The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

Am trying to install Windows 7 using Boot Camp. Am receieving the following message in Boot Camp "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition"
In Disk Utilty, I get the following message after clicking Verify Disk and Repair Disk buttons
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Parition map check failed becuse no slices were found
Any solution for above message?

You will need to repartition your drive:
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal 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.
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 then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

Similar Messages

Trying to get rid of error "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition". Recovery HD visible.

Hello,
I've been stuck for some hours now trying different things to install Windows 7 on my Macbook Air, and I think now is the time to call for some custom help.
I'm using OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks.
So some months ago I just wanted to run Linux on my laptop so I installed rEFInd, shrunk the Macintosh HD partition by 25GB and booted on a linux live USB flash I burned using dd.
Then I used gparted to create my linux partitions.
It worked just fine, even though disk utility from OS X seemed quite unhappy about this (it seemed to have incorrect informations about the filesystem on these partitions, seeing them as journaled Mac OS while they were clearly not). At this point already, the Recovery HD from mac showed up in disk utility, which I found weird but didn't bother me.
But recently I needed windows on my Mac. So after a few tries for the triple boot, I managed to create a bootable USB stick with boot camp, which already showed me the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" and hence refused to partition/install himself.
So I thought "OK, that's no big issue, I can just partition with disk utility and then boot on the USB stick and everything will work fine". But when EFI booting on the USB flash drive I got stuck at the beginning of Windows installer with no keyboard or mouse support.
After some hours spent googling, I was unable to find a working fix for that, and as there was no support for my case (where I used bootcamp to create the bootable flash but NOT to partition/reboot) I decided to give bootcamp a try.
So I erased my linux partitions, and cleaned up everything I could on the HD with disk utility. That means I now have two partitions showing in disk utility : Macintosh HD and Recovery HD.
When using disk utility from terminal, the list is :
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            80.0 GB    disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3
But boot camp still isn't happy, and the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" keeps popping after the intro and I can't partition/boot from bootcamp.
So, as I don't understand what is wrong here anymore, any help would be greatly appreciated!
I will be watching the thread a lot because I really would like this resolved (or windows installed one way or another) this weekend; so any questions on my past manipulations or config just ask!
Thank you.

keyboard issues are also something of a common issue.
I wish the best threads were voted to the top of forums, something! Me, I literally burned out here, but after installing 10 Preview, wanted to "see what was going on" after hiatus of a couple years and see if anything had changed (no, not really!)
Also, these new Communities are not putting "more like this" and failing to help too.
I think rewriting Boot Camp Assistant's built in help and pdf would help a lot, and needs to be clearer and go into details. And Yosemite was not it seems tested against Boot Camp, and drivers for new Macs + new OS also lag behind. Again, common and no sign of improvement or change.
One of the tricks to the "can't partition" is rather simple - of course backup is step #1 and is spelled out - SHRINK the main HFS+ partition! then stretch it back to full length. Sometimes a reboot is needed, and sometimes even do a Safe Boot - not sure what but Recovry Mode might be a good option too. That does seem to consolidate free space, move files that are locked and cannot be moved otherwise, and allow BCA to partition, jusst be sure to have enough space left and large enough for a proper Windows install (and fudge factor).

Boot Camp error: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition. The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Jounraled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.

Hi!
I am getting the error:
"The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition. The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Jounraled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows."
I read up some on google, but all of them says that they have crated a partition and that is the problem, I only have the standard "Macintosh HD".
I tried to create a partition manually in disk utility but then the error message: "Partition failed with error message: Could not unmount disk."
Can anyone help me? It's driving me crazy.
Thanks.

This message, and threads like yours got asked daily for over two years, now it is only a couple times a week!!
Is it so hard to follow through? you were to have backup already, clones are best, then erase/format and restore.
Then partition.
Some have been able to use Disk Utility booted from OS X DVD or another drive, and repair the drive.
You have to use Boot Camp Assistant (99.9% anyway) to create and achieve a proper Windows Master Boot Record partition.

Bootcamp error, 'the startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.'

I am trying to set up bootcamp for gaming purposes.
I attempted this several months ago and was able to proceed to the point of accessing the Windows disk utility but noticed that I was running out of memory on the partition. I believe I deleted the partition through mac OS, thinking I would simply re-run Bootcamp. Honestly, I have forgotten the details but now am unable to get past an error message on Bootcamp saying, "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."
Also, when I look at my disk utility settings I see I have two Macintosh HD with exactly the same numbers, i.e. 1.94 TB free of 2.09 TB.
Any assistance with this would be appreciated.
Thank you.

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         1.3 TB     disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:          Apple_CoreStorage                         905.9 GB   disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s5
   6:          Apple_CoreStorage                         801.4 GB   disk0s6
   7:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s7
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *2.1 TB     disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk0s6
                                 3D3FBA3D-8C26-4550-AD7E-CBF1FC688185
                                 Unencrypted
CoreStorage logical volume groups (2 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 31DCB352-9C95-43EC-8F16-FBFFAEF2EC92
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         Macintosh HD
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         2093598998528 B (2.1 TB)
|   Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 2D83E3CA-C968-4A83-9900-7FE4325B15F6
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk0s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     1292162457600 B (1.3 TB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 91499DB6-ED61-4BD9-A5FA-A3A469461673
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    1
|   |   Disk:     disk0s6
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     801436540928 B (801.4 GB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family 1AC34EBA-7E2E-4483-868A-9C1208206E73
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Status:       Unlocked
|       Encryption Type:         None
|       Conversion Status:       NoConversion
|       Conversion Direction:    -none-
|       Has Encrypted Extents:   No
|       Fully Secure:            No
|       Passphrase Required:     No
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume 3D3FBA3D-8C26-4550-AD7E-CBF1FC688185
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:                  disk1
|           Status:                Online
|           Size (Total):          2092978229248 B (2.1 TB)
|           Conversion Progress:   -none-
|           Revertible:            No
|           LV Name:               Macintosh HD
|           Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
|           Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 02021BDF-4B53-4A05-AE99-111B5ABAA416
    =========================================================
    Name:         BOOTCAMP
    Status:       Online
    Size:         905864802304 B (905.9 GB)
    Free Space:   905512476672 B (905.5 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 15BED824-E4C1-4AAF-8BB3-D4D4FAFA7ABE
        Index:    0
        Disk:     disk0s4
        Status:   Online
        Size:     905864802304 B (905.9 GB)
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 5860533167
       start        size index contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640 2523754800      2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
2524164440     1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
2525433976        1928
2525435904 1769267192      4 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
4294703096      262144      5 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
4294965240 1565305744      6 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
5860270984      262144      7 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
5860533128           7
5860533135          32         Sec GPT table
5860533167           1         Sec GPT header
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 - 4294967294] <Unknown ID>
2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

Bootcamp Yosemite 10.10.1 "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."

I'm trying to install Windows on my Mac via Bootcamp. I start up Boot Camp Assistant, the introduction pops up, I press continue and then I get this error message.
"The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.
The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows."
So I head over to Disk Utility, the only partitions I have are Macintosh HD and EFI. I thought there might be some hidden partition, so I went into debug mode in Disk Util and there's nothing (Also used terminal, I'll put results below*). So that brings me to my current problem; it's already "formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume" and I can't make it "partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows." because this error message prevents me from doing that. Maybe there's an easy fix, but the information provided is so unhelpful/circular it makes me want to laugh and punch something at the same time. I saw that someone fixed this problem by merging their partitions, but as I already have the minimum number of partitions so that wouldn't fix anything (unless EFI is unnecessary, which I'm fairly sure it isn't).
-Running 10.10.1 OSX Yosemite
-Trying to install Windows 8.1
diskutil list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            3.0 TB     disk0s2
Thanks for your help in advance ;3, I hope this is an easy fix

I had a similar issue after doing a fresh install of Yosemite. Bootcamp assistant seems to want a Core Storage scenario before it will continue.
To convert your drive use the following command in Terminal:
diskutil cs convert disk0s2
Bootcamp will then let you proceed as normal. Be warned though!
After the windows install completes you may end up with something like my situation:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/27472857?ac_cid=op123456#27472857

How to fix this error? The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

Hey guys,
I am trying to install windows 7 ultimate 64 bit via bootcamp assistant. I open bootcamp assistant from utilities and i get the second window and try to click continue and i get a pop up, saying "The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extneded (journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows." I looked around on the internet, i found that my internal HD must be set to OS Extended (Journaled). I went into disk utility and i clicked partition tab and the option was set to OS extended (journaled). Any ideas on how to overcome this error so i can install windows 7?

Error is:
1: common
2: misleading and poorly worded
3: space must be:
A: contiguous, that means unfragmented and in ONE section, not multiple
B: files cannot be loced, anchored or in such a manner as to prevent or block partition operation
C: to move, unlock and shuffle files requires booting from another drive or device
Shrink the HFS+ volume by as much or more than you need to set aside to use
If that does not,
Try iDefrag from another hard drive or by burning and using its own CD that is just for consolidating free space
Clone your system (should have backups already, clone is just bootable)
Erase and restore from clone - SuperDuper does consolidate files and free space and result in unfragmented (99% success rate)
None of which has to do iwth what that error message says. This error has been almost a daily threat topic - has gotten less but has not "gone away."

I have a 27" Iate2013 iMac with OS x yosemite installed and I tried to bootcamp to install windows 8.1. When I try to do it, it says "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored a single partitioned" what should I do

This is what it says on my mac
and this is what is greyed out

Disk0 = Internal disk
Disk1 = USB with BC drivers
Disk2 = Windows DVD
What are disk3 and disk4 1.4G Bootcamp disks?
Can you post the output of sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0 from Terminal? It will prompt you for your password, which will not be echoed back to you. It may also warn you about improper use and potential data loss if abused.

After upgrading to Lion can't get Boot Camp to work! Just get "startup dusk cannot be portioned or restored to a single partition"?

After upgrading to Lion can't get Boot Camp to work! Just get "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition". Anytone?

This message, and threads like yours got asked daily for over two years, now it is only a couple times a week!!
Is it so hard to follow through? you were to have backup already, clones are best, then erase/format and restore.
Then partition.
Some have been able to use Disk Utility booted from OS X DVD or another drive, and repair the drive.
You have to use Boot Camp Assistant (99.9% anyway) to create and achieve a proper Windows Master Boot Record partition.

Startup disk cannot be partitioned - Message

I have a new iMac with the Intel 3.06 and running 10.5.6. I am trying to use Boot Camp. I cannot get to the point to partition the drive. I have a 1 tb drive with 700GB of space. I launch Bootcamp Assistant and get the following message:
*The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.*
The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.
This is a stock imac and I have not done anything to the HD. It says that it is Mac OS Extended Journaled.
What am I missing? Do I have to boot from the Mac OSX DVD?

Asked and posted, the number of identical threads is almost 'staggering.'
Try seeing if you understand the tips that error message mentions:
backup and boot from another drive and format, and then restore.
SuperDuper, Apple Restore in Disk Utility.
You NEED an external backup drive.
http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?objID=f1244&search=Go&q=cannot+partitio ned

BootCamp - Startup disk cannot be Partitioned....

... or restored to a single partition. Backup the disk and use disk utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore you information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Asisstant again.
Hi all,
I just cloned my C2D iMac's factory disk with SuperDuper to a new larger drive and took the plunge installing it myself. (out of warranty anyway...) All went well and the new drive boots and works like a charm.
However, I get the error above when starting to install Boot Camp. One of the reasons I did this in the first place was to run XP for some old games that won't work with my current Parallels install.
Disk Utility shows my 500 GB HD as one partition, with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and 465.6GB total capacity and using Apple Partition Map. The disk is verified and permissions correct. Running 10.5.3.
Any ideas? I am new to Boot Camp and am thus confused about what the cause could be. I am not too excited about a complete reformat and install of 10.5.0 as I have already taken the time to clone in order to avoid doing just that!
Thanks in advance!
Stu

It must be GPL / GUID partition map. Which is native format for Intel Macs.
There must be a large enough unfragmented amount of free space. If not, then format the disk to GUID and restore. SD will restore so free space is maximized and your files are organized on one end.
Use Partition to change to one new partition, click on Options... at the bottom and insure it will be GUID.

I'm getting this error with bootcamp "The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned"

Here's the story...
I had a dual boot configuration on my mac with Mac OS X Lion and Windows XP (made with bootcamp).
I decided to reinstall windows.
I deleted the windows partition using BootCamp.
Tried to recreate the Windows partition with Boot Camp and got: "The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned You must have at least 10 GB of free space available"
After reading several posts on this forum I decided to defrag the hard drive and try again.
The defrag did not work and I'm still getting the error, I have 22 gb of free space on my drive.
Any suggestions?
Also, I tried repair disk and repair permissions
Hmm, my external harddrive says on the box "OS X 10.5.8 or higher (32-bit kernel only)" Could the 32-bit requirement be an issue? Is lion 64-bit?

Boot Camp must be able to allocate a contiguous block of space on the drive. If it cannot find 10 GBs of contiguous space, then you cannot create the Windows partition.
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal 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.
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 then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

Boot Camp - The disk cannot be partition

Appreciate if someone advise how I can overcome this problem. I have installed the parallel desktop for Mac when I bought the IMAC. I have also later installed the Leopard. Recently, I was told that Parallel can't support any PC game with Direct X version 9 above and the suggested solution is to use boot camp to install XP window as this will allow direct access to 3D card. I have uninstalled the parallel and try to used the Boot Camp assistant to install XP. My 1st problem is it give the following error "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved". Boot Camp assistant suggest the following"Backup 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 bring the Disk Utility and to be honest I have no clues what I need to do (as I am new to Mac operating system. Can someone tell me exactly what I need to do in Disk Utility. I am also think of reformat the whole harddrive and fresh anew however I would take the easier approach if someone care to share his/her experience.
Thanks

Hi,
I never used Bootcamp because it was just too confusing to use.
I have done 3 partitions in which one was for Leopard, another for shared data, and the last for Vista.
If you would like to do the same, then you would have to reinstall your OS X. Here is how I made 3 partitions.
1) I inserted the OS X disk during startup and went to Disk Utility.
2) I then had to erase my hard drive...which erased Leopard.
3) Once it was erased, I made 3 partitions in this order (with the 160gb hard drive)
*1st Partition - +HFS Extended Journal - 60gb - Leopard
*2nd Partition - FAT32 - 30gb - Shared Data
*3rd Partition - FAT32 - 60gb - Vista 'MAKE SURE YOU NAME IT WINDOWS/VISTA/WHAT EVER YOU WANT THE NAME TO BE' & THAT WINDOWS WILL BE ON THE LAST PARTITION THAT YOU MAKE
4) Re-install OS X back into the 1st Partition
Once your OS X is installed, now you can install Windows.
5) To install Windows, insert your Windows installation cd during startup and hold down the option key when you hear the chime sound.
7) When you see the Windows installation cd, click on it
8) Now since you partitioned your hard drive and had a FAT32 partition for Windows, you will have to format to NFTS. MAKE SURE THAT IT IS THE PARTITION THAT YOU MADE FOR WINDOWS--the one that you named!!!
9) Now you can install Windows
10) When Windows is installed, you can now install the Boot Camp Drivers.
BUT if you do not want to have a Partition for shared data, just skip that part so that you will have only 2 partitions.
Sorry if this was confusing.
Hope this helps...if you were interested

HT4818 When I try to partition my hard drive for Windows 7, I get an error saying The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved. I have a 2006 Macbook Pro I believe and I really need assistance as soon as possible.

I have Windows 7 Premium Home and I have downloaded the Drivers and when I click Boot Camp Assistance to partition my hard drive, it says, "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 can't do any backup really because I don't have an external hard drive to work with. I tried repairing disk permissions but that did not do anything. I really need a lot of help with this with some easy, step-by-step tutorials or something. I believe I have a 2006 version of Macbook Pro(4,1).

Once you have obtained an external drive and connected it you will 'clone' your internal drive to it.
Download Carbon Copy Cloner (it is not free but there is a fully functional trial version which is). Use it to clone your internal drive to your external drive. When that is done you will reboot from the clone and use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive (choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) as the format (this is normally preset, but check). Make sure to give the external drive a 'distinctive' name, don't want to get drives mixed up in this process.
Once that is done you will use Carbon Copy Cloner (from the clone) to restore the external to the internal.

Bootcamp - The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.

I know what you're thinking; this question has been posed before. But my circumstances are different.
Sooo I bought a brand new Macbook Pro 15" Retina, late-2014 model on Monday. After some initial setup (moving my music, downloading programs etc.) I moved onto the last thing I needed to do - set up bootcamp (primarily for gaming I admit).
Specs: 2.8GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage - In total the files I moved onto it left me with about 890GB free on the HD.
At this point I had made sure everything was updated as far as I was aware.
I received the error message "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved." I was trying to make a 151GB partition but also tried going down to 40GB and received the same message. I tried several solutions I found online including booting in cmd+s and typing in some codes, I checked the disk with disk utility and it was fine.
Nothing much for it and I was feeling lazy, I backed up with Carbon Copy Cloner (I much prefer this program to time machine) and reformatted. Clean install of OSX Yosemite and the Macbook looked like it had just come out of the box. Before I even attempted to restore using CCC I started up bootcamp again: same error. With essentially a brand new Macbook Pro right out of the box, near to 1TB HD space free.
I've taken it to the local Apple store but they "Don't have any support for bootcamp in-store" and I'm out of the house for 12 hours a day with work (I'm actually at work now). Plus you know, I require food and such, so I don't get much time to get in touch with Apple support directly.
The guy at the Apple store recommended Parallels or Visualbox; note that I want to use bootcamp. I like the extra power and I have a copy of Windows 8.1 from a previous Macbook Pro that worked wonderfully through bootcamp. This should work as far as I am concerned and I don't want to accept anything less to be honest.
Any ideas?

Hi Loner T,
Thanks for your suggestion, however I did a step wrong and I am facing another bigger problem.
Step 1 was to use time machine to backup OSX, looks like I failed to do that, and only backed up the data instead. Because after I erase my internal disk, I cant restore from TM.
So now the situation is that I can't access my HD, can't reinstall Mac to that hard disk (it is not detected), Cant use DU to repartition the hard disk as well, option not selectable.
What can I do now?

Bootcamp - the disk cannot be partition because some files cannot be moved

Hi, I have been using boot camp for a while and everything was working fine but over time, windows were picking up some virus so I did a stupid thing of removing the whole partition thinking that I can re-partition again and install a clean windows system.
But to my horror, I got an error message saying "the disk cannot be partition because some files cannot be moved". So I decided to defrag my MBP, after almost 14 hours later the MPB is defrag but I am still getting the same error.
Looking around, I found this quote "On a side note, it actually doesn't have anything to do with fragmentation. It has to do with compacting the disk so that no files are on the outer sectors of the drive. You could have a 100% no fragmented file system but still have gaps between data and data on the outer sectors of the disk. They need to be moved to the inside of the disk. Boot camp will usually do this for you but the problem is if a system file, swap or something can't can't be moved while the OS is running is out there it can't be moved.. thus the error."
Bottom line is what can I do to install bootcamp again? will wiping OSX and reinstall from Time Machine solve this problem? I don't want to waste another day wiping everything when it's not going to work.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Just a quick update, I made sure I had the latest backup on my Time Machine and then I wipe my MBP and restore from Time Machine. The restore was completed however, when I try to boot up from my MBP, it wouldn't start.
I get to the Apple logo screen with the loading icon under that and it stays there forever. The only thing I can do is a hard shut down (press the power button for 10 seconds).
This is turning into a bit of a nightmare!

The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

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