Lion ate my Windows Partition

[awilcockson]

I updated to Lion a couple of days ago. After seeing this thread I went to fire up Parallels and it refused to start. Oh cough, I thought, my Windows 7 partition is gone. Rebooted and was able to boot into Win7. It appears a new version of Parallels is required for Lion, downloading now. I feel your pain Liam. I backed up my OSX partition, didn't even think of backing up the Win7 partition!

 

[burrco]

Luckily no problems with my windows partition after upgrading my iMac and Macbook pro.

 

[samh004]

Well....

Apple released the first beta to developers on 6th of June. So there was well over a month of Beta version from Apple. Just like iOS 5 has been released to developers now.

Small bugs in a new program? Sure. But all the major kinks should have been worked out before the final release was put out to the public. That is what a Beta is for. Apple staff have known about Lion for well over a month. Apple have heavily publicised it.

Apple staff have never been part of the developer program, are you suggesting all apple staff now are part of the program? News to me.

Just because it is version 10.7.0.0 doesn't mean I should expect it to be faulty. This is not the first version of Lion, many, many builds were made for this.

Are you relatively new to the Apple eco-system? I take it you have’t had a mac for long. All first versions of anything apple have done (with very few exceptions) have had issues. Anyone that has done their research, or been around for a bit, will know never to buy a first version.

In the case of software, this means waiting more than the couple hours it was available to see what issues pop up on the internet from the early adopters, and if there are big ones, like this clearly is, waiting for the point release that follows and hopefully patches the bug. Should be about a month from now.

If this is a fault? Shouldn't it be documented, perhaps have a warning that windows WILL be erased upon install of Lion.

It’s clearly a bug that hasn’t been found, hard to document that. However, thanks to early adopters like yourself, it will probably be patched for the next point release in about a month, saving a future version of you that didn’t leap onto Lion the second they saw it was released, when they had 'mission critical' data.

Ungghh ... for once I agree with sam ... first version of anything is to be avoided - let other be the guinea pigs and let yourself be dragged (kicking and screaming) to new horizons well after dawn, preferably midday or later.

• Queues are shorter
• Cost is reduced
• Hopefully Service pack 3 or greater
• issues are well known
• etc....

Not sure it’s a compliment, but I’ll take it

Just found out my iMac is sooo old I can't install Lion
Should I upgrade or wait ?

I'll assume you have a G5/PowerPC or the first Intel version. If you’re happy where you are, there’s nothing amazing about Lion, but it does provide some tweaks to Exposé and will probably be more compatible with iCloud and your iOS devices when all that launches.

I just bought my first Mac. MacBook Pro. I have the option of installing Lion for free but after reading this I am doubting wether I should.

Any experts have an opinion. Currently I have changed nothing and have only used it for about 5 minutes of web surfing so loosing data is not a concern I am just thinking maybe wait for the next version.

Well, as always you should have a backup done (with Time Machine if you like), but Lion would probably be the best for you if you’re new, as it’s got all the latest features. That being said, if you really rely on your mac then waiting a month for the next update to Lion won’t hurt. However, the up to date program only lasts a month, so register now, but don’t install now is my advice.

While I think major bugs like this shouldn't happen with Lion. I too am aware of 1 in 20 windows installations just deciding it isn't going to happen. Difference is there is enough ways to fix it, be it with startup repair, cmd or safe mode.

Considering Windows can run on any hardware, and Mac can run on what, 5 different computers? I think Windows has a pretty hard job of making everything going smoothly.

While I’ll agree the many variations of PC out there make installing Windows a nightmare in terms of drivers, your idea that there’s only 5 different mac configurations out there that support Lion is a little off. Try most machines since late 2006.

I realise it’s still a big difference, but as you said above, you may have changed something further than the average consumer would, and it’s hard to factor in everything someone will do to their system.

 

[nlagalle]

Are you relatively new to the Apple eco-system? I take it you have’t had a mac for long. All first versions of anything apple have done (with very few exceptions) have had issues. Anyone that has done their research, or been around for a bit, will know never to buy a first version.

Have to completely disagree with you here Sam. As a Mac user for nearly 20 years, I can't recall an OS update that destroyed a partition like that. I have done plenty of system upgrades (10.3-10.4 etc) and never lost data. In fact I haven't updated my MacBook air (with bootcamp) is because I haven't been home long enough to download it.

It’s clearly a bug that hasn’t been found, hard to document that. However, thanks to early adopters like yourself, it will probably be patched for the next point release in about a month, saving a future version of you that didn’t leap onto Lion the second they saw it was released, when they had 'mission critical' data.

Actually i am very surprised that it didn't show up during beta testing. Personally I am going to hold off updating now, and even though I have nothing worth keeping on the bootcamp partition (thanks dropbox) i can't be bothered going through a re-install, if it goes wrong.

Well, as always you should have a backup done (with Time Machine if you like), but Lion would probably be the best for you if you’re new, as it’s got all the latest features. That being said, if you really rely on your mac then waiting a month for the next update to Lion won’t hurt. However, the up to date program only lasts a month, so register now, but don’t install now is my advice.

I am not sure if Time machine backs up the bootcamp partition at all. Especially if you have it open in Fusion or Parallels.

 

[sergeyvzn]

The moral is - Apple has created a Mac to use with their OS, not Windows. Anything Windows-related have always and will always have issues. Apple does not want you to run Windows on your Mac. Don't - and you will have no issues, sleep well, get to fly F everywhere and be in total balance with the Universe -Why on earth would you have Windows on your Mac anyway???? If you're a PC guy or gal - why don't you buy a PC????

 

[samh004]

Have to completely disagree with you here Sam. As a Mac user for nearly 20 years, I can't recall an OS update that destroyed a partition like that. I have done plenty of system upgrades (10.3-10.4 etc) and never lost data. In fact I haven't updated my MacBook air (with bootcamp) is because I haven't been home long enough to download it.

I didn’t say previous updates have destroyed partitions, just that they aren’t the most stable of things. Apple has a track record of having coughpy first versions.

I’m not sure if this is the first time Apple has created a partition as part of an update, but maybe their lack of a track record for doing so (because it is a digital download and there’s no physical media in the event of an issue) is the reason this has come about, and thus, the first version strikes again.

Actually i am very surprised that it didn't show up during beta testing. Personally I am going to hold off updating now, and even though I have nothing worth keeping on the bootcamp partition (thanks dropbox) i can't be bothered going through a re-install, if it goes wrong.

I’ll agree with you there, it’s a little odd that none of the many developers testing it came across this issue. Clearly there aren’t that many running with a Windows partition.

I am not sure if Time machine backs up the bootcamp partition at all. Especially if you have it open in Fusion or Parallels.

I was just referring to backing up a new mac, I wouldn’t have assumed there was a BootCamp partition on a new mac. I hear WinClone is good for that side of things.

 

[notzac]

Somewhat curious .. but have you attempted re-running / re-installing Boot Camp?

(caveat emptor: I'm not a Windows person, even a little bit, so any advice offered is pure guesswork..)

 

[anat0l]

Somewhat curious .. but have you attempted re-running / re-installing Boot Camp?

(caveat emptor: I'm not a Windows person, even a little bit, so any advice offered is pure guesswork..)

Well I've never used Boot Camp before myself (let alone a Mac seriously), and so caveat emptor from me too, but from what you are proposing I would've thought all that would do is write a new partition with new MFT and thus it is "just as new" (keeping in mind that data is never really "erased", it just gets overwritten, unless you do something exceptional).

If Boot Camp were smart enough to pick up the partition and, say, simply repair the boot record or the like, then there really should be no problem for our OP to take care of that by himself, even without having to have Boot Camp do the job. From what the OP is describing, the essential file system data might be corrupted.

I have doubts that given the ineptitude of Apple in this respect that they would be ironically skilled enough to pick up pieces of a file system and somehow reconstruct / resurrect the former MFT.

LiamR, have you tried to access your Windows partition using, say, a Linux Live Distro on USB? If you start this up and can see the partition, access it and query files on it, it might give you a chance to move off any data not backed up.


What is surprising is that (supposedly) Apple have a track record of stuffing up the .0 version and barely take a slap on the wrist. Microsoft are primarily guilty of creating two monsters - ME and Vista - and they were in the proverbial stocks for months on no end, and still haven't been forgiven for their "crimes". I tell you, the way that some Apple fanbois defend the Mac OS bastion on some of the critical articles that you see around the web... it's like a fanatical cult...

Then again, NASA stuffed up Challenger, killed a few people, no one was charged. I guess you just have to be the "good guys" and you can do no wrong...

 

[straitman]

Outside of losing the Windows Partition has anyone had any issues installing 'Lion' :?:

 

[TonyHancock]

Outside of losing the Windows Partition has anyone had any issues installing 'Lion' :?:

I have installed it on my 13" and 11" MacBookAirs and all went well. I had to update one bit of software (Little Snitch) after installation. (Incidentally I run Parallels on one and VMWare Fusion on the other and both worked fine after the upgrade.)

 

[straitman]

I have installed it on my 13" and 11" MacBookAirs and all went well. I had to update one bit of software (Little Snitch) after installation. (Incidentally I run Parallels on one and VMWare Fusion on the other and both worked fine after the upgrade.)

Ta.

I just did not want to lose any recent emails as that would be a disaster.

 

[serfty]

Ta.

I just did not want to lose any recent emails as that would be a disaster.

Of course, full system backups, including files such as documents and email databases should be backed up before making such significant changes to your O/S.

 

[simongr]

The moral is - Apple has created a Mac to use with their OS, not Windows. Anything Windows-related have always and will always have issues. Apple does not want you to run Windows on your Mac. Don't - and you will have no issues, sleep well, get to fly F everywhere and be in total balance with the Universe -Why on earth would you have Windows on your Mac anyway???? If you're a PC guy or gal - why don't you buy a PC????

You can't do etax to get your tax refund on a mac.