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sjohnson4382

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 23, 2008
38
0
What exactly is partitioning and how does it work. Also how do you pick how big or small you want. I am wanting to install bootcamp or some other windows compatible program so I can sync my blackberry and a couple other things that only work on windows. I don't want this taking up a bunch of space and i saw somewhere you could partition the space this program is in to a really small size. Can someone walk a mac rookie through this
 
Partitions basically divide your hard drive into chunks that can behave independently. They're useful because they allow you to install multiple operating systems on one drive, although I know some people that use them for data management as well.

To install Windows, just open Boot Camp Assistant from the Utilities folder in Applications. It'll take care of the rest.
 
ok i've figured out the bootcamp thing so how to i go about partitioning my hd and deciding how much to use?
 
Just be aware of what Windows OS you are installing and how much drive space it needs. I think XP needs somewhere around 2 gigs to install, Vista will need more and then try to think about all that you are going to do with Windows.

Partition to little of HD space and you can run into a situation that you need more and the only way to fix it is to get rid of the partition and start over with increasing the partition size. Hope that makes some sense. :D
 
I will be using windows to run my blackberry desktop manager, sky caddy software, and a few other things. I don't think i will be using it for anything that uses a bunch of space. Any ideas on how much i should use since i'm gonna use these things and only a few more. maybe a language program and something else.

Also i have an external hard drive that I put all my itunes songs on so i formatted it for mac. Is there any way to put a partition in that to store any windows files on without losing all couple thousand songs i have on there for itunes?
 
I will be using windows to run my blackberry desktop manager, sky caddy software, and a few other things. I don't think i will be using it for anything that uses a bunch of space. Any ideas on how much i should use since i'm gonna use these things and only a few more. maybe a language program and something else.

Then you shouldn't need much, maybe 10 gigs for XP or 15 for Vista? If you have plenty of free hard drive space, you can certainly be a bit more liberal.

Also i have an external hard drive that I put all my itunes songs on so i formatted it for mac. Is there any way to put a partition in that to store any windows files on without losing all couple thousand songs i have on there for itunes?

Sure, MacDrive or HFSExplorer will get the job done.
 
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