Changing size of bootcamp partition

[ac1]

Hi

I have a client with an imac running lion.The macintosh side has got a lot of free space, whereas the Windows Size is nearly full.

So they require extra space for their Windows 7 Bootcamp partition.

Just wondering what would be the best way to do this? Is it possible to do it without reinstalling Windows?
I know I could backup all the data, delete the bootcamp partition, and then redo the whole setup. However this would be a huge task, especially with the amount of the software the client has installed on their Windows side. So that would be the last resort. Or I could make an image of the bootcamp partition, delete it and then restore the partition. I have done some research to see if they are any easier ways, but just wondering whether anyone has any experience in doing this much faster?

Thanks in advance.

Pete

 

[grayfoxcomputing]

Check out this guide from MacRumors:

Extend_or_Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

It has some good info. I'd look at the section "Native OS utilities" as it explains that it is possible to use both the OS X and Windows built-in utilities to do this (two step process).

Let us know if you got it to work or not.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I use Winclone (great tool! used to be free, but well worth the $20 it costs now) all the time for imaging and restoring bootcamp partitions. Best case sceanrio, you may be able to go to Boot Camp Assistant and just resize the partition without doing anything else. Worse case scenario, I'd recommend Winclone to image the bootcamp partiton. Then you can delete/recreate the bootcamp partition to the desired size and restore the Wincloned image back to the newly created bootcamp partition.

The only time Winclone has ever given me issues is working with FAT32. But just convert the bootcamp Windows partition to NTFS and its happy.

 

[ac1]

Check out this guide from MacRumors:

Extend_or_Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

It has some good info. I'd look at the section "Native OS utilities" as it explains that it is possible to use both the OS X and Windows built-in utilities to do this (two step process).

Let us know if you got it to work or not.

Thanks for your response. I like the option, using the native OS Utilities. It would take the least time. But the link states that it has not worked for some. I might try it on another system, before I do it on the test system before I do it on client's mac.
Have you done it yourself before using this method? What would you recommend?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Thanks for your response. I like the option, using the native OS Utilities. It would take the least time. But the link states that it has not worked for some. I might try it on another system, before I do it on the test system before I do it on client's mac.
Have you done it yourself before using this method? What would you recommend?

Did you completely skip over my post? You are seriously going to go with something that someone googled which some unknown MacRumors poster has tried for which on top of that states "this has not worked for other users, so try at your own risk" over someones opinion who has done this more times than I can count for paying customers professionally. Are you that hard up not to spend twenty bucks?

I mean seriously, I can't even call that idea second hand info. There are so many hands involved I can't even count but no one can say they've tried it. Its like saying I know someone, who knows someone else, who knows another guy that knows someone else's second cousins, roommates, brothers, uncle tried this and said it worked.

I just can't help but smell pizza.

 

[ac1]

Did you completely skip over my post? You are seriously going to go with something that someone googled which some unknown MacRumors poster has tried for which on top of that states "this has not worked for other users, so try at your own risk" over someones opinion who has done this more times than I can count for paying customers professionally. Are you that hard up not to spend twenty bucks?

I mean seriously, I can't even call that idea second hand info. There are so many hands involved I can't even count but no one can say they've tried it. Its like saying I know someone, who knows someone else, who knows another guy that knows someone else's second cousins, roommates, brothers, uncle tried this and said it worked.

I just can't help but smell pizza.

Sorry, might have scrolled too far and didn't see your post. I might try WinClone, I have used it once, but ages ago. I'll still do a backup, just in case, for both windows and Mac, and then try the clone. Since you have had experience with it, I better consider that. Sorry for skipping your post, just didn't see it.

I will post back, after I have tried it

 

[300DDR]

+1 to anonymous Mac Tech's suggestion of winclone

 

[ac1]

Did you completely skip over my post? You are seriously going to go with something that someone googled which some unknown MacRumors poster has tried for which on top of that states "this has not worked for other users, so try at your own risk" over someones opinion who has done this more times than I can count for paying customers professionally. Are you that hard up not to spend twenty bucks?

I mean seriously, I can't even call that idea second hand info. There are so many hands involved I can't even count but no one can say they've tried it. Its like saying I know someone, who knows someone else, who knows another guy that knows someone else's second cousins, roommates, brothers, uncle tried this and said it worked.

I just can't help but smell pizza.

Thanks anonymous mac tech
I tried Win Clone, and I successfully resized the bootcamp partition. Only problem is the login process to Windows 7 is extremely long now.
It takes ages to go from the Login screen to the Desktop. It shows "Welcome" for a very long time. Any ideas?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Thanks anonymous mac tech
I tried Win Clone, and I successfully resized the bootcamp partition. Only problem is the login process to Windows 7 is extremely long now.
It takes ages to go from the Login screen to the Desktop. It shows "Welcome" for a very long time. Any ideas?

If everything else was done correctly, I'd say that's more than likely a Windows issue that was there before. Winclone is simply an imaging tool and bootcamp is only doing things at the partition level and has nothing to do with whats going on with Windows. Are you positive there was any issues logging in previously? Is there adequate free space on both partitions? Is startup disk set to start on either the Windows side or the Mac side, and not set to not boot either one? Are the bootcamp drivers installed?

Other than that, I'd make sure Windows is reading the correct amount of space on C.

 

[ac1]

Have checked that

I have checked that all bootcamp drivers are installed, I have done a diagnostic startup with no startup items(no luck) and there is more than adequate space on the drive. I don't specifically remember that the startup time was that long before, but maybe it was?

Maybe its just a windows issue as you said. The startup time has somehow reduced now, after I changed the theme I think, and its not too long so I won't worry about it now.

May I just ask your opinion on how much you would charge for this job?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

May I just ask your opinion on how much you would charge for this job?

Depends on how large the bootcamp partition was to image and restore. Generally whenever I'm moving or resizing a bootcamp partition, I'm most of the time doing it as part of a new hard drive install and also an overall data transfer of the Mac and bootcamp sides. So a general HD install and data transfer is two hours. Generally, I'd say an hour plus the cost of Winclone. If you went in and did other tweaks or had to work with a ridiculous amount of data with the machine sitting and taking up bench space for a long time charge a bit more accordingly.

 

[ac1]

Thanks all for your help
Thanks Anonymous Mac Tech. Your experiences and suggestions were extremely helpful