How to partition MAC OS X (Tiger) on a Bootcamp system ?

[mamma.maria&jos]

Ok - here I go.

I am a PC user for several years, marvelling at the MAC systems for as long as I've seen one for the first time in my life.
Now finally, the time has come and I bought one of those irresistibly stylish machines (a mini mac core duo with 1.25 GB RAM).

It has arrived today and - since I had to do a lot of work beforehand - I forced myself to postpone playing with this new amazing tool after having opened the box for ONE time, taking a drooling look at the packaging and its contents.

Now all the work is done and I go to try and install Mac OS X for the first time in my life.
There is only one problem - or rather several questions about it:

I heard about bootcamp. It is still a public beta.

1) Does it run reliably? or do I rather wait and see when it comes to leave beta stage?

I saw the tool apple left for partitioning the drive and I am impressed. Such tools cost a lot of extra in thge Windows world. Yet:

2) What size does a full install of Mac OS X (Tiger) need right now?

3) Do I need any extra space for temporary files or anything like that?

4) A 'fresh' (if you can say so - a plague on Billy and all the gates he chooses to keep tightly closed, but that's another matter) Windows install needs something around one GB of hard drive space. Usually, I allot something around 10-15 GBs to a new partition - depending on the system specs.

5) Do I need a similar estimation for MAC OS X?

6) What about my drive (80 GB, 75 usable ones, of course) in case I want to install a triple boot system (MAC, WIN, UBUNTU) and still preserve a little something for data to be swapped/shared?

7) Would that be possible?

In any case, I heartily thank anyone reading this, hoping for a little tolerance on the MAC side of the world for the WIN side of it all.

I am sorry for this incredibly long post and I will try and keep it shorter next time.

All the best and a great 'thank you' for anyone providing me with some input on these matters.
gretz

 

[MRU]

1) Does it run reliably? or do I rather wait and see when it comes to leave beta stage?

Yes it is very reliable. Apple have made it very easy to install and remove. All drivers for it are created when you start bootcamp

I saw the tool apple left for partitioning the drive and I am impressed. Such tools cost a lot of extra in thge Windows world. Yet:

2) What size does a full install of Mac OS X (Tiger) need right now?

Tiger can be trimmed if you re-install and tell it to not install the extra language and printer drivers. Full install still needs about 10-12gb

3) Do I need any extra space for temporary files or anything like that?

Yes. If your drive is 80gb, then split it 50/50 and you should be alright with your mac/pc partitions.

4) A 'fresh' (if you can say so - a plague on Billy and all the gates he chooses to keep tightly closed, but that's another matter) Windows install needs something around one GB of hard drive space. Usually, I allot something around 10-15 GBs to a new partition - depending on the system specs.



5) Do I need a similar estimation for MAC OS X?

Mac OSX install is a lot bigger because of all the additional applications, like iDVD, garageband etc...

6) What about my drive (80 GB, 75 usable ones, of course) in case I want to install a triple boot system (MAC, WIN, UBUNTU) and still preserve a little something for data to be swapped/shared?

7) Would that be possible?

give the majority of space to your mac partition, then split the remaining 50% in half again between windows & ubutu. If you stick on an external HD for actual programs and files for each of the operating systems.

In any case, I heartily thank anyone reading this, hoping for a little tolerance on the MAC side of the world for the WIN side of it all.

 

[JayMak]

Just to add, you can also install OSX to an external firewire drive and then maximize the internal XP install...

 

[MRU]

Just to add, you can also install OSX to an external firewire drive and then maximize the internal XP install...

True. Somthing I'd be more willing to do on a mac mini than an imac or macbook.

 

[mamma.maria&jos]

Thank you very much for your input.

I think I will partition the drive as follows:

40 GB for Mac OS X
15 GB for Windows XP
15 GB for Linux

Again, thanks very much for helping out on this question.

 

[aarongman]

This article describes how the process works.

Apple Macintosh, Meet Microsoft Windows

 

[Counterfit]

Just to add, you can also install OSX to an external firewire drive and then maximize the internal XP install...

If it's possible to boot from Windows over FireWire, it would be best to put that on the external.

 

[Nar1117]

If it's possible to boot from Windows over FireWire, it would be best to put that on the external.

Yeah, for some reason Apple decided its best to have the windows partition on the internal drive, and they dont allow for it to be installed on an external. Oh so it would seem... Check out the thread in this forum that descibes this issue...

and Macrumoruser: Why would you be more willing to run OS X off of an external from the mini, rather from an iMac or Macbook?