New MBP on the way....important question from new user!

[theNEOone]

I've been lurking around getting a feel for the OSX platform. I've also created a few threads asking about the switching experience.

I bit the bullet yesterday and have a shiny new 2.8 MBP on the way that I will be Vista boot-camping (for games) and virtualizing for some other random programs.

I've found out how to move the home folder in OSX to a separate location. I also know that Vista lets you put the documents folder wherever you want and just repoint to that new location. I would like to have a 3 partition drive, with OSX on one, Vista on another, and my docs on a third partition. The question I need answered (I should have thought about this before) is if it's feasible to have a single location for all my Docs that both operating systems access - both in a boot camp scenario and a virtual scenario (I'll be using Fusion 2).


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[jessica.]

You sound like you're a great candidate for a network drive. If you want a central location for all of your documents, a network drive is the best bet. I do not believe you can save a document in Vista and access it via OSX when you switch between OS's. I could be wrong though.

[iBookG4user]

You sound like you're a great candidate for a network drive. If you want a central location for all of your documents, a network drive is the best bet. I do not believe you can save a document in Vista and access it via OSX when you switch between OS's. I could be wrong though.

I think that they are referring to that they want to have a third (FAT 32 I would assume) partition where they would store their documents. That partition would be accessible from both OS's. I really can't see why that setup wouldn't work.

[theNEOone]

I think that they are referring to that they want to have a third (FAT 32 I would assume) partition where they would store their documents. That partition would be accessible from both OS's. I really can't see why that setup wouldn't work.
Yes this is what I want to do. I hadn't thought of the formatting, but yah...I guess it'll have to be FAT32. It just occurred to me that OS X might not be able to read the NTFS file system. Is this the case? I thought it wasn't, considering you can file share between OS X and Windows.

Also, jessica - I do have a network drive, but I use it for backups and to access media files on my xbox360. I don't want to worry about accessing my everyday docs off the network. The biggest issue that comes to mind is speed. I want things to be fast.


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[iBookG4user]

Yes this is what I want to do. I hadn't thought of the formatting, but yah...I guess it'll have to be FAT32. It just occurred to me that OS X might not be able to read the NTFS file system. Is this the case? I thought it wasn't, considering you can file share between OS X and Windows.

Also, jessica - I do have a network drive, but I use it for backups and to access media files on my xbox360. I don't want to worry about accessing my everyday docs off the network. The biggest issue that comes to mind is speed. I want things to be fast.


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Mac OS X can read NTFS just fine, although it can't write to an NTFS drive, while both Mac OS X and Windows can read and write to a FAT 32 drive.

[theNEOone]

Mac OS X can read NTFS just fine, although it can't write to an NTFS drive, while both Mac OS X and Windows can read and write to a FAT 32 drive.
Hmm what file system does OS X use? Can windows read/write this file system?Ideally I'd like to stay away from FAT 32. It's my understanding that since Win2k, windows has be using NTFS over FAT32 because NTFS is faster, more secure, and more robust. If I have to run a file system that is read/write in OS X but only read in Vista, so be it. It can't be the other way around though (where OS X can only read, but not write).


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[iBookG4user]

Hmm what file system does OS X use? Can windows read/write this file system?Ideally I'd like to stay away from FAT 32. It's my understanding that since Win2k, windows has be using NTFS over FAT32 because NTFS is faster, more secure, and more robust. If I have to run a file system that is read/write in OS X but only read in Vista, so be it. It can't be the other way around though (where OS X can only read, but not write).


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Mac OS X uses the HFS file system and unfortunately I don't believe that windows can even read this file system. You might look into this (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/how-to-read-and-write-ntfs-windows-partition-on-mac-os-x.html) for read and write support for NTFS on Mac OS X, I've not used it personally but it is worth a shot.

[Markov]

There is a way to read and write to NTFS in OS X as stated above. To read and write to your OS X partition, you can use Mac Drives. This app enables HFS+ support to Wimdows (Both vista and XP).