Best way to partition an external HD in preparation for boot camp

[rustmonster]

When I get my hands on Windows 7 I"m going to attempt to install boot camp on my mac, I've never tried it before.

I've got a new external drive will be used to store files for both OSX and windows but it needs formatting and I'm unsure the best way to format it. FOr use with both. I also plan on using SuperDuper, which will be a very useful backup for when I start mucking about with the partitions on my internal drive.

1) Can I just split the drive into 2 partitions using Disc Utility, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and one MS-DOS (FAT)?

2) Would it be better making an NTFS partition for Windows 7 and can I do this with Disc Utility?

3) Would a third partition be a good idea for Time Capsule/SuperDuper or can I use the standard mac partition?

 

[Stridder44]

When I get my hands on Windows 7 I"m going to attempt to install boot camp on my mac, I've never tried it before.

I've got a new external drive will be used to store files for both OSX and windows but it needs formatting and I'm unsure the best way to format it. FOr use with both. I also plan on using SuperDuper, which will be a very useful backup for when I start mucking about with the partitions on my internal drive.

1) Can I just split the drive into 2 partitions using Disc Utility, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and one MS-DOS (FAT)?

2) Would it be better making an NTFS partition for Windows 7 and can I do this with Disc Utility?

3) Would a third partition be a good idea for Time Capsule/SuperDuper or can I use the standard mac partition?

1) The problem with FAT is it's an old file system, and one single file cannot be larger than 4 GB in size. If you're going to split your external into 2 partitions, make the Windows partition NTFS.

2) I'm not sure if you're talking about your installation drive or your external, but Windows 7 (and Vista for that matter) can only be installed on NTFS. I don't think Disk Utility can format a drive to NTFS, only FAT. You'd have to make 2 partitions in Disk Utility, and then go into Windows and format the Windows partition to NTFS.

3) Depends on the size available.

 

[rustmonster]

1) The problem with FAT is it's an old file system, and one single file cannot be larger than 4 GB in size. If you're going to split your external into 2 partitions, make the Windows partition NTFS.

2) I'm not sure if you're talking about your installation drive or your external, but Windows 7 (and Vista for that matter) can only be installed on NTFS. I don't think Disk Utility can format a drive to NTFS, only FAT. You'd have to make 2 partitions in Disk Utility, and then go into Windows and format the Windows partition to NTFS.

3) Depends on the size available.

I have not got around to using boot camp to partition my internal drive. I'm waiting for my retail version of Windows 7 to arrive before I do. I'm just using Snow Leopard right now.

But my new external hard drive has arrived today and it needs formatting so I'm trying to find out the best way to format and partition it to get it ready to work with both Snow Leopard and Windows 7 (which I will install when I get my retail copy).

I take it that bootcamp will be able to create a NTFS partition on my internal drive for Windows 7?

Is there another program aside from Disk Utility that will allow me to format and partition the drive in both HFS+ and NTFS?

 

[Stridder44]

I take it that bootcamp will be able to create a NTFS partition on my internal drive for Windows 7?

Unfortunately, no. You have to use the Windows 7 disc to format the partition. It won't let you install without reformatted it.

Is there another program aside from Disk Utility that will allow me to format and partition the drive in both HFS+ and NTFS?

This I am not sure of as far as a Mac app that can format to NTFS. Do you have a spare Windows machine that you could connect the drive to to format the partition to NTFS?