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Drive partitioning and maintenance

cleo

cleo

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Could someone give me a plain-and-simple rundown on exactly what drive partitioning is, why it is or is not important, and what kind of general maintenance I should be doing on my hard drive? I have a new iMac 800 and no other Mac experience. I want to be getting the best out of my machine, but I'm just not sure how or what I should be doing. (And what disk maintenance programs I should buy, if any.)

Thanks!
Cleo, the eternal newbie
 
A drive partition lets you set aside a part af the hard drive to be acessed like a seperate disk. I'm not sure exactly what uses is has, but rest assured that it is a useful function.

Hard drive maintainance depends on what you use it for. If you only do word processing and dial-up internet, maintainance is basically zero. If you do video editing, or high bandwith large (100+ MB) frequently, I would suggest getting TechTool Pro or Norton Utilities and defragment your hard drive every 2-3 weeks or so depending on how heavy it's used. If you notice speed decreasing, try rebuilding the desktop (if you can do that in OS X, I'm not sure), zapping the PRAM, hold down option-P-R on start-up (I think), or defragment the hard drive. Good Luck, and congrats on your new iMac!!
 
eternal newbie... I like it... 😀

I would say that perform the system maintenance as the need arises. Whatever you do, DO NOT INSTALL THE UTILITIES ON THE HARD DRIVE!!! NAV is fine, but nothing esle. I don't know how many times I have said this, but whenever I see it installed, the computer is usually in for repairs because it stopped working properly. I remove or disable all the utility extensions and it works like a beauty.

I would recommend DiskWarrior as well as TechTool Pro 3.x and Norton Utilities. If you are getting the Norton utilities as well as NAV, you might be better off going for the System Works, since it has both of those items as well as a few others on the cd. I ordered up mine last week, and expect it before the end of this month. Apple's Disk First Aid is ALMOST useless when it comes to repairing/maintaining systems. I have yet to find a problem that it was able to fix that the other three couldn't do faster and better.

Once you purchase the utilities, you won't have to pay full price again. I always call in for my update purchases, so that I don't have to deal with mail in rebates.

Well, back to studying for my exam tomorrow... taking the test to be Apple certified for desktops tomorrow (3/19) 😀.
 
This is the 4th time I write this in Macrumors but, here we go.

When you create a partition, the computer reconize each partition as a different drive. That means that each partition would have a different level of fragmentation and if you get a virus it will go to one partition only in place of affecting the entire drive.

Another caracteristic is that the sectors would be smaller in each partition.

Now, I have a set up of partitions in my computer that have been very usefull. I have been doing this for at list 5 years now and it works great.

Now, in my case my hard drive has 20G and I'm using sys 9.2 only. As you are using OSX you may need to ad another partition. Wel, my HD is set up this way:

1st partition: 1GB just for the "Sys", Quicktime and OS related only, not even 3rd party tools.

2nd partition: 5GB "Soft", in here I had divided each program by categories:
Audio: Digital Performer, Protools, iTunes (the mp3 folder goes in to the next partition), etc.
Video&Animation: Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Miromotion, etc.
Publishing: Photoshop, Illustrator, M$ Office, Scanner stuff, etc.
Tools: Norton, Toaster, Stuffit Expander, etc.
Web: Dreamweaver, Flash, Hotline, MSN Messenger, Netscape, etc.
VJ: This is whre my VJ softwares are.

3rd partition: 15.4GB, here is where I drop everything, pictures, mp3, text files, downloads, video, my parents and other users folders, etc. Here I install the new software before officially apruved, this is to prevent undesire fragmentation in the "Soft" partition.

With the partition the computer becomes more stable, it may crash once a month at most, just because you are respecting the location of each file, something that fragmentation would damage after certain time.

The worst thing is to have everything in the same partition, even software and files. The manipulation would lead to some kind of disaster later on.

I hope this have been helpfull to you.

In your case I would add a 1.5G of space (at list) to OSX. You have to calculate some room for future fonts and extentions.
 
mymemory, for a newbie that could be more then is needed. Unless cleo intends to do heavy duty graphics/video work on it, the benefit will be almost nil. If the person wants to change the partitioning scheme later, it will also be a pain (need to back up everything or loose it).

I haven't done partitions since OS X went non-beta. I have yet to see any drive errors that would be resolved by having multiple partitions. The last time I did any real partitioning was on a peecee that has an os that didn't support the drive size that was installed. I my eyes, partitioning is a lay over from days of old where drives were small and the OS couldn't handle anything larger. With the current systems they are NOT neccessary.

As for viruses, when was the last time you had one on the Mac???? I can't remember that far back with any clarity. peecee's are way more vulnerable to viruses then the Mac ever will be.

Another thing about partitioning... you will loose all the software that came pre-installed on your computer. You would either have to re-install it all, or not use it. If you ever use the restore cd that came with your system, that could also change your partitioning, unless you are very careful (never used that, but I believe that it does a wipe and then installs everything as it came from the factory).

There is a reason why Apple ships the systems with a single partition, and formatted as they are. If it ain't busted, why f*ck with it??????
 
Originally posted by AlphaTech
Another thing about partitioning... you will loose all the software that came pre-installed on your computer. You would either have to re-install it all, or not use it. If you ever use the restore cd that came with your system, that could also change your partitioning, unless you are very careful (never used that, but I believe that it does a wipe and then installs everything as it came from the factory).
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't. The first thing I did when I got my new G4 was to partition the HD and then use the restore CD to restore my OS X drive to the way it came. It left my Classic partition alone.

There is a reason why Apple ships the systems with a single partition, and formatted as they are. If it ain't busted, why f*ck with it??????
Click to expand...
Cuz it's fun.


I've often wondered, but never taken the time to find out... will performance be effected by where on the drive the partition is? For example, is it better to put your most-used partition at the start of the drive?
 
Originally posted by Beej

Cuz it's fun.


I've often wondered, but never taken the time to find out... will performance be effected by where on the drive the partition is? For example, is it better to put your most-used partition at the start of the drive?
Click to expand...

Fun for some is pain for others... I would say that 90% or better of the Mac and peecee user's don't bother with re-partitioning their drives. I have yet to hear of a problem caused, in recent history, because someone DIDN'T partition a single drive into multiple ones.

Another thing that can crop up with having the multiple partions is where you install software. If you purchase a bunch of new app's (or sometimes even one or two) or games, and decide to install it, the partition that you are targetting might not be large enough. Some programs want to be on the same partition as the system folder, and don't take kindly to being placed elsewhere. Yes, they may function, but they work better on the boot drive.

Again, I don't see a real need for doing the partitioning. Especially for someone confessing to be an eternal newbie. The 'keep it simple' policy often works best unless you are one of the adept.
 
Originally posted by AlphaTech
The last time I did any real partitioning was on a peecee that has an os that didn't support the drive size that was installed. I my eyes, partitioning is a lay over from days of old where drives were small and the OS couldn't handle anything larger. With the current systems they are NOT neccessary.

As for viruses, when was the last time you had one on the Mac???? I can't remember that far back with any clarity. peecee's are way more vulnerable to viruses then the Mac ever will be.
Click to expand...

It's not the OS that can't handle the bigger drives. Its the file system you use. FAT32 can handle something up to 35-40 gig partitions. NTFS can handle any size. Not sure about fat....guessing smaller yet.

Ever thought the reason why there are so many more virii on pcs is because pcs have a much larger market size? More people using...more potential for causing damage. If mac were the larger market, you'd have more virii on macs. Plus those virii kids over in russia and the middle east probably can't afford macs, so they get a pc.

Don't get me wrong...i'm a lifelong pc user. I'll be switching to mac within the month. I know a ton of pc users have misconceptions about macs. I used to hate macs, but that's because i didn't know much about them. Just that they were pricey and didn't have much for games. I used to be a big gamer....not really that much anymore 😀 . But just being on this forum for the past week or so, I notice a lot of you mac users have wrong misconceptions about pcs. PCs aren't bad at all. I enjoy using them. They are easy to use...and they don't crash near as much as some of you say...at least mine don't. Many also dis Dell as being the bottom of the pc barrel. Well, they are widely considered the best pc maker. I agree. I have never had any problems with one. Granted, their tec support has been lacking recently, but they still make the best pcs.

So...for those of you who have a couple bad things happen on a pc, don't generalize. Because your situation is just that....your situation. It no way means that because you have had troubles, that everyone has troubles. I tell the same things to pc users who diss macs. So if you don't know, or haven't used a pc....don't judge it. If nothing else, it makes you look pretty stupid...like a lot of pc users who have obviously never used a mac. I reference this link. http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?category=main&id=3509#comment41

Its from a site called neowin.net. Someone posted a benchmark done that stated the mac wasn't as fast as a pc...mhz to mhz. But the benchmark is highly flawed on both ends...so the discussion that follows is pretty meaningless.
 
don't get a dell...

superfula, just because you have been lucky with the dell's doesn't mean that they are 'the best'. They may be good to you, but I personally know people that have them and want to chuck them out the window. I will never buy a factory made peecee... I do have one peecee that I BUILT... not a hell/dell system, nor any other big maker. I made it because that way I KNOW exactly what is inside it. The ONLY thing that I use that for is games, nothing else. I am typing this on my rev. a TiBook that I have 'tweaked'. I pumped the memory up to 1GB and have installed a new 60GB hard drive.

Don't get me started with all the problems I have seen with peecee's as well with the 'people' that use them. Mac's are about 100x easier to use, hands down. I deployed a stinkpad (T23) earlier today to a person that was waiting for it. I had to contact IBM because there was an 'unknown device' in the manager. A couple of updates later that was identified and functioning. Mac system's don't have to deal with that crap. Then the guy needed me to come over to set him up with a printer... sheeeesh. On the Mac, you can walk people through it over the phone, no problem.. I had to go over and do it for him since he didn't know how to navigate the network under win2k. At least on the Mac, I can use ANAT to remote control the systems to do things like that if the user needs more help. Anyone that has used a Mac in the past 3-5 years KNOWS how to add a printer. It hasn't changed all that much in those years. You still use the chooser, if the network has more then one zone, then you might need help to get to the printer. Otherwise, you just click a few times and you are there.

It's the small things that make the differences really show up.

I believe that win98se could handle larger drives, up to a point. nt4, couldn't handle the first partition if it was over 2 or 4GB (forget which, thankfully). As far back as I can remember, Mac's have been able to handle any drive size with no issues. They can also read peecee formated media, copy files up and down to it, and even format it for the peecee masses. I can burn a cd that can be ready by any computer out there. Peecee's can only read Mac formatted media IF you get some additional software, and pay for it.

While it is good that you have finally smarted up and decided to purchase a Mac, don't try and tell me that peecee's are a good thing. If you are in a corporate environment, where printers are on the network, spooling to a server and that server either goes down or gets filled up, forget about printing. Meanwhile, your neighbor with a Mac can still print since we go right to the printer. No stinkin spooler required 😛 .

Mac's are superior, and always will be... why else do you think m$ is constantly playing catchup to the Mac OS?????
 
Re: don't get a dell...

Originally posted by AlphaTech
superfula, just because you have been lucky with the dell's doesn't mean that they are 'the best'. They may be good to you, but I personally know people that have them and want to chuck them out the window.

Don't get me started with all the problems I have seen with peecee's as well with the 'people' that use them. Mac's are about 100x easier to use, hands down. I deployed a stinkpad (T23) earlier today to a person that was waiting for it. I had to contact IBM because there was an 'unknown device' in the manager. A couple of updates later that was identified and functioning. Mac system's don't have to deal with that crap. Then the guy needed me to come over to set him up with a printer... sheeeesh. On the Mac, you can walk people through it over the phone, no problem.. I had to go over and do it for him since he didn't know how to navigate the network under win2k. At least on the Mac, I can use ANAT to remote control the systems to do things like that if the user needs more help. Anyone that has used a Mac in the past 3-5 years KNOWS how to add a printer. It hasn't changed all that much in those years. You still use the chooser, if the network has more then one zone, then you might need help to get to the printer. Otherwise, you just click a few times and you are there.
Click to expand...

And I thank you for backing up my point...your experiences DO NOT reflect others. Like you said with dell...my experiences do not reflect others. But Dell is the best pc maker out there. No matter how many problems you have. You don't get to be the leading pc maker by putting out bad stuff. They make good stuff.

Besides...the last person i would trust to fairly judge a pc is a mac user....and vice versa.

Again...its not the os that limits the hard drive size...its the file system you use. Fat32 is good for anything below 40gig...ntfs can handle any size. Winnt uses an older version of ntfs...but i think it can still use any size. Definately not the 4-6 gig you said...probably closer to 30 if any limit
 
I give you two reasons (i know i have more in my head) why i like pcs better.
1)you can add/delete/move/create partitions without losing data. can't do that on a mac. in order to change your partition config, you have to delete everything and start over

2)Winxp can run any program made for win3.1 up. Even some dos programs. From what I understand, if a program isn't specially written for osx, you have to run it in os9 classic. I'm still not sure how the classic works (whether you have to reboot to use the program...or it just opens in an os9 "window" in osx.)

Just to even things out...a couple things i don't like on pc

1) systems go "out of date" too fast...you can still run just about any software on them...but the motherboards/processors are discontinued pretty quickly.

2)hmmm....i could say lack of os stability...but win2000 and winxp are as stable as any os out there....

3)Microsoft...nuff said
 
Originally posted by superfula
I give you two reasons (i know i have more in my head) why i like pcs better.
1)you can add/delete/move/create partitions without losing data. can't do that on a mac. in order to change your partition config, you have to delete everything and start over

2)Winxp can run any program made for win3.1 up. Even some dos programs. From what I understand, if a program isn't specially written for osx, you have to run it in os9 classic. I'm still not sure how the classic works (whether you have to reboot to use the program...or it just opens in an os9 "window" in osx.)

Just to even things out...a couple things i don't like on pc

1) systems go "out of date" too fast...you can still run just about any software on them...but the motherboards/processors are discontinued pretty quickly.

2)hmmm....i could say lack of os stability...but win2000 and winxp are as stable as any os out there....

3)Microsoft...nuff said
Click to expand...

1)I've never heard anything about resizing partitions on PCs with no data loss. What do you use to do it? Don't tell me fdisk, cause that sure doesn't do it.

2)WinXP runs older apps in emulaton mode which comes with own problems.
"Classic" is OS 9 running through X as an emulation layer.

I really have to disagree with you about OS stability. I work on PCs and Macs equally at work. I was a PC user before I saw the light (😉), I can see things from both sides here. OS X is much more stable than the NT based Windows OSes. While they are much better than the 95/98/Me family, they do not come anywhere near OS X's level of stability.
 
Originally posted by Rower_CPU


1)I've never heard anything about resizing partitions on PCs with no data loss. What do you use to do it? Don't tell me fdisk, cause that sure doesn't do it.

2)WinXP runs older apps in emulaton mode which comes with own problems.
"Classic" is OS 9 running through X as an emulation layer.

I really have to disagree with you about OS stability. I work on PCs and Macs equally at work. I was a PC user before I saw the light (😉), I can see things from both sides here. OS X is much more stable than the NT based Windows OSes. While they are much better than the 95/98/Me family, they do not come anywhere near OS X's level of stability.
Click to expand...

Partition Magic does all the partition stuff.....no data loss. Winxp runs DOS programs in emulation mode. all others are native.

You stability statement is just an opinion....as was mine. But browsing through these forums and the ones on Apple.com...ive seen pleny threads where people have had osx crash on them or do something else it wasn't supposed to. And of course you will see the same on any windows forum. But for the most part, windows is as stable as macos. If you know what you are doing, winxp and win2000 will not cause you problems. Course the same can't be said for the win9x family...especially winme...what a crappy os
 
I agree with superfula. I said it before and I'll say it again peecee's aren't as bad as you guys try and make them out to be. I have a dell and it has worked great for me, I also have macs and they work good as well. The only complaint I have with apple is osx is to slow on the ibook (G3 600 and 640 meg ram). Winxp runs great on my dell latitude(PIII 800 and 256 meg ram).
 
Originally posted by Vilacr
I agree with superfula. I said it before and I'll say it again peecee's aren't as bad as you guys try and make them out to be. I have a dell and it has worked great for me, I also have macs and they work good as well. The only complaint I have with apple is osx is to slow on the ibook (G3 600 and 640 meg ram). Winxp runs great on my dell latitude(PIII 800 and 256 meg ram).
Click to expand...

Thank you. couldn't agree more. But I am still very much looking forward to getting my Mac with osx.

Why am I switching? Well for one, after the higher cost of the machine, it does last longer. Byte magazine did some research on the length a computer is on the market until it is considered obsolete...so they took the average length a person has the computer. Mac was just over 4 years...highest pc was just about 2 years. Like I said, I used to be a gamer, and if you like games, the choice is a no brainer. But now I play games a little, but not as much as i used to. I have kinda wanted a mac for a couple years now....but that game thing and the price scared me away. But not this time.... 😀
 
Originally posted by superfula


Partition Magic does all the partition stuff.....no data loss. Winxp runs DOS programs in emulation mode. all others are native.

You stability statement is just an opinion....as was mine. But browsing through these forums and the ones on Apple.com...ive seen pleny threads where people have had osx crash on them or do something else it wasn't supposed to. And of course you will see the same on any windows forum. But for the most part, windows is as stable as macos. If you know what you are doing, winxp and win2000 will not cause you problems. Course the same can't be said for the win9x family...especially winme...what a crappy os
Click to expand...

Yes, I've heard of Partition Magic. Good program, but you made it sound like the OS was capable of doing that.
Sorry, my post should have read "compatibility mode" rather than "emulation mode".

I can produce some cold hard facts to back up my opinion if you want. My coworker's G3 OS X machine has been up for nearly a month, and it would be longer, except he had to boot back into OS 9 to get something done. I've heard similar tales around the web.
My XP machine at home crashes consistently when I'm gaming. I'm up-to-date on drivers and Windows updates. I built it myself with high quality parts, so no Dell/Compaq/Gateway bs to deal with.
I work with Dells at work, and 3 of the 50 didn't work right out of the box, requiring replacement parts. A 6% failure rate on a batch of computers is hardly an inspiring sign. Yes, Dell is the best you can do for a PC manufacturer, but they can't meet Apple's level of quality.

I'm not trying to slam you here. Just addressing things I don't agree with. Your opinions are just as valid as mine. 🙂
 
Macs are great systems and I would advise anyone who wants a computer to give a mac a try. If you are looking to get a laptop the powerbook is better for demanding tasks but the ibook is also a good choice. Especially if you are not planning to spend alot of money. As I said earlier, the only problem I have with the ibook is it doesn't run osx as fast as I'd like.
 
Ah...compatibilty...emulation. Gotcha. It is rare to find a program that you have to run in compatibilty mode. I haven't found one yet. A couple games I have must be run in compatibilty mode though.

Yeah there are bad computers out there. People have gotten bad macs though too. That doesn't decrease their quality though. Yeah 3 bad ones out of 50 isn't good. I imagine that 6% isn't indicative of all of dells shipments. I've had about 7 pcs that i have built for myself or ordered from dell or gateway for myself....and a bunch of hybrids from upgrading. 3 gateways, 2 dells, and 2 built by me. The first gateway i got (66 mhz pentium) was a nightmare. I was just starting to learn about computers. I spent a ton of time on the phone with gateway. Course some of it was due to me deleting something i shouldn't have. Since then I have never called tech support. I have never had any problem with any pc of mine. course i had a hard time formatting the first time i did it, and installing an os the first time i did it...but thats it. But at the same time, I have friends that call me when something happens to their pc...so there are good ones and bad ones. My dad bought a mac 4400 a while back. He was on tech support for forever with that thing. Finally got it working ok. Then again I have two good friends that are 100% mac, and they have never had problems.....

In the end...no one can say "well since i have had more troubles on a pc or mac. that means that all of the suck" That just knocks your credability and respect from others. Of course you realize all this stuff happens on pc forums, only they are knocking Macs. And I am right there trying to explaing to them that Macs aren't bad. Much like the same thing I'm doing here...saying that pcs aren't bad
 
Originally posted by superfula
Ah...compatibilty...emulation. Gotcha. It is rare to find a program that you have to run in compatibilty mode. I haven't found one yet. A couple games I have must be run in compatibilty mode though.

Yeah there are bad computers out there. People have gotten bad macs though too. That doesn't decrease their quality though. Yeah 3 bad ones out of 50 isn't good. I imagine that 6% isn't indicative of all of dells shipments. I've had about 7 pcs that i have built for myself or ordered from dell or gateway for myself....and a bunch of hybrids from upgrading. 3 gateways, 2 dells, and 2 built by me. The first gateway i got (66 mhz pentium) was a nightmare. I was just starting to learn about computers. I spent a ton of time on the phone with gateway. Course some of it was due to me deleting something i shouldn't have. Since then I have never called tech support. I have never had any problem with any pc of mine. course i had a hard time formatting the first time i did it, and installing an os the first time i did it...but thats it. But at the same time, I have friends that call me when something happens to their pc...so there are good ones and bad ones. My dad bought a mac 4400 a while back. He was on tech support for forever with that thing. Finally got it working ok. Then again I have two good friends that are 100% mac, and they have never had problems.....

In the end...no one can say "well since i have had more troubles on a pc or mac. that means that all of the suck" That just knocks your credability and respect from others. Of course you realize all this stuff happens on pc forums, only they are knocking Macs. And I am right there trying to explaing to them that Macs aren't bad. Much like the same thing I'm doing here...saying that pcs aren't bad
Click to expand...

Very good points.
I guess it does come down to your own personal experience with either system. I feel I've worked enough with both to be pretty comfortable in my decision to go Mac. Most people here have had similar experiences, and do see the value of PCs as they fit into the big picture.
The trouble is as a Mac user, you are so used to having to defend your choice to 95% of the population that it becomes a reflex to automatically gainsay anything positive about PCs. It's a survival instinct. Otherwise the evil PC users will brainwash you into using a PC. 😉
Thanks for the discussion, and glad to have you in the forum!
 
I can't believe what the last set of posts have turned into. REMEMBER what cleo wanted at the beginning???? A simple advice request has turned into a c*ck fight between the Mac people and peecee weenies.

Don't try and tell me that hexpee can run software that hasn't been updated to run on it... Try running a program written for 95/98/nt4 and when you have removed it, or fixed all the problems it causes then post again.

As for good vs bad systems. Of the last 50-100 Mac systems that have come in (fresh from Apple), I have had 0 that couldn't be used right out of the box and just needed some software installed (stuff used for designers, editors and such). Peecee's have to get either the corporate image, or wiped and a fresh copy of windblows installed. Deployment time on a max config Mac (new in the past year or so) is between 30 and 60 minutes (including unpacking it). The same level of config on a peecee is at LEAST two hours if not longer. Especially with all the 'critical' updates that m$ has been putting out. You HAVE to set the bios on the peecee to boot from a cd, not so on the Mac, it has that built into the firmware already (no settings required). Every different peecee has different keys you need to press at a specific time to either get into the boot order or bio. On the Mac, hold either the option key after telling it to restart, or the 'c' key to boot to a cd-rom.

I do know what the f*ck I am talking about for Mac/peecee stuff. I support both at work, and have built peecee's for the past 3-4 years. The ONLY way to get a true quality peecee is to build one, and then you end up spending the same amount (if not more) that you would have if you purchased a Mac system.
 
Returning to the original topic.

Yes, you will lose your data at the moment of partitioning the disc, that is one problem. But eventually you would have to re install all your system software because of the fragmentation.

I have seen Mac crashing over and over because no one used Norton on the in years. So the better way in that case is to create a back up of everything and do a low level format. Then the partitions.

Partitions is like having a forder for the System, Software and Others, but in a more proffesional way.

Companies won't ship their computers with partitions because I think would be a much bigger concept for the average user. If there are people on the street that uses OS 8 what can you expect?

Partitions would help a lot, but the systems works with only one, so if is not broken...

I like to work with partitions, every time I transfer data from my Pismo to my tower is easy to locate the file without worwirng (sorry, my english is crap some times) about about toutching files from the Sys or Softwares.

At the end, what ever works for you better.
 
partitioning

we used to partition harddrives because there was a limit to the number of blocks (formatting), so the block size would get larger and larger for bigger and bigger drives. So a small text file of 5-8k would take up 17k, the smallest block size. So if you had thousands of small files, you wasted vast amounts of disc space. Partititoning a drive into two or three partitions made blocks 1/2 or a 1/3 smaller and more efficient. But then HFS+ came along and increased the number of blocks possible (exponentially) so not nearly as much was wasted. But that doesn't mean you still shouldn't parttition. Mymemory is right, I would,(and do) put my system and apps on different partitions. If you install OS9 (classic) I would put it on a separete partition. The most important thing to remember is backup what you can't restore before you partition, and never use a partition on the same physical drive as a backup (obvious yes but I have read otherwise elsewhere) Unless you are doing video and need a big partition for your vid clips, you might like to make 3 partitions, one for OSX system and it's apps, one OS9 and apps, and one for your data (documents in OSX speak

The really good idea is buy one of those big books like David Pogue's The Missing Manual, OSX and read it. And don't listen to any of that peecee stuff, it doesn't apply here.
 
hi.

i have a different question.

i have an iMac with 2 partitions. Please don't ask me, how i did it.

i was even amazed i suddenly had 2 partitions. i would like to delete the second partition, but i do not know how.

the apple support page does not answer this issue. the iMac help page doesn'T do it either.

so i am counting on you guys. does anyone have any experience with this? i don't have anything on the 2nd partition, so it does not matter if it gets deleted.

i don't even mind reinstalling everything. i just want this 2nd partition deleted. honestly speaking, it is annoying...

thank you.
 
I'd suggest booting from the OS 9 cd that cand running the Drive Setup utility from it. That will wipe out your hard drive, and allow you to set the partitioning back to a single one. Make sure you back up EVERYTHING of any value to you, since once you do this, you have lost it. After the wipe, you can then install either OS 9.x or restart and boot from the OS X cd and install that. You could also just boot from the OS X install cd, and have it wipe the drive and install a fresh copy of OS X (make sure you tell it to make only one partition though.
 
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