Where should I store my files???

[missclareski]

I am getting my brand new MBP in the mail today! I am very excited as this is my first Mac that I can install Windows on. All of my software is made for Windows (my Adobe products, such as Photoshop and After Effects) therefore I need to be able to access photos and such to edit in this software. Does this mean when I partition my Mac for Windows via BootCamp, that I need to allow for space and save all of my images and editable files onto that partition? Would I have to ensure I import new photos while in Windows XP vs SL? I believe I read somewhere about files becoming read-only in one OS, so I want to see what set up I need to do to ensure I can edit them in Windows.

Orrrrrr........ for example, I would not be editing photos and saving replacing the original file... I do a lot of things like digital scrapbooking where I open a file and drag and drop the contents into a new project... so then would it matter which partition the file was in and if it was read only? As long as I save it as a new file??

And in case you are wondering why I purchased a MBP if I'm clearly needing to run on Windows, but I am a Film Production Major and our department requires use of FCP and other Mac-based apps. Not to mention the industry or professional videography companies are more likely to be based on Mac vs PC (true, Hollywood would use neither, but I'm not anticipating that to be an issue for me anytime in the near future....). Therefore, classes/job require Mac and my personal hobbies require Windows.

Help!!!

 

[Rodus]

You could put all the files you need on the Windows side of the partition and use the NTFS-3G control panel to access them if you need read/write (Macs can only read NTFS). If you save everything on the Mac side then you will probably need Mac Drive on Windows for read/write access which is less user friendly then NTFS-3G. What I do is use an external drive, NTFS formatted with NTFS-3G installed on OS X and keep everything there.

 

[richard.mac]

Macs can read Windows formatted NTFS partitions/drives and Windows can now read Mac OS Extended (HFS) formatted partitions/drives with the new Boot Camp 3.0 drivers included on the Snow Leopard disc. the files will show, you just cant edit them without copying them over to the partition you have write access to, which is this case is the partition you are booted into.

you will need third party software such as NTFS3g (beta version may be unstable in 10.6) to write to NTFS in OS X and MacDrive to write to HFS in Windows.

my advice would be to make a Windows partition big enough to store the files you are working on and then install either NTFS3g or MacFuse to copy them over to your OS X partition. as a guide the minimum size to just install Windows 7 is 9 gigs.

another idea is you could just install Windows as a virtual machine and run it at the same time as OS X. VMware Fusion and Parallels allow you to copy over files from your Windows virtual machine into OS X.

 

[DivineEvil]

Since SL, Apple introduced drivers for native read/write on HFS+ (the mac file system). You can use ntfs-3G to read/write on NTFS (Windows file system).

I've setup a 3 partition HDD on a Macbook Pro... One for Mac OS, One for Data and one for Windows 7.

I keep all my Downloads/Documents/Games on the Data partition and the other two are for only Programs & Apps.

So in case something happens to my Mac OS or Windows, I'll spent way less time restoring from TimeMachine or loosing data with format/installing Windows.

Have in mind that a 3+ partitioned HDD you can't achieve with Bootcamp... How I did it. Easy

1) Format/Partitioned the whole drive in 3 partitions with DiskUtility from the SL or Leopard DVDs... First and second are HFS+, the third FAT.

You could make more partitions if you like... it's up to you.

2) Set the Partition Table to GUID... It should be already setup, but just in case check...

3) Install Mac OS X.

4) Download and install rEFIt in Mac OS X. NTFS-3g is also required .

5) Install Windows (XP/Vista/7). Choose Advance and be careful!!! What partition you'll format in NTFS!

6) Install the bootcamp drivers when in windows.

And if everything is OK. You'll get a similar to this boot image

Without the Linux logo off course.

Macs can read Windows formatted NTFS partitions/drives and Windows can now read Mac OS Extended (HFS) formatted partitions/drives with the new Boot Camp 3.0 drivers included on the Snow Leopard disc. the files will show, you just cant edit them without copying them over to the partition you have write access to, which is this case is the partition you are booted into.

you will need third party software such as NTFS3g (beta version may be unstable in 10.6) to write to NTFS in OS X and MacDrive to write to HFS in Windows.

my advice would be to make a Windows partition big enough to store the files you are working on and then install either NTFS3g or MacFuse to copy them over to your OS X partition. as a guide the minimum size to just install Windows 7 is 9 gigs.

another idea is you could just install Windows as a virtual machine and run it at the same time as OS X. VMware Fusion and Parallels allow you to copy over files from your Windows virtual machine into OS X.

Yeah right... Virtual Machines sux! If he is gonna use it for heavy stuff as video editing or playing games he is gonna need every Hz and Byte of power it can spare.

Just setup a 3/4/5/6/7/8 Partition HDD and install multiboot machine, like I told you. And use 1/2/3/4/5/6 Partitions to share info between MacOS and Windows.