Partition without erasing disc?

Is there any way to partition a disc without erasing and reformatting? I'm afraid I already know the answer but thought I'd ask anyhow?
Steve

Hi Steven:
As noted, there are a couple of utilities. Drive Genius (from Prosoft Engineering is one, and DiskStudio (from Micromat) is the other.
I've tried Drive Genius once, and was not happy with the results. The new partition with the OS on it booted fine, and I could use the second partition for data, but neither Disk Utility or any Mac OS installer (OS 9 or Panther) would see either partition.
I haven't tried DiskStudio yet, so I don't know whether it's any better. I trust Micromat's other tools (esp. TechTool Pro), but until I have an opportunity to test it on a new system, can't recommend it.
The best solution by far is to clone your system to an external firewire hard drive, partition your internal drive with Disk Utility, then clone your system back.
Andrew Penner

Similar Messages

Can't add a new partition without erasing it all.

Hi! I have a problem in Disk Utility in which I cannot add a partition because the plus button is greyed out. I can select to make two partition in the drop down but that would probably erase everything. All I want to do is add one partition to the existing partition without erasing anything so I can dual boot Windows 8. I can't use boot camp because I can only install Windows 7 since my computer is from 2010. Thanks in advance!

^^^ with pic =).
And then just link your object/text with the standard hyperlink menu!

Resize partitions without erasing existing data

I have one drive (internal), dual partition (OS X 10.5.2 and Vista) and I want to split the volume OS X 10.5.2 in two. I try this using Disk Utility, but one warning was showed: ..changing the partition map may make this disk unbootable using windows"
Is it warning true? What do I expect to happen in case of resizing?
If someone had have any related experience about that, I will appreciate Your advice.

You can resize partitions without losing data but you won't be able to boot into Windows after that. That was a bad experience I had. My first bad experience was to repartition a dual-partition (Tiger+Windows) drive, ignoring the warning. Guess what? Lost everything and had to reinstall both OS.
Mac OS X Extended (journalled) drives can be repartitioned without losing data using the "diskutil" command in the Terminal window. Type "diskutil" and you get a list of available commands.

Partition without Erasing?

I received my 160gb external hard drive from OWC and it is great! I'm using it for music recording, but decided not to partition the drive when I got it.
However, now that I have everything loaded onto it, is there a way I can partition my drive without deleting what is currently on the drive? Or will a partition wipe the whole drive clean?

Not free, but iPartition may be what you're looking for. And it's Universal.

Partitioning External Firewire HD Without Erasing

Hey Guys,
I've done some research regarding partitioning and it seems that I can not find a direct answer to this.
I would like to partition a 750 Gig external firewire Seagate hard drive into 2 partitions without erasing any of the current files. The is no OSX system on this hard drive. (Yes, backing up it always a good thing but I was curious if it can be done in the first place). I don't want to place another OSX system on the new partition either.
When using Disk Utility and clicking on the Partition tab, I clicked on the + button which gave me a second partition and I resized it.
*The top partition of the Volume Scheme reads:*
Storage 1
"To erase and partition the selected disk, choose the volume scheme, set options for each volume, and click Apply. To resize the volumes on the selected disk, drag the deviders between them and click Apply."
*This volume will NOT be erased.*
Size: 461.8 GB
Available Space: 227.6 GB
It is also formatted: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
*The bottom partition of the Volume Scheme reads:*
Storage 1_2
"To erase and partition the selected disk, choose the volume scheme, set options for each volume, and click Apply. To resize the volumes on the selected disk, drag the deviders between them and click Apply."
*A new volume will be created*
Size: 234.4 GB
This will also be formatted: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
The Hard Drive current info states:
Disk Description : Seagate
Connection Bus : FireWire
Connection Type : External
Connection ID : 906767668999250
Total Capacity : 698.6 GB (750,156,374,016 Bytes)
Write Status : Read/Write
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Partition Map Scheme : Apple Partition Map
Back to my original question.. I've read threads where hard drives were being erased, left, right and center using this Partitioning info. Can this drive be partitioned without erasing any of it and how well does it work?
Thank you..

it works exactly as disk utility says. all you had to do was press "apply" this will split your current drive in two with the data on the first partition remaining intact. enter "create new volumes" in disk utility help for details.

Partition without losing info ?

Does anyone know if there is some way I can partition my drive so I can install Ubuntu without losing any info I have ? I seem to remember there was a way but...
Thanks

You can add a partition without erasing the drive using Disk Utility (Leopard or Snow Leopard), as long as Disk Utility can move data around on existing partition(s) to create a contiguous space for the new partition. Whether Linux can be installed on a drive that uses +GUID partition table+ as the partition map scheme, I do not know.
However, before doing something like re-partitioning, or installing Linux on the same drive, you need to make a backup of at least your personal data, or even clone the entire Mac startup volume to another drive. It is always possible for something bad to happen.
I run Ubuntu Linux on my iMac, but I use VWware Fusion. It is seamless and easy. You can use the disk image (.iso) file directly without burning a disc. No separate partition required (and no need to pre-allocate space for its storage), and you can get rid of it with a few clicks of your mouse.

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

How to Install Windows 7 Without the Disc

1a) Here is very useful article from PCWorld.com. The article is entitled "How to Install Windows 7 Without the Disc" and means just what it says. The article also has links to Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder and legitimate Windows 7 ISOs from Digital River, a licensed distributor of Microsoft software. The article lists "Step 1" as;
"Find your Windows 7 product key: Typically this 25-character alphanumeric string is printed on a sticker affixed to your PC or on documentation included with your PC. Alternatively, you can use a keyfinder program such as Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to pull your product key from the Registry. You need your product key to reinstall Windows."
1b) Using a key finder, however, is only useful if the Windows 7 product key was printed on a sticker (Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity) affixed to your PC, on documentation included with your PC, or sent via email by Microsoft. Assuming your computer came from one of the big brand computer manufacturers... HP, Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc... as most do, it uses a generic "mass activation" OEM SLP key. Trying to use this key by itself isn't going to work. This OEM SLP key needs to be mated with an OEM SLP certificate and an appropriate OEM BIOS with a proper SLIC table.
1c) Here is where ABR Beta With Windows 7 Support comes to the rescue. Follow the "How to use it" section of ABR for Windows Vista for information and instructions on how to use ABR. The steps listed for Vista apply to Windows 7 as well. Perform the "activation backup" to "backup" and save the OEM SLP key and OEM SLP certificate. Save the entire ABR folder to an external location for later use. This will allow you to pre-activate your "clean" Windows 7 install on the computer you pulled the key and certificate from.
1d) Now install Windows 7 from your new "Windows 7" disc or USB stick, following all prompts as needed. Don't enter a Windows 7 product key if request. Also, don't allow Windows to try to auto-activate. Once Windows is fully installed, run ABR "activation restore" to "restore" the previously backed up product key and certificate to the new Windows 7 install. Verify that Windows is activated, repeat "activation restore" if needed.
2) Here is another useful article, this time from SevenForums.com. This arcticle is entitled "Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7" and provides detailed steps required to backup your computer, audit current hardware and software, locate software and drivers, install and activate Windows 7, and create a Windows 7 Backup Image of your fresh install.
Good luck.
Links to additional Windows 7 SP1 "Editions" and "Languages" can be found HERE and HERE.
Link to "ei.cfg Removal Utility". The "ei.cfg Removal Utility" is a simple tool that will remove the ei.cfg from any Windows ISO disc image, thereby converting the image into a "universal disc" that will prompt the user to select an edition during setup instead of being forced to use different discs for different versions of Windows 7.
Direct link to Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool.
<Cross posted to Notebook Operating Systems and Software for Notebook, Laptop, and Netbook users>
EDITED by Frank on 8/28/2013
Please click the white KUDOS star to show your appreciation
Frank
{------------ Please click the "White Kudos" Thumbs Up to say THANKS for helping.
Please click the "Accept As Solution" on my post, if my assistance has solved your issue. ------------V
This is a user supported forum. I am a volunteer and I don't work for HP.
HP 15t-j100 (on loan from HP)
HP 13 Split x2 (on loan from HP)
HP Slate8 Pro (on loan from HP)
HP a1632x - Windows 7, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6130y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6320y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240
HP p7-1026 - Windows 7, 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6787c - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240

ervis,
Before formatting the hard drive you should have been able to use the HP Recovery Manager to create your recovery discs or perform a system recovery. This is provided the recovery partition wasn't already corrupt or damaged. If the "D:" HP Recovery partition is missing or damaged and you don't have a set of HP Recovery Discs, you will need to use the information in my previous post to get your computer up and running again.
The information in the document referred you to applies to several different "types" of installations;
Using ABRbeta is only needed if you have an active OEM factory SLP (system locked preactivated) installation of Windows. You use ABR to pull the factory key and certificate off the computer, to reuse it on the same computer with a clean Windows install.
If you are just installing Windows and are going to use the Windows 7 product key on the COA on the side of your computer, all you need to do is download the same version of Windows that your key is for and burn the ISO. Now install Windows answering or following all prompts as needed (except do not enter the Windows product at this time... it will be entered later). Once Windows has completely installed, enter the key and activate it. Your Windows 7 OA key should work on a SP1 install without issue.
The only thing I see that could mess things up, is the language of the install. If you are still having trouble activating Windows, please reference the ISO you download and a post a photo of your Windows COA
with the key erased or Xed out.
Please send KUDOs
Frank
{------------ Please click the "White Kudos" Thumbs Up to say THANKS for helping.
Please click the "Accept As Solution" on my post, if my assistance has solved your issue. ------------V
This is a user supported forum. I am a volunteer and I don't work for HP.
HP 15t-j100 (on loan from HP)
HP 13 Split x2 (on loan from HP)
HP Slate8 Pro (on loan from HP)
HP a1632x - Windows 7, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6130y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6320y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240
HP p7-1026 - Windows 7, 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6787c - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240

How to install a new hard drive without bootable disc/usb

Hi- my hard drive has totally failed and although I can get into disk utility it won't let me create images and keeps coming up with input/output errors when I try.
I don't have another mac to work from and have no discs whatsoever even for older OS versions
I've ordered a new hard drive(a seagate 750GB 7400rpm one) but how do I get mountain lion on the new hard drive without any discs? If I just put in my new hard drive will it come up with an option? I have a mid 2009 MBP if that helps

I have a mid 2009 MBP if that helps
Here is how it helps:
You need the Utilities from Recovery_HD. Your broken Mac can boot from a Thumb drive.
Use this article to download this Utility to copy the Recovery_HD from your older, working Mac to a minimum 1GB USB thumb drive:
OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant
Then boot the new mac with the thumb drive by holding down Alt/Option, wait wait wait while it draws an Icon for each bootable Volume, choose the Recovery_HD, choose proceed arrow, and use Disk Utility to erase the drive and create GUID partition Map, 1 partition, Mac OS X Extended (journaled). Then install Mac OS X by download.

How to restore from Time Machine WITHOUT install discs using a second Mac

It's a question that is asked repeatedly all over the web by Mac users like me that bought in to Time Machine (TM) on the assumption that if their computer died one day it would be a piece of cake to restore from it, only for that day to come and then to be told "ahh, okay the first thing is to get your computers install discs..." (loud crashing sound of world falling around ears).
I've never been able to afford a new Mac and both of my machines were bought second-hand. Neither came with Leopard (both have Tiger and have been upgraded to Leopard via the net). This was never supposed to be a problem as I've been backing up with TM. However it appears that Tiger discs are as much use as an inflatable dart board when it comes to using TM. So I've been faced with the possibility of having to spend £130 (about two hundred Pres Sheets, Yankees) on the Leopard install discs just so that I can have the option of restoring from TM. Bonkers.
However after much nashing of teeth, a very long weekend learning all sorts of things about 'Target Mode', 'Single User Mode', 'Verbose Mode', 'Open Source 9' etc the following solution has worked without the need to go out and buy those over-priced discs...
What you will need:
1 broken Mac requiring restoration
1 second donor Mac running Leopard (or Snow Leopard so long as the broken Mac can run it)
1 firewire cable with the correct fitting at either end to attach both Macs together
1 Time Machine backup
Note: The following is for when you have given up trying to boot from your hard drive. In my case I couldn't boot in to Safe Mode etc. so was forced to format my drive and re-import everything. If you've read this far I'm assuming your at the same point as well and have tried everything else that's out there first.
Also - both my Macs are Power PC's so can't run Snow Leopard, so I can't say 100% this will work with SL (Intel) machines. From what I've read Snow Leopard will work with this procedure too, but if you've found differently please feel free to add your experiences below...
STEP ONE: Format the corrupt Hard Drive or replace with a fresh HDD
*Link the two computers with a firewire.
*If you're replacing your HDD, remove your corrupted hard drive from the 'broken' machine and insert a new one.
*Power up the broken Mac whilst holding down the 'T' key. This will start it up in Target Mode and you'll get a nice firewire symbol floating around that machine's screen.
*Power up the second 'healthy' Mac. This will be our 'donor' machine. When it starts up after a few seconds you will see the hard drive of the broken Mac appear on the donor Mac's desktop.
*Using your donor Mac's 'Disc Utility', format the broken Mac's hard drive (now's the time to partition it etc. if you want to).
STEP TWO: Clone your donor Mac
Your broken Mac is no longer broken and now needs a new OS. But you don't have the discs, right? Well get this... you can clone your donor mac on to your machine, even if they are totally different i.e. a laptop on to a tower.
*Again using Disc Utility, click on your donor Mac's hard drive. The restore tab appears as an option.
*Click on restore and drag the donor Mac's hard drive that contains the operating system in to the Source box.
*Drag the newly formatted hard drive on the broken Mac in to the Destination box.
*Click restore. Your donor Mac's hard drive will now be 'cloned' on to your no-longer-broken Mac. Once this is done, eject the first Mac's hard drive from your donor Mac's desktop. You no longer need the donor Mac.
Ta daa! Your machine now starts up happy and smily again. Time to restore all that stuff that's been sat on your Time Machine drive...
STEP 3: Restore from Time Machine using Migration Assistant
This is the really clever part that prompted me to write this piece in the first place. Time Machine IS accessible without those Leopard install discs you don't have. You need to use something called 'Migration Assistant'.
*Start up your machine as normal and you'll see it is an exact clone of the donor machine. Weird huh?
*Attach your Time Machine hard drive. It will show up as an icon on the desktop and because of it's size, you'll be asked if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Err, NO YOU DON'T! Click 'cancel'.
*Open Migration Assistant (if you can't find it just type it in to Finder and click). There are three options, the middle one being to restore from TM or another disc. Yup, you want that one.
*Migration Assistant will now ask you what you want to restore in stages, firstly User Accounts, then folders, Apps etc. It will even import internet settings
And that's you done. Let Migration Assistant do it's thang... altogether I had about 140gb to restore, so it wasn't exactly speedy. This wasn't helped by the fact that my TM hard drive is connected via USB (yes, I know). Just leave it alone and it'll whirr happily away...
Before I go - you don't have an option of when to restore from, and will restore from the last Time Machine save. At least then you should be able to access TM and go 'backwards' if you need to.
Also - for a Mac expert, the above will be up there with 'Spot Goes To The Farm' in terms of complexity. However, for the rest of us the above is only available in fragments all over the net. By far the most common response to 'how do I restore from Time Machine without install discs' is 'you can't'. If I'd found the above information in one place I could have saved a lot of hair pulling and swearing over the last couple of days, so forgive me for sharing this workaround with the rest of the world. Meanwhile your expertise will come in very handy for the inevitable questions that will get posted below, so please feel free to help those people that won't be sure if this solution is the right one for them. I'm no expert, I just want to help people that were stuck in the same situation (and looking at the web, there's a LOT of them).
Hope this is of use to someone, thanks and *good luck*!

Most maintenance and repair, restore and install procedures require the use
of the correct OS X install DVD; be it an original machine-specific restore/install
disc set or a later retail non-specific general install disc set.
By having an unsupported system, perhaps installed via an illegal download or
other file-sharing scheme, where no retail official discs are involved and the
initial upgrade was done by other means outside of the License Agreements,
you are asking us to discuss a matter of illegal installation and use of a product.
There are no legal complete OS X system download upgrades online; only bits
that are update segments to a retail or as-shipped machine's original OS X install.
+{Or an installation where a previous owner had correct retail upgrade discs, &+
+chose to not include them with the re-sale of the computer it was installed in.}+
However, to answer the initial question. To get and use an externally enclosed
hard drive in suitable boot-capable housing, and get a free-running Clone
Utility (download online; often a donation-ware product, runs free) you can
make a bootable backup of everything in your computer to an external HDD.
This is the way to make a complete backup to restore all functions to the computer.
The Time Machine has some limits, in that it can restore only that which it saves.
It does not make a bootable clone of your entire computer system with apps and
your files, to an external drive device. A clone can. And some of the clone utility's
settings can also backup changes to an external drive's system; if that other drive
is attached to the computer correctly.
Carbon Copy Cloner, from Bombich Software; and also SuperDuper, another of
the most known software names you can download and use to clone boot-capable
system backups of your computer's hard disk drive contents, are often cited.
However you resolve the matter of the running OS X system in your computer,
derived from what appears to be questionable means, is part of the initial issue.
Since you do need to be able to fix an existing installation by unmounting the
computer's hard disk drive and run the computer from the other (install disc or
system clone) while it is Unmounted; and use the correct Disk Utility version to
help diagnose and perhaps be able to fix it. You can't use a Tiger version Disk
Utility to fix a Leopard installation, and so on.
So, the situation and replies as far as they can go (since the matter does
constitute an illegal system, if it was arrived at without correct discs) is a
limited one. And file sharing of copied Mac OS X (and other) software is
also considered illegal.
And, one way to get odd malware and unusual stuff, is to get an unauthorized
system upgrade from an illegal source online. You never know what's inside it.
The other reply was not a personal attack; the matter is of legal status and as
you have a product with a questionable system, the answer is to correct it.
And if you want to save everything in your computer, make a clone to a suitable
externally enclosed self-powered boot capable hard disk drive. With older PPC
Macs, that would best be to one with FireWire and the Oxford-type control chips.
However that works out...
Good luck & happy computing!

Resetting a Mac mini to original factory settings without a disc.

I have a Mac mini that the previous owner did not erase all content. I was hoping to reset to factory settings without a disc. The on-line restore to factory settings seems to suggest that I need to enter an Apple ID. I have one, but I'm not the original owner. Will this still work even though I'm not the original owner?

I'm going to hijack this thread a little. I also have a 2012 Mac Mini that I wanted to wipe clean, I'm very confused because i keep getting different answers to these questions, especially at Apple Store
a) Purchased in Dec 2012, it did not come with disks, people keep saying "use the disks that came with it", what am I missing here ?
b) When I wipe it, does it go back to the original operating system (10.6 I think), or the latest I upgraded to (10.9.1) ?
c) Eventually, after it is wiped, it will have a new Apple ID, is this a problem (resale) ?
d) After it is wiped, it will not have any previous personal stuff (web, banking, settings, etc) ?
e) What is this process called, or how is it performed, so I can search intelligently online
Thanks

Is there a way to install Mountain Lion from my laptop to my MacPro Tower without a disc?

I erased my drive on my mac thinking I could migrate my stuff from my Mac Mini to my Mac Pro Tower. The mac mini won't let me migrate it. The drives aren't being recognized in Migration Assistant (while being hooked up via firewire 800). I was wondering if I can download Mountain Lion on my laptop and somehow install it on my tower without a disc. If this sounds complicated, I basically need to install an operating system on my MacPro Tower. I was trying to do it without going out to the Mac store and buying Lion. Anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks in advance.

Download Recovery disk Assistant and use to create a bootable USB installer. You will obviously need a USB flash drive to perform this.
OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0 - Support - Apple

All files on Boot Camp partition mysteriously erased after 10.5.3 update

My wife's MBP 2.4 was running 10.5.2 with a Boot Camp installation of Windows XP. The other night she upgraded to 10.5.3 and everything on her Boot Camp partition was erased somehow.
She spent most of the day working in Windows. During the day someone gave her a usb key with some photos on it that when she plugged it in to her computer something came up in Turkish (she is presently in Turkey) that her friend said she should just close the window and she did. She shut down and switched over to the 10.5.2 install, repaired permissions, and then ran software update to go to 10.5.3. I believe her Boot Camp is updated to the most recent version on the PC side. After the update completed she went to go back into Windows and could not start up in it. It turned out somehow everything on the Boot Camp partition was gone. The partition name was the same as it had been previously and it shouls as all of the space available. None of the material was in the Trash on the Mac side and she had quite a build up in the Trash folder - so it wasn't put in the Trash and then the Trash emptied. It was as if someone had reformatted the partition.
I would chalk this up to user error when she was in disk utility maybe or someone in her studio screwing around with her computer but the same thing apparently happened to one of her classmates shortly before leaving for Turkey. Anyone heard of this happening or have any thoughts?
I had her saving all data to the Mac partition so luckily no data was lost - we just need to reinstall the programs to the Windows partition.
Thanks!

Nope, that didn't happen. The mbp has been loaded directly with Leopard since release day, and had few problems. I've done all the updates from 10.5.0 without any issues. But it was definitely something in the 10.5.3 update that hosed my video (or just a really, really strange coincidence and/or bad timing).
It's not just an OS driver, either. This is lower level than that, because I get NO video from a complete startup. There's no grey screen with the apple logo-- it stays completely blank. This almost surely means that the low-level firmware got corrupted or flashed incorrectly. The fact that the OS detects it as something completely different (Intel GMA X3100) supports this idea.
Thinking back, I did do the update with my laptop screen closed and using a 20" Apple Cinema Display, which is how I use the laptop 90% of the time. And in each of the previous updates, I'm certain they were installed similarly. I mention this, because someone else mentioned having the same issue as me, and noted that the update was done with an external display. Perhaps the firmware update is bugged so that if it doesn't detect the native display, it gets hosed...
I saw some other suggestions in another thread that sounded interesting. For instance, you can create a self booting CD on another Mac that reflashes the EFI (low level bios) to a factory setting. This could potentially fix it, and I would be willing to try it, if I still had my laptop.
In the future, just because things like this make me paranoid, I'll probably reboot the mbp and use only the native display before I do any updates...
Rich

Unable to erase disc and other problems

My mac died on me and I'm trying to restore. After trying a few things I've erased my partition, leaving boot camp alive and well. If I try and restore, most backups say 'unable to erase disc' or 'error'. One version restores some but gives me a list of things it can't recover and tells me to try another backup.
If it reboots after a failed attempt it can't see either partition. Not even disc utility finds them. I have to turn off and on again to see the partitions.
I have checked the disc using disk utility and repair and verify both say the disc is fine.
1) Can I get the restore feature to not erase the partition before it restores? I can prep the disk using disk utility if I can.
2) What else is causing the problem?
I've tried the last five or six backups so far. I've not yet had time to try the one that half-worked twice, to see whether a second attempt would work or whether it might also come up with an error (which may in turn suggest that it's the prepping of the disc that could cause this).
Any tips greatly appreciated.

Problem sort of solved - iLife'11 appears to have caused the problem and I had to use an even earlier backup to restore the Macbook Pro.

Can't restore from TM after Apple Genius erased disc and reinstalled SL

I'm traveling out of my country (and without installation discs). Because of corrupt HD (working, but slow...Disc Utility said drive was corrupt), had an Apple Genius do an erase and complete reinstallation of SL. Now attempting to restore to my previous status, but
1) when I use Time Machine with the backup disk, it has has grayed-out "Restore" for all past records. TM won't do any restore for me.
2) when I use Disc Utility to Restore, I can drag backup disc to Source box but my hard drive won't stick in the Destination box, whether I choose Erase Destination or not.
How do I get my last backup to my MacBook Pro?

You don't use Disk Utility to restore from TM. You use (preferably) setup assistant when you first startcreating your account.
Failing that, Migration Assistant after an account has been made, but that will create another account and there will be permissions problems getting at your data.
Read Pondini's TM articles; http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html for the full story.

Partition without erasing disc?

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