NTFS Boot Camp Backup Instructions

Step by step instructions for the creation of an NTFS back-up image Bootcamp file using Apple (OEM) OS X 10.8.4 software, no additional software required. Must have an external back-up disk, I recommend the Western Digital My Passport Air for under a hundred dollars at the Apple store . Bootcamp image can be stored onto the same hard drive the OS X is imaged onto from Time Machine.
Following are instructions to create Bootcamp Backup Image file:
Open Finder
Select Applications
Select Disk Utility
Select "Bootcamp"
Select "New Image" (create a disk image from disk or device).
Save as: Bootcamp
Where: My Passport Air (destination drive)
Image Format: read-only
Encryption: none
"Cats rule" kittyboy

Hi Sakahara,
right now WinClone is indeed the best solution for Windows backup, at least for me.
According to this User Tip http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1964018 you can put the backup image file onto a Time Machine drive, but it is not recommended.
I myself put the image file onto my OSX partition and at the next usage of SuperDuper it is cloned as well.
Regards
Stefan

Similar Messages

Difficulties in following Boot Camp assistant instructions

Hi,
I am following the Boot camp guide instructions to open up Boot Camp assistant to do partitioning for installing of Windows 7 OS.
Upon clicking the Boot camp assistant icon, after software update, from Utilities folder, there are 2 options given to me: (a) download the windows support software for this Mac. (b) I have already downloaded the windows support software. I click the download option, (a) and hit 'continue' icon. A message box popped up with the message: The startup disk cannot be partitoned or restored to a single partition." and with the only possible icon to click "ok", which brought me back to the earlier window with the 2 options, (a) and (b). Clicking on (b), brought me to the same earlier message. The whole process is a closed loop and I can't move on, either clicking (a) or (b), which are the only 2 options to click.
See screenshots:
Pls advise how can I move on from here in using the boot camp assistant to partition? Or is there any other way to partition and move on to the real task of installing Windows OS 7?

Open disk utility, how many partitons are on your HD? Boot camp can only run if your HD is in 1 partition.
If you only see 1 partition, repair permissions for that HD and try boot camp assistant again.

Boot Camp Backup

I was wondering how Mac Pro users are backing up boot camp?
What method works best for you?
The Boot camp installer will not allow you to install Boot Camp on a Mac hard drive with more than one partition on it. Has anyone gotten around this limitation?
Thank you!

I was wondering how Mac Pro users are backing up boot camp?
I don't. My Parallels drive image does however.
The Boot camp installer will not allow you to install Boot Camp on a Mac hard drive with more than one partition on it. Has anyone gotten around this limitation?
Yes. The trick is to not use Boot Camp apart from the Drivers CD and to manually partition the drive. What you need to do is to partition the drive using the Master Boot Record partitioning scheme and have the Windows partition the first partition. That will enable it to appear as the C drive and from there you can do what you like. Please be aware that I've not tried this with an internal SATA drive (as they're all used by my RAID 0), only an internal PATA drive.
Mac OS X will in fact boot from a drive partitioned in this way although you cannot directly install Mac OS X to it. You will need to install it elsewhere and then use cloning tool to get it onto the partition. Once that is done it all works correctly including the Startup DIsk System Preference and the Startup Manager on boot (holding down the Option/Alt key).
I have an internal 300GB PATA paritioned this way with 40GB for Windows, 30GB for a Mac OS X boot sandbox and the rest as a scratch/junk drive. Both the Windows and Mac OS X partitions are unmounted at startup using a custom startup item.

NTFS Boot Camp volume seen as FAT32 with MAC OS X Lion

Hi,
I have a strange behavior.
I receive my new iMac (27', 16GB Ram, 3.4Ghz i7, 2GB Graphic card).
Time machine restore was perfect. Then I ran Bootcamp Partition.
Then I have launched win 7 DVD install, Quick Format in NTFS and restore from win7 backup.
Well Win 7 run well (with bootcamp 4.0). I can restart under Mac OS X Lion.
And there the BootCamp Volume appears empty as a FAT32 Volume.
I have tried to unmount it, then try a mount_ntfs (i/o error message in terminal).
So I anoying with that because I can't brows my NTFS Vootcamp and can't launch my BootCamp Win 7 through Vmware fusion (4) !
Does any one met this behavior before ?
thanks for your help,
Regards
Jérémie

If you used a Windows supported backup method using wim file I would run sysprep on that image file. If you made a vhd backup you can boot it on another Windows box in the Windows VM or use VMWare Fussion is will see a vhd. Like The hatter said dissimilar hardware is usually asking for trouble. I had a similar issue once and did this:
1. Uninstall vmware, and reboot
2. Install vmware and all the updates for vmware making sure it was completely up to date
3. Used OS X disk utility to repair the disk permissions.
4. Added the bootcamp part as a bootable vm
Also I have Paragon and it works great since Lion is unable to write to NTFS, Lion is able to read NTFS.

How do I write to my boot camp partition with Paragon NTFS that comes with Mountain Lion? Or how do I get my boot camp partition to show up in Paragon's "Available NTFS partitions:" panel like my external hard drive does?

I've just set up boot camp on my MacBookPro with a freshly installed Mountain Lion and Windows 7.
I would like to read and write in both directions from drive to drive if possible. I've hunted around quite a bit to try and work this out, and so far I understand that one can write to or transfer files from one drive to the other with Paragon NTFS among other softwares.
I noticed when I looked in my system preferences the utility "Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X" came with Mountain Lion and it will recognize an external hard drive when I have one plugged in under "Available NTFS partitions:". However, it does not automatically recognize my NTFS boot camp partition nor does it automatically give me write access.
Is the Paragon NTFS that comes with Mountain Lion limited in some way?
Do I still need to purchase and download the software of the same name from Paragon to get the full write privilidges I want or is there something I can do to get the version of Paragon on my MAC to recognize and give me write priviledges to my boot camp partition?
I'm open to all suggestions to get the read / write access between partitions in my boot camped drive.
MacFUSE is also listed in the System Preferences of my machine (it also came with Mountain Lion), if that helps. I'm still working out exactly what each of these is supposed to do and how I can use it to accomplish the task at hand.
My boot camp drive does appear normally in other contexts and in disk utility it indicates that the drive is mounted.
Thank you for any guidance you can give me.

Interesting. Comes with? you didn't have either before? Paragon is commercial and is now v. 10.0, they were the only one keeping updated and was supporting 10.7.4. I would not enable more than one.
For writing to HFS Paragon has theirs but probably give the nod to MacDrive there.
I never do an upgrade to a new OS over the old system, I backup (clone) and format the drive with the new OS and do the install so whatever is there I know is clean and also to keep from carrying around leftovers from years and systems past.
I would assme Paragon is limited. Try their site and knowledge base?
MacDrive
http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive
Paragon HFS
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/
Paragon NTFS
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

Windows 8.0 pro needs an NTFS drive but boot camp didn't make one

Just got a new macbook pro and went through the steps to get windows 8 pro on the machine as well. all seemed to go well until windows asked which drive to install windows on. I selected the one i had partitioned to 50gb.
Error. windows needs an NTFS drive to install to.
Any ideas?
I've read some ways of "turning on" NTFS support on the mac book but as Apple doesn't "support" it, will I be putting my machine at risk for technical help from Apple if I do the command line stuff?
It seems pretty silly to go through all these steps and then find that the drive that has been partitioned isn't the correct version.
Any help gratefully received.
Shaun

You are not following the Boot Camp Installation instructions located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/. You do not format the Boot Camp partition, you follow the instructions about formatting, especially the part about selecting the advance option and selecting format.

Win 8.1, iMac Retina 3TB Fusion, Yosemite, Boot Camp fail!

I've got a new iMac Retina with the 3TB Fusion drive on which I wanted to install Win 8.1 using Boot Camp. I have VMWare Fusion installed and running, but figured Boot Camp might be better for my needs.
I read the Boot Camp Assistant instructions and it looked like it would be pretty easy to install Win 8.1. WRONG!
I hooked up a USB HD for the driver download, hooked up the USB Apple DVD drive with the Win 8.1 installer, and started up Boot Camp Assistant.
Assistant downloaded the drivers, created the BOOTCAMP partition, then I got into the Win 8.1 installer. Reached a screeching halt when the installer got to the point of selecting where Win 8.1 would be installed. Got the error message about BOOTCAMP partition not being an NTFS drive.
Only one button "Format" to click to make the format NTFS. Confirmed I wanted to format, saw a brief spinning wheel, then supposedly formatting was done. Now Drive 1 Partition 4 lost the "BOOTCAMP" name and displayed no name. The "Next" button wouldn't do anything. I was stuck!
So no go on installing Win 8.1! Booting back into Yosemite and opening Disk Utility I see the Boot Camp partition, now named "untitled," identified as an NTSF volume!
I see a number of posts here where by using Terminal it is possible to work around problems with Fusion drives and Boot Camp.
My solution was to start Boot Camp Assistant and select the third option on the first screen to remove the Boot Camp partition. Well at least that worked!!! So I'm back to ground zero!
For now I think I'll just surrender and wait for Apple to figure out how somebody, who doesn't want to dig deep into the bowels of Fusion drives via Terminal, can install Win 8.1 on a 3TB Fusion drive (or any Fusion Drive?).

Thanks Loner T for your response. I don't have any third party NFTS software. At this point I don't think it is worth the effort to attempt to do anything complicated.
I did take some screen grabs and photos as I went through the install for the fourth or fifth time.
1) Disk Utility before start:
2) Create the Windows partition:
3) Initial Windows partitions:
4) Windows message on why can't install
5) Hit the "Format" button, and get this confirmation:
6) Results in partition name getting wiped, and still no active "Next" button:
7) Still can't install Windows, hit "Show Details" and get this error message.
8) Another attempt to "Format" results in the same problem. Still can't install. Boot back into Yosemite. Here's what Disk Utility now shows -- an "untitled" NTFS volume:
Here's the finder window showing the "untitled" volume:
The NTFS partition is there, but the Win 8.1 installer can't use it. Yes, it makes no sense, but that's what is going on!
Here's info from Terminal on CS I see used here if it helps any:
iMac-Retina:~ victor$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         2.8 TB     disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         198.9 GB   disk1s4
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS iMac Retina HD         *2.9 TB     disk2
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2
                                 5A16E295-8476-4500-A588-7DE44FE207B4
                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive
iMac-Retina:~ victor$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 26BFCEFD-67DB-4AAE-BA18-4CC5EC205697
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         2921855311872 B (2.9 TB)
    Free Space:   114688 B (114.7 KB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 88BDD48F-B9A0-42F9-A05A-26B828B211C9
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume BEDB41F3-F2BC-4F31-B08F-A4B3E476A153
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk1s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     2800866459648 B (2.8 TB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 536F7EC4-2FC3-4878-989E-233DF25AE1E7
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 5A16E295-8476-4500-A588-7DE44FE207B4
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          2915999940608 B (2.9 TB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               iMac Retina HD
            Volume Name:           iMac Retina HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
iMac-Retina:~ victor$
Unless you see a simple solution, it's not worth the hassle at this point for me.
Thanks for your interest.

Hi i am trying to install windows to my macbook through boot camp and i get this message Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server.!!!what can i do???please help me!

Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server. this is the message that i get a few days now that i am trying to install windows through boot camp to my macbook!does anybody knows what i can do????

You keep it on the usb stick for after you boot into Windows. From Windows you install the Windows Support software on the stick. Do you realize that you need to buy and install Windows? The Windows Support software you downloaded is only the Windows drivers for your hardware.
Read the Boot Camp installation instructions and help guides located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

I receive the following message under Boot Camp Assistant: "Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server.

I am trying to install the software drivers for Windows 7 Home using Boot Camp 4 Assistant. I receive the following message: "Can't install software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server." Why is this happening?

You keep it on the usb stick for after you boot into Windows. From Windows you install the Windows Support software on the stick. Do you realize that you need to buy and install Windows? The Windows Support software you downloaded is only the Windows drivers for your hardware.
Read the Boot Camp installation instructions and help guides located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Boot Camp Question

Hi,
I followed the Boot Camp Assistant instructions for installing Windows 8.1 on my iMac Retina 27" 5K OS X Yosemite. Everything seemed to work as described. I created an .iso image of Windows on a 64 GB USB 3.0 flash drive; created the partition and selected the Boot Camp partition and format. Within a few it returned to the select partition screen and indicated it could not install Windows on said partition. ( I do not recall exact wording of error.) That was were I had to stop last night.
This morning, I checked Disk Utility and it shows the partition I created, as Untitled and it is the correct size and the Macintosh HD. It also shows the flash drive with WININSTALL on it. However, when I opened Boot Camp Assistant it took me to the Select Tasks window on which Remove Windows 7 or later version is the only option checked. I have gone no further.
Is there a way to try to complete the Windows installation? Have I missed something? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

You can try this. Power cycle you Mac and hold the Alt/Option Key. If your USB installer was created correctly, you should see two options, Windows and EFI Boot. Try Windows first (which uses the legacy BIOS/MBR method). If you get an error for inappropriate partitioning mismatch (GPT vs MBR), repeat and choose EFI Boot.
BCA is expected to allow an EFI installation on UEFI-compliant machines, but seems to behave inconsistently.

I bought windows 7 download online and started setting up boot camp but it says to insert the windows 7 disk so how do i do this?

i bought windows 7 download online and started setting up boot camp but it says to insert the windows 7 disk so how do i do this?
plz help me

Hi Jaimie,
To install Windows via Boot Camp you will need to have a copy of Windows on a physical dvd disc.
If your purchase provides you with an ".ISO" file then you can simply burn this to a DVD and then follow the standard Boot Camp installation instructions.
Boot Camp instructions: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf
If you get stuck, just let me know the website you purchased Windows 7 from and I might be able to help you out.
Cheers

Boot camp setup

boot camp set up in Mountain Lion: what is the purpose of the Mac Windows support software and do I use it after partioning the disk and installing Windows?
Thanks

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
The purpose, in a nutshell, is to load the hardware drivers for your computer into Windows so that Windows can use your computer's hardware such as keyboard, wifi, display, etc.
Read the Boot Camp Install instructions, provided in the link above. The drivers are installed from within Windows.
And, visit the Boot Camp forum. https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp
If you are using Mountain Lion you should change your user profile that currently says you are using Snow Leopard.

Boot Camp not booting

Hi! I've just tried to install Windows on a MBA using a thrid party USB DVD-ROM. The DVD-ROM workes fine, and has external power. I just installed OS X using it, with no problems.
When I run the Boot Camp Assistant it says to reboot, and insert the Windows-CD. I do so, i reboots, and the Apple-logo appears. It stays for some time, and suddenly it changes between the Apple-logo, a stop sign and a folder with a quiestion mark on it.
Is it not possible to use third party DVD-ROMs when installing Windows?

See, How to use Remote Disc to share DVDs or CDs on a Mac or Windows-based.
The question mark indicates a problem with one or more system files needed by OS X during startup. First thing you can try is:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
However, if that doesn't work you will have to re-install OS X. You may be able to do this using Archive and Install so you won't have to erase the hard drive:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
I believe you misunderstood the instructions for installing Windows on a Boot Camp partition. Once the partition is created you need to insert a Windows installer disc, but you don't reboot. Boot Camp will automatically run the Windows installer. Please be sure you read the Boot Camp documentation carefully as well as carefully follow the Boot Camp Assistant instructions as you proceed.

Boot camp Win7 issue

Hello everyone, I have a new 15" Macbook Pro and am having problems installing Windows 7 via boot camp. I followed the boot camp installation instructions, and am able to get Win7 to install and setup (user name, date/time, etc.) after that, the computer restarts but will not boot into Win7. When I hold option key at startup and select "Windows," the screen turns black with a blinking grey cursor at the top left of the screen, then the computer restarts and thus repeating the issue.
How can I get past this and get Win7 installed and working correctly?
My specs:
15" MBP
OS X 10.8.1
2.3 GHz Core i7
4GB 1600 MHz DDR3
500GB Hard drive
512MB GeForce GT 650M
Windows 7 Home Premium

I don't know, what did you leave out ? partition was too small? allocated 40GB very minimal while 60GB is more reasonable. 20GB will high likelihood fail.
Windows installed updates that conflict (turn off auto updating and review each, and beware of graphic updates from Windows - that is true even on PC).
Do a safe boot or from DVD and try to go back (may be too early to do even that).
ISO burned to DVDs fail.
You have not yet installed the GT 650M driver, but when you do install Apple support you may need to single that one out and do it again on its own manually.

Windows 7 will only install on an NTFS Formatted disk: boot camp partition not formatted right?

I recently tried to install windows 7 on my Macbook (early 2008 white). Boot camp made the partition and I even got to the Windows install screen, but the partition made by boot camp could not be used to install windows on, because it was in the wrong format, evidently (Error: windows can only be installed on a NTFS disk, or something like that). I tried to find someway to reformat the partition in disk utility, but I don't see anything that could change the format. Please help! (If there isn't a way to fix this, is there at least a way to delete the partition? It's rather annoying having 100 gbs of your harddrive just siting there, unable to be used)
And just a side question, does it matter whether you install Windows 64 bit or 32 bit? The printed-out boot camp guide said only the 32-bit version, but it didn't include anything about Windows 7)
Thank you!
Computer: Early 2008 White Macbook
OS X (10.6.7)
500 GB hard drive
4 GB DDR2 RAM

Hi,
Windows 7 needs its system to be installed on a NTFS formatted partition.
There 's no way to use FAT32 as file system for this.
Pages 8 - 10 of the BootCamp Install Guide http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ describe how-to reformat the partition to NTFS during the Windows installation.
Officially 64-bit Windows 7 is not supported on a 2008 MacBook.
However, there are instructions to be found on how-to do it nonetheless.
Regards
Stefan

NTFS Boot Camp Backup Instructions

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