Partition w/o erase?

Just got my iBook repaired by AppleCare. I want to repartition the hard drive, and I was wondering if there is any way to add a partition with out erasing everything already on it. (It would be a pain for me to use the Tiger disk to install, and then to have to do a software update on everything) I guess I could carbon copy clone my the iBook and then partition it and carbon copy clone back the old OS? Does this work? Any other ideas? Thanks.

Thank you. So I guess I ought to use Carbon Copy Cloner. Do I have to use the root folder of the target external drive, or is there a way I can create a folder on the external and carbon copy clone my laptop to that folder? Thanks.

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Converting ext disks to GUID partition scheme without erasing

I've got a few external hard drives that I've been using for a few years, and I just tried to encrypt them...only to be told by OS X that they need to have the GUID partition scheme. Is there a way to give them this without erasing their contents? They're big drives and close to full. Most of them are backup drives, so I'd really prefer not to erase them, nor do I want to buy a new drive just to use as a copy machine.

Unfortunately, you do need to erase the drive to partition GUID
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1600

Partitioning - does it erase data?

I have MacFuse, which is meant to enable my Macbook to write to a NTFS formatted external hard drive, a Maxtor Basics 500gb.
I need to partition the hard drive, so it has a Mac part and a Windows part. Can someone advise whether partitioning is safe, ie will it erase the existing data? How can I partition without erasing existing data?

Thanks for prompt response. Is there an easy and cheap way to back up the contents of the external hard drive, given that my Macbook (120gb) is full, and I am wanting to shift files from the MacBook to the external hard drive ... I assume I need to back up the external hard drive to another device ... can I copy its contents to my time capsule before I partition? then I would have the external hard drive's data somewhere else ... Will MacFuse enable me to do this, as previously I couldn't write from the external hard drive to Time Capsule.

New SSD won't partition, repair or erase.

I have a new crucial mx100 SSD. I have it hooked up to a USB SATA cable. Disk utility wont unmount the drive for the most part. At one point i got it to unmount but then it stuck while creating the partition table and didn't move from there. I have looked around on forums quite a bit and none of the solutions ive looked at have worked for me. My existing HDD is still in the computer and working fine.

I'm using a powerbook g4 12" with OS X leopard....also I got it on ebay for $199 new. And though I had never heard of them either, the size to price ratio was great and the read/write speeds were twice as fast as Transcend SSD's. So I figured why not...It is a ATA hard drive so it should have been plug and play, but for what ever reason it wont partition. Any help would be great.
I ordered an external enclosure from Newegg and I'm going to try and partition it that way tomorrow. I also bought a 64gb Transcend SSD in case this drive doesn't work. I'll keep you updated...thanks!

External Hard Drive Partition, Erased Files. HELPPPP!

Something went wrong and has now "erased" all my files on my external hard drive (used for backing up with TM), after adding a partition second partition. I did not install anything onto the newly created partition as my focus was then distracted by the fact that all my data had now been erased.
This should not have happened as I followed every step carefully and thoroughly from this link: http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU3.html
I wanted to boot Snow Leopard from my external hard drive. So I used Disk Utility to add a partition on my external hard drive (clicking the + sign). The drive had around 264 GB (shaded in blue), with approximately 34GB free. So I type the newly desired partition of 8GB. Disk Utility was saying explicitly that "this partition will not be erased", referring to the original partition of 264GB that will become approximately 272GB, the one that contains all my files. I say to myself, okay, that is safe as it is telling me my files will not be erased.
With the partitions split and my original data of 264GB still shaded in blue, I click apply.
A box prompts me to confirm partition, reading:
"Partitioning this disk will change some of the partitions. No partitions will be erased"
This partition will be added:
"Snow Leopard HD"
This Partition will be resized:
"My Passport"
So obviously I confirm and click Partition...
It took about 30 seconds or under to partition and then I noticed my original partition was no longer shaded in blue but was completely empty
I open my external hard drive in Finder and none of my files are visible.
I open Time Machine and it is not displaying any of my back ups and will no longer back up. Its says Latest Backup: Failed i
So I click on the i button and it says:
Time Machine Error
The backup volume could not be found.
At this point I am panicking! I followed every step correctly and it clearly stated no files would be erased.
What has happened here? and how can I retrieve my lost files?
Disk Description : WD My Passport 071A Media
Format : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partion Table.

JOHN YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM USING DISK DRILL RIGHT NOW AND IT IS SCANNING AND LISTINIG ALL MY FILES! EXCUSE THE CAPITALS BUT I AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOUR HELP! AHHH
NEXT STEP IS TO RECOVER IT ONCE SCANNING IS DONE! IT IS LOOKING PROMISING AS I AM LISTENING TO THE MUSIC FOUND ON MY HARD DRIVE WHILE SCANNING IS TAKING PLACE
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

Boot Camp Error - Erased Partition?

I erased windows partition as instructed, finished my work and restarted the computer... it opens up in windows. I search, and discover my OSX partition has been erased. All my files were on there, university work, music, photographs! Is there any way of getting that back? Preferably for free/cheeply.

I backed up the section I was supposed to be deleting, and followed the instructions provided using Boot Camp and Disk utility to erase the windows partition. Thanks for the info.
Edit: I also need something that will work on Windows to recover a Mac OS drive.
Message was edited by: Kittykat123123

Partitioning External Drive w/o Erasing Data

I have one 500GB external drive (USB) that I want to partition. I have 85GB on data on it now and really don't want to copy it back to the Mac HD (if at all possible).
When I run Disk Utility/Partition and select 2 partitions, it allows me to shrink either partition to ~52GB - smaller than my current data size. So I'm not confident what I am doing will partition w/o erasing data.
The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
My eventual goal is to use SuperDuper for a clone backup. I'm using the free version that only allows erase & copy. If I purchase SD, could I add a clone to the external w/o erasing existing data?
Any other suggestions?

yes you can.
quote from disk utility help:
Creating new volumes on a disk
You may be able to create multiple volumes on your disk without losing any data. Each volume works like a separate disk. You may need to create a new volume if you want to install multiple operating systems on your computer. Volumes can also help you organize your files.
NOTICE: Back up your data before creating new volumes on your disk as a precaution.
To create new volumes on a disk:
Select the disk from the list at the left, and click Partition.
Select an existing volume in the Volume Scheme list, and click Add .
Disk Utility splits the volume into two, leaving the data in one of the new volumes. If the volume is less than half-full, Disk Utility creates two volumes of equal size. Otherwise. it creates one volume large enough for the data, and another volume with the remaining space.
Resize the volumes as needed.
You can drag the dividers between the volumes in the Volume Scheme list, or you can select a volume in the Volume Scheme list, and then enter a value in the Size field.
Choose how to format the volumes that will be erased or created.
For each new volume, select it, enter a name, and then choose a format.
Click Apply.

Exclamation mark folder, find a mac, erase, partitioning woes

Hi. Variations on this topic have been posted many times
and I've gone through many many many. I hope not to offend those who see this as duplication.
I have iPod 20gb dock connector. Pre-click wheel.
Have used on Windows XP for 1.5 years, no real trouble.
All of a sudden, the dreaded exclamation point/folder icon.
I tried all of the suggestions. It would not recognize the iPod. One suggestion I found a few times was to use a mac.
I have a new mac mini and planned to migrate iPod to that box anyway, so I tried.
Tried using Disk utility to Erase, per suggestions.
First try failed with input/output error. So I changed security option to write zeros. This seemed to work but then got stuck in creating partitions and never got out of it. I left it overnight.
Tried again with seven times over option. It is currently on pass 4 of 7.
I have all my music backed up, I don't need any info from the iPod, just to be able to use it again.
Any suggestions?
To re-state, Reset/Restore attempts are not successful.
Reset always goes back to disk mode.
Restore unsuccessful because iPod Updater software does not see it.

FOR SUGGESTION: See last paragraph...
MY PROBLEM:
I have a Mac formatted 4th Gen. iPod (B/W, click wheel, no photo). Have had problems with functionalitiy, (will not respond {click wheel}, will not mount, verify or erase in Disk Utility, Image usually will not appear on desktop) and when I charge it (wall socket) sometimes does not show the battery charging. Get both the "frowning iPod" and the ("!" Folder) when I reset... Have tried to restore (iPod updater) and it usually fails, although it inconsistantly says it restores (image appears on desktop), then fails to import and freezes my iTunes, Disk Utility and iPod updater as well as my G4 Quicksilver and my Power Mac G5. I have had this for just over one year (no more warrenty) and my battery is losing charge. I just used my (over the counter) Tiger DVD (as start-up disk) and tried using Disk Utility (twice). I've been working on this for a week now and I am at the point of opening the "**** thing" myself.
But a glimmer of hope has appeared after the last Tiger Disk Utility. It seems that after the last(Tgr.Dsk.Uty. and iPod restore) I have found 2 partitions; an Apple OS Ext Journaled and a Windows FAT 12 (not 32). Yes that is weird! Although the FAT 12 does take up 32 MB of space (just looked at it in D.U. partitions) and it seems to be the culpret of why my D.U. won't complete a First Aid or Verify or anything else for that matter. I want(ed) to have an iPod to use on both Windows and Macs but haven't been able to partition anything that works on both so far and I'm not sure if I should take this opportunity to "run with it (Fat 12)" or just restore again and get my Mac functionality back. Does anybody have a suggestion about 2 partitons (Mac/Windows) or should I just feel lucky and restore one more time?
MY SUGGESTION:
My suggestion here would be to use your Mac and it's DVD start-up/restore disk, (use it as your start-up disk and look at the top under utilities). First run a disk utility, a first aid, a partition and an erase (zero out) your iPod. Then run your iPod Restore a couple of times after restarting (be sure your iPod is fully charged through a wall socket first)... Good luck!
PowerMac G5, Dual 1.8 GHz, Superdrive, 2 GB DDR SDRAM Mac OS X (10.4.5) ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D: 4th Gen. iPod B/W screen

Spinning beach ball while erasing & partitioning new internal drive?

Is this normal. The beachball has been spinning for the last hour. I dont know how long the erasing & partitioning should take but I cant find out if it is working okay by checking the LOG because of spinning ball. Any ideas folks? Tracy

I seem to have this problem, although I don;t get the beach ball. Whenever I want to erase a partition, I click erase and wait for what seems like hours. After hours, it still says "preparing to erase disk". Any ideas?

Can't erase a disc that has no partitions

I have a drive that sudenly stopped showing up in Finder. I took a look at it in the Disc Utility and for some reason the partition disappeared. Erasing the disc doesn't work, says that it couldn't unmount the disc. Same with partitioning. What can I do?

It doesn't let me neither verify nor repair the disc. Doesn't let me do anything with it, really.

Will using a 10.6 disc to partition my OS 10.4 iMac erase my files?

I want to partition my iMac running OS 10.4. From my other Mac, I have an OS 10.6 disc to use for the Install disc.
I checked with Mac help, and it reads,
"Partitioning a disk erases all the files on the disk. If you have any files on the disk you want to save, be sure to make a copy of them on another disk before you partition the disk."
Will the partition I don't select for 10.6 installation maintain 10.4 with all my stored files?

Here is what I'm looking at in Help followed by clarification of my question.
To partition your startup disk:
Insert the Mac OS X Install disc and restart the computer.
When you hear the startup tone, hold down the C key until you see the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
When the Installer appears, choose Utilities > Disk Utility.
Select your disk from the list, and click Partition.
Select how you want to partition the disk and any options you want, then click the Partition button at the bottom of the window.
Quit Disk Utility.
When the Installer opens again, you can install Mac OS X on one of the partitions.
If you want to use another disk as the start-up disk, choose Utilities > Startup Disk and choose it.
I have my files in 10.4 backed up on cd's. I'm asking the question so I know how much time will be involved to get my Mac back in order after partitioning.
To put the question another way,
If I use the 10.6 disc for Install (step 7), will I then have to install 10.4 again on the other partition?

Erasing the content of a partition

My external hard drive is divided into three partitions. I would like to erase the contents of one of those partitions without affecting the contents of the other partitions and keeping the same number of partitions. Is this possible and if so how would I do this?

Just open Disk Utility in Applications -> Utilities, select the said partition, and select Erase.
It won't affect the other partitions.

Really still need EBS (Erase Block Size) for partitioning a SSD?

The Arch wiki mentions that when partitioning an SSD you need to align the partitions to the erase block size (see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ate_drives ). There are a lot of how-to-partition-an-ssd-under-linux which also mention this value, even an online calculater.
Those value are known for a lot of the serious models, among them also the Samsung 840 Pro and EVO. As I already asked in an older thread, I would like to know the value for the current model Samsung 850 Pro. Unfortunately Samsung Germany's support refuses to provide me with those values.
Therefore I ask myself, is it still necessary to align partititions to a multiple of the EBS, or is this unnecessary if the device supports TRIM?
Thanks!

Did you read the section immediately after the one you linked? https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ng_tools_2
In past, proper alignment required manual calculation and intervention when partitioning. Many of the common partition tools now handle partition alignment automatically:
To verify a partition is aligned, query it using /usr/bin/blockdev as shown below, if a '0' is returned, the partition is aligned
Is that not sufficient for your purposes?
Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2014-11-04 18:55:37)

Can I partition a 1tb hard drive and also run time machine on that hard drive

I have a 1TB external hard drive which s currently running for Time machine only.
I was hoping to be able to partition the EHD so that 500GB would be for the Time Machine side and the other 500GB would be used as an ecternal storage [ a friend of mine has just lent me a 250gb hard drive with a load of tv series which i want to be able to copy].
Can anyone tell me if this is possible and if so how do i do it.
I know that Time Machine is running now but I don't mind starting all over again.

Yes it is possible, but it is generally not a good idea. That being said, if you decide to use the EHD for another purpose, partitioning it is the best solution. How big is your internal HD? It is recommended for a TM partition to be 2X as large as your internal drive, and it must be at least the size of your internal HD in order to be used.
In order to partition:
1) Connect the EHD
2) Open Disk Utility and select the drive
3) Click the "partition" tab and drag the original partition to its desired size.
4) Click "Apply" to create the secondary partition.
Resizing the TM partition will not erase it.

Can I use gpt to recreate/unerase a partition table? (Rebuild the GPT/GUID partition table?) I don't want to do FILE recovery.

(Yes, I've googled a bunch and read threads like this one already.)
Can I use gpt or some other app to recreate/unerase a partition table? That is, how can I rebuild a disk's GPT/GUID partition table?) I don't want to do FILE recovery.
What happened: Instead of erasing a single partition off a disk with many partitions, the entire partition table was erased (using Disk Utility, w/o deleting the underlying files). Somehow the "Erasing a disk deletes all data on all its partitions." warning message was missed.
I have a copy of the output of df, with the number of blocks in each partition, from just prior to the erasure, so I should be able to recreate the GPT/GUID partition table. Editing the GPT with a hex editor is not feasible. Simply recreating the partitions with Disk Utility will overwrite the key filesystem tables on each partition, and I don't want to do that, plus Disk Utility doesn't allow me to specify exact partition sizes anyway.
Surely there's an app for rebuilding the partition table (other than emacs' hexl-mode!) for recreating/unerasing a partition table when the partition sizes and orders are known? I've looked at the advertising for a bunch of recovery software and none of them clearly indicate that they will do what I want.
I guess I can try using gpt on a copy of the reformatted drive I've made with dd, and see what happens. But perhaps someone knows of a tool that should do what I need, or knows if gpt is that tool or not.
There are answers and tools that will do FILE recovery - search for files and recover the ones that aren't fragmented or deleted. As far as I can find, they just look for files on the disk, and don't pay much, if any attention to the filesystem info or directory heirarchy, which in this case is valuable. Of course I could send it in to DriveSavers, or the like. But none of that seems necessary, and the scavenging file recovery apps won't do the job well,
E.g. some are mentioned here:
I don't want to do FILE recovery.
Thanks for any help.
The links in this post are to pages describing the underlined term, e.g. the man pages for df and gpt.
dd output includes:
Filesystem
512-blocks
Used Available Capacity Mounted on

Aperture has the ability to work with files in their existing location. They are called "referenced masters." When you import images, you should select the "In their current location" in the "Store Files:" drop down box. Have a read of the documentation for full specifics. Unsure how you can resolve your duplication; might be some work but next time have a read of the manual first
Information for versions is stored in the Aperture database (library file). The masters can be inside the library file itself, or they can be somewhere else.

Partition w/o erase?

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