[Clive Timmons]

I have tried to install windows XP2 on an Intel Imac after a reformat and get this message "The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows." as far as I can tell it is a single partion , I reformatted using OS Tiger which came with my Mac then upgraded with a Leopard 10.5 disk any help would be greatly appreciated
Ps I am pretty basic in my knowledge of computers thanks again

[ghporter]

Welcome to our forums!

You've run into an issue that often strikes people who "finally get around to" installing Windows on a Mac they've used for a while. OS X keeps files above a certain size pretty much consolidated, but it doesn't do much to keep files from getting spread out all over the place. And often, brand new Macs have enough random file distribution across the hard drive that there isn't really enough room to produce the needed new partition. Another issue could be that some additional, very small partition exists, perhaps some unused space, or some sort of scratch partition from Tiger that isn't compatible with Boot Camp.

You need a backup device anyway, and now is a good time to start using it. Back up your entire OS X installation to whatever backup device you have. Now boot from your OS X installation disc (use the Leopard disc) and select Disk Utility from the Tools menu (DO NOT reinstall OS X again). Now, using DU, wipe the drive clean. In the left hand column, select the DRIVE and see how many partitions show up under it. Delete all of them. Really, all of them. Now restore your OS X installation onto the freshly wiped drive. It should be fairly compact, and take up the least amount of space. It will also be pretty much guaranteed to be a single Mac OS Extended partition.

Let us know how that works, and again, welcome!

[Clive Timmons]

thank you very much for the help with this I really appreciate it and I can understand your advice except for how do I Back up the entire OS X installation ? sorry I'm a novice and thank you very much again there are no applications or files on the iMac other than those installed on the upgrade

[Clive Timmons]

Ok I see the Utilities at the top of the screen Duh sorry I will let you know how I get on and thanks again

[Clive Timmons]

problem, using disk utility from the Installation CD I have tried creating a disk image (should I even be doing this ??) selected Macintosh HD as source External Disk as Destination, DU starts to Create Image Progress Bar status Reading Whole Disk (Apple_HFS:0) after a few minutes a message appears "unable to create File too Large" any idea where I'm going wrong please?

[ghporter]

My first thought would be that your external drive doesn't have enough space for the new image file...

[Clive Timmons]

Thanks Glenn,
the external hard drive is a 1.5TB with approx, 1TB free , just in case I confuse you I will tell you what I did to try and create a back up I restarted the iMac from the install disk holding down the c key went to DU and selected Macintosh HD > clicked on New Image Tab > save as > created a name OS "X" > destination External HD > image format I left as compressed > encryption I left as None > I selected save ..... then DU Progress reads Creating Image "Macintosh HD" .dmg Below Progress Bar reads "Reading Whole Didk (Apple_HFS:0) after about 2 minutes I get a message "unable to create File too Large" thank you for your reply and patience

[Clive Timmons]

I shall try again using a different external HD and see if that works

[Clive Timmons]

Ok progress I think.... I have a disk image in the left hand column size 8.5Gig does this seem correct and should I attempt to verify before proceeding ?

[Clive Timmons]

Glenn your way smarter than the average Bear thank you, worked a dream

[ghporter]

Glad to help. Sometimes things just take knowing which direction to go, and sometimes it takes being persistent, too.

[Clive Timmons]

there's a lot of bad information out there on why bootcamp does this I'm glad to have found Glenn haha thanks again
PS CS 4 zips along way faster now too