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The disk cannot be partitioned because...

... some files cannot be moved.



I'm getting this error when trying to install Windows 7 via Bootcamp into a partition of 40GB (from 220 free GB).



I've read through a lot of the potential ways to sort this, but I'm a bit of a computer noob truth being told and I don't understand half the things people are telling me.



What is the easiest way for me now to install Windows in Bootcamp? A step by step guide would be great. I'm pretty reluctant to wipe my current Hard Drive, even though I do already have a backup saved in Time Machine.



Any help would be great...

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 24, 2012 1:27 AM

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Posted on Jan 24, 2012 1:34 AM

Here is an article that i found that talks about the problem you are having and how to fix it!




You’re busy trying to use the Bootcamp Assistant to install a bootcamp partition on your shiny Macbook, when suddenly you’re greeted with the dreaded fragmentation dialog of death:

User uploaded file


So what does “The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved” actually mean? I mean, I’ve got 25Gb free and I only want a 10Gb windows partition! The answer lies in fragmentation. OSX seems to want a contigious block of clean disk to write to, and fragments of your files are scattered across it.

I know what you’re thinking. “But it’s a Mac. I’ve got this fancy file system that isn’t prone to fragmentation”. Yeah, yeah. Well, dude, the crushing news is that you can fix the problem by defragmenting your hard disk then trying again, so I guess OSX isn’t as committed to defragmentation as you might suspect.

I’m sure there are many ways to defrag an OSX hard disk. I chose to fork out 20 Euro and make the problem go away using iDefrag. There may well be open source/free alternative out there (feel free to comment if you know of any — useful for other googlers who come on by). iDefrag does its best work when it’s not defragging the boot disk, so you’ll want to generate a bootable DVD to run it from. Fortunately it ships with the tool to generate that bootable DV for you.

iDefrag ships will a free product called “Coriolis CDMaker”. Stick your Snow Leopard disk in the drive, run the CDMaker app, and it will get busy generating a bootable DVD for you with iDefrag as the autorun. Stick your bootable DVD in the drive, restart OSX, and hold down the “C” key as the machine boots — and it will boot up your DVD and run iDefrag.

Defragging takes some time – mine took about 3 hours to run – but that’s a lot less hassle than reformatting and restoring my entire drive. After the defrag I could happily run the Bootcamp Assistant without any “some files cannot be moved” drama.



Article from: http://blogs.bytecode.com.au/glen/2009/10/28/bootcamp-assistant-how-to-overcome- the-files-cannot-be-moved-issue.html

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 24, 2012 1:34 AM in response to thomohawk85

Here is an article that i found that talks about the problem you are having and how to fix it!




You’re busy trying to use the Bootcamp Assistant to install a bootcamp partition on your shiny Macbook, when suddenly you’re greeted with the dreaded fragmentation dialog of death:

User uploaded file


So what does “The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved” actually mean? I mean, I’ve got 25Gb free and I only want a 10Gb windows partition! The answer lies in fragmentation. OSX seems to want a contigious block of clean disk to write to, and fragments of your files are scattered across it.

I know what you’re thinking. “But it’s a Mac. I’ve got this fancy file system that isn’t prone to fragmentation”. Yeah, yeah. Well, dude, the crushing news is that you can fix the problem by defragmenting your hard disk then trying again, so I guess OSX isn’t as committed to defragmentation as you might suspect.

I’m sure there are many ways to defrag an OSX hard disk. I chose to fork out 20 Euro and make the problem go away using iDefrag. There may well be open source/free alternative out there (feel free to comment if you know of any — useful for other googlers who come on by). iDefrag does its best work when it’s not defragging the boot disk, so you’ll want to generate a bootable DVD to run it from. Fortunately it ships with the tool to generate that bootable DV for you.

iDefrag ships will a free product called “Coriolis CDMaker”. Stick your Snow Leopard disk in the drive, run the CDMaker app, and it will get busy generating a bootable DVD for you with iDefrag as the autorun. Stick your bootable DVD in the drive, restart OSX, and hold down the “C” key as the machine boots — and it will boot up your DVD and run iDefrag.

Defragging takes some time – mine took about 3 hours to run – but that’s a lot less hassle than reformatting and restoring my entire drive. After the defrag I could happily run the Bootcamp Assistant without any “some files cannot be moved” drama.



Article from: http://blogs.bytecode.com.au/glen/2009/10/28/bootcamp-assistant-how-to-overcome- the-files-cannot-be-moved-issue.html

Jan 24, 2012 2:00 AM in response to thomohawk85

Well I guess you didn't read very many. The only way to learn is to read the posts, after a while you start to figure it out. Your question is one of the most asked and most answered.😉


You either have to get a de-fragger and defrag the HD as @Matt mentioned, lower the partition size little by little until the warning goes away, erase/reformat the drive and re-install from the backup or reinstall from the installer.


You will run out of room really soon with only 40 gigs of space for Windows, unless your just going to browse the internet or read your mail. Your best bet would be to give it as close to 100gig as you can and you wouldn't have to go through this whole mess again.

Jan 24, 2012 6:10 AM in response to thomohawk85

For you, a good bootable backup you can work from.


Whether you do an erase + restore from there or not; or buy iDefrag and boot running that, or something else.


you need to still have 20% free for Mac side

you need about 50GB for Windows


you need contiguous unfragmented consolidated free space with which to perform the partition step.


You can shrink the Mac side first as far as possible (60GB or more), then stretch it back to full size - works best when done booted from another device.


But I would not do anything without a good 2nd boot drive.

Jan 24, 2012 7:33 AM in response to The hatter

Cheers.


In the comments section of this ([url]http://blogs.bytecode.com.au/glen/2009/10/28/bootcamp-assistant-how-to-overcome- the-files-cannot-be-moved-issue.html[/url]) a guy called Jonah says...


"Booting off my OSX disk and then running repair on my drive saved me from having to reinstall or run defrag. Try this first."


Anyone tried that, and does it work?

The disk cannot be partitioned because...

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