Questions About Boot Camp Assistant

[theWu]

NEW QUESTION 7/23/09: Hey guys, just another question - after you partition, is it possible to partition more/less space to the windows or mac side?

Below is taken care of thank you to everyone for the fast responses.
-------------------

Hi everyone, lately I've been interested in playing some games that are only available on PC, such as Street Fighter IV. As such, I'm thinking about partitioning my hard drive to use Windows for such games, but I do have some questions regarding it.

Q1: After partitioning, will your already existing files be erased? I ask this because the Installation and Setup Guide constantly refers to it.

(I know you can back up files... but all the preferences to make my Mac truly mine... that's what I'm more worried about)

Q2: After partitioning, if I want to make it just the Mac again, will I have to lose everything... and is it possible?

Thanks for any help!

 

[r.j.s]

1.) As long you follow the directions, and install Windows on the correct partition, then no, you don't erase all your files and such.

2.) Yes, you can restore it to Mac only by running Boot Camp Assistant again, and you won't lose everything there either.

 

[guydude193]

1: Partitioning just divides your HDD into separate spaces. So if you have enough HD space to make a partition, it won't overwrite your files.

2: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=SystemImageUtility/10.5/en/c1os17.html

You'll lose your Windows stuff, but not your Mac stuff.

 

[miiles]

Q1: After partitioning, will your already existing files be erased? I ask this because the Installation and Setup Guide constantly refers to it.

(I know you can back up files... but all the preferences to make my Mac truly mine... that's what I'm more worried about)

It warns you soooo many times to be careful, because there is a chance that a mistake can be made and you may loose all of the things you had on the computer, however this is only if a mistake is made. You can install Windows without erasing your current OS.

Q2: After partitioning, if I want to make it just the Mac again, will I have to lose everything... and is it possible?

If you want to make it just the Mac again, you will obviously loose all of the Windows, however it will not delete all of the things on your Mac partition.

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

^ Should be able to help you out.

Please simply do not take my word for what I have said, it is simply my understanding of how the system works, I do not have any documentation to back up my claims, maybe someone else will.

 

[theWu]

Thanks for the fast responses, they were all very helpful (the fact that they back each other up is even more assuring)!

 

[theWu]

Another question actually... what are the chances something could go wrong? And how would that happen exactly?

 

[r.j.s]

Another question actually... what are the chances something could go wrong? And how would that happen exactly?

If you follow the instructions ... slim to none.

The only way you could really screw it up is by installing Windows on your Mac partition.

 

[JNB]

^^

I quit answering these questions because the answer is always the same: Print, Read, and Follow the instructions to the letter and nothing will go wrong. Every single instance I've seen posted here of a BC installation gone sour is because the user didn't follow instructions.

Make sure you have a COMPLETE backup of the Mac partition before anything else; Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! are both excellent for the task and trouble-free.

And we're always here to help (before you make a hash of it, of course! )

 

[MacDawg]

The chances of things going wrong are not great, but if you look around you will see LOTS of threads of people losing everything

You should definitely back up before you start this, with either Time Machine or with a cloning App like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. You should have a backup strategy regardless, but you should not attempt this without backing up.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[theWu]

Hey guys, just another question - after you partition, is it possible to partition more/less space to the windows or mac side?

 

[theWu]

B-u-m-p.

 

[JediMeister]

There is a bit of an ugly way to resize the partition but its not as simple as relaunching Boot Camp Assistant or modifying the distribution of the partition size in Disk Utility. To adjust the size allocated for the Boot Camp partition, without having to delete it, re-add, and then reinstall Windows, I've heard of people using WinClone to create an image of the Boot Camp partition, delete the existing Windows partition, create a larger partition this time around, and then clone the WinClone created image back to the resized partition instead of reinstalling Windows again. I am thinking it works a lot better with increasing the Boot Camp partition than it does with downsizing or decreasing the size allocated for BC.