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bootcamp and multiple ntfs partitions?

B

BabaG

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 5, 2007
83
0
i normally have set up my windoze partitions thusly:

c:\windows
x:\programs
y:\swap
z:\data

been trying to set up something like this under bootcamp but
getting nowhere. even lost half of my mac hd in the process.
support couldn't get disk utility to recover it. finally got it
back with a linux live disk called 'parted magic.' that allowed
me to delete the ntfs partitions and leave them as free space.
once i'd done that disk utility could then resize the mac hd
partition to the whole disk and i was able to start over.

can a partition scheme as i've described above be done on
a mac? if so, how?

thanks,
BabaG
 
T

Trip.Tucker

Guest
Mar 13, 2008
946
1
Ok, if it helps remove this issue for you, you aren't gaining anything setting up that partitioning scheme. Without going into details (sorry too tired and I'm sure you can google it) the only benefit you *may* see is when having to rebuild Windows, you retain your data on a separate volume. However, you still have to reinstall applications to gain registry settings. You don't gain anything these days by putting the swap on another volume (its still the same hard disk).

Go with one volume and simplify your life.
 
B

BabaG

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 5, 2007
83
0
but can it be done?

i'm used to doing it this way. besides, having xp and progs on their own
partitions makes them easy to back up, imaging each to a single dvd.
having the data separate means a restore doesn't touch it.

thanks for the thoughts, though,
BabaG
 
sash

sash

macrumors 6502a
Nov 23, 2004
592
1
BabaG said:
but can it be done?
Click to expand...

Hi,
I've done that on my wife's Mac Pro, but not on the start-up partition. I've installed two extra HDD, partitioned one of them in two (for the files and the soft backup), and left the third one for backuping of the whole system.
I presume it should be possible even on the c: partition -- at the stage windows installer let's you choose how / where to install the system.
sash
 
B

BabaG

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 5, 2007
83
0
thanks, sash. wish i'd heard from you just a little sooner. have things
mostly set up now. hadn't thought of the extra drives idea as a way to
get the partitioning set up. didn't know it could be done that way but
it makes a lot of sense.

at the time i posted i hadn't figured out how to go with my storage.
now i've made those decisions. at first, thought i might get away with
drives in the internal bays of the macpro. that was insufficient,
though, and i've gone to a twelve bay esata box. with that many
open bays in the esata box, maybe i'll look to putting a couple of
older, smaller drives in the internal bays, format in ntfs under
windows and move my swap, programs, and data to those.

thanks for the good ideas!
BabaG
 
S

scispi

macrumors newbie
Apr 19, 2009
2
0
Trip.Tucker said:
Ok, if it helps remove this issue for you, you aren't gaining anything setting up that partitioning scheme. Without going into details (sorry too tired and I'm sure you can google it) the only benefit you *may* see is when having to rebuild Windows, you retain your data on a separate volume. However, you still have to reinstall applications to gain registry settings. You don't gain anything these days by putting the swap on another volume (its still the same hard disk).

Go with one volume and simplify your life.
Click to expand...

Well I have bought iMac recently in March 09. I am having a lot of problem getting two NTFS partitions on the only HDD. I have found it really beneficial 3-4 times to re-install Windows when there were separate OS and partitions. It really saves data. Of course, there are other issues like viruses still sitting in 'data' partition, etc. but you get that imp chance to rejuvenate.
 
I

Illicit

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2007
267
0
Waterloo, ON
I don't have any experience setting up multiple NTFS formatted partitions, but as of right now I have a hard drive partitioned to HFS+, NTFS, and FAT32. I use the FAT32 one for data transfer and storage between the NTFS (windows) and HFS+ (mac).

I'll tell you how I did it and how you could possibly format further to create separate NTFS partitions.

First, backup and reformat the whole HD as Mac OS disk.
Use the Bootcamp assistant to install Windows. Partition it so that Windows is the size you want to use for Windows only, and leave the rest for Mac OS.

Next, you want to log onto windows and access C:\boot.ini
You'll see something like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN

If you plan on making only one additional partition, where it says (2), change that to (3). or if it says (3), change it to (4).
If you plan to make two additional partitions, change (2) to (4), and (3) to (5) etc. etc.

Restart using the Leopard/Tiger OS DVD and access Disk Utilities. From there, partition the Mac OS hard disk to be whatever number of additional partitions you wanted + the Mac OS partition. In my case, I partitioned it to be a FAT32 drive. So at this point I have a Mac OS HFS+ partition, a FAT32 partition for DATA, and a NTFS Windows partition.

If you wanted those additional partitions to be NTFS, you'd have to log back on Windows and go into Management and format them from there.

GL
 
neilhart

neilhart

macrumors 6502
Oct 11, 2007
289
0
SF Bay Area - Fremont
Illicit - "...Use the Bootcamp assistant to install Windows. Partition it so that Windows is the size you want to use for Windows only, and leave the rest for Mac OS."

At this step, where are you running OSX from?

Neil
 
I

Illicit

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2007
267
0
Waterloo, ON
neilhart said:
Illicit - "...Use the Bootcamp assistant to install Windows. Partition it so that Windows is the size you want to use for Windows only, and leave the rest for Mac OS."

At this step, where are you running OSX from?

Neil
Click to expand...

:confused::confused::confused:
From the Leopard Mac OSX Boot Camp installation in /Applications/Utilities.
When you first run it, it'll ask how big you want to make your Windows partition.
 
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