Moving to Mac: Partitioning Main (internal) HD

[cubbie5150]

1st post here...I'm so excited b/c I just ordered a MBP from the online Apple store.. Anyway, on my past Windows laptops, I've always partitioned the internal HD--1 partition for OS + programs, second partition for media (I use an external drive for storage).

(1) Anyway, is there any particular reason to NOT partition the internal drive on my MBP in a similar fashion? (2) I think I'd need to reboot my MBP w/ the OSX reinstall DVD inserted to partition the internal HD, right? (3) How much space does the OS take? On my Windows machines, I typically set aside a partition of at least 25 GB to be safe for my OS + programs... I appreciate any guidance/observations. I know I'll have many more questions once my baby arrives!! Thanks!!😀

 

[mklos]

Congrats on the purchase!

You're not going to gain anything by partitioning the hard drive. You're still using the HD up the same way, just in seperate partitions. So there's nothing gained by doing so at all. I would though erase the HD and reload it fresh when you get it and when you do, deselect the printers, languages, and preinstalled apps you don't need. If you don't, you're using about 10 to 15GB right off the top for the OS, printers, language packs, and applications. You can easily narrow that down to 6GB or less. The printer drivers are about 1GB if you just use 1 manufacturer (ex. HP) and leave the rest unchecked. Also, I hardly doubt you'll ever need Chinese support or any other language other than your native language. So its a good idea to eliminiate those as well by unchecking the language boxes before you start the installation.

If you have a large music library, you can store your music on an external HD and then point iTunes to an external HD if you choose to do that to save HD space. You just need to make sure your external HD is turned on and mounted when you want to use iTunes. You can also do the same for iPhoto as well if you choose to use iPhoto for your photo storage.

If you don't want to totally erase your HD and load everything up fresh you can delete the printer and language packs without eraseing the HD. Same goes for the applications. Ask for more help if you want to do it this way and we'll point you in the right direction for finding the files and folders to delete.

So if you're coming from Windows to a Mac, please note that Mac OS X IS NOT WINDOWS!!! So its not going to operate like Windows. Things will be all moved around and may seem harder to do at first, but after a while you'll start to see how much easier it acutally is. It just seems harder at first because you're most likely trying to do it how it was done in Windows. Many things that are a 5 step process in Windows are a 1 or 2 step process in OS X and visa versa. You'll need about 2 or 3 weeks to really get used to using OS X. Congrats again and please post back with any other questions you have....

 

[patrick0brien]

Downside of two or more logical partitions on a physical one:

Still have one Read/Write head, can halve the performance (one head, twice the work)
Will age the drive faster, again because you are asking more of the head.

If you still wish to sequester the OS from the files, I suggest an actual second physical partition.

But in the case of an MBP, not worth the effort.

Besides, the default install is looking for one partition for OS and media.

 

[cubbie5150]

Thanks guys... I'll follow your advice & not partition the internal HD, but I will go ahead and reinstall the OS when I get my machine. I've already got an external HD that is partitioned, but I'll need to reformat for use w/ my MBP (it's currently formatted in NTFS).

 

[mklos]

If you want to use the external HD for both a Mac and PC format it for FAT32. If you want to keep it partitioned you can format one partition for FAT32 and one for Mac OS Extended (Journaled).