Please Help! Lost 60GB deleting Win XP using BootCamp!

[nixgeek]

Hey there.

OK, the reason why it failed is because you cannot wipe the contents of the system partition (the one that's got the active OS X running). It seems as though you tried to resize the partition for your current Mac OS X installation, hence the failure.

Also, the reason why you can't repair the disk is because it's running as the system partition at the moment (your currently running OS X session). If you were able to, it could severely damage your filesystem, hence why it's grayed-out. You would either have to use the installation discs and boot up from those so that you can launch Disk Utility from there and run a Repair Disk, or you can hold down Command-S after you reboot and hear the startup chime so that you can start in Single User Mode. Be aware that Single User Mode will be text only, but when you're dropped to a prompt you'll see instructions on what you need to type before the command prompt. Follow the directions and run the command given (be aware of spaces as well). If you get a message saying ** FILESYSTEM WAS MODIFIED **, that means that if found errors and fixed them. Run the command again a few times until you see a message saying "The volume Macintosh HD is OK" (or something to that effect). To reboot from Single User Mode, just type "reboot" and hit Return.

Out of curiousity, it didn't show the missing partition at all when you selected the Partition tab? That tab should have showed you the current partition table you have. It should have shown something about the missing partition (either as unallocated or FAT32 or unknown). See if you can post up a picture showing the current partition table as it is now and we'll take it from there.

To be honest, from the looks of the following picture it looks as though you've recovered your 120 GB into one partition already, with 86 GB not being used by files on the OS X partition.



Remember that when you format a drive, you lose some space. I have a 160 GB hard drive that came with my iMac G5 and it shows in Disk Utility as being 149.1 GB. There's always a loss when it comes to actual usable space and what the manufacturer lists it as. As a matter of fact, there was a lawsuit about this issue a few years ago and now it seems that all hard drive manufacturers must state that while it is of a specific size, the drive will actually show less than that as usable depending on the partitioning scheme and filesystem. So in earnest, you seem to have your entire partition back.

[MacMacWhosThere]

Hi,
thanks for the reply. I actually lost the portion (32GB) that I had originally allocated for Win XP, and when I removed it, it was erased rather than restored as an OSX.

I tried what you instructed (single-user mode instructions) and after running the command they gave twice, got the message "the volume macintosh HD is OK". Then I rebooted and I am getting the same exact screen that you posted above. Its seems like nothing has changed. Is there another screen I should be looking for?
thanks.

[nixgeek]

Well, it seems that it didn't recover the FAT32 partition as a FAT32 partition. It seems that reverting it back the way you had mentioned in the original post put it back in use by the main Mac OS X partition. So you are actually now using the entire drive for OS X. Disk Utility is showing 111.8 GB used by Mac OS X, meaning that the entire drive is being used. The 60 GB you had before was reintegrated back into OS X as one giant partition, so the FAT32 partition you created is no more.

As I also mentioned earlier, there's a reason that it doesn't show the actual capacity as 120 GB. This is common with any operating system you use. As I mentioned, my 160 GB drive shows 149.1 GB of actual usable partition space. This post on another forum explains the reasoning behind why you actually see less than the amount of space that is advertised after you format the drive, regardless of the operating system used.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showpost.php...71&postcount=1

So to make a long story short, you have the entire usable capacity of your drive being used by OS X once again, just like you did before creating the FAT32 partition with Boot Camp.

[MacMacWhosThere]

Yeah, the main drive shows the full 111.4GB, but when I click on the Macintosh HD, it should also show the remaining 111.4GB (since its one partition right?) but instead it shows only 55GB Available.. this is where the confusion lies, as shown here:

[nixgeek]

Ah yes I see now. Have you tried with an Ubuntu LiveCD to see if it sees the missing partition? Download from here and create a CD from the ISO image using Disk Utility:
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-rel...sktop-i386.iso

Since your Mac is Intel-based, it should work. Just insert the disc after you've created it from the ISO image, reboot, and then hold down C when you hear the startup chime. Once you're at the desktop for Ubuntu, launch the GNOME Partition Tool (should be in one of the menus somewhere) and see if it can detect the partitions, including the missing one. Post back with the results.

[MacMacWhosThere]

thanks dude! You're a genius!!!! I think i might have done it the long way.. since i used Ubuntu to repartition the entire drive, and then had to boot up using the Leopard Install CD, then ran Disk Utility to make a Single Partition and selecting GUID (under options). Then I was able to reinstall Leopard.

I think an experienced user might have been able to aviod reinstalling Leopard all over again, but it was good enough for me! I got my 120GB back!
Thanks alot man! I thought no one would have replied!

Thanks again!

[nixgeek]

Glad I could get you in the right direction. Happy holidays!

[MacMacWhosThere]

Thanks again! Happy Holidays! :d