some questions on installing XP (bootcamp) for gaming

[soccerjoe5]

Hi guys, i'm thinking of installing XP via bootcamp in my MBP. I plan to just use XP for games, probably just 2 at a time.

1. What size of a partition would you recommend? Will 20GB be good enough? I'd like to keep it to a minimum since I do mostly photo work on my mac so I want to have a lot of space for photo editing.

Another option is to save up for a larger HDD.

I won't be installing anything, just max 2 games at a time. Not even Office. Example of games I'd like to install: Bioshock, Half Life 2, Witcher, Age of Empires

2. Do you recommend I install the updates on XP even it's just for gaming? i.e. SP3?

3. Suppose I get a larger HDD (probably a 250GB) and want to use it for my MBP, how do you suppose I go to migrating my system to it? Ideally I'd like to have my system exactly the same so I was thinking of cloning the drive to the newer/larger one, but what will happen to the XP partition?

edit:

4. I read a lot of people comparing different video drivers for XP. which ones would you recommend I install?

 

[Fogtripper]

Personally I'd go with an additional drive to put the photos on. Perhaps backing up to DVD every so often.

I gave windows 100GBs to live in.

 

[italiano40]

XP SP2 only requires 1.8gb so i would for a gaming pc give it about 20gb

If you have a good Video card in the MPB it should be fine, i have been playing counter-strike on my macbook with bootcamp and it works great

 

[neilhart]

With 250GB hard drives available for about $100 you may want to upgrade your internal drive. There are instructions that you can google if you have not been inside of your MBP.

Then the problem is moving your OSX and BootCamp without having to reload manually. For this do a search for take a look at this thread (where I shared my solution).

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/470062/

For BootCamp I would advise XP-Pro with SP2 in at lease a 20GB partition.

neil

 

[soccerjoe5]

Personally I'd go with an additional drive to put the photos on. Perhaps backing up to DVD every so often.

I gave windows 100GBs to live in.

i need my photos on hand since i do a lot of mobile editing after a month or a few weeks in, i move them off my HDD to a portable HDD or DVD

 

[soccerjoe5]

thanks so much for the replies, i think i'll hold off installing windows and save up for a 250GB drive

 

[flopticalcube]

SP3 appears to be faster than SP2 from what I have read. With games getting to be 6G+ each, you may want a hefty amount of space unless you plan on removing and reloading games.