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Missing 64 GB on my Hard Drive after deleting a partition.

To be more specific, I have deleted a Windows Vista partition using the Boot Camp Assistant. I did this so it would be easier to upgrade my Parallels 3 to Parallels 4 and then install Windows 7 RC. Using Boot Camp Assistant to partition my drive for Windows 7 I noticed that the capacity of my Mac's HD still remained 186 GB. The HD on my Macbook Pro is actually 250 GB. I did use the Disk Utility and it showed that my HD was fine. So, how come I didn't gain back 64 GB of my HD after I deleted Vista, and how can I get it back?

Details to help solve my issue:

Mac OS X version 10.5.7
Startup Disk Macintosh HD
Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Capacity: 185.99 GB (should be *250 GB*)
Available: 110.3 GB

Things I've done to fix this problem:

Used Disk Utility.
Used OmniDiskSweep (great for HD spring cleaning)
Used terminal command (sudo du -h -d 1 /) Still cannot find the missing memory.

MacBook Pro (Mid 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jun 28, 2009 7:49 PM

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Posted on Jun 28, 2009 10:21 PM

snowboarddude360,

Open Disk Utility. In the list on the left, select your drive (not the named volume that will appear indented below the drive), then switch to the "Partition" pane.

You wil see a graphical representation of your drive in the body of the window. If I understand what you have described, and nothing further is going on here, you will see your single named volume at the top of the graph, and some empty space below it. At the bottom-right of the single volume, you'll see a little "grab-tab." Click and hold on this tab and drag it down to expand that named volume into the empty space, then click "Apply."

Scott
6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jun 28, 2009 10:21 PM in response to snowboarddude360

snowboarddude360,

Open Disk Utility. In the list on the left, select your drive (not the named volume that will appear indented below the drive), then switch to the "Partition" pane.

You wil see a graphical representation of your drive in the body of the window. If I understand what you have described, and nothing further is going on here, you will see your single named volume at the top of the graph, and some empty space below it. At the bottom-right of the single volume, you'll see a little "grab-tab." Click and hold on this tab and drag it down to expand that named volume into the empty space, then click "Apply."

Scott

Jun 29, 2009 6:33 AM in response to snowboarddude360

Hi snow,

Just so you're aware, a 250GB HD is really about 232GB. Of course that doesn't account for all of your missing capacity, but 18GB of it is not "missing."

Probably obvious, but just to make sure, one way to regain your entire HD would be to clone the partition you wish to keep to an external HD (I prefer using SuperDuper) completely erase/format your MBP HD, and clone back to the proper partition on your MBP.

Jun 30, 2009 5:14 PM in response to tjk

Hi tjk, I looked and tried to erase and reformat the hard drive but I think i didn't do it right. I tried to make a copy of the partition like you said but it gives me an error 'resources are busy' or something like that. I go under erase in disk utility and the only thing I can do is erase free disk space.

I also made a mistake in making another partition before I solved the problem. I was using Boot Camp Assitant to make a 32 GB partition. It was nearly complete when it froze. I had to force quit the application. Afterwards I clicked on Macintosh HD in finder and pressed Command I and it now says I have 120 GB in capacity. Though it still says I have the 169 GB under Disk Utility. So now I have two unuseable partitions that I cannot see. Suggestions anyone?

Jun 30, 2009 5:36 PM in response to snowboarddude360

Do you have anything that must be saved before you erase the HD? If not, boot from your Install Disc, open Disk Utility (while booted from your Install Disc), and erase the HD. This will undo anything/everything you have done. After that you can choose whatever partition scheme you want and then install OSX on the proper partition and whatever else you want on the other partition/s.

If you do have data that needs saving, that needs to be dealt with first, as erasing the HD will erase all data.

Jul 7, 2009 3:16 PM in response to snowboarddude360

My problem is solved. My hard drive turned out to be fine the entire time. I went to the apple store and the employee checked using disk utility. It showed 185 GB is in capacity. Then he turned it off and took out the battery compartment and inside there was some print saying 200 GB. It turned out that I had a 200 GB HD instead of 250. I always felt that 250 GB was the minumum hard drive for the mid range computers that I assumed my macbook pro 15" 2008 had a 250 GB. At least I learned how to use the disk utility.

Missing 64 GB on my Hard Drive after deleting a partition.

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