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Bootcamp Questions

T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
I'm going to take the bootcamp plunge tomorrow, but wanted to verify a few things if possible...I have a 256GB SSD and a 2TB HDD.

1) From what I'm reading, I have a choice to put the bootcamp/Windows installation on one or the other right?

2) I read that you can't install bootcamp on the 3TB HDD, but my 2TB is fine right?

3) I have 140GB left on my 256GB SSD, and wanted to know how much room the bootcamp/windows installation will take?

4) If I put it on the SSD, do I have to install all my games on the SSD to run it in bootcamp?

5) Does it make any difference that the OS X is installed on my SSD?

Thanks for your time.
 
Quad5Ny

Quad5Ny

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2009
984
22
New York, USA
Tofray said:
I'm going to take the bootcamp plunge tomorrow, but wanted to verify a few things if possible...I have a 256GB SSD and a 2TB HDD.

1) From what I'm reading, I have a choice to put the bootcamp/Windows installation on one or the other right?

2) I read that you can't install bootcamp on the 3TB HDD, but my 2TB is fine right?

3) I have 140GB left on my 256GB SSD, and wanted to know how much room the bootcamp/windows installation will take?

4) If I put it on the SSD, do I have to install all my games on the SSD to run it in bootcamp?

5) Does it make any difference that the OS X is installed on my SSD?

Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...

  1. Yes, if Boot Camp Assistant does not expose that option you can use Disk Utility to do it manually.
  2. Yes
  3. How much RAM do you have and are you willing to change some settings (in Windows) to give you more free space?
  4. No, but you will have to make a separate partition on you 2TB in order to install Windows games on it, Windows cannot natively write to HFS+ partitions.
  5. No, but you should never completely "fill up" a SSD, they work best with 15-25% free space. I can elaborate on this if you like, that or you can Google "SSD free space percentage".
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
Thanks for the help, Quad!

3) I have 12GB RAM...Sorry for my naivety, but what does RAM have to do with the bootcamp installation? Is allocation of RAM a specific question that will be asked of me during the install, and of so, will I lose the use of that RAM while in OS X?

4) Would I still have to create a seperate partition either way, or only if I installed bootcamp on the SSD and windows software on the HDD?

5) In light of this, I decided I'm just going to keep the bootcamp installation & all windows games/software installed on the HDD. I have a couple games that run in OS X but are optimized for Windows. If I have the games installed on the bootcamp partition AND the OS X side, will I be able to play them fine in OS X if I decided I didn't want to restart Mac into bootcamp side?

Sorry for the noobiness, I've read a bunch of threads on bootcamping and its a bit confusing. Thanks again for your help.
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
I found a very comprehensive website that includes step-by-step instructions on how to install bootcamp, and answered most of my questions, so you can disregard my earlier post.

However, I did not find anything relating to RAM. Can you tell me what/if there's anything I need to know about RAM, prior to installation? I have 12GB RAM.
 
fungus

fungus

macrumors regular
Sep 30, 2008
213
2
@unclefungus
Tofray said:
I found a very comprehensive website that includes step-by-step instructions on how to install bootcamp, and answered most of my questions, so you can disregard my earlier post.
Click to expand...

Can you post the link to that website? It would be helpful to anyone who finds this thread looking for answers. Also, I'm curious which one it is ;)

Tofray said:
However, I did not find anything relating to RAM. Can you tell me what/if there's anything I need to know about RAM, prior to installation? I have 12GB RAM.
Click to expand...

Regarding RAM: it depends which version of Windows you have: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx

If it's 64bit Home Premium or above, and you are booting directly into Windows via Bootcamp and not using a virtual machine, you'll use all 12GB. There is no memory allocation with Bootcamp; you are natively booting and using all of your physical RAM. If you plan to use your Bootcamp partition within a virtual machine you'll be able to tell the VM how much RAM you want Windows to use.
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
Thank you very much for the info, Fungus! That makes sense to me now...I'm only booting into one operating system or the other, so it makes sense that all of the RAM would be allocated to it. I read about using a virtual machine, but to play games, it looks like it would be advantageous to boot directly into windows from bootcamp.

The site I saw was http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/01/1...ndows-7-on-your-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

It's an older site (2009) but gave the clearest directions for me to follow.
 
Quad5Ny

Quad5Ny

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2009
984
22
New York, USA
I'll answer your other questions a little later, for now I just want to touch on the RAM.

The thing with Windows is pre-allocates (reserves) space for the Pagefile and Hibernation file right after Windows setup is done, and this reserved space is based on how much RAM you have.

By default the Pagefile is == Size of your RAM, Hibernation file is == 75% of your RAM, and System Restore uses (I think) up to 10% of your Windows partition.

To save space you can; shrink the Pagefile down to 16MB and then have it automatically grow when needed, disable hibernation, and also disable system restore. As you can see below, changing a few settings gains you a HUGE amount of space (21GB). Let me know if you want to know how to change these and I'll post a little tutorial.

Example with 12GB of RAM - Default Settings:
  • Windows 7 x64 SP1 - 10GB
  • Pagefile - 12GB
  • Hibernation File - 9GB
  • System restore - Varies
    ---
  • Total - 31GB

Example with 12GB of RAM - Tweaked Settings:
  • Windows 7 x64 SP1 - 10GB
  • Pagefile - 16MB
  • Hibernation File - 0 Bytes
  • System restore - 0 Bytes
    ---
  • Total - 10GB
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
Quad5Ny said:
The thing with Windows is pre-allocates (reserves) space for the Pagefile and Hibernation file right after Windows setup is done, and this reserved space is based on how much RAM you have.
[/LIST]
Click to expand...

Thanks again Quad...Is this only if I choose to boot using a Virtual Machine vs. boot windows directly through bootcamp?
 
Quad5Ny

Quad5Ny

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2009
984
22
New York, USA
Windows will try to reserve the space whereever it's installed, it doesn't matter if it's a Virtual or Real (Boot Camp) machine.

It only takes a couple of seconds to change the Pagefile & Hibernation, it's not like its a lot of work. :)
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
Quad5Ny said:
  1. No, but you will have to make a separate partition on you 2TB in order to install Windows games on it, Windows cannot natively write to HFS+ partitions.
    Google "SSD free space percentage".
Click to expand...

I decided that I want to bootcamp windows onto my SSD, so the bootup would be faster, but I want to store all of the windows software on the HDD.

I'm trying to create a partition on my HDD (for the windows programs) using Disk Utility. I thought it should be an NTFS drive, however, the only options for FORMAT are "Mac OS Extended, MS-DOS (FAT), ExFAT, and Free Space". Which one should I choose?
 
Last edited:
Quad5Ny

Quad5Ny

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2009
984
22
New York, USA
ExFAT. When you get into Windows you can Re-Format it as NTFS.

The important part is the partitioning, which you can do right now in Disk Utility. Partitioning reserves a chunk of the Drive and then Formatting puts a File System on it.

Re-formating the drive in Windows is easy, you just right click and... hold on ill re-start into Windows and show you a picture. :p

Back from the break:
1.)
16675586.png


2.)
88596060.png
 
Last edited:
Quad5Ny

Quad5Ny

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2009
984
22
New York, USA
Here is how to Shrink the Pagefile down from the ridiculous size Microsoft sets it at and how to disable Hibernation. Also if you want I've included how to disable System Restore.

Note: If your on a MacBook and plan to drain your battery to 0%, leave Hibernation enabled or you'll loose any work you have open when the battery dies.


How to Shrink your Pagefile (To a Minimum of 16MB and a Maximum of 6GB):
  1. Open up a Administrator Command Prompt
  2. TYPE - wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" set AutomaticManagedPagefile=False
  3. Press Enter
  4. TYPE - wmic pagefileset where name="C:\\pagefile.sys" set InitialSize=16,MaximumSize=6144
  5. Press Enter
  6. Restart Windows
Note that You can also do this through the GUI, but its easier for me to just tell you 2 commands.
Video of How to COMPLETLY disable the Pagefile using the GUI - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM1UZc9AkE4
If you have 8GB+ of RAM I don't see any reason you couldn't completely disable it.


To Set the Pagefile back to default:
  1. Open up a Administrator Command Prompt
  2. TYPE - wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" set AutomaticManagedPagefile=True
  3. Press Enter
  4. Restart Windows
Click to expand...

How to disable Hibernation (Sleep will Still work):
  1. Open up a Administrator Command Prompt
  2. TYPE - powercfg hibernate off
  3. Press Enter
  4. TYPE - del /A "C:\hiberfil.sys"
  5. Press Enter

To Re-Enable Hibernation:
  1. Open up a Administrator Command Prompt
  2. TYPE - powercfg hibernate on
  3. Press Enter

Disabling Hibernation will give you back xGB in HD storage space.
Where xGB is == 75% of your Physical RAM
Example: If you had 4GB of RAM, you would re-gain 3GB of storage space on your Windows Partition.
Click to expand...
How to disable System Restore in Windows 7 <-- This is a Youtube link, Click it.

It will probably do it automatically, but you might also want to click the "Delete" button to remove any old restore points.


To Re-enable System Restore: Follow the steps in the video but instead of clicking 'Turn off system protection' click "Restore system settings and previous versions of files'.


(If you have free space available) System Restore will use 3-5% of your Windows partition. If your careful and make backups, you should never System Restore.
Click to expand...
 
T

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
WOW!! Quad, you're awesome, thank you so much for the help...Send me your address and I'll mail you a check for all the tech-support! Who needs Applecare when I've got you. :D:D
 
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