I plan to get an extra hard drive for the Mac Pro to hold a bootable copy of the Mac OS and a Windows XP installation.
I realize that the Mac file system is one thing and the Win XP will use an NTFS file system and that I will not necessarily be able to move files back and forth between them.
My plan is to partition the drive (the 250 gig that comes stock on the Mac Pro) into 3 equal partitions, about 80 gigs each.
On one partition, I will format it to whatever Mac OS uses and make my bootable clone of the main Mac hd that I install with my OS and apps.
On the second partition, I will format it as NTFS and install Win XP and some apps using bootcamp.
On the third partition, I will format it as Fat 32 and use it only as a space to copy files to and from so that both Mac and Win OSs can read and write to it and share files this way.
I plan to get the Mac Pro when it is updated and it will have Leopard on it, if that makes any difference to my question. Would my bootable clone on the extra hard drive's partition be something to let Time Machine create and manage? Should I budget more space than say about 80 gigs of that drive for the Mac partition? I could see giving the Mac and Windows partitions about 100 gigs each and using just 50 gigs for the Fat 32 partition since it will only be for temporary copying of files back and forth, but if the Mac partition could also be more like 50 gigs, then I would prefer to make the Win XP partition about 150 gigs so as to have plenty of space for the Win XP files and virtual memory etc., since there won't be any other drive space to hold these files and apps.
Will this work?
Will I be able to copy a file from Win XP to the Fat 32 partition and then be able to access it and use it with Mac OS and apps?
And also vice versa, copying files from my main Mac hd and apps to the Fat 32 partition so that I can access them and use them when I am in Windows?
I hope this makes sense.
Thanks for any advice.
I realize that the Mac file system is one thing and the Win XP will use an NTFS file system and that I will not necessarily be able to move files back and forth between them.
My plan is to partition the drive (the 250 gig that comes stock on the Mac Pro) into 3 equal partitions, about 80 gigs each.
On one partition, I will format it to whatever Mac OS uses and make my bootable clone of the main Mac hd that I install with my OS and apps.
On the second partition, I will format it as NTFS and install Win XP and some apps using bootcamp.
On the third partition, I will format it as Fat 32 and use it only as a space to copy files to and from so that both Mac and Win OSs can read and write to it and share files this way.
I plan to get the Mac Pro when it is updated and it will have Leopard on it, if that makes any difference to my question. Would my bootable clone on the extra hard drive's partition be something to let Time Machine create and manage? Should I budget more space than say about 80 gigs of that drive for the Mac partition? I could see giving the Mac and Windows partitions about 100 gigs each and using just 50 gigs for the Fat 32 partition since it will only be for temporary copying of files back and forth, but if the Mac partition could also be more like 50 gigs, then I would prefer to make the Win XP partition about 150 gigs so as to have plenty of space for the Win XP files and virtual memory etc., since there won't be any other drive space to hold these files and apps.
Will this work?
Will I be able to copy a file from Win XP to the Fat 32 partition and then be able to access it and use it with Mac OS and apps?
And also vice versa, copying files from my main Mac hd and apps to the Fat 32 partition so that I can access them and use them when I am in Windows?
I hope this makes sense.
Thanks for any advice.