adding a new partition in free space wipes all others?
geez, I hate writing a question when I think I've already found the answer!!😀
But in this case, the answer's so baad, I thought I'd run it by you all before I hit "desperation" mode! Here goes...
I've got a USB 1TB external that I back up on to. It's in 4 partitions (audio, video, system, archives). The 4 partions are using about 750 Gb total, with 250 Gb free. I wanted to resize the "system" partition, as it was getting pretty full. I found some instructions about; (1.) creating a new, fifth, empty partition out of that 250Gb free space then (2.) "merging" the new partition and the system partition, resulting in a single larger partion for system backups. All other partitions *should* have been left untouched.
I was a bit wary of it all, but Disk Utility's Help says, "You may be able to create multiple partitions on your disk without losing any data" and then goes on to tell me how to, using the + sign, create a new partition out of the 250Gb of free space.
I followed the instructions to the letter but, after "Applying", it did create the new fifth partition, *BUT IT WIPED ALL OF THE DATA OFF OF THE OTHER FOUR PARTITIONS!!*
I'm in major panic mode, did a bit of searching and, on Indiana Univ. help page, found:
"Warning: ...when changing the partition scheme in Mac OS X 10.5 and later, partitioning your hard drive with Disk Utility erases all the information on the drive."
As I see it, a direct conflict to what Apple claims in Disk Utility's Help.
So, I'm about to pull out and upgrade my data recovery programs - - will just try and get the pix and tunes back, I guess.
But if anyone has any idea how I can "undo" what's been done, it sure would help!!
many thanks in advance,
b myers
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)