Disk Utility does not allow expansion of Mac partition

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Disk Utility does not allow expansion of Mac partition

I have tried expanding the Mac partition to include the ~50GB of unallocated space using Disk Utility. Each time I have tried to Apply changes by both typing in the total GB and dragging the resize control, and each time it just jumps back to where it is currently and does not expand the disk for Macintosh HD.

My next step was to try and resize them using Disk Utility after booting into recovery, but that gave me an error as well.

Is there any way around this?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Windows 7 Bootcamp Partition

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 2:14 PM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

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Aug 4, 2015 3:52 PM in response to nlynng

Partitioning a hard drive:

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html

To resize (or add/delete) an existing partition without losing data, you will need to use, for example, iPartition:

http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php

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Answer 2

nlynng Author

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Aug 6, 2015 12:54 PM in response to Klaus1

Thanks, I understand how to partition drives but my problem is that it is not letting me.

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Answer 3

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Aug 6, 2015 2:50 PM in response to nlynng

Are you saying that iPartition will not allow you to re-partition the drive?

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Answer 4

nlynng Author

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Aug 6, 2015 3:09 PM in response to Klaus1

no I'm not saying that, I am asking my original question because I am wondering why disk utility will not allow me to extend the Mactintosh HD partition itself (when it allows me to shrink it no problem) without the use of iPartition. I have been able to do this before in the past. I worded it 'wrong' with asking if there was any way around it, but what I guess I am actually looking for is why won't Disk Utility extend that partition.

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Aug 7, 2015 9:50 AM in response to nlynng

Try booting into the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume) and see if you can accomplish it there.

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Answer 6

nlynng Author

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Aug 8, 2015 6:46 AM in response to Eric Root

I have already tried this before, and it still bounces back and doesn't extend the partition.

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Answer 7

Aug 8, 2015 7:26 AM in response to nlynng

In order to enlarge your OS X partition, you will have to use Boot Camp Assistant to remove the BOOTCAMP partition, expand Macintosh HD into the new free space, then use Boot Camp Assistant to create a new BOOTCAMP partition following your now expanded Macintosh HD. That is my interpretation after reading this Apple article and its section — Enlarge a Partition.

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Answer 8

nlynng Author

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Aug 8, 2015 7:32 AM in response to VikingOSX

Not exactly what I meant.. there IS free space in the Mac partition that will not allow me to allocate it to the Mac partition, I'm not looking to create even more free space. In the past it let me drag the Mac partition down to the free space and allocated to the Mac part, but now it just bounces back and does not allocate the free space to the Mac part.

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