New Mac user hdd config

[Kasek]

Hey never owned a Mac before and am getting a 2012 mbp as my first to try it out.
Currently it has a 1tb hdd, is it possible to:
Partition 500gb and install windows 7 as bootable if I needed to use windows. (Been my daily driver forever lol)
Partition the other 500gb as extra storage for macos
Then I wanted to get a 500gb ssd as the main drive and run 2 profiles off of it 1 for me 1 for my wife.
Also wondering if I get this ssd it doesn’t have anything on it yet how do I get macOS onto it? Do I need another Mac or can I download it on a USB on a pc to
Install it?

 

[hobowankenobi]

Hey never owned a Mac before and am getting a 2012 mbp as my first to try it out.
Currently it has a 1tb hdd, is it possible to:
Partition 500gb and install windows 7 as bootable if I needed to use windows. (Been my daily driver forever lol)
Partition the other 500gb as extra storage for macos
Then I wanted to get a 500gb ssd as the main drive and run 2 profiles off of it 1 for me 1 for my wife.
Also wondering if I get this ssd it doesn’t have anything on it yet how do I get macOS onto it? Do I need another Mac or can I download it on a USB on a pc to
Install it?

Yes.

1. The right way to partition and boot to Windows: With MacOS installed, and up to date, do not partition manually. Use the Bootcamp tool to create the windows partiton, and install Windows. You must use this tool in order to get Windows installed and bootable.

2. As for user "profiles", on the Mac side, easy: Just make two (or more) user accounts. No need for partitions or anything else. Exactly the same for Windows....if you want seperate space and desktops for each user. Be careful with the word Profile...it means something esle, at least on the Mac side. Stick with user accounts.

3. You can clone the entire MacOS (bootable exact copy) over to an external drive....HD, SSD, or anything you want. You must format the drive HFS+ for it to be bootable. Techically, you can partition the external drive if needed. Easiest is a single partition. There are quite a few simple, great tools that can do this....SuperDuper makes bootable clones for free.