# Can I turn off case-sensitive?



## Whitehill (Feb 7, 2009)

I have a disk with two partitions.  One is the usual case-insensitive format, the other is case-sensitive.  Can I change the 2nd to case-insensitive without reformatting and losing all data?


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## Satcomer (Feb 13, 2009)

I think it has to do with the way the drives themselves and the way they are formatted.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Feb 14, 2009)

I don't think so.  I think you need to reformat.

Imagine for a minute that you _could_ turn off case sensitivity without reformatting.  Imagine also that you had two files on your Desktop, named:

1) Document1.rtf
2) document1.rtf

On a case-sensitive volume, all is well... but you just can't do that with a case-insensitive volume.  Imagine now that you "turned off" case sensitivity on the volume... what happens to those documents?  Does one overwrite the other?  Are they merged?  Does one become a hard link to the other?  Are they corrupted?  Do they disappear?

I don't think there is any set of rules you could use to solve that dilemma, from a code standpoint (think about how Disk Utility would try and handle that situation -- more than likely, it just can't).


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## BimBam (Feb 16, 2009)

Well put, ElDiablo.

I then realize that NOTHING can be done : for the reasons you just gave, you can't even backup your case-sensitive drive to a drive that is not case sensitive.

I wonder what a backup program like Retrospect will do in this case ? 
And Time Machine ?

Maybe they can do what the Finder does when you put a file in the Trash that already contains one with the same name. It gets renamed so that there is no clash between the two. 

In fact, the second trashed file (the "youngest") gets its creation time (hh-mm-ss) added to its name. That's how my Leopard 10.5.6 deals with the situation anyway.

Sooo, maybe Whitehill still stands a chance. I wouldn't be surprised if Retrospect could handle this properly.

BimBam


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