I installed Bootcamp on my wife's computer several years ago with no problems.
I tried to install it on my new IMac but quickly ran into a problem.
When I Partition the disk it tells me that it cannot move some files and I must re-format the disk,
and says to copy the disk, re-format it, and then copy it back.
I tried to copy all files to a firewire disk, and after a few minutes it stopped and said it could not continue
because a keychain password was required for some files (I was running as the Admin User).
I had already done a backup of my important user fiies, so I could just reformat the disk and re-install
the system and all my applications.
But is this the best approach ?
I am a long time Mac user, but I am only a user with no great interest in the operating system.
So maybe I am getting a little out of my depth here.
Are you using Boot Camp Assistant (BCA) to create the partition?
If not, that may be the problem. You might want to run Disk Utility from your system's install DVD just to check a few things. Does the disk verify? Check Disk Permissions as well. Also check that the disk you are trying to partition has journalling enabled, as neither Disk Utility or BCA can partition a disk that does not have journalling enabled.
If you are still not able to partition the drive with BCA, then I guess you will have to do some kind of backup/restore.
If you used Time Machine for your backup, then a re-install/restore is pretty painless. There is an option towards the end of the pre-installation phase where you can specify a TM backup to restore at the same time as the installation. Presto - you should be back in business.
If not, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC - www.bombich.com) is a free utility that can create a bootable backup. You need an external FW or USB drive to use this option. The help files in CCC will guide you through the relatively simple, painless, but time-consuming task of backing up and restoring using this method.
That's a lot of "ifs"! Let us know how it goes, and we'll take it from wherever you are able to get to...
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
Thanks for your fast response.
I was using BCA.
I checked the disk using Disk Utility (from Applications) and it shows it is Mac OS Extended (journalled).
I had previously Repaired Permissions on it.
I do not use Time Machine.
I will look into Carbon Copy Cloner, but as I only expected to spend a few hours on this (the time it took 3 years ago)
and I have already spent more time on this attempt, I will have to put it off for a few days.
BCA seemed to be telling me that it could not find sufficient contiguous space (20 GB)
on my disk and had to move files around.
So if CCC creates a clone will it restore files to the same place on the disk ?
If so will I have the same problem as before ?
No, you won't. In fact, this used to be the "poor-man's" disk optimiser. When the files are copied back, they are copied into one contiguous space - leaving the rest of your drive as one vast expanse of empty space.
Yup, it'll definitely take three -to-six hours to complete.
Do you really need Boot Camp? That is, could you maybe use a virtualizer? - they don't require dedicated hard drive space. I am using Virtual Box, which is also free, and I love it! It's available here: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads (http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads). It's nowhere near as polished as Parallels or Fusion, but gives you as many or more options than Boot Camp - except, of course, booting up in Windows. On the other hand, it will let you run almost any version of Windows, not to mention Linux, CentOS, many, many others - even Android 2.6!
Just sayin'...
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
Quote from: pbridges on December 16, 2010, 09:21:21 AM
BCA seemed to be telling me that it could not find sufficient contiguous space (20 GB)
on my disk and had to move files around.
Q1. How large is the hard drive?
Q2. How much of that is free?
There is no consensus on an exact formula for minimum free space for problem-free operation of OS X, but as the amount of free disk drops, the frequency of anomalous behaviour increases. If you're getting into the last 15% of drive capacity, that could be contributing to this not being the straightforward (BCA -> partition ->install Windows) process it normally is, and that it was for you (and for me) on our own Macs.
...b
References:
- Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space (http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html), theXlab.com
- See last posting in this thread: Disk space (http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa;?messageID=12407927�), discussions.info.apple.com, 11-Oct-2010
System Profiler shows:
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 499.76 GB (499,763,888,128 bytes)
Available: 443.27 GB (443,272,339,456 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /
So I have a 500GB HD with 443GB free.
The Error Message from trying a 19GB partition is:
"The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved"
and followed by:
"Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume.
Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
Yup, looks like your disk cannot be too badly "fragged". Sounds more like a permissions problem, a quick look at the console messages would probably give you a bit more insight into why this is happening, but finding and fixing the problem will not be simple.
Simpler to re-install - if you can use the CCC method, you can even "migrate" your old account to your new install, retaining all your bookmarks, passwords, subscriptions, etc.
If not, you'll have to start from a brand new user account - all bookmarks, passwords, etc. will have to be recreated.
Either way, you should then be able to use BCA without issue.
And then it's back to...
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
I finally got it working by using the Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Install DVD.
The HD was corrupted (in a 4 month old computer !) and Repair worked.
This is the first time I have had to do this in over 25 years of MAC use.
BCA worked well, the only problem was I had to find a USB Mouse.
Lucky I was not able to sell my old computer yet.
Thank you everybody for helping.
Yay! Disk Utility to the rescue. Oops, that's the first thing we suggested.
In our rush to help, sometimes we're too helpful... but you're more than welcome!
Congrats, and, uh, enjoy Windows.
Happy Mac'ing?
Dan