bootcamp mentalism

i saw i thread about this recently but i couldn't find it using the search so have made my own...

basically i un-partitioned by XP install because my copy was cocking up, but intended to reinstall a new, bigger partition with a better version of XP at a later date. when i tried to re-partition a section i got the old 'some files could not be moved' message. i downloaded idefrag and ran it, but to no avail. this was only on the 'quick' setting though, which allows you to defrag the same drive you're booted from.

how would i go about defragging it on a more thorough setting - can i simply boot from cd and still run the application (which is located on the drive of the disk i want to defrag)? i've also started making a copy of my HD on an external with carbon copy cloner. presumeably i could boot from this then run idefrag on the internal hd?

--------

if still causing problems, i wouldn't mind just having an XP boot on the external disk. unfortunately bootcamp only allows a partition to be made on the internal mac boot disk. is it conceivable then to run bootcamp whilst booted in my cloned mac HD, thereby making a parition/xp install on my external? surely then i could just delete the clone from the HD and leave the XP partition?

--------

and finally - is there not a simpler way to do this with time machine? like format the internal HD whilst booted in the clone, then repartition and restore with time machine?

i mean, can time machine do this? and is it reliable if it can? because i've had problems with software activation when doing OS upgrades and using clones etc...

any help madly appreciated (i'm especially looking at you joyrex/chaosmachine!),

safe.

lol I have literally just been through this. tried idefrag, deleting stuff etc and nothing worked. always got the "some files cannot be moved" message no matter what I did. only thing that worked was to follow the on-screen advice and to a full erase and re-install of OSX. was a bummer an I lost loads, but it did fix the problem.

fuck.

i'm going to leave idefrag on 'compact' setting over-night. did you try that particular algorithm? it moves all the data to the beginning of the disk, so presumably that will leave a nice chunk for partitioning...

yeah, I did - didn't work for me... in my case it was mostly World of Warcraft patch data that couldn't be moved....if you've not got that on there (or something similar) it might be ok after compacting.

I stopped using Bootcamp ages ago, and found Parallels much better for my occasional XP/Vista/7 needs.

i thought you needed bootcamp to install windows? cause i have VMFusion (which is sick)...

btw, i'm nearing the end of the latest defrag. if i were to try and create a partition without using bootcamp, will it still be happy to use it?

  On 9/10/2009 at 5:29 PM, idrn said:

i thought you needed bootcamp to install windows? cause i have VMFusion (which is sick)...

No - I blew away my Bootcamp partition ages ago, although both VMFusion and Parallels can both use the BC partition for a VM.

  On 9/10/2009 at 5:45 PM, idrn said:

btw, i'm nearing the end of the latest defrag. if i were to try and create a partition without using bootcamp, will it still be happy to use it?

With VMFusion and Parallels, you create a 'virtual' partition, which expands and contracts as space needs dictate. Much more efficient than having a static partition. Do some reading up on it and you'll see it's a better option.

unfortunately i really need a bootcamp (bootable from start) windows partition, things like Nuendo and Adobe Audition don't run very well in VMfusion or parallels. i too am having this problem of 'some files cannot be moved'. I went and installed Snow leopard thinking the new version of bootcamp would solve this recurring problem but it did not.

So i have to decide do i want to do some half assed backup and move the important files that i can find (i am ridiculously disorganized and would lose some in the process) or should i find a decent way to 'ghost' or clone my entire mac hard drive onto an external drive and movie it back over once i reformat. Does anyone know if timemachines is suitable for doing this? i dont know if i should waste the time unless i hear from someone who has had success.

Couldn't you delete your existing bootcamp partition, repartition the space back into OSX, and then reinstall Windows via bootcamp and make a new partition?