Partitioning Disk and Backing up!

Hello I have had my PB for over a couple of months and I couldn't be happier, except for not being able to run some applications that are windows only.
I have a PC at home (That i will change as soon as I have money to) and I have a partitioned disk on it, I have always believed is safer to have it that way. When I tried to partition my PB' HD it says it couldn't because it contains the boot disk or something.
I would also appreciate some helpful tips about backing up my entire HD so I can "be up and running" in case my HD fries, like I read on another thread!
Carlos

Non-destructive partitioning is relatively new to the Mac world. Until 10.4.6 a program to do it was available only through third party developers. I'm guessing (and it is only a guess) that you haven't upgraded to 10.4.6 yet. Until you've done that you won't be able to partition using Disk Utility unless you boot from another drive (the System DVD for example).
Is partitioning a good idea? I have a very small bootable partition on my PowerBook that contains nothing but the OS, Apple's Disk Utility, and DiskWarrior. I also travel with an emergency DVD that contains my most important applications and data. And, when I travel, I'll put the programs and data I'll need for that trip on my iPod. This way I can boot into the emergency partition and run disk utilities. If worse comes to worse I can restore a working system from the DVD and iPod. And I've never had to use it.
Backing up: My PowerBook is connected to the network at work every day. At lunch each day DejaVu backs up my documents folder to the network. I also own an external drive. Each week I back up my personal account to it and once a month I back up the PowerBook to it. I also burn a DVD at the same time and take it to work. (A backup to an external drive is no good if thieves take the PowerBook and external drive, nor is it any good if the house burns down.)

Similar Messages

Moving OS to another disk and backing up

I have the 320GB hard drive the computer came with (8MB cache) and 3- 500GB drives with 16MB cache.
I assume the 320 is slower and wanting to copy the OS to another internal hard drive, remove the disk and replace with a larger hard drive.
If I make a copy and save to an internal drive, install the new hard drive, I assume I install Snow on the new hard drive and then use something to access the backup and copy all my settings, email, ITunes, IPhoto, etc OR do I install the original OSX and then the Snow upgrade?
What do I use to move all the information and settings to the new drive?

Before you get befuddled here's the easy way. Install one of the three new drives. Prep the drive as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
7. Select your current startup drive from the DU sidebar menu and then click on the Restore option in the DU main menu.
8. Drag the startup volume to the Source field.
9. Drag the newly installed volume to the Destination field.
10. Check the box to "Erase destination first" then click on the Restore option.
Go away for a while because it could take hours for the cloning to finish depending upon how full your old drive was.
When the clone has completed open Startup Disk preferences and select the icon for the new clone and click on the Restart button. You should now boot from the new drive. Assuming all went well you may remove the old drive or leave it installed. Install the other two new drives. Be sure to prep them using the procedure outlined earlier.
If you no longer plan to use the old drive you can remove it. If you plan to keep it for other uses, then use Disk Utility to erase it. It it were me I would rename the old drive and leave it as a second boot drive in case of an emergency.

Explain finding missing photos by copying to another disk and back

I would appreciate if someone can explain what is happening to my iPhoto file under Lion.
Here are the sequence of events in my iPhoto library of about 5000 photos and about 44GB of data:
1. I noticed that several photos would not display when I clicked on the thumbnail. I got a black triangle indicating no photo present.
2. I found this to be a random occurence in many events.
3. I copied my iPhoto file to an external disk.
4. Then I used the rebuild database option with all options checked.
5. The resulting database was rebuilt with many problems. The missing files were still missing and most of the thumbnails had a different orientation than the base photo. The base photo was basicly correct and the thumbnal was randomly upside down or right or left.
6. I started correcting the thumbnails and after several hours I decided that I would never get through them and the problems with the original database weren't as bad.
7. So I chucked the rebuilt database into the trash.
8. And then copied the original database back from the eternal disk.
9. Then when I got into iPhoto all my photos were in the correct orientation and!!!!!! all of the missing photos were present again with their thumbnails. There were no problems in the database.
So what happened? WHy did this fix the problem? What I did was a straight finder system copy from one disk to the other and back.

I now have to decide wheter to use this new database or try to fix the old one.
There is no way to fix the old one. That databse file is unstable. It would be unwise to invest further effort in it.
My suggestion would be
a: restore from a known-good back up if you have one
Or
b: Stick with the rebuilt library and try recover the missing 69 pics from the damaged library and import them to the new one.
Regards
TD

MDT Config UEFI Specific disk and partition?

Installing Win8.1 with MDT2013 on UEFI enabled machines everything seems to be ok.. Until... Injecting drivers. The deployment cannot proceed because of destination disk. Sounds obvious because Uefi makes multiple partitions unlike non-uefi that can be installed
on the first partition.
I've created an extra step to the "Format and partition disk" and named it "Format and Partition Disk - UEFI". In this step I've set an option "Task sequence variable IsUEFI equals True". So when it is "True" the step
will format the drive in GPT (as is required for UEFI boot). This seems to work good. I see in the installation the step "Format and Partition Disk - UEFI" when it's a uefi machine, and the original step if it is a non uefi machine. Obviously the
original step will have also an option "Task sequence variable IsUEFI equals False".
The problem comes when we get to the step "Install Operating System". Here I made the same change like I did above. (added extra step with extra option:
The original step "Install Operating System" will have install location: "Specific disk and partition"
Disk 0 Partition 1.
The added step will have install location "Specific disk and partition"
Disk 0 Partition 3. (Because UEFI has multiple partitions)
For some reason the deployment will accept the step "Format and Partition Disk - UEFI" but in the install step it will take the "Install Operating System - Legacy" (so it will try to install to disk 0 partition 1 as I see in BCD log).
Is there any reason that the same condition works at the format step and not at the install step?
We choose the option install to "Specific disk and partition" because of problem when have the location set at "logical drive letter stored in a variable" (problem described:
link)

Solution in my case was going for the "logical drive letter stored in a variable" instead of "Specific disk and partition".
Note when applying this: must keep using "OSDisk" variable or it will throw errors (problem described in
this link)
So I deleted the "UEFI" steps, and renamed the "Install Operating System - Legacy" to before. Removed the query for the IsUEFI variable. MDT will automatic install to MBR or GPT based on device.

How to create and back up a media server?

I have a ton of photos and videos that I would like to share among several Mac's and PC's in my house over a wireless network. I would like to create a wireless shared media server which will run day and night without having to keep any computers on. At the same time, I would like to back up this media store on a regular basis. I would also like to sync some of the content to my Apple TV.
The solution I've come up with (at least theoretically) is to connect an external 500 GB drive to an Airport Extreme Base Station and use it as an Airport disk. I will dump all of my media files onto it. The problem is, how do I back this up?
Well, I have pre-purchased the 1 TB Time Capsule. What I'm hoping is possible, is for me to be able to have my MacBook Pro access my Airport disk, and back it up through Time Machine to my Time Capsule, wirelessly. Will this be possible?
I have found hundreds of messages about people trying to use Time Machine to back up data TO an Airport disk, but not FROM an Airport disk - so I want to know if this is possible?
Next, I need to sync my media Airport disk to my Apple TV. I assume I can just use my MacBook Pro to mount the Airport disk and use it as the source for syncing to my Apple TV?
Now, you may ask why I don't just get the Time Capsule and place all my media files onto it, in addition to using it for backup. Well, if the drive crashes, I will not only lose my backups, I will also lose all my original media files. Unless it is possible to back up the Time Capsule itself to an external drive for extra safety?
Sorry if this is confusing, but my basic questions are:
1. Is it possible to back up an Airport disk using Time Machine?
2. Is it possible to back up a Time Capsule to an external drive?
3. Is it possible to sync a shared drive (Airport disk or Time Capsule) to an Apple TV?
4. Can I run two wireless base stations (an Airport Extreme and Time Capsule) in my house?
Thanks in advance.

It is possible to create a media server, backup its contents, etc. but probably not the ways you are considering. There's hurdles to setting up anything of the nature you're considering.
First my responses to your questions followed by how I did it.
1. Is it possible to back up an Airport disk using Time Machine? No
2. Is it possible to back up a Time Capsule to an external drive? If I understand this question, you are asking if there is a backup for the backup. I doubt it based on #1.
3. Is it possible to sync a shared drive (Airport disk or Time Capsule) to an Apple TV? Only if the airdisk is mounted on the Mac to which you use to sync the Apple TV.
4. Can I run two wireless base stations (an Airport Extreme and Time Capsule) in my house? Yes, but your bandwidth will be reduced if both are operating at the same time, particularly if one is configured as a bridge. With some special configuring of both devices you may be able to not use the wireless of one unit if it is connected via the ethernet ports. I have not tried this.
I have over 500 GB of video, 16 GB of audio, and about 4000 photos. I've solved this media center desire as follows:
1. MacMini with 2 external hard drives, 1 contains the media and the other is the backup drive used by TM.
2. Front Row is used on the MacMini and the Mini is attached to a large screen TV
3. Other Macs in the house mount the media and backup drives from the Mini
4. All of the Mac's iTunes are configured so they only store references to the files on the mounted media drive. Each time files are added to the media drive I simply drag the files from the media drive to the iTunes Library. This eliminates the 'sharing' of the iTunes library and allows each person to create their own Playlists. iPhoto is configured similarly to iTunes and new files are dragged to its Library.
5. All the Macs are set to use TM on the backup drive attached to the Mini. The Mini's attached media drive is backed up via TM to the backup drive (again, both are attached to the mini).
I've tried the airport disk path previously and I found that it was necessary to occasionally remove the external disk and connect to a Mac to repair it in some fashion. I have not tried the new airdisk product itself -- just the original airport and an attached ext drive.
BTW, 2 of 4 of my Macs are laptops and none of them have any problem backing up to the Mini's backup drive via TM. I do, however, keep my video editing directories out of the laptop's TM backups; otherwise backups would take many hours as opposed to the typical 1-2 minutes.
Sorry I have not answered this in the way perhaps that you hoped but I have found my configuration to be very stable. The use of an airdisk as you described is the ultimate but I don't think all the tools are there to go all the way.
If you're interested in more detail, please ask.

When i remove bootcamp. It stuck in Partitioning disk...

I want to remove bootcamp from my mac. When i click restore and it say Status:Partitioning disk and look like it stuck. I wait for it about one night but it still stuck. How can I do?

Can you go to Disk Utility, click on your Macintosh HD, then click on the Partition tab? Select your Boot Camp partition, click the minus button, and then once that is removed drag your Macintosh partition down to where it takes the whole drive.

Disk Utility says "drive can't be repaired, disk and restore your backed up files."

My Mac Book Pro froze yesterday and I had to force restart it. It had been showing me messages that my hard drive disk was full for a while and I was in the middle of transferring files to my external hard drive and I accidentally put a huge large file from my external hard drive into the trash on my laptop which makes me wonder if that means I added more GB to a computer that was already very full. Anyway, after freezing I restarted it and the desktop wouldn't load properly. The desktop picture was there, but folders on desktop did not appear, finder bar was missing and the dock was acting super slow and nothing worked when clicked on. Then the next few attempts were around the same result and eventually became stuck on the apple logo, spinning gear and a progress bar that was not loading at all.
Here's what I've tried so far:
Safe mode- nothing happens
Command + R - I am unsure how to work this since I can't seem to find an internet connection when it prompts for one. None of the internet connections have much signal and my own information doesn't seem to load since the gear spins to find the internet connection name and password I typed to load it but can't seem to find it. Perhaps I have the wrong internet information, but I don't think so.
I tried Command + S to use in single user mode and type in a command to help fix the drive, BUT, even though the black screen and white lettering mode did show up, it remained in a place where I was not allowed to type anything and the last thing written at the bottom of the screen was something about set up for bluetooth, I think. I tried this twice and both times it stopped in the same place and I could not type a command.
Disk Utility using installation dvd to verify and repair disk. Verify says disk needs repair and then repair has some red colored phrases: Invalid volume file count. (It should be 786374 instead of 786274) Incorrect number of thread records. And there was another problem listed but I do not remember it. Then, near the end of repairing it says: "Disk Utility stopped repairing Macintosh HD." It tells me it couldn't repair the disk and that I should back up as many of my files as possible, reformat the disk and restore backed up files.
That would be fine and dandy, but I have no idea how to back up my files and do all this. I have no idea how to exactly get the data off my hard drive. If someone does, please list a step by step guide for me on how to do so.
I have an external hard drive and I tried plugging in and selecting the hard drive and making a "New Image" to copy to the external hard drive destination, but it just stops a few seconds into it and tells me there is an input/output error. I tried read only, read/write only, compressed options for making a copy and all yield the same result.
In Disk Utility, I believe I have a partition -the Macintosh HD. I have listed on the left hand side: 320.07 GB Hitachi HTSS45.....etc. and below it in non-bolded, grey lettering it says "Macintosh HD."
The Hitachi, when clicked upon, shows the S.M.A.R.T. status as Verified and the Macintosh HD doesn't show much in details except for "Not mounted."
At one point, the Macintosh HD was in bold lettering and seemed to be mounted for a few minutes. When that happened, I was able to see the details reading: Mount Point: /Volumes/Macintosh HD, Capacity: 319.73 GB, Available: 11.92 GB, Used: 307.81 GB, etc.
I'm getting nervous to keep turning on and off the computer on force start and shut downs, especially since I have been reading up that the longer the computer is on, the more the hard drive is in use and the more chance for it to start deleting or overwriting my files. Is this true?
It's not mounted anymore since it was momentarily mounted. I just want to get my files off the disk and save them to my external hard drive. That is my main goal right now. What can I do?
Thank you in advance for your help!

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

After upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?

after upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?
before the upgrade, i could open time machine without the need for having the back up disk plugged in.

Ok. I got it to work, sort of....
As I mentioned before I tried the "disk password" and the "Time capsule Password" options to see if I can start the back up again or start a new backup. Neither worked. So I tried the firmware down grade, but like you said that did not work. I then decided to try the "Account password" option and I have never used this option before becasue it states that if there is data on the drive it would not be acessable after creating an account. Since I wiped out the disk that was nno problem. When I created the new account and choose the drive it asked for the user name and password. I entered the info for the new account I just created(FYI this has nothing to do with your login username and password), bingo! It worked!
Now I have two partitions on the TC disk. The old one and now the new account. I am guessing this is to be used if I have multiple computers, which I don't.
I any case, I am going to wipe out everything again and try again to do a backup the way I had it before.

I need help with boot camp. "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."

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"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 verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"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 verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely." What do I do now? This is an iMac and I'm running 10.6.8.

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it. See below for how to clone a drive.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
You may be able to backup your data if you have an erased external drive you can use. Before you do the above but after you have opened Disk Utility you can try to clone your drive:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
       it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
      the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Now this will only work if the drive is accessible and can be cloned by Disk Utility. Otherwise, you would need to access your drive from another Mac that you can connect via Firewire - Target Disk Mode.

I need help on my MacBook Pro. Recently I've deleted another partition of my disk from the disk utility and I found out that my disk capacity wasn't get into the normal one which is 750GB. Meanwhile I installed window 7 into the partition disk.

I need help on restoring my disk capacity back to normal. I installed window 7 into the partition disk through bootcamp and I deleted it from disk utility. After I erase the partition disk,I get my capacity to 499GB but not 750GB. Do I need to reinstall my MacBook or something to do with the restoring?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Rodney Lai wrote:
I installed window 7 into the partition disk through bootcamp and I deleted it from disk utility
You shouldn't do it. You have to erase the Windows volume with Boot Camp Assistant, so it will restore the space onto the OS X volume and that volume will have 750 GB.
As you did it with Disk Utility, you have to resize your OS X partition manually:
1. Open Disk Utility, select your hard disk at the top of the sidebar, and go to Partition tab.
2. You will see a bar with Macintosh HD. You have to click it at the bottom right corner and drag it to the end of the bar, so Macintosh HD will use all the space of the hard drive, and press Apply.
3. Close Disk Utility and your OS X partition will have 750 GB

IMac won't launch, disk utility says I cannot repair my Macintosh HD, back up files, reformat the disk and restore backed up files. How do I do all that? Help!

iMac won't start up, disk utility tried to repair disk it shows "keys out of order" error message in red and advises me to back up files, reformat disk and restore backed up files. I have no idea how to back up and restore etc... Help! Please!

Get an external drive of sufficient capacity to hold everything on your internal drive.
Partition and format the external drive.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Clone your internal drive to the external drive.
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Boot from the external drive.
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
      "OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the external disk icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
Reformat the internal drive and install OS X.
Install or Reinstall Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
      the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
Open Startup Disk preferences and set the internal drive as the startup volume, then click on the Restart button.
Restore your data from your external drive backup.

Boot camp probl"back up disk and use disk util. to reform as single MAC OS.

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 am trying to install win 7 32 bit but before i partition my mac osx an error message pops up with the above wording...I went to disk utility and it is already a single mac osx (journaled). any help would be great and much appreciated..thank you for viewing.

The error message must be the title of 100s of threads.
Do you know how to backup?
It can't move files, some are fixed, the free space has to also be unfragmented contiguous chunk at the end of the drive.
Disk Utility Restore tab (and Help menu).
and of course external backup drive. And backup is step #1. There is a PDF you can save or print from the Boot Camp Assistant.
If you only have TimeMachine for backup you might want to install OS X anyway on a small 30GB partition (shrink partition size) or use your OS X DVD.
From OS X DVD go to Utility and then Disk Utility. Restore to another drive and that should be then bootable.
Or pick up SuperDuper or Carbon Copy to clone-backup and use one of those.
iDefrag $$ may be able to optimize the free space.
But it is wiser to first insure any data and files are backed up before changing or installing another OS, and before changing partitions around.

Dv7t-6000 my recovery partition gone and HP wants $50 to mail me a restore disk.

dv7t-6000 my recovery partition gone and HP wants $50 to mail me a restore disk.
Does anyone have a download link for this; it's criminal HP does not offer it to customers free. I already paid for it once when I bought the laptop.
thanks

I see from your screenshot that you have added a partition- and in the process the hard drive was converted from Basic to Dynamic. This always breaks Recovery function..
You will have to delete the extra partition AND convert the hdd back to Basic. Use "Option 1" here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html
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Am trying to transfer iTunes library to an external disk for back-up purposes. have followed normal protocol i.e. locating iTunes file in Music folder and dragging across to external disk icon. However, nothing seems to happen. Any advice please?

Am trying to transfer an iTunes library to an external disk for back up. Have followed normal instructions by locating iTunes folder in Music file and dragging across the iTunes folder to the external disk icon. Nothing happens. No notifications. Just a very pregnant pause. Any advice gratefully appreciated.
Michael L J

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The external drive must be formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", exFAT or FAT32, because OS X can't write in NTFS partitions by default.
As you just want the library on the external drive to make a backup of your library, you can format it in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" by using Disk Utility > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html (Note that you won't be able to use the external drive with PCs unless you install a special application in them).
Finally, drag your iTunes folder to your external drive

Partitioning Disk and Backing up!

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