"The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned?" WHY!??

I"m trying to intall windows 7 on my Macbook air OS X 10.6. When i enter bootCam i get this error "The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned" . It says I need 10GBs of free space, even though I have 500GBs of free space on my drive external hardriver.
I did my research, and a lot of people are saying to use idefrag and defrag the hardrive, which i did. I also verifed disk permissions and repaired disk permission and all the other stuff.
What should i do? Apple hass the shittiest service. I spend $1100 bucks for something and i don't even get support without paying? to me, that's BS. so if anyone could help i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks Bob.
And now to close this thrilling episode we will sing the "Dragnet Theme Song". All together now.....
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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.

The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned

I have a custom upgraded Mac Mini (from 1.6 Core Duo to 2.33 Core 2 Duo & 64GB SSD - a fast little machine!) Under Leopard 10.6.6 & could create a BootCamp partition. Now after a reformat & upgrade to 10.6.7, BootCamp reports, "The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned". BootCamp says it needs 10 GB free space. The Finder says there is 23.4 GB available.
Has anyone else run across this?

Backup. Format. Restore.
Windows 7 needs 40GB+
HFS needs 20GB/20% free space to function.
64GB is fine -- but just one OS, not two.
you might squeeze OS X into 30GB if you move and trim a lot.
Windows 7 SP1 32-bit - the updates take 9GB of space (temp) on top of 20-25GB plus you'll need to disable page, hibernation, not install programs, and leaves little for TRIM and Garbage Collection.
When Windows gets too low, you can be blocked from login or runnng.

Hello, Trying to run Bootcamp on my 15" Macbook Pro (Maverick).60 gig available on my computer's hard drive and 250 gig on a separate hard drive that I have attached which is single partitioned. Keeps saying "The startup disk does not have enough space"

Hello,
I'm trying to run Bootcamp on my 15" Macbook Pro (Maverick). I have 60 gig available on my computer's hard drive and have 250 gig on a separate hard drive that I have attached, which is single partitioned (MS-DOS FAT). It keeps saying "The startup disk does not have enough space, you must have 28 gig of free space available" Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the advice Bob The Fisherman. I'm just reading what turbostar has kindly written and it appears that perhaps, if I take advice from you both, I need to free more space up on the computer's hard drive?
With the external hard drive; would it be advisable to defragment? Know of any defrag freeware for Mac OSX?
Many thanks to you both.

"Start-up disk does not have enough space to be partitioned"??

Hi there, I hope someone can help.
I've been using bootcamp for a couple of years but recently it has started to play up so I decided to reinstall a fresh. I went into OSX and ran "boot camp assistant" and deleted the partition and start again. For some reason when I try to go though "bootcamp assistant" to set up windows xp again I get an error saying "Start-up disk does not have enough space to be partitioned - You must have 10g of space available" But I check my space available I have 23.5gb free. It's driving me nuts! :/
Cheers, Mark

It's possible that your drive is sufficiently fragmented that Boot Camp Assistant cannot allocate enough contiguous space to set up the partition. It's also possible that it's simple a directory issue. I would start with repairing the hard drive:
Repair the Hard Drive
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. 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 your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
After restarting per the above try using Boot Camp Assistant to allocate a partition. If it still complains then you will need to defragment the drive. You can do that as follows:
A. Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4.Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive.
Source means the internal startup drive.
B. Boot from the clone.
Restart the computer. After the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the large downward pointing arrow button.
C. Use Disk Utility to erase the internal hard drive.
D. Restore the clone to the internal hard drive.
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4.Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal drive.
Source means the external drive.
*Note that the Destination and Source drives are reversed when you restore the clone from when you made the clone.*

HT1338 my startup disk does not have enough space

When I try to update I get a message start up disk is full.
What needs to be done? and How do I do it step by step?
Any help is appreciated Thank you

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion's Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB external hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My guess would be it has created an entirely new backup of your drive when you upgraded to Mavericks.
See Here: http://pondini.org/TM/1.html
And here: http://pondini.org/TM/9.html
Peruse the whole site. There is a lot of information there.

Software Update reports...Your hard disk does not have enough space

<< Your hard disk does not have enough space-3 B is required to download and install the checked updates. Extra space is required for the optimization process. To free up space, remove files from your startup disk, then try again.>>
I've got 127GB free??!!

I ran the Disk Utility and it said that "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." I tried to proceed with my software update and it still says I dont have enough space. I have 159.7GB availible and the error message says I only need 3.75GB of space. What do I do now?! Thanks in advance for your help!

Your hard disk does not have enough space.

On running software update I am presented with this error message. Get info on the HD however says that I have 611.3 MB free.
Any thoughts?
OS X 10.6.2 on a 2GHz iMac

Hi,
I have 611.3 MB free.
If you only have 611.3 MB free disk space that is NOT good. I wonder if you meant to type GB?
If not..
Go here for help to Free Up Space on Your Startup Disk
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. *Make sure you always have a minimum of 10% to 15% free disk space at all times.*
Carolyn

How do I fix Your hard disk does not have enough free space?

How do I fix Your hard disk does not have enough free space?

Select the icon of your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you renamed it) in the sidebar of a Finder window, and open the Info window. How much space is Available? Specify gigabytes (GB) or megabytes (MB).

The disc inserted does not have enough free space

I created a disk image about 451 MB, it an Audio Disk. When I try to write the image to a blank Memorex CD-R 700 MB I get the message: "The disc inserted does not have enough free space".
When I created the image I used the disk utility and followed the help file instructions. When I open File> New> I can only select "disk image from folder", the other option is grayed out.

wow, this is my first real disappointment with my MacBook. I can't burn images, technical support didn't get me any further than I already was. I spent half a day trying everything in the world to burn an image with no success.(followed all the help instructions) Now I have to go into the Apple store to have them go through all the same stuff I went through today. Two days of working on this computer to burn a CD with no success.
My guess is that at the end of the day tomorrow I will walk away from the store with no computer because of a malfunction. What a wasted weekend.

Disk Utility reports DVD disc does not have enough space

I am trying to create backup DVDs of some valuable data using my Macbook
I have used Disk Utility to create a disk image of the original DVD. When trying to burn the image to the blank DVD (4.7GB DVD-R), Disk Utility reports: 'The disc inserted does not have enough free space'. This occurs for both a disk/disc image of 4.26GB and one of a mere 451MB.
Any ideas on how can I overcome this?
PS: when is a disk a disc and vice-versa? Apple don't seem to know; the spellings above are verbatim.

If you are trying to duplicate the DVD then I suggest trying this:
Duplicate a CD or DVD
1. Insert the DVD/CD;
2. Open Disk Utility, and select the DVD/CD from the left side list (select the DVD/CD icon on top);
3. from the DU File menu select New | Disk Image from Disk 1;
4. Choose to format the disk image as DVD/CD Master, name the disk image and click Save;
5. When the .cdr file is finished select it with mouse and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info and check the box to lock the file;
6. Choose the .cdr file from the left side list, click Burn, and insert a new, blank DVD or CD.
Otherwise I would consider using backup software that can span a backup across multiple optical media such as Retrospect, Toast, etc. You can look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
It's hard to offer more because you really did not provide any detail on precisely what you are doing and how you are trying to do it. More information may enable us to provide better suggestions.

Hard Drive does not have enough space/error message

Hello: I am new to Mac but have been having trouble with my iMac for a while. I can no longer download my software updates. I have an error message that states "Your hard drive does not have enough space" - 5.7 GB is required.
I only have a 1 GB machine. What am I doing wrong?
When I go to my Macintosh HD icon on the desktop, it says at the bottom of that window that I have 495.9 MB available.
The error message tells me to go to the Startup file to delete items. I go there, but there's only two files. I do have music/photos/but I do not understand what's going on with my computer.
In addition, it turns itself off often, for no apparent reason. Any ideas?
Thanks!
J.Renee

The error refers to space on your hard drive, not memory. Unless you've mis-typed, if you have only 495.9 MBs free on your hard drive then you are definitely out of space. If you continue operating with so little free space you are risking a catastrophic loss of data.
To free up space you will either need to delete unneeded personal files or copy some of your bigger files off to an external hard drive then delete them from your internal drive. Alternatively you can replace the internal drive with a larger drive.
You should maintain no less than 15 GBs or 15% of the hard drive's capacity as free space whichever is greater.
If you meant to type 495.9 GBs then you may have a corrupted disk directory. Try the following:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

Time machine says restore target does not have enough space, but not true

I have a PowerMac G5 Tower with Dual 1.8Ghz, 3GB Memory.
The internal system disk is a WD 1TB(931.4GB) disk, but it has serious volume structure errors that are not recoverable with First Aid or Micromat TechTool. The 1TB disk was only about 1/3 full(~350GB used).
Fortunately, I have been using time machine since July, using the exact same type of disk(WD 1TB), which is external..
I installed another external 1TB that is exactly the same as the original system disk(WD 1TB - 931.3GB).
I am able to select the backup source of the original disk from the time machine disk, but when I select the destination(new 1TB disk which is completely empty and reformatted), I get the following error:
-"This volume does not have enough space to restore your system"
I don't get it.....the original and new disks are exactly the same size. In fact the time machine disk is also the same WD 1TB disk. Realistically, only 350GB should only be needed anyhow...
Please help....
Thanks,
Phil

Apple phone support recommended that I install Leopard on the replacement disk, boot from it, then use the 'transfer data from time machine backup option'. This worked, but takes an hour longer because I have to install an OS. I am in the process of transferring 337GB of data to the new disk using this method(system is estimating this takes about 8 hours, so I am sending this note before it completes). This further verifies that there was plenty of space on the 1TB replacement, despite the error message.
The new replacement disk I chose was an internal Seagate SATA disk. I was wrong in the previous note, the original internal system disk that had the volume corruption was also a Seagate SATA disk, not WD(though, the external 1TB was a WD). I did duplicate the bug mentioned in this bug with this disk before I installed the OS, so the problem had nothing to do with Seagate vs. WD, or internal vs. external. I booted from the replacement, then used the setup assistant to transfer data from a time machine backup.
In summary, there definitely is a bug in the time machine restore option: Time machine reports that there is not enough space to recover, despite the fact that it had a full 1TB clean, and newly reformatted space. I duplicated the error at least 6-7 times, during the course of troubleshooting, with different replacement 1TB disks(WD and Seagate), Internal/External disks, Firewire, USB, and SATA connect.
This is very nerve-wracking, as the restore is the major reason we do backups. How could apple have missed this one?
For what it is worth, I spent ALOT of time on this, because I also ran into the bug that WD external disks(firewire and USB) are not bootable on Power PC systems(this is of course a WD issue....).
Phil

"The startup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned?" WHY!??

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