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.

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Booting os x from *partitioned* external firewire drive?

Hi all,
my internal hard disk (on a 12" powerbook G4 867 mhz running osx tiger 10.4.10) has started acting weird (many people are reporting failing hard drives, and I'm assuming mine is failing too), so I'm preparing for replacing it with a new hard drive.
I've backed up the drive to an external firewire drive (LaCie portable 80 GB firewire drive "Design by F.A. Porsche") using Carbon Copy Cloner with the option 'make bootable' selected.
PROBLEM: I can't boot OS X using my clone on the external drive.
I'VE TRIED:
1. holding down Command-Option-Shift-Delete while booting to bypass the internal drive. (This didn't work: I saw an os 9 icon blinking/alternating with a question mark for a while, and then the computer booted from the internal hard disk.)
2. holding down Option to select the external drive in Startup Manager. (Didn't work either: Startup Manager opened fine, but only showed my internal drive volume. I tried clicking the 'rescan' button, but it couldn't find my external drive.)
3. SELECTING THE EXTERNAL DRIVE under Startup Disk in System Preferences. Note that the external drive volume *did show up* there. So under some conditions at least, the external volume is identified as a bootable volume. (This didn't work either, though: When I shut down the computer and booted up with the external drive connected, it still booted up from the internal drive.)
POSSIBLE EXPLANATION?
My external drive is partitioned into three partitions of different formats:
1. "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)"
2. "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)"
3. "MS-DOS File System (FAT32)"
The bootable volume is the first partition with the os x format.
Could my problem be caused by this partitioning of my external drive?
Either way, what to do?? I hope some of you savvy people out there can help me out.
Cheers,
Philip

Hi Philip,
My problem has been fixed, & I imagine it's the same for you...:
With the excellent help from Dave Nanian at shirtpocket.com - the developer of 'SuperDuper!' (thanks Dave - you rock!), the problem (as Michael suggested) is to do with the Partition Scheme of the drive.
If your drive was like my portable LaCie Porsche drive, it was FAT32-formatted for PC out of the box. This format has an underlying MBR (master boot record) partition-scheme. When re-partitioning a drive in 'Disk Utility', the original partition-scheme sticks, so if you simply re-partition the drive to Mac OS Extended, it will still have an MBR partition scheme... which Macs cannot boot from!
For a Power PC Mac to be able to boot from an external firewire drive, the drive MUST have an APM (Apple Partition Map) Partition Scheme underlying the Mac OS Extended partitions. To do this, click on the 'Options' button in 'Disk Utility' when on the 'Partition' page before partitioning. You will see the options:
GUID Partition Table (for Intel Macs... (n.b. Power PC's cannot boot from a GPT drive))
Apple Partition Map (to create a bootable drive for a Power PC Mac)
Master Boot Record (to create a bootable PC drive)
So.... to make your external drive bootable for your Powerbook G4, choose 'Apple Partition Map' in the 'Options' page prior to partitioning.
Special note about Intel Macs: Contrary to info supplied by Apple, an Intel Mac CAN boot from an APM-partitioned drive (this is why the OSX installer can be univerally bootable!), BUT, the problem is that the OSX installer will NOT let you install OSX-intel on an APM-partitioned drive....
You can, however, clone an Intel-Mac-OSX internal drive that has a GPT partition-scheme (using CCC or SuperDuper) to an external drive with APM, & the Intel Mac will still be able to boot from that clone...
The only real use for doing this, though, is if you want a multi-partitioned backup drive with separate bootable partitions for OSX-PPC & OSX-Intel machines. (Remember that a PPC machine cannot boot from a GTP-partion-scheme drive, hence the need to use APM in this instance seeing as the Partition Scheme applies to the entire drive (it can't be different for each partition.)
Good luck - let us know how you get on!
Jason

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.

Sound Library Storage on External Firewire Hard Drive

I'm planning on using the 3-drive configuration for Logic 8 -- internal system drive (500 Gig) in bay #1 for Logic install -- second internal drive in bay #2 for audio recording -- and an external firewire drive for sound library storage.
I've got the *Apogee Ensemble* which doesn't like sharing the Mac Pro Firewire Bus. Given the significant demands made on the Mac Pro's firewire bus by Ensemble, the tech at Apogee suggested a PCI-e firewire card to create a second firewire bus for the external firewire drive (and any other firewire peripherals I have in mind).
*Question 1:* Does it matter whether this external drive is firewire 400 or 800? Will it make a noticeable difference?
I'm planning on partitioning this external firewire drive into three volumes as follows:
Volume 1 -- one-time back-up/clone of my current OS X Tiger hard drive contents.
Volume 2 -- ongoing cumulative back-up of new OS X Leopard install (we're waiting for 10.5.3)
Volume 3 -- sound library storage
*Question 2:* Will Logic or the Mac Pro have any problems streaming samples from a partitioned external firewire drive? (assuming neither volumes 1 or 2 are active while running a Logic session)

Well, I don't know about the unmounting, Kitesurfer, but I thought it was worth bringing up. I also thought it was possible to unmount one volume without the other disappearing, even though they're on the same disk. It may just be my particular external disk but I find that hard to believe. Also, I'm not sure if, because your CCC clone will be journaled, OS X interacts with it in any way. Someone else may be able to answer that.
I'm not a pro so I doubt my equipment will be of interest to you, but it's a 500GB Lacie mini hub. I also have a Lacie 250GB external, which has a clone of my sample library partition. Nobody recommends Lacie but I've had the 500GB for almost a year and the 250GB for over two years I think, and I've never had a problem (except maybe the unmounting issue).

Partition external hard drive for photo storage

My iMac from 2006 is down to 16 gb of free space (out of 500). I have two 1 TB drives from Seagate and made full backups via Time Machine. The first drive is now unplugged and am considering locating outside of my home in case of fire, theft, etc. The second drive is connected via USB constantly synching with TM. Curious about partitioning as I would like to divide the 1 TB external drive in half. The first 500 GB would be dedicated to TM backup and the other 500 GB would be for picture galleries I want quick access to then delete the rest on my internal drive.
My goals are two fold: 1.) Backup data, 2.) Free up space on my internal HD so the iMac and Lion will run faster.
Question: Do I need to format the drive and start over outside TM then go to Disk Utility and partion in half? If I'm right so far would I then open TM to backup to the first partition? Ultimately I want to manage storage balances between my internal drive and external device. Since the internal is filled up I want to spill data into the external drive.

I'm not really sure I understand what you mean, but it's OK as long as you understand that you can't back up a drive to itself. You should also know that one backup is not enough to be safe.
As for your original question, you can usually add a partition to a drive without erasing it. Follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under the heading "Create new partitions on a disk":
Disk Utility 12.x: Partition a disk
Obviously the backup volume must be at least large enough to hold one copy of all the data you want to back up to it, plus about 10% of padding required by Time Machine. How much larger it needs to be depends on the rate of data turnover, and on how far back you want the snapshot history to go. There are no valid "rules of thumb" that apply to all cases.

Lion mysteriously erases SSD partition on external FireWire drive.

I'm not sure whether this is a problem with OS X, my SSD, or my external FireWire drive, so please bear with me.
Recently, I have been having some hardware problems on my MacBook Pro, and decided to send my computer off to be repaired. Before doing so, I took my Corsair Performance Pro SSD (still on firmware 1.0) out of my machine so that I could boot it from my FireWire 800 drive (Oyen Digital Minipro) onto the school computers.
Both times I have tried this (and on different machines!) I was able to successfully load my laptop installation. Then, after a few minutes, everything would suddenly freeze up (beach balls, et al) and I would have to shut down the computer. Afterwards, the system would not let me boot back into the external drive, and Disk Utility in the host OS would show that my partition had been completely erased, and that I would have to reformat the drive and restore from Time Machine.
Is it possible that Lion doesn't like being booted from FireWire drives? My OS X installation is still on 10.7.3 (as I have not had a chance to update yet) so maybe the FireWire driver has been fixed since then? Could this be a problem with my SSD? Or could my FireWire drive be malfunctioning? I have used this enclosure with a non-boot hard drive without any problems in the past.
Sorry this question is so broad, but I am at a complete loss.

In the "Current" Volume Scheme, the 8GB partition is on top. The 85GB is below that. Originally, the 20GB partition was between them. There is no grey mass i.e. free space in the middle.
Is there a grey mass anywhere? top? bottom?
In other words, do the two white sections that represent the active partitions fill the entire block, or is there any other space that's vacant?
All volumes on the drive are/were formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I'm not sure but, I think that corresponds to "GUID"...right?
No, Mac OS X Extended (whether journaled or not) is independent of the partition scheme in use.
The bottom of the Disk Utility window should report the partition format.

Unpartition+reinstall without cd or cd drive, just external firewire hd

1) i have been given an iMac g4 with non-working cd drive, 10.4.11 Tiger, 700mhz which had its hd partitioned into 2 equal parts. i do not have an installation cd as was a give-away from a friend of a friend. i cloned/backed up the whole of part 1 to part 2 using superduper, then moved those backups to the external hd. superduper said it was going to erase everything on that drive if i used it to clone/backup directly to it, so i thought i'd try moving the disc backups over. i want to un-partition the iMac drive without losing all the what is on the computer. (toast, photoshop, protools, dreamweaver, and some other stuff that's purchased that i don't have installation discs for.) trying to figure out is there a way to download the Tiger startup installation files to my external and somehow boot from there to unpartition and install, instead of from an installation cd? i need help.
2) then i want to figure out how to network the two, using a netgear router that i can't install from cd since the iMac's cd drive is broken.
3) i'm not a mac native, so i don't know how to do anything.
any help? i've tried since sunday to figure this out on my own.

Hi, & welcome to the forums!
1. Good that you have it backed up, but did you Clone it to the external drive? Is the external drive Firewire?
2. You can network them, but Target mode would be how to install using the other's Optical drive...
FW Target Made
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
I'd call Apple with the Serial number of the Mac and get the Install Discs for that machine, or find where to buy them.
3. Welcome aboard.

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

How to resize/erase a partitioned external drive

Just checking if I got this well before proceeding.
I have a new Western Digital external FW drive (1TB). I partitioned it in two for using with Time Machine (300GB) and the rest for my huge iTunes and iPhoto libraries.
Now I've changed my mind and I want to have a single partition (or no partitions at all ) in the WD drive and use it for my data only. I don't really care about the Time Machine partition at this time, since it's relatively new and I use SuperDuper! for my startup drive anyway. Right now I care about my libraries in the lower partition. I have another external, Maxtor 500GB hard drive that can be used for Time Machine and other backups afterwards.
The problem is: The first partition (the UPPER one) is the partition I'd like to erase, and the bigger one with my data is below. I've read there's no way to resize the lower partition without erasing it or corrupting/losing the data. I know I should think before partitioning in the first place.
So, my only choice would be backing up my libraries and other data from the WD in the 500GB drive, then erase the WD drive and copying everything back again to a single, new and fresh partition? Hope there were a better solution for this. If not, I'd appreciate a comment anyway.
Thanks for your help and comments in advance, gurus.
JJ

Now that I think of it, I can try something. Copying the lower to the upper partition is a good option, and it could be done if I temporarily move SOME of the files stored in the lower one. Then copy the rest to the upper partition and do what you suggest.
Some questions about this: Can I first erase the data in the upper partition to have more room to copy data? And... is this resizing procedure SAFE for the rest of the data?
I'll think about it before proceeding, anyway
Thanks for your suggestion, it could be the answer.
JJ

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

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!

I backed up files onto an external hard rive form my old PC. Now I want to retrieve the files to put on my mac but it is telling me to format it to Mac. How can I do this without erasing all of the data on my hard drive?

I backed up files onto an external hard rive form my old PC. Now I want to retrieve the files to put on my mac but it is telling me to format it to Mac. How can I do this without erasing all of the data on my hard drive?

Your drive was used with a PC and formatted NTFS which is proprietary Microsoft format.
You need to install a third party program that will read the NTFS format.
There is various software from PARAGON, Tuxera and NTFS-3G
When you get the data off and have verified it to be good, reformat the drive either HFS+ for Mac use only, or for Mac and PC use then MSDOS (FAT32) for under 4GB files (best) or exFAT (for larger than 4GB files) is proprietary and Microsoft is appling for a patent, which would likely mean OS X won't be allowed to read it anymore without a licensing fee and you'l have to pay another third party software company to read the format, just like NTFS is.
The less you have to rely upon third party sources to read your drives the better, this way if you have a issue and need to read the drive on another machine you don't need the software, and a internet connection and a credit card and...and...and...

I mounted my external hard drive to a pc and now I don't have edit or write permissions on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive?

Hello all, I am a photographer and have my portfolio, edited and raw images backed up on a Seagate Free Agent External Hardrive. I mounted my external hard drive to a pc recently and now I don't have edit or write permissions to it on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive and loosing my valuable work?

If you re-format it you will lose all the data on it!!!!! So make sure you have backed up the drive or moved all the data on it to another external HD or the internal HD on your iMac.
Below is an Apple Advice letter that explains how to format an external HD, it's written for Aperture but you can use the instructions to formate any external HD.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509

How do I partition my external hard drive without losing data?

How do I partition my external hard drive without losing the data already on it? I've been using it with Time Machine on my old computer, but want to use it as a regular drag-and-drop type back up on my new computer. Is there any way to basically split the hard drive so I can still access the Time Machine backups on my old computer, but also be able to use it with my new mac? Thanks!

If you reformat the drive all data is lost.
The only way to save the data is to copy it somewhere else during the reformat.
Drag & drop will not backup things correctly.
I suggest you set up partition for each Mac and then point Time Machine to each of the partition for each of the Macs.

How do I back up my Boot Camp partition to external firewire drive?

I have a 15 GB Windows XP Boot Camp partition (FAT32). I want to back it up to a 120 GB external Firewire drive. (I know the backup won't be bootable). In OX X Disk Utility, I formatted the external drive as MS-DOS (FAT). I planned to do the backup using the Windows Backup utility.
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My goal was to create a bootable clone of my FAT32 Boot Camp partition, while at the same time increasing the size of the partition from 15 GB to 32 GB if possible. This is what I did:
1. As suggested in this thread, I used Disk Utility to create a disk image. I formatted it as MS-DOS (FAT), and made it 32 GB in size.
2. Used the Finder to copy all files from my 15 GB Windows XP partition to the new disk image.
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Partitioning External Firewire HD Without Erasing

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