iBook SSD partition drama - MediaKit reports partition (map) too small

[winterlight]

Hi guys,

 

So the saga continues...

 

Put together the iBook G4 with the SSD in place.  Boots up great and the machine is acceptably fast now (also installed more memory)

 

However, when I duplicated the previous drive onto the SSD (I used DD on Ubuntu), it turns out it didn't do that magic that allows Mac OS 10.5.8 to resize the partition on the now larger drive.

The error I get is -- "MediaKit reports partition (map) too small"

 

I've tried two things so far:

- using Gparted live CD (doesn't work on PowerPC macs)

 

- deleting Bootcache and other files -- deleting the files as recommended in the link didn't go exactly to plan, I couldn't find Bootcache.data    Also the file .volinfodatabase

wasn't exactly the same.  it was called volinfo.database

I'm just wondering if those instructions are for Intel based macs based on the date.

http://superuser.com/questions/233531/how-can-i-resolve-the-error-mediakit-reports-partition-map-too-small

"Why not just boot into single user mode? Hold down command+s on boot. Performcheck disk and then mount the drive.

Go to /Library/Caches and /System/Library/Caches and remove everything in those folders.

Then go to /private/var/db and remove BootCache.data, BootCache.playlist and .volinfodatabase. Reboot and use Disk Utility again. Just did this here and it worked moving from a 120GB SSD to a 250GB SSD. Was getting the dreaded medikit error too small or whatever.

You might just have to remove the .volinfodatabase. Try that first. If that doesn't work try the .volinfodatabase again and the BootCache files. If that doesn't work try what I tried."

 

If anyone knows how to resolve this on OS 10.5.8 I would appreciate it.

 

 

[Elfen]

Much easier to have used Firewire Mode and copy the drive with CloneCarbonCopier. This would have updated the partition Map without all the hassle of deleting files.

[rsolberg]

When I've come up against issues like this in the past, I usually repartition the new drive from scratch using Disk Utility booted from the Mac OS X install media, wiping everything out and ensuring Apple Partition Map is selected. Then I do a clean install of the OS and copy my users, data, and applications over from the original disk using the Migration Assistant. This approach has proven far less problematic than duplicating the whole disk with dd or Carbon Copy Cloner, particularly when the source and destination drives are different capacities.

Edited October 5, 2016 by rsolberg

[jongleur]

Connect the old HDD (external case) to the iBook and boot from it.  Use Disk Utility to re-partition the SSD, and then use CCC, or similar, to clone the HDD to the SSD.

[winterlight]

So I finally resolved this.  I did what jongleur suggested.  (Mostly, I just used Disk Utility to Restore the data from the original to the newly formatted internal drive)  I had the original HDD with the original data and I found an enclosure that I could use with it (Needed a SATA to PATA adapter though)

Using Disk Utility was about the easiest thing I could have done.  That's probably why it's abbreviated "DU"...

My big learning is to clone drives BEFORE ripping it out of the iBook.  Being a Windows person my instincts were definitely all wrong.

I still can't believe how simple it was with Disk utility...