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atljogger

macrumors member
Original poster
May 5, 2008
56
0
I want to install XP SP2 on my Macbook Pro via Boot Camp. What is the recommended amount of hard drive space I need to partition to run XP smoothly? I wont be doing much gaming - will use XP for mostly business-related things - Microsoft Office, a few PC softwares, etc.

Thanks
 

em500

macrumors regular
Apr 29, 2005
152
5
It varies too much for a meaningful answer. A bare XP install takes about 2GB disk space, with various accumulated updates and extra runtimes like .Net it will easily swell to over 4GB. Beyond that, it completely depends on the size of your apps and documents. Some people are fine with 8GB for years, some will go through 80GB in no time.
 

cmcbridejr

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2007
509
1
Alpharetta, GA
Me, personally, I would not do anything less than 8GB.

That is how I partitioned my drive (8GB) and mainly use it for some old DOS games (King's Quest 1-7, etc.) and to keep a backup of my Outlook files and some other critical documents from work (we use XP at work).

Also, I just went with formatting to 8GB as it is a divisible by 32 (you should be using FAT32 as the hard drive format).

If you think that you might be playing more modern games and can afford the hard drive space, then partition 16GB or more.
 

crm114

macrumors member
Feb 20, 2008
64
0
Midwest
Also, I just went with formatting to 8GB as it is a divisible by 32 (you should be using FAT32 as the hard drive format).

If you think that you might be playing more modern games and can afford the hard drive space, then partition 16GB or more.

i would go with NTFS and at least 60 gigs. I have been kicking my slef for the FAT partition and while i only play one game, adn do mostly modeling and cad, i keep runnign out of space.
 

chscag

macrumors 601
Feb 17, 2008
4,622
1,946
Fort Worth, Texas
I want to install XP SP2 on my Macbook Pro via Boot Camp. What is the recommended amount of hard drive space I need to partition to run XP smoothly? I wont be doing much gaming - will use XP for mostly business-related things - Microsoft Office, a few PC softwares, etc.

Thanks

I agree with the recommendation to go with 8 Gb as long as you're just running Office and a few other applications. Keep the drive formatted to FAT-32 for easy access read and write. But bear in mind that you also will need to install AV software, Windows Defender, and perhaps some other security software. The Windows firewall is very basic so you might consider the free Zone Alarm or Comodo firewalls. Both very good.

Regards.
 

cmcbridejr

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2007
509
1
Alpharetta, GA
i would go with NTFS and at least 60 gigs. I have been kicking my slef for the FAT partition and while i only play one game, adn do mostly modeling and cad, i keep runnign out of space.

You would use up over 60GB of precious hard drive space on a MacBook Pro to run Windows?

If you need that much use out of it, then just get a PC (but I see how you can afford using that much hard drive space since you have a Mac Pro).

Also, why NTFS? Mac is very compatible with FAT32 without the necessity of purchasing third party software and dealing with snafus.

I even have an iPod formatted to FAT32 so I can use on multiple operating systems. If you ever get into a linux distro, then FAT32 will also be easier to deal with over NTFS.

The only downside to FAT32 is that you can't have a file over 4GB (which most people never deal with) and you may need to defrag the drive a little more often.
 
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