Mounting iDisk in Windows: Acceptable Solution?

Hey everyone. I'm going to be loading Windows 7 on my 13" Macbook Pro as soon as bootcamp is updated with official Windows 7 support and I had a couple of questions.

First, there's a lot of discussion about how files in the non-active partition are handled, if they are editable, and stuff like that. I know files can be opened in Windows that reside on the Mac partition, but that creates problems after editing: where do I keep the most recent version? Do I have to email to myself and replace the old file with the new updated one once I boot into SL? What I'm getting at is the following: is there a way to have one repository for all my documents that are viewable and editable in both the SL and Windows 7 environments?

The best solution I've thought of conceptually is mounting my iDisk in Windows. I have all my documents on my MobileMe iDisk and that works great for right now. When I get Windows 7, will I be able to directly open those documents, edit them, and then save them to the mountable iDisk drive and have everything work correctly? Will there be conversion errors? Is there something I'm not thinking of?

Also, is a 50 GB partition large enough for Windows 7? I know the OS itself takes up about 7 and I'm going to be adding Office, but not much else. Obviously I know those two installs and other files won't take up 50 GB, but is there some number that Windows 7 prefers to have in terms of maximum performance?

Lastly, any word on whether plugging in an external HD into a new AEBS would work for time machine backups? I'm betting this question has been asked before, and from what I've gathered from year-old articles is that yes, it does work, but it is not officially supported by Apple. I just wanted to make sure this still holds true since I couldn't find anything more recent.


Thanks for all the help everyone.

balamw said:

That should work fine. For larger files, but less than 2GB, I tend to use the SD slot and a FAT32 formatted card.

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That's a good idea. I always forget that my MBP has an SD card slot on it.

Questoin though: I can access my iDisk files without an internet connection since Apple built in the ability for a local version of the iDisk that then syncs when an internet connection is present. If I mounted the iDisk on Windows, is there any way to replicate this functionality?

Note that the 64 bit edition requires more space (20 GB minimum vs. 16 GB minimum) and then even more (~2GB) if you add in Windows XP Mode. 50 GB should be fine, but I have been using a rule of thumb to dedicate ~25% of the total drive to Windows just to be comfortable. So I use 120 GB partitions on my 500 GB drives.

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I won't need XP Mode and I'll be getting the $30 student edition of Windows 7. I assume that isn't the 64 bit version...


Thanks

balamw said:

As far as I know you can choose 32 or 64 bit Home Premium or Professional under the $30 741 deal. if all you're doing is Office you might stick with 32.

B

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So the advantage of 32 is it takes up less HD space. Are there any advantages in the 64 bit version besides being able to address more RAM that should push me to install that?

balamw said:

Not sure. Windows has an Offline folders option for Windows shares, not sure if that translates to WebDAV too.

http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-7...lable-offline/

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Good link. Does anyone here on MR know if this will work for iDisk folders?

Just reiterating my question: Does anyone know if I can make my iDisk folders available for edit offline in Windows like it works on SL?