# Bootcamp Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747 "2007-03-27T21:44:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/1 "2007-03-27T21:44:33Z")
It appears I underestimated how much space I needed to make my bootcamp partition and now am trying to rectify the problem. Is it possible to enlarge the size of my existing bootcamp partition or alternatively make a 2nd partition that the existing copy of XP could access without deleting or redoing anything? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/2 "2007-03-27T22:16:13Z")
I can’t remember if the newest version of Bootcamp lets you resize the partition, and I’m not near my Mac at the moment, so I can’t check. But I’d look there, first – it’s an Apple product, it’s not going to let you destroy data without telling you. If that fails, you’re out of luck as far as partitioning the main drive goes (Bootcamp can be used with multiply-partitioned drives, supposedly, but it’s a bit touchy.) But you could get an external USB/Firewire drive formatted for Windows and use that from both operating systems (just make sure you format it from Windows). If you’ve got an old PC drive laying around, you can probably get a case for it in the $30-$50 range. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/3 "2007-03-27T22:22:47Z")
Don’t volunteer for ‘nuthin’. Keep your mouth shut and - wait, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/4 "2007-03-27T22:54:31Z")
Via google I’ve come across lotsa ppl requesting the same functionality but no simple solutions thus far. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/5 "2007-03-28T02:35:43Z")
## it seems that this will be possible, but only via complicated unix commands in terminal. Below are the partitions I have at the moment…does anyone know what I’d hafta type to make my apple partition smaller and my windows one larger? steve-jobs-computer:~ SJ$ diskutil list /dev/disk0 #: type name size identifier 0: GUID\_partition\_scheme \*149.1 GB disk0 1: EFI 200.0 MB disk0s1 2: Apple\_HFS Macintosh HD 138.0 GB disk0s2 3: Microsoft Basic Data Untitled 10.7 GB disk0s3 /dev/disk1 ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/6 "2007-04-03T20:20:37Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] it’s an Apple product, it’s not going to let you destroy data without telling you. [/QUOTE] It is also a beta and is unsupported by Apple. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/7 "2007-04-03T20:45:35Z")
unsupported by the sdmb too 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bootcamp-question/397747/8 "2007-04-03T22:50:14Z")
How about throwing a little bit of money at it? Buy a copy of Acronis or some other image software. Image the windows drive to a DVD or borrowed external drive. Then delete the boot camp partition, make a new one the size you wanted, and put the image back.