Can I partition my hard drive to hold Windows 8 (Beta), instead of Windows 7, and can I do this with an external CD drive?

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion installed, but my CD drive inside my computer is damaged*, and it's far cheaper to buy an external CD drive than to repair it entirely. Before I do either, I would like some grasp of whether or not it's worth my time and money, as I've yet to order the external drive or make a genius bar appointment.
Also, the reason I'm choosing Windows 8 (Beta) is because it's free.
*I dropped my computer once two years ago. I haven't even used my CD drive until recently when trying to install Windows 8. I assume the drop was the issue. I've used compressed air to remove dirt/dust as well as resetting the PRAM multiple times and nothing seems to work, but I'm not worried about it.
Thank you.

Can I partition my hard drive to hold Windows 8 (Beta), instead of Windows 7, and can I do this with an external CD drive?
No and No.
1: Apple only supports Windows 7 at this time in BootCamp (direct install into a bootable partition) because Win 8 is in Beta and no Mac hardware drivers are available yet from Apple for Windows 8.
2: You can't install Windows from a external cd drive into BootCamp, it has to be a internal one far as I know, perhaps a USB will work I don't know.
Yes:
1: You can download and install Windows 8 Beta into a the free virtual machine software called VirtualBox, which Windows 8 will run in a window in OS X. This is better as it's still in Beta and Windows Beta releases will expire. Plus Windows 8 is a pain in the behind and you will want to be able to have VirtualBox or OS X be able to regain control over the computer.
http://osxdaily.com/2012/03/03/try-windows-8-consumer-preview-virtualbox/
Windows in BootCamp or Virtual Machine?

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New Computer- XP to windows 7 and I transfered my music with an external hard drive and will not locate the music. How do I fix this?

I just copied all my itunes mucis folders onto my external hard drive and copied them over to my new windows 7 computer and I itune cannot "locate" the music. How do I fix this?

I suspect your library has been transformed from the old layout into the new one. See make a split library portable for details. The empty but for artwork folders you're seeing are likely to contain orphaned artwork and .ini files generated at some point by Windows Media Player. iTunes doesn't move these when it shuffles things around. Once you've made sure you can move the artist folders sideways or down into another folder, make sure nothing else has been affected, then remove.
tt2

Can I partition a hard drive and keep files on separate partition?

That is, can I partition a hard drive and have the system software on one drive, and everything else on the other? That is, have the system software on one drive, and on the other have pictures, music, documents, and all other files other than the system software? Thanks. David

Hi GK1951, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Great question, as a matter of fact it does... or would, but the Devil is in the Details as they say.
IME, OSX works best with 100+GB free disk space, so if that partition scheme cuts that down then you'll lose speed, but ony a few would notice the diff until you get down to 30 GB free space.
I can't say much, but my VM at the moment is 143.55 GB, I've been told that isn't a real number, but hey, it means something!
But there are so many factors affecting this that really, the only rule that seems to hold is Give OSX as much HD Free Space as you can & it'll be happy.
I imagine on the MacPro you could say use the outer Partition of several Disks... one for the OS, one for VM, one for APPs, etc. and gain the most!
Maybe these will help...
iMac/24"/2.4 GHz/4GB RAM/320 GB SATA drive, You can see that Cached values account for more than the Zone on the HD really.
Little 4K Random R&Ws suffer greatly no matter what...

Hi. My iMac hard drive is running Mavericks. I have an old version of Quark Xpress (3.32) which won't run in Mavericks. Can I partition my hard drive and run an older system on one partition, so I can access my Quark? Is that possible?

Hi. My iMac hard drive is running Mavericks. I have an old version of Quark Xpress (3.32) which won't run in Mavericks. Can I partition my hard drive and run an older system on one partition, so I can access my Quark? Is that possible?

Hi ancelau,
QuarkXPress 3 is a Classic Mac OS application, so you need a version of OS X that still supports Classic. I believe 10.4 was the last one.
So if you have an iMac that boots with 10.4, then yes that is possible. I doubt though that newer Macs boot with OS X 10.4.
So why don't you upgrade QuarkXPress 3 to a newer version? I am not just asking that because I want you to spend money with us.
Typically using software that was released almost 20 years ago is just feasible when you keep an environment that was current at the time of release or a few years after, so an older Mac with a operating system present at that time. 20 years in IT is a lot.
So my opinion is that on a new Mac with a brand new operating system you need to use something a bit more current.
How about QuarkXPress 9 (released 3 years ago) or QuarkXPress 10? You are better off with v9, as QuarkXPress 10 only opens v7 and higher (whereas QuarkXPress 9 opens v3.1 and higher).
Or - I am even happy to make an exception - upgrade to 9 and we give you 10 for free? Let me know please.
Thanks
Matthias

[SOLVED] I can't get GParted to partition my hard drive

I want to install Arch Linux. However, I am unable to partition my hard drive so Arch can have it's own partition.
I currently have Xubuntu installed on my laptop but I'm using the Gnome Classic Desktop. In GParted, I am unable to resize my 200GB+ ext3 partition, /dev/sda1.
e2label: Filesystem has unsupported feature(s) while trying to open /dev/sda1 Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
dumpe2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
dumpe2fs: filesystem has unsupported feature(s) while trying to open /dev/sda1
What can I do to resolve this issue? I really want to use Arch Linux because I'm sick of Ubuntu. However, I want to dual boot Ubuntu in case I screw something up in Arch so I can have something to fall back on.
I have searched Google a little bit but all I can seem to find is information about RAID drives. I am fairly sure I never setup anything as raid on this laptop.
Last edited by kenny09 (2011-10-01 21:06:47)

You can only resize unmounted partitions, so you will need to start from a livecd (the archlinux install-cd can be used for that). You may then use parted from the cli to resize the filesystem plus partition.
If that fails, you might want to perform these two separate actions yourself manually. Have a look at resize2fs to resize the partition. Then use fdisk/cfdisk/parted to recreate the partition (just delete it, then recreate it using the same starting point and you should be fine)

How can i partition my hard drive with lion on it and install snow leopard from time machine

How do I partition my hard drive which has lion on it and reinstall os6 from my time machine?

You going to need a second harddrive. It is riskie to resize your haddrive with live data on it. You need a backup of the data. That said, you might as well copy your data to the second harddrive. Repartition. Then copy the data back. I bought a 128gig flash drive from walmart for $32.
There were repartition commands introduced in 10.4.6 to repartition the harddrive.
For what it is worth, you can non-destructively partition a harddrive from single user mode in 10.4.6 or greater. Of course, you should have a backup of the harddrive.
http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/apple-mac-os-x/nondestructive-partitioning.php

How to Backup & Partition Internal Hard Drive

I have a macbook pro 2.4ghz. I need to partition my hard drive to have a separate volume for photoshop scratch disk. How do I actually back up the drive prior to the reformatting? Do I create a bootable clone to restore the main volume.
Specific steps would be very helpful. Thanks

So, using Carbon Copy Cloner I first do a full copy of my internal drive (the one I will partition). This will copy any data files as well, correct? I then format the internal drive, creating the partition I need (making sure one is adequate to hold my back up/full copy). How do I then restore the full copy from the external drive to the internal partition? Does this include the OS or do I need to reinstall that and run for all of the updates, etc?
The basic thing to keep in mind is if you want to clone a complete, bootable copy of your drive, the +target partition+ (regardless of how big whole drive is) has to be at least as large as the items on the partition you are copying. With this mode of copying it is all or none but you need to use it to get the bootable option.
Cloning will copy your data files, OSX, OS9, updates, etc., everything. It makes a _complete, bootable duplicate_ of your internal drive when used in full copy mode. So you need to start off with the external firewire empty, or not care about anything on it because it will all get erased.
First, repair permissions on your internal and make sure it is in a healthy condition. Then use CCC as I instructed in an earlier post and clone your internal to the external. Run Disk Utility and verify the external drive just to make sure there weren't any problems while cloning. Then go into your System Preferences, Startup Drive, select OSX that should now appear on your external, and restart. This does double duty of making sure that your clone really is bootable, and you are now working off your external drive so you can work on your internal drive from the external drive (no need for startup disks). Things should look pretty much identical to how they looked when you were working off your internal except your external drive will probably be positioned in the upper right hand corner instead of your internal.
Oh, if you have like 90 GB of files this can take quite a while.
Once you have established the external drive is working you can start up Disk Utility and partition your internal drive. Unless you need me to I will have breakfast now instead of doing a blow-by-blow account of that. Just keep in mind that if a "get info" of your external drive says you have xx.xx GB of stuff then you need to make sure one of your internal partitions is at least that size. Oh, it is probably a good idea to make the first partition on your internal drive the one to which you will re-clone (if that is a word) your original drive contents; the one with the operating system.
Once you have partitioned, you run CarbonCopyCloner and again use full copy mode to copy the things on your external onto one of the internal partitions. Run verify on the internal partition just to make sure all looks good. Use Startup disk to choose the internal's copy of OSX as startup and reboot.
At this stage you have one bootable internal partition with everything that used to be on that drive, and an external drive that is bootable. I find the latter very handy because Disk Utility requires you be booted from a different drive that that which you are repairing and using startup disks is slow.
You also now have a backup of your internal drive. If you want to, in future you can use CCC in non-full mode to backup your main internal partition. It will just copy off modified files, but you can read the details in the CCC Readme.
Brian

Partitioning my hard Drive for PC Games

This would be my first time asking a question to Apple Support Communities. I have a question regarding partitioning my hard drive for PC Games. I would have to use boot camp to install windows to be able to play those pc games... but before i buy windows 7 OS i want to know if this is going to work to play the games that i want. what to look for about system requirements ext.. so that i dont waste money. I have a macbook pro. OS X 10.8.5 Intel HD 4000 , Nividia Geforce 650 m. 2.7 processor intel core i7 , 16 GB of memory DDR3 when i look at system requirements with the games what am i looking for so that i dont waste my money i am knew to the mac os so any advice i can get. should i go this route of partitioning my hard drive?

Kingstonpro wrote:
...before i buy windows 7 OS i want to know if this is going to work to play the games that i want. what to look for about system requirements ext.. so that i dont waste money
when i look at system requirements with the games what am i looking for so that i dont waste my money
Determine your Mac's ability for 3D games
What my user tip will allow you to do is get the performance rating of your video graphics and then you can compare that rating with the one the developer provides as the minimal amount you need to run the game you want.
Some developers do not easily list the performance requirements because they sell so many titles to people who don't know any better. Your obviously not that type of person.
should i go this route of partitioning my hard drive?
To get the full hardware performance of the hardware to run Windows 3D games, you need to install Windows into Apple provided BootCamp. and boot up the computer directly into Windows.
However it's also possible to run some Windows games (2D and simple ones) in a virtual machine program in OS X, provide they use OpenGL drivers (not only DirectX)
You install BootCamp first, then use a commecial virtual machine software like VMFusion or Parallels Desktop to copy the BootCamped Windows to use it as a virtual machine in OS X.
You will then have two Windows on your Mac, one in BootCamp and the other in a file on OS X to run at the same time as your using OS X.
There is the free VirtualBox too, but it doesn't have the ability to copy the BootCamp partition, but it's free and updated longer without begging for more money all the time like the commercial versions do.
Windows in BootCamp or Virtual Machine?
I would Like to get more information about the question should i partition my hard drive to be able to play pc games does this really work to be able to play those games
Yes, you will get better performance direct booting the Mac into Windows to play most 3D games.
This means you will have to find a copy of Windows 7 to purchase online, the 64bit retail disk of Win 7 Pro or better.
is their any thing i need to know about the techinal aspects of installing windows on my mac computer... is there anything that i need to watch out for so that this would work. I just want to make sure that it will work.
Basically BootCamp does all the work setting up the partition for Windows install, then it hands you off with a list of printed instructions to install Windows.
Mac's cannot format NTFS drives, so when you boot off the Windows disk, you first have to change the format of the Bootcamp parittion to NTFS (from FAT32/MSDOS that Apple formats it as)
When you finish with BootCamp, the machine reboots and your looking at a blining line on a black screen, reboot the computer holding the option key down, this enters Startup Manager and you can select OSX to boot and get online for assistance.
However if you read the BootCamp material, it should explain everything, also there are video's on YouTube as well how to go about things.
There is Mac drivers that need to be installed into Windows, so that you can get online and other things in Windows.
I advise having another computer or Internet device so you can come here to ask in the BootCamp forum for assistance with your install as your computer will be out of operation while installing Windows.
If you don't think you can handle it, a local PC/Mac tech can do it for you.
you know on games that you buy they have system requirements what if it ask for a diffrent kind of Graphics gard, like radon or another Geforce type. should i pay attention to those diffrences. What is the rule of thumb on the details techinaly...
Determine your Mac's ability for 3D games

HT4818 When I try to partition my hard drive for Windows 7, I get an error saying The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. I have a 2006 Macbook Pro I believe and I really need assistance as soon as possible.

I have Windows 7 Premium Home and I have downloaded the Drivers and when I click Boot Camp Assistance to partition my hard drive, it says, "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. 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." I can't do any backup really because I don't have an external hard drive to work with. I tried repairing disk permissions but that did not do anything. I really need a lot of help with this with some easy, step-by-step tutorials or something. I believe I have a 2006 version of Macbook Pro(4,1).

Once you have obtained an external drive and connected it you will 'clone' your internal drive to it.
Download Carbon Copy Cloner (it is not free but there is a fully functional trial version which is). Use it to clone your internal drive to your external drive. When that is done you will reboot from the clone and use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive (choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) as the format (this is normally preset, but check). Make sure to give the external drive a 'distinctive' name, don't want to get drives mixed up in this process.
Once that is done you will use Carbon Copy Cloner (from the clone) to restore the external to the internal.

Do I need to partition my hard drive on Mac as I used to on my old PC?

Kindly provide me with your advise. On my old Windows OS pc it was a good practice to partition my hard drive to (e.g. C: and D:) where C: was for system and D: for data (pictures, music, documents etc.). If anything went wrong with the system (virus, any other issue) I simply reinstalled C: from my last restore point done by my back up software (from an external HD) and all was fine. Data on D: were not harmed at all.
DO I NEED TO CARRY THIS PRACTICE OVER TO MAC OR CAN I SIMPLY JUST HAVE ONE DRIVE(NOT SPLIT TO TWO OR MORE)?
PS: I know there are almost no viruses or malware for Mac so no need to point that out. Thank you

Thank you for both of your answers. At the same time I am back to square one
David, yes I do know back up. I have Time Machine running and backing up to my external HD as I type. I am also considering starting to use CCC to create an alternative to TM (as there seems to be a bit of confusion as to how it works, what it keeps and what it eventually dumps. It appears to work in a way where if you want to make sure your data is REALLY backed up you have to have the file on your primary HD at least 8 days so they make it to the weekly back up which stays until your back up drive fills up).
Anyone, any thoughts on the partition on Macs? Go for it or do not worry and keep just one?

How do I partition my hard drive on the MacBook for 2 operating systems?

I am looking to partition the hard drive on my MacBook, so that I can use Leopard on half, and Windows on the other half. However,I don't know how to do this?
I personally would like it to be all Mac, but as my work applications and operating system is windows, I need to be able to do my work in windows...Help!
Also, I am looking to buy a new internal hard drive for my MacBook, somewhere between 250 GB and 500 GB. I wonder where I could get a good quality, and affordable MacBook hard drive from? It must be an internal hard drive, and must be a good quality product that doesn't hurt my machine.
All help and thoughts are appreciated!
Regards

[HERE'S|http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Ne=5000&Ntt=2.5harddrive&Ntk=Primary&Ns=P_Price%7c0&N=6892] a site that I like for finding HD's and memory.
As far as windows goes, you need to decide how you're going to run it on your machine. Duo-boot like BootCamp or virtualization like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion. Once determined, they each have their methods for allocation of disk drive space for windows. BootCamp works you through partitioning your drive while Parallels and VMWare sets up a virtual drive in the size you determine.
From experience, you will need less space for windows than you think. I made a 30GB virtual drive for xp and ended up cutting it back to about 8GB.
-GDF

How do I partition my hard drive for boot camp?

Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro1,2
Processor Name:          Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed:          2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          2 MB
Memory:          2 GB
Bus Speed:          667 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          MBP12.0061.B03
SMC Version (system):          1.5f10
Serial Number (system):
Hardware UUID:          00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CB982183
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State:          Enabled
Okay so this is my machine. I want to run Boot Camp and to install Windows XP onto the machine as I need to use certain windows programmes for my business as well as the Mac stuff.
I have no idea how to partition some of my free 26gb space to create a drive to install windows onto?
Can any help please?

dpx wrote:
If you do really want to partition your hard drive then you need to look in your utilities folder for disk utility.
Once this is open, click on your hard drive image in the left hand column and then you will see a partition tab. Here you can split your HD into two partitions. Call one of them XP or something like that so that you know where to install windows.
It's quite safe and you can always go back to one big partition if things do not work out.
Remember though to backup first...
To the OP
Do not heed this advice, you should use Boot Camp Assistant to create the partition for Boot Camp, do not use Disk Utility.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion installed. I have partitioned the hard drive into two partitions. Is it possible to install Snow Leopard on the second partition? If so how do I do it?

I have a 15" MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion installed. I have partitioned the hard drive into two partitions. Is it possible to install Snow Leopard on the second partition? If so how do I do it?

If your MacBook Pro had Snow Leopard on it at one time then sure. (Early 2011 or earlier)
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Obviously choose the second partition to install into. It has to be OS X Extended journaled formatted in Disk Utility (BootCamp software makes it a MSDOS/FAT32 formatted partition if you used that to partition with)
If it's a Early 2011 or Late 2011 that came with 10.7, it's possible, but it's not easy.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3264421?start=0&tstart=0
If you can't install Snow Leopard, there is a thread over at MacRumors how to run Snow Leopard in a virtual machine program under 10.7 or 10.8

Hi, I have macbook Pro, running Leopard OS X. I partitioned my hard drive a while ago to install windows and only allowed myself 10 Gig of data. Anyway, i deleted windows and want another OSX on there instead. How do i make this partition bigger please??

Hi, I have macbook Pro, running Leopard OS X. I partitioned my hard drive a while ago to install windows and only allowed myself 10 Gig of data. I deleted windows after i realised i wasnt enjoying using it at all and wasted my hard drive. I now decided that i want another OSX on there instead yet i have only allowed myself 10 gb on the partition. I have ben thru some programms but am struggling on making this partition bigger.
I only want it at 20gb but cant seem to make the partition bigger, only smaller or split it into further partition.
Is there a way to do this, i have all installation discs from original OSX so think this could help.
Any help please would be fantastic.
Thanks Chris

Hi, dragging the partition will only make smaller, not larger. In disk utility you can only split or make smaller the partitions. Yes i booted from installation disks also but still no help.
And Brody, I am willing to erase the disc completely, infact jus started doing a backup in order to do so but that failed also. And the information you gave on partition a hard drive, Although very simple and i already know how to do this, but it wont let me make the partition bigger, and i dont want to make a new partition, just enlarge the one i already have, which i dont see possible from disk utility.
Getting really frustrated now, even backing up is saying no to me. **** external being a douche.
I dont mind erasing the hard drive but surely this must be doable without deleting the secondary partition back t a single volume, and re partitioning into 2 volumes again.
Thanks again

Partition of hard drive to run 10.7 on one and 10.10 on the other

Anyone know if I can partition my hard drive on my MacBook to run OS 10.7 on one and
OS 10.10 on the other?
The reason is that I have business programs that will not run on the latest version
without an expensive upgrade.
And one program is not written yet for the upgraded OS.

If that's true, then do not disturb the 10.7 partition. Instead you want to divide it to create space for another partition. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. You will see two entries in the sidebar list - an outdented one and an indented one. The latter is your Lion volume. But you need to select the outdented entry then click on the Partition tab in Disk Utility's main window. You should now see a partition map. Part of the map is blue (this is the used part) and part is white (this is the free space.) At the bottom you will see two buttons. Click the Add [+] button. Disk Utility will divide your disk space in half if it can. You must then select the lower rectangle and re-size it to what you want to allocate to Yosemite. I suggest it be no smaller than 50 GBs. Leave the upper portion for your Lion installation. However, be sure you are not over-writing an of the blue part in the partition map or you will lose data. Last click on the Apply button and wait. It may take a while for the process to complete so be patient.
When it's done you can now install Yosemite on the new partition. If you have the Yosemite installer then when you run it be sure to change the target drive to the Yosemite partition on your drive so it doesn't overwrite the Lion partition.

Can I partition my hard drive to hold Windows 8 (Beta), instead of Windows 7, and can I do this with an external CD drive?

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