Merge Free Space into Primary Partition

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Level 1

13 points

Merge Free Space into Primary Partition

Hello, all, is it possible to merge free space into the primary partition? I made a partition but deleted it and i'm left with free space and i cannot delete it. I'm using disk utility and i wouldn't want to erase the whole drive and start over just to erase the free space

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Apr 4, 2011 5:12 AM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Apr 4, 2011 5:22 AM in response to Babyboi

Hi,

1) boot your Mac from your OSX install DVD
2) choose your language and then 'ignore' (cancel) the installation
3) from the Top Menu (Utilities) start Disk Utility (DU)
4) in DU click on your harddisk (not any partition) in the left pane (the first item listed)
5) in the right pane use the 'Partition'-Tab
6) Drag the partition separator line until it encompasses the entire drive and then select apply.
7) Quit Disk Utility
8) reboot your Mac from your harddisk.

This procedure only works with OSX 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Since you are 'fumbling' with your OSX partition you should consider having/making a backup of it before trying the a.m. procedure. Just in case.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

jsd2

Level 5

6,245 points

Apr 4, 2011 7:03 AM in response to Babyboi

Also, I believe Disk Utility can only expand an existing partition "downward" in its display, so it matters as to where on the disk the free space is located. If you start with two partitions, delete one of them, and want to expand the remaining partition to fill the free space, you can do it here, by dragging down the slider:
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but you can't do it here:
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I would be sure your disk is backed up before trying any of this.

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Answer 3

Babyboi Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 4, 2011 3:54 PM in response to Babyboi

thank you for your replies. i will go ahead and give this a try after i do a backup

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Answer 4

ighosh01

Level 1

0 points

Jun 19, 2011 3:53 PM in response to jsd2

Hi Stefan

I'm stuck with the 2nd arrangement. How do i proceed in that case? I need to drag upwards

Indira

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Answer 5

Jun 19, 2011 3:56 PM in response to ighosh01

You can't do that.

You will need to move the data to another disk and reformat.

Allan

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Answer 6

Tavicu

Level 1

0 points

Feb 7, 2013 8:36 AM in response to ighosh01

There is an option.

I don't know if it's the best but it works for me.

Boot from a recovery disk/usb and open Disk Utility then:

1. Create a partition from the free space

2. Select the drive

3. Go to Restore tab

4. On the source drag the partition with your OS

5. On the Destination drag the partition you created

6. Click Restore

7. Go back to Partition tab and erase the OS partition (not the partition you created)

8. Resize the partition you create

Done. 🙂

I know this is an old topic but maybe someone is stuck with this problem and can't find an answer!

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Answer 7

May 8, 2013 10:58 AM in response to Tavicu

to tavicu

i have a same issue, but that didn't work for me, it just make a same name for 2 partition and i can't delete d os partition, can you fix it please.....thx 🙂

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