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Partition for OSX/XP

R

reinkarnation

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2006
6
0
Hi,
just received my Macbook yesterday (btw, never used a mac before... switched!), i got the basics of using os X, still struggling with little things:D .

Anyways, I installed Bootcamp and Windows XP, but I only reserved 5 GB (NTFS) for the partition. After the Windows installation it showed that I have approximately 3 GB free on the NTFS drive. After I installed Norton 2005, it showed I got only 900MB free..:( strange....

I need to create a new partition (FAT32 or NTFS?) for games using XP.... Should I do it from OS X or from Windows? Other advice? THX

(btw, i love the macbook! why didnt i change a long time ago???)
 
My advice would be to just do it over and create a larger partition. I'm assuming you haven't installed much onto the XP partition. you're so early in the process it's best just to start over than trying to find a fix.

In case you don't know how, the boot camp assistant lets you erase the existing partition. Then you go through the process you went through before.

Sorry if that doesn't help.
 
After I installed Norton 2005, it showed I got only 900MB free.. strange....
Click to expand...
1. Don't use Norton. 2. Windows XP should eat up between 2-3 GB of your drive space. Please partition more then 5 GB.
 
hmmm. thx.

guess i have to install Win xp again.

Thing is, i bought norton already so i want to use it...:rolleyes:
 
reinkarnation said:
hmmm. thx.

guess i have to install Win xp again.

Thing is, i bought norton already so i want to use it...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Why? It is the biggest piece of junk software out there. You are doing yourself and the world a favor by not using it.
 
Either, or both...hehe


Just as a rider question - How much should/do you you allocate for XP partition?
 
that may be so, but i already bought it. so im not gonna shell out another 40 bucks for another program.
 
t0mat0 said:
Either, or both...hehe


Just as a rider question - How much should/do you you allocate for XP partition?
Click to expand...


Speaking strictly from a Windows / Linux user standpoint I never make a partition for Windows usage smaller than 10 GB. Windows XP takes between 2 - 3 GB, Office, Anti-Virus, some other smaller things and perhaps 1 game like Half Life 2 and you're quickly at around 8 GB. Also keep in mind that Windows uses your filespace as memory so building a configuration that eats up almost all your parition will not give you as good of performance as you'd get if you had a few gigs free at any given time.

If you've got a 60 GB harddrive in the Macbook, that may or may not be enough space to effectively use Bootcamp depending on what your system usage is like for both OS X and Windows.

From what I can tell if you do OS X, and reinstall with JUST the pieces you need you save between 3 - 5 gigabytes of data from your harddrive which could be used in a Windows partition.
 
reinkarnation said:
that may be so, but i already bought it. so im not gonna shell out another 40 bucks for another program.
Click to expand...

You don't need to buy another piece of software. All you need is AVG as your anti-virus, and ZoneAlarm for a firewall - both of which are free. Please, just do not install Norton. It's a complete waste of space and can screw up your system. Sell it on eBay if you must.
 
FredClausen said:
Why? It is the biggest piece of junk software out there. You are doing yourself and the world a favor by not using it.
Click to expand...
For windblows he needs to subscribe to Norton for the rest of his life, with OSX its just a waste of time and will screw it up.
 
Just as a rider question - How much should/do you you allocate for XP partition?
Click to expand...

For the operating system itself, 2 GB should be more than enough. If XP is going to be your secondary OS, you might want to try adding another partition, format it as FAT32 and install your programs there instead of the default "c:\program files".
 
ok installed everything agaiiin.... allocated 12GB this time.
so i started installing programs for os X over the weekend. Yahoo messenger seems to have problems, cuz sometimes it shows the instant messages i received after an hour or so... any other IM I can use?

Oh btw os X kicks ass!

i use Norton for windows not for os x :D
Works fine....
 
I suspect that Norton is creating some sort of backup of your Windows directory, which will of course chew through a small partition. That's just a guess, but I wouldn't put it past Norton to do something like that.
 
reinkarnation said:
hmmm. thx.

guess i have to install Win xp again.

Thing is, i bought norton already so i want to use it...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I understand that you already spent the money on Norton, but I cannot stress enough how much that program sucks. I used to use it on my roomie's PC and we had nothing but problems. It bogged the system down horribly and, IMO, was not all that great at catching viruses. If you ever decide to remove the program it is damn near impossible, it roots itself so deep into your system. In my experience I had much better luck catching the bad stuff with AVG's free AV software, I've been using that and a few other free programs and everything has been running smooth on the PC, unlike back in the day, where trying to use it involved a lot of hair-pulling and even more cursing. Just do a quick Google search on the subject and you'll be surprised with what you read.

Sorry about the lecture, I just couldn't resist...I'm always a bit concerned when people think they need Norton's bloatware. If you have good results with it, great! I have heard of the rare PC running Norton with no problems. Good luck! :)
 
ok so u were rite. ill never doubt u again. promise!

norton not only used up a large part of my resources, but also slowed down my start up significantly. but the worst problem was that some connections kept getting on and off. I restarted to play CS on my university network, but no servers were found, yahoo and msn didnt work.... happened 5 times in a week. so i just deinstalled norton and got the two progs u recommended. in my anger i threw out the norton cd... 20 floors down (i live in Hong Kong, but no worries, there is nothing but mountains on the side with my window).
hahaha.... so thx again for ur help.
 
ok so for some reason AVG wont install, and i cant find any answers on the forum. Most probably cuz my Windows is in Chinese. Any other recommendations for free anti-virus proggies?
 
windows

as a rule I load windows... windows defender... AGV... and all is good... everyone is right Norton blows... I have never used it, but Leo Laporte recomends NOD32 ( http://www.eset.com/ ) not sure of the price, but I would imagine minimal and I think they have a 30 day trial so you can try before you buy..

D
 
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