Backup and reinstall hard drive

[leewilson78]

Hi all,

I recently installed windows on my MBP via Boot Camp, I setup 10gig for windows, turns out, I need more than that.

I was wondering what would be the best way to backup my mac installation, so that I can reinstall it. I have an external Lacie 250gb hard drive, I would like to use this hard drive, as long as I don't lose my existing files on that hard drive.

Never done a full backup before, not sure if I need additional software or anything, hope someone can help.

Thanks all.

 

[adrianblaine]

You shouldn't have to wipe your hard drive clean. Can't you run Boot Camp again and delete it, merging it back into one Hard Drive? Then you can repartition it again with how much storage you need.

EDIT: just checked, there is an option in Boot Camp assistant for restoring the startup volume to one hard drive.

 

[leewilson78]

Sorry I forgot to mention, for some reason, I get the following error when I head over to the boot camp utility:

Your startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

Back up the disk and use disk utility to format as a single Mac OS Extended (Journled) volume.

Restore your information to the disk and try using boot camp assistant again.

No idea why, but I cannot even get into boot camp.

Thanks
Lee

 

[adrianblaine]

Sorry I forgot to mention, for some reason, I get the following error when I head over to the boot camp utility:

Your startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

Back up the disk and use disk utility to format as a single Mac OS Extended (Journled) volume.

Restore your information to the disk and try using boot camp assistant again.

No idea why, but I cannot even get into boot camp.

Thanks
Lee

Sorry to hear about that. I'm not a backup expert, but I have heard that SuperDuper is pretty good.

http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html

This is a good overview on lots of different programs. Good Luck!