You could probably do something like this:
Initial situation:
[-NTFS partition-----------------------------------------]
Shrink that partition to half the disk size
[-NTFS partition----------][ Unpartitioned---------------]
Now create a HFS partition in the unpartitioned space:
[-NTFS partition----------][ HFS+------------------------]
Copy over all data from the NTFS volume to the HFS volume.
Delete the NTFS volume, resulting in this:
[-unpartitioned-----------][ HFS+------------------------]
And finally grow the HFS volume
However I would never try this without having a backup.
And if you already have a backup then it is much faster to just delete the NTFS volume and create a HFS volume. Which means the best solution is to borrow some extra storage space.
Shrinking a NTFS volume can be done with windows (7 and upward) build in utilities or with external tools such as gparted, Ntfsresize, Symantec partition magic or many other tools.
Growing a HFS+ volume is possible with OS X,using the included Disk Utility app, located in /Applications/Utilities.
Copying over the data either requires an OS which has drivers for both NTFS and for HFS, or a third location with is understood by both. (e.g. a pen drive formatted to FAT32). Apple has a Bootcamp HFS driver which might be the easiest solution.
1A bit late question, but did the moving to the top of the disk work? If so, which commands/tools did you use. (Or can you edit the answer to add that information) ? – Hennes – 2014-09-13T10:01:40.820
Would also like to know whether this was successful. – Hashim – 2017-10-10T17:43:31.100
I am doing this with
Parted Magic
and it appears to be working...just taking a while to do the transfer of files... – Cheetah – 2013-07-21T11:59:27.717If the disk is reasonably full (and your was about half full IIRC) then it will take a while. Especially if you use an external drive with a slow connection (e.g. USB rather then eSATA). But as long as the power does not fail it should eventually finish the task. – Hennes – 2013-07-21T12:01:52.620
Right. Its done. However I know have the problem with resizing the HFS+ partition so that it takes the whole disk. I've deleted the NTFS partition but I can't seem to resize the HFS+ partition. PArt of the problem is that the partition table is msdos so I can't resize in OSX....any ideas? – Cheetah – 2013-07-21T13:36:19.317
I think this post has the answer to that part of the question.
– Hennes – 2013-07-21T15:18:14.477I had to manually create a partition table. But I now have to move the partition to the beginning so I can expand it in OSX....another 10 hours... – Cheetah – 2013-07-21T16:47:32.357