Q: Can I remotely partition my hard drive through Target Disk Mode without erasing it?
I have a 2005 iBook G4, 1.33GHz with 512MB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. It's currently running Tiger(10.4.11), and I want to be able to dual boot that and Debian(or some other Linux that still supports PowerPC), but I'm not really sure how to partition it. The Tiger Disk Utility doesn't allow me to partition the main hard drive while it's still running, right? Would I be able to plug it into my MacBook Pro(running El Capitan) through Target Disk Mode and then partition it from that Mac? Would this method still keep all of the original data on the computer? I don't really have any way of backing it up, so I'd prefer not to do something that would likely erase it(and lose the wonderful Tiger install).
Also, completely random unimportant question, is there a way to change or remove the Apple logo in the corner of the menu bar(in the same computer)?
Thanks!
Posted on Apr 15, 2016 7:01 PM
Partitioning is a destructive process. You can add another partition by shrinking the existing one without erasing the data already on the drive. Partitioning requires that you boot from the installer disc that came with the computer.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive entry (usually, mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left list.
2. Click on the Partition tab in Disk Utility's main window. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. The portion in blue represents the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait for the process to finish. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the Add [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait for the process to finish.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.
Posted on Apr 15, 2016 7:13 PM
