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GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
Ok, so I have a MBPro and I'm trying to install windows xp pro via boot camp.

So I go to partition my hard drive and I see the usual diagram to choose how much you want in each drive.

So under Mac OS X it says
"-2147483648 GB"
"-2147483648 GB Free"

Under Windows it says
"-2147383648 GB"

My hard drive is only 100 GB. I don't want to just click partition because i only have 10gigs free, and I only wanted 5 of that for windows. I really need to get windows running but I just don't know what to do.

Does anybody have any ideas or do I need to take it into the genius bar?

Thanks in advance
 

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JNB

macrumors 604
It's misreading the volume.

Try rebooting first, then run the Assistant. If it still shows the bogus values, do not create a partition, but run Disk Utility, select the Mac volume (not the disk) and select Verify Disk. Accept the option to repair if/when offered. After that's complete, run the BC Assistant again. If still no luck, c'mon back and the crowd will continue with additional help.
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
Thanks for the quick reply, but unfortunately that didn't work. I've repaired the disk permissions and then I verified it. It says the mac volume is ok, and I don't have the option to repair it. Oh, and yeah, it still has those ridiculous numbers in the boot camp assistant.

Any more ideas guys?

I really don't wanna have to buy a pc :(
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
how long have you been running the leopard? and how much free space you have on your HDD?

The reason I ask is that when you have more data on the HDD, bootcamp will have more problem partitioning.
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
It's a stock 100 GB HD at 10,000 RPM

I have 10.91 GB free, which is more than the 10 GB that I think boot camp requires. And I only wanted 5 GB for windows.

Edit: I've been running leopard since about the time it came out (october, december?), but I got my mbp about 2 years ago

I have also run boot camp successfully on tiger. But for some reason now I have a problem.
 

iShater

macrumors 604
Aug 13, 2002
7,027
470
Chicagoland
I STRONGLY recommend against having less than 5GB free on your system. The moment you run out of space, your system will go down. I would offload some files first.

Also, please make sure to backup everything before playing with Bootcamp. Thanks. :eek:
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
Yes, I know. I'm only installing windows XP and one program though, so I'll still have more then 5 GB free in total. And yes, everything is backed up.

But are there any more ideas on how to fix boot camp just not working at all/giving me those bogus HD values?
 

Xander562

macrumors 68000
Apr 2, 2006
1,625
0
Obviously you didn't know you have the largest single drive in the world. Shhh.... just go with it.....:cool:
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
lol, except that it says -2147483648 GB

I actually have the single SMALLEST drive in the world. In fact it's less memory than having no drive at all, which is strange
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
^bump

PLEASE, somebody must have had this problem, I'm desperate and need answers before I have to go buy a dell. Should I just give up and go to a genius bar?
 

ThirteenXIII

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2008
863
319
honestly theyll have no idea other than to tell you to do a fresh installation of Leopard. and try again.

In system profiler does it state the correct information or isitlike the bootcamp set up?


have you tried installing windows to see if it recognizes the alloted space?


might be time to clean up the drive and allocate more space to your windows partition etc.
 

JNB

macrumors 604
It's a stock 100 GB HD at 10,000 RPM

I have 10.91 GB free, which is more than the 10 GB that I think boot camp requires. And I only wanted 5 GB for windows.

Edit: I've been running leopard since about the time it came out (october, december?), but I got my mbp about 2 years ago

I have also run boot camp successfully on tiger. But for some reason now I have a problem.

You're out of usable space.

A 100GB drive has about about 93GB formatted available. You're at 10.91GB remaining, meaning the drive is already at 89% capacity. In other words, you're effectively "full." You want to maintain no less than 10% free on most any drive or individual volume (in any filesystem) for swap, etc. Past that you WILL start having issues--some minor, others not so. You need a larger hard drive, or start dumping a lot of data. If you manage to shoehorn a BC partition on that thing, expect severe and regular problems.
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
system profiler states all the correct info.

Basically it sounds like all i can do is backup my music and photos and do a complete reinstall, deleting everything, and then loading the music and photos back/reinstall programs I use. Ugh...

I guess it is time to clean out the system though so maybe this is a good thing, even though I won't enjoy it.
 

Dmac77

macrumors 68020
Jan 2, 2008
2,165
3
Michigan
system profiler states all the correct info.

Basically it sounds like all i can do is backup my music and photos and do a complete reinstall, deleting everything, and then loading the music and photos back/reinstall programs I use. Ugh...

I guess it is time to clean out the system though so maybe this is a good thing, even though I won't enjoy it.

What you need to do, is do a reinstall, and DUMP SOME OF THAT DATA!!!!! It's not safe to run a drive when it's that full. Take your music/videos/photos, and whatever you don't need when your not at home and offload it to a external drive, or get a larger HDD in that thing. DO NOT ATTEMPT A BOOT CAMP PARTITION WITH THAT LIITLE SPACE LEFT!!!! I REPEAT DO NOT ATTEMPT A BOOT CAMP INSTALLATION UNTILL YOU FREE UP SOME HDD SPACE!!!!! General rule of thumb, is to keep 25%-15% of your HDD empty.

Don

Don
 

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Jan 26, 2008
8,725
5,201
Isla Nublar
One thing I would suggest is once you have your OS reinstalled for the things you dont use often or look at often (pictures or such) put them on a small external drive. You can get sizes up to 300gb now.
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
It's a stock 100 GB HD at 10,000 RPM

I have 10.91 GB free, which is more than the 10 GB that I think boot camp requires. And I only wanted 5 GB for windows.

Edit: I've been running leopard since about the time it came out (october, december?), but I got my mbp about 2 years ago

I have also run boot camp successfully on tiger. But for some reason now I have a problem.

I think its the problem with your free HDD pace. OSX doesn't write data next to each other continuously, so your 10G free space is probably more or less fragmented everywhere. Its always dangerous to partition your HDD at this status, you might loose your data.

I would get an external HDD, clean up the HDD, maybe re-install the system, then proceed with bootcamp.
 

Infrared

macrumors 68000
Mar 28, 2007
1,715
65
Ok, so I have a MBPro and I'm trying to install windows xp pro via boot camp.

So I go to partition my hard drive and I see the usual diagram to choose how much you want in each drive.

So under Mac OS X it says
"-2147483648 GB"
"-2147483648 GB Free"

Under Windows it says
"-2147383648 GB"

My hard drive is only 100 GB. I don't want to just click partition because i only have 10gigs free, and I only wanted 5 of that for windows. I really need to get windows running but I just don't know what to do.

Does anybody have any ideas or do I need to take it into the genius bar?

Thanks in advance

I can't explain why you are getting that error.

This I can tell you: 2147383648 is 2 raised to the power of 31.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
36
You have filled up your disk space.

Seriously 5gb for windows? You'll get a completely slow windows and complain that bootcamp won't work, when the problem is lack of disk space.

Either get internal or external drive. If internal drive, have an approved service provider install it. If external drive, perhaps one with firewire so you can take your data with you without taking a power brick.
 

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
You're getting that error because you have less than 15GB of free space left. Someone else had this problem here before, if you freed up more space, it'll fix itself.
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
Seriously 5gb for windows? You'll get a completely slow windows and complain that bootcamp won't work, when the problem is lack of disk space.

Im using 4G with my EEE-Win XP. 5G is more than enough for windows XP (SP3) to run smoothly.

If OP need extra apps, just make sure after all are installed, windows partition still have 1.5G left.
 

wadejc85

macrumors 6502
Jul 9, 2008
357
0
PA
Five GB just doesn't seem to be enough for practicality. I have my drive partitioned to 32 GB. I'm running out of space already, and I'm only running several EPA freeware programs, AutoCAD, and MS Office.

Granted, I have way too many files, but still.
 

GhettoSheep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
8
0
Yeah, I have an external but I left it at school and won't have it for a while :(

I did a complete reinstall, erasing my old hard drive after backing up my music and photos and other things i needed on my ipod. Then I reinstalled the programs I needed and put my music and such back.

Basically this cleared up about 30gigs worth of junk files and gave me a fresh install. And of course, windows works fine, seeing as im using it right now

Thanks for all your inputs
 
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