brucerudd

Q: Does the the Recovery HD partition interfere with Boot Camp

I am a Mac noob and trying to set up Boot Camp and install Windows 8 on my MacBook Pro.  When I run the Boot Camp Assistant I get the following error:

 

"The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved"

 

I think that the system came with a second partition for the Recovery HD and based on some Googling I have done it appears that Boot Camp will not work when you have more than one OS X partition on the drive.  So, I think what I need to do is clone the Recovery HD to a DVD for later use if needed and then remove the second OS X partition and\or combine it with the primary partition that the OS is running on.  My system did not come with installation media so I assume that this partition is intended to be a replacement for that.

 

So, can anyone confirm that I am on the right track here or if no what other course of action should I take.

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 15, 2015 2:13 PM

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Q: Does the the Recovery HD partition interfere with Boot Camp

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  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jan 15, 2015 2:15 PM in response to brucerudd
    Level 10 (313,476 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 15, 2015 2:15 PM in response to brucerudd

    Restart the computer with the Command and R keys held down, and use the Disk Utility's Repair Disk command on the partition with Mac OS X installed.

     

    (120362)

  • by brucerudd,

    brucerudd brucerudd Jan 15, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Niel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Niel

    Thanks Niel, but I already tried that. I should have added that I had enabled FileVault and hit the someone common know issues if it hanging before completion and telling me I needed to plug in to a power source for it to complete.  So, I can't turn it off because it thinks it is not complete the encryption.  It seems that hte current resolution for that is to re-install the OS which I would like to avoid if I can.  Not sure if that has an impact on this or not.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 16, 2015 5:50 AM in response to brucerudd
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Jan 16, 2015 5:50 AM in response to brucerudd

    brucerudd wrote:

     

    "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved"

    This usually indicates a lack of contiguous disk space for partitioning activity. A non-Bootcamped Mac has EFI/ESP, OS X, Recovery HD, and a Bootcamped version is EFI/ESP, OS X, Recovery HD and Windows. Bootcamp Assistant manages this seamlessly for the user. Disk Utility does not execute all the tasks that BCA can and does.

     

     

    I think that the system came with a second partition for the Recovery HD and based on some Googling I have done it appears that Boot Camp will not work when you have more than one OS X partition on the drive.  So, I think what I need to do is clone the Recovery HD to a DVD for later use if needed and then remove the second OS X partition and\or combine it with the primary partition that the OS is running on.  My system did not come with installation media so I assume that this partition is intended to be a replacement for that.

     

    So, can anyone confirm that I am on the right track here or if no what other course of action should I take.

    This is incorrect. BCA will handle a disk with the configuration mentioned earlier. There is no need to remove Recovery HD. The highlighted statement is a bit confusing. Do you have two versions of OS X installed on a single disk, or do you have a single version and Recovery HD corresponding to it? The former is not supported, but the latter is normal and supported.

     

    Please post the output of diskutil list from OS X Terminal and it can be determined what you have.

     

    On Yosemite, the following layout is supported. It uses Apple's Volume Manager (aka CoreStorage). If you have an older version of OS X Mavericks (or older) please share.

     

    diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *256.1 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         128.2 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                127.0 GB   disk0s4

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS OSY-MBP13              *126.4 GB   disk1

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2

                                     8A0116D5-7E1E-44D8-B2A0-8D4E4D48298D

                                     Unencrypted

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *16.0 MB    disk2

       1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk2s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS Flash Player            16.0 MB    disk2s2

  • by brucerudd,

    brucerudd brucerudd Jan 16, 2015 6:02 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 16, 2015 6:02 AM in response to Loner T

    The laptop was delivered new just a couple of days ago so it is using the latest version of Yosemite, 10.10.1.  I have not changed how the disk was configured when it was delivered and don't have two versions of OS X installed.  One partition has the OS and the other has the recovery HD.

     

    Here is the output you requested:

     

    Bruces-MacBook-Pro:~ brucerudd$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.4 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *499.1 GB   disk1

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2

                                     FC06AECC-9A99-441D-B34B-5FA477D6316F

                                     Unlocked Encrypted

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *7.3 MB     disk2

       1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk2s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS Adobe Flash Player I... 7.3 MB     disk2s2

    Bruces-MacBook-Pro:~ brucerudd$ uname -a

    Darwin Bruces-MacBook-Pro.local 14.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 14.0.0: Fri Sep 19 00:26:44 PDT 2014; root:xnu-2782.1.97~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 19, 2015 1:36 PM in response to brucerudd
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Jan 19, 2015 1:36 PM in response to brucerudd

    Your disk layout looks very similar to what I have, with the Bootcamp part at the end of the disk, after Recovery HD. Before the disk is erased/restored, I suggest running a verify and repair via Disk Utility, twice and a Safe Mode boot. A SMC Reset and NVRAM reset would also help. Please see Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs - Apple Support.