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I've used Boot Camp to install Windows 8 on my Air some time ago and I was trying to remove the windows partition to restore some space. Except Boot Camp gives me a warning saying "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."

This is what my disk setup looks like.

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            80.0 GB    disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                40.3 GB    disk0s5

I'm pretty sure the Microsoft Reserved (disk0s4) partition is giving me the problem right now. I can't mount it or do repair on it from disk utility.

I've called Apple support to get help but they spent 10 minute explaining 10 different ways I can pay them to receive help.

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  • You don't have Apple Care?
    – Rob
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 7:23
  • No I do not have Apple Care. Doesn't that cost money?
    – jeebface
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 7:28
  • Yes it does cost money, except if your device is bought within 3 months ago. Beside that, why do you think your partition is going to cause problems? Or does it cause problems already? Can you still boot bootcamp and OS X or does one of them not work anymore? Any chance you can do a complete new bootcamp?
    – Rob
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 7:35
  • My Air was purchased last summer so I'm not covered by the free plan anymore. I think the partition is causing the issue because I've heard Boot Camp does not allow restoring or creating new partitions when there are more than 2 partitions that can be seen. I know this isn't much of a reason but it's what I got right now. Also, on disk utility, disk0s4 cannot be mounted or verified, similar to the BOOTCAMP partition.
    – jeebface
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 8:16

2 Answers 2

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Start up from an install disk or recovery partition, use Disk Utility or Terminal to kill the Windows partitions, instead of trying through Boot Camp. Then resize your main HD to reclaim the existing space.

If you are comfortable with it, might be best to stick with Terminal, specifically using diskutil and paying attention to the eraseVolume and resizeVolume commands. Stick with resizeVolume Macintosh\ HD R to automatically increase the volume size to the available limits of free space. See diskutil on the Mac OS X Manual Page for reference.

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Maybe there is a way to get this working but I and some technicians haven't found it. BootCamp got me hard headaches some times.

The fastest way would be to make a backup of your Macintosh HD (create a disk image) and partition the whole drive. Delete all partitions, apply, then create a new one and apply. Be sure to set the partition type to GUID.

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