the disk partitioning went for a glass of water and when I returned my mac was off, I turned it on and it said and error ocurred....everything was ok on my desktop but now I lost access to the 9 gb i choose for windows.

When I try to use bootcamp again, it doesn't give me an option to use the already partioned disk and asks for another partition....what I hate is that I don't even know what went wrong, because I left for few minutes.

I used the disk utility as I read in a post here, and "used verify disk", it said the disk did have errors, yet my disk is in my dad's office, so until monday night i'll be able to use it.

Is that the way to get back the space I lost? thanks!

ghporter · Mar 23, 2008, 07:42 PM

Run the Boot Camp Utility, and choose "restore startup disk to a single partition" option. Now restart (just to make sure everything's done) and try again. And watch the thing this time-there might be something odd going on that you can get help with.

carlosesca07 · Mar 23, 2008, 10:31 PM

I've tried that....but it doesn't even give me an option...after the warning (the one that tells you to create a backup and print the guide) it goes directly to the option to partition disks, it gives no option to restore the partition.

Maybe doing that directly for the Leopard DVD?

ibook_steve · Mar 23, 2008, 11:25 PM

Which version of Windows are you trying to install? 9 GB is way too small. You should try to give at least 15 if not 20 if you are using XP.

Can you tell if the original 9 GB Windows partition even exists? Check in Disk Utility. It's possible that the BC Assistant didn't even create it because it was too small for installing Windows.

Steve

ghporter · Mar 24, 2008, 07:01 AM

I don't think the Assistant cares what size you give it (although there is likely to be some minimum for programming reasons). With careful maintenance you can get by with down to about a 6GB partition for XP (uninstalling tons of extras and doodads you don't need before you start installing your apps, of course).

mnorman33 · Mar 25, 2008, 10:06 AM

I am having this same problem. However, I was trying to make a 100gb partition. Now the Boot Camp Assistant and Disk Utility say that my Macintosh HD partition is using 134gb, when I am actually only using 34gb. I am willing to just reinstall Leopard again and reformat the disk if that is my only solution but if there is a better way I would appreciate it.

voodoo · Mar 26, 2008, 08:45 AM

I am having the same issue, after I tried to make a 40gb partition in boot camp themac crashed. When I restarted and tried again there were 40gb missing and the boot camp installer claimed my disc was now corrupt. Yay.

After running disc utility the HD is indeed corrupt and I have to find the **** install DVD to fix the HD. I just hope it works, as I need boot camp.

This is the third time I make a boot camp partition on my machine, but the first time it fails.

voodoo · Mar 26, 2008, 10:24 AM

after repairing the corrupt disk, I got all the space back that went missing during the funky and crashy boot camp partitioning. Disk utility claimed the HD was fine now, so I decided to try once more.

It just crashed again and ate 40 gb and now I'm in the ever so fast process of booting the install disk again.

Why the **** doesn't apple offer a simple boot cd so one can repair a corrupt hard drive in less than half an hour?

Cold Warrior · Mar 26, 2008, 10:51 AM

If you have an external hard drive and can make a small partition, you can clone the install disc to that partition, then boot from that partition as if it were the install disc - but at very fast speeds.

voodoo · Mar 26, 2008, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

If you have an external hard drive and can make a small partition, you can clone the install disc to that partition, then boot from that partition as if it were the install disc - but at very fast speeds.

thanks for the suggestion, I have an external FireWire disk with plenty of space, so I'll make a partition on it for the install disk. That's smart thinking and will save me a lot of time if I need to do this again!

voodoo · Mar 26, 2008, 12:48 PM

I used disk utility to make the partition, while using the install DVD. It worked, seemingly, but now windows XP stalls when installing 'devices'.

Shouldn't be anything wrong with the CD, I just used it a couple of days ago to install windows on another machine.

voodoo · Mar 26, 2008, 01:26 PM

It was just a dirty CD. BootCamp and windows up and running.

ghporter · Mar 26, 2008, 07:38 PM

The combination of an even slightly dirty disc and your Mac's very picky optical drive often spells doom for a Windows install. I've even managed to get positive results from scratched original discs by copying them on a Windows machine; the software and CD drive on that machine were able to error-correct so that the burned result was good. A-freaking-mazing how this works!

Glad you got things sorted out, voodoo.