mac - rEFIt can't sync GPT and MBR after resizing boot camp partition

04
2013-08
  • benwad

    I've been trying to follow the instructions here to increase the size of my boot camp partition:

    http://plonsdale.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/tech-tip-increasing-the-size-of-a-bootcamp-partition-with-free-tools/

    I got as far as step 3 when I booted from the rEFIt CD. I selected the partitioning tool and it gave me the following message:

    Error: Not Found returned from gptsync.efi

    Now the Windows boot camp partition doesn't show up when I hold alt when starting my mac. Trying to boot into Windows using the rEFIt CD gives me a message saying no Windows installation is found. I then booted off the Windows 7 install CD and the 'repair' option gave me this message:

    This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of Windows

    ...and if I try and go install a fresh version of Windows on this partition using the 'Custom (advanced)' option I get an error about the partition saying:

    Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style

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    Related Question

    osx - Boot Camp fails to create a Windows partition because it can't move files
  • Jens Bannmann

    I'm running Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) on a mac with a 320 GB drive, 167GB free space, and I can't get Boot Camp running. The wizard starts creating the Windows partition, but fails with a message claiming it cannot move some files. The message suggests to back up my hard disk, reformat it, restore my files, and re-run Boot Camp wizard.

    The problem is: Though I do have backups (Time Machine), I don't feel like formatting my hard disk right now :-)

    I found a thread in some forum discussing this problem. The suggestion was to defragment my volume with iDefrag, and lots of people claimed that solved the issue. So I went ahead and got iDefrag 1.7.1, created a bootable DVD and chose the "compact" setting recommended before partitioning - but still no luck with Boot Camp! So how do I get this working?

    Fun note: last year, I briefly set up Boot Camp with 10.5, and it worked perfectly. Probably I did not use that much hard disk space back then...


    • Related Answers
  • bigredjoe

    Had your exact problem. To solve it I used TechTool Pro's bootable DVD to perform free space consolidation (they call it volume optimization).

  • alimack

    iDefrag fixed this for me - you need to do a full defrag, not just a compact. Compact just removes the spaces between the files - (directory fragmentation) you want to defrag the files too.

    Cloning the drive and format/ re-install will do it, too but it's a lot of work as you say in your question.

    Might be worth checking there aren't any problems with the drive by repairing in Disk Utility too before the defrag.

  • 8088

    After a few hours of tinkering and not wanting to attempt defragmenting due to time limitations, I booted into safe mode (hold Shift while booting) - finally Bootcamp Assistant worked!

  • cOle2

    If defragmenting didn't work you're only option is to format. I've ran into this issue numerous times and a format was the only way to get it to work. Sorry.

  • Jared

    I was having the same problem. Couldn't partition the HD because "some files could not be moved".

    **I booted in safe mode. ( do this by rebooting and holding down the shift key after you here the chime)

    **The solution that worked for me was repairing disk partition with disk utility on mac in safe mode. (Open disk utility and Under utilities in your applications folder.)

    **open disk utilities in safe mode and verify and repair disk partitions

    **once its done, reboot normal and try to install again and it should work.

    now windows runs so smooth, almost smoother on a mac than a PC. I used windows 7, free download through the college. Roll Tide! Hope it helps! This is free instead of using iDefrag.