MBP Hard drive upgrade question (software related)

[Solesk]

first off. i've searched the forums and read like 40 threads on hard drive upgrades, but didnt see my questions. so forgive me if they have been asked.

i've decided it's time for a new laptop. this will become my primary machine for probably the next 3 years. although i do have a fairly powerfull desktop pc in case i need it. but i'm waiting for leapard. or at least waiting for them to give away free upgrade copies if i get tiger. so in the time i'm waiting i couldnt help but look at possible upgrades for performance. anything to get longer life out of it.

but this will also be my first mac since my apple IIe.

so i'm gonna go all out since this will be my main machine for hopefully the next 3 years. and i will be doing some image editing. and i'm also big on using alot of programs at once. and i will be using bootcamp and vmware to load vista, xp and maybe ubuntu. so i'm getting the 17" mbp, with the hd glossy screen. but, i also want to upgrade the ram to 4gb and the hard drive to the 200gb 7200rpm seagate drive.

now, i'm also considering buying from macmall because if i get the vista home premium / boot camp bundle (i already have copies of xp) it's less than if i buy vista after market, not to mention cheaper than the apple store. so my question is, does anyone know if macmall gives you the full install discs or a recovery disc or what? if i put a new hd drive in, will i still be able to do fresh installs of both os's without losing any programs? i'd prefer to stay away from hd clone programs as i like clean installs. but i dont want to lose programs like ilife or other preinstalled mac programs i'm unaware of.

i'm not to worried about vista as there's nothing standard in the os i care about. but as i'm unfamiliar with the mac os i dont know what to look out for, or what i might lose, if anything. but as i will be doing this pretty much right away i do not have to worry about any personal data or such. factory installs.

any tips?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

first off. i've searched the forums and read like 40 threads on hard drive upgrades, but didnt see my questions. so forgive me if they have been asked.

Welcome to MacRumors!

but this will also be my first mac since my apple IIe.

Minor technical quibble: The Apple IIe wasn't a "Mac", so this will be your first "Mac". Welcome to Macintosh!

now, i'm also considering buying from macmall because if i get the vista home premium / boot camp bundle (i already have copies of xp) it's less than if i buy vista after market, not to mention cheaper than the apple store. so my question is, does anyone know if macmall gives you the full install discs or a recovery disc or what?

It will come with a standard "OEM" install disc. Not a recovery disc. Only big Windows OEMs do those.

...if i put a new hd drive in, will i still be able to do fresh installs of both os's without losing any programs? i'd prefer to stay away from hd clone programs as i like clean installs. but i dont want to lose programs like ilife or other preinstalled mac programs i'm unaware of.

Yes, the Mac discs will include full installs of all included software, including the trial versions. You will be able to put iLife back on, no problem.

If you're going to be doing the hard drive upgrade immediately, go for a HD clone program. On the Mac OS, they aren't as bad as they are on Windows. (They tend to work perfectly, with no 'downside'.)

 

[Solesk]

Minor technical quibble: The Apple IIe wasn't a "Mac", so this will be your first "Mac". Welcome to Macintosh!.

ya i knew better than that. i meant first apple product since the apple IIe.

and the other thread asked the one question i forgot about. when formatting the new drive i should be doing fat32? i will still have windows computers for a long time. and with my friend / family list, will probably always have to help support them. so being able to transfer files back and forth from windows pc's will be an unwaivorable requirement.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

ya i knew better than that. i meant first apple product since the apple IIe.

and the other thread asked the one question i forgot about. when formatting the new drive i should be doing fat32? i will still have windows computers for a long time. and with my friend / family list, will probably always have to help support them. so being able to transfer files back and forth from windows pc's will be an unwaivorable requirement.

Well, the boot drive for a Mac *HAS* to be in the GUID Partition Table (or "GPT") pattition style, and the Mac OS partition will need to be in HFS+ format. If you are using Windows XP, you can format the Windows partition as FAT32, but if you are using Vista, you will HAVE to use NTFS.

For an external data-only drive, FAT32 has the highest compatibility. (But OS X does access FAT32 slower than it accesses HFS+, so if you're doing video on an external drive, I'd go for HFS+, and forego cross-platform compatibility unless you absolutely REQUIRE it.

And for 'transferring files', a USB flash drive in FAT32 is your best bet, or just use networking. OS X supports Windows File Sharing, so it can connect to Windows computers, and share to Windows computers just fine.

 

[Solesk]

And for 'transferring files', a USB flash drive in FAT32 is your best bet, or just use networking. OS X supports Windows File Sharing, so it can connect to Windows computers, and share to Windows computers just fine.

that's all i'm really looking for. the ability to connect to windows computers over a network. that will be 99% of how i get windows files.

thanks for the info .

but now i have one last question. I've decided on which laptop i want. which upgrades to give it. and which mouse i want to buy for it. so now what do i do for the next month before i can buy it?? i guess i still havent decided on a case.