Help me, Obie One--New to ext hard drive partitioning

[manicirishwritr]

Hello All--

After a couple of years of lurking around, searching for myself, I finally come out and ask for some help. My questions are intertwined, and I am unsure how to break up what into what. I am lost; forgive me my ignorance.

The Scenario:
I just got a Mac Box Set, and want to install Leopard.

1. A new 400GB Passport. Existing 350GB--relatively new, getting a little
glitchy. Only has copies of pix/video data on it.
2. One MacMini, one Macbook Pro.
3. Would like to backup bootable volumes for both macs.
4. Would like to backup all data for both macs.
5. Would like to Sync both macs
6. Have Intego Personal Backup X4. Has settings for all of that--Clone,
Copy, Sync, etc.

Questions:
Unsure if install Leopard first, but do want to backup data first.

1. Do I erase new 400 GB hard drive? I have this done per Intego
manual, but now what about existing basic files that came with drive?
Thought of this right when I hit "Erase." Will it still work? I wonder if
the other Passport's files will do it...

2. I was going to partition as GUID, but have no idea what size for a
volume. I have googled extensively, and nobody that I can find discusses
this. How pick a size?

3. Since it is recommended that you erase all data first, does that mean
only one volume per ext drive? After volume is copied, how just backup
data if I have to erase disk?

Lastly, a few sources from google search said to install Mac OS X on drives first. Is this true?

I have more questions, lighter ones, I think, but I'd better get out of here before folks get too overwhelmed...

Many thanks in advance,

Frank

 

[madog]

Unsure if install Leopard first, but do want to backup data first.

1. Do I erase new 400 GB hard drive? I have this done per Intego
manual, but now what about existing basic files that came with drive?
Thought of this right when I hit "Erase." Will it still work? I wonder if
the other Passport's files will do it...

I generally find any software that is included with external drives these days to be awful and end up being a hindurance in the long run. If you don't use it from the start, then never use it. Use Disk Utility.

2. I was going to partition as GUID, but have no idea what size for a
volume. I have googled extensively, and nobody that I can find discusses
this. How pick a size?

Depends on what you want to do. If you want multiple partitions, then generally you want your main partition to be the largest, if not the backup for it if you want. Then again, if you have a lot of media and you want that on a seperate volume/partition then that could effect you. It all depends on what your needs are. For the purpose of basic applications and a customized system install with updates, I've survived with an 80gb drive for that, but had various other drives for games and media and backups.

3. Since it is recommended that you erase all data first, does that mean
only one volume per ext drive? After volume is copied, how just backup
data if I have to erase disk?

Well with Leopard, you want to install it on a clean drive/partition for the best effect. If you have a previous system installed, you can can backup that to another drive (Disk Utility or SuperDuper to clone it), then you wipe and install Leopard on the drive you want (making partitions first if you need through Disk Utility), migrate your data over, and once that is done and everything is working as it should, then you can erase the backup if you want, and partition that drtive for backup purposes after the fact.

Lastly, a few sources from google search said to install Mac OS X on drives first. Is this true?

Well, depending on what you want, you can partition the drive you want into however many you want, and then you can install Leopard on one of them and even a different OS on another if you want. I would say it's better to have one dedicated volume for your OS, but that's just me and doesn't stop others from dual-booting with multiple partitions (Tiger on one, Leopard on another, developers usually have one dedicated for beta OSes like Snow Leopard). If you want to install Leopard on a partitioned drive, then make the partition first and go about your business.

If you're going to do multiple partitions, the first step is to basically make a plan of attack before you start doing anything, as I've already confused myself just talking about. Plan for the long term as it's hard (not possible?) to reclaim or enlarge a partition without starting completely over. Tha's where the biggest problem lies.