[pcw]

Hey,

Just got me a new 2,5" 5400rpm 250GB Samsung harddrive for my MacBook. I'm gonna install it in awhile.

I'm wondering what would be a smart partition strategy to go with this harddrive. Or should I just make one big partition of it? The reason I'm thinking of partitioning it is because it will make the upgrade smoother when installing Leopard and I don't have to wipe the entire harddrive again so I will just have to wipe the Tiger partition and leave the media (music, vids, pictures) partition alone.

So what's your 0.05$ on this subject?

[Sherman Homan]

Why do you think that you will need to wipe the drive to install 10.5? You probably won't have to. The only reason I can think of for a multiple partition scheme is if you want to keep 10.4 and flip back and forth when 10.5 comes out. Otherwise, one nice big partition!

[Simon]

Leopard won't require you to wipe the drive. You will be able to chose from Archive&Install and Update. IMHO you don't need to partition just for Leopard.

[peeb]

There are a lot of threads on this. The consensus is that there are very rare circumstances where you might want to partition, but basically you should leave it alone. Leopard will not require you to wipe your drive.

[shifuimam]

Partitioning is handy to keep your data separate from your OS. My 20GB drive in my clamshell is partitioned with half going to data and half going to the OS - if I have to ever reinstall, my data stays intact, guaranteed. You can redirect where your user account's home folder points to, so that it points to the data partition.

I used to never partition. Now I always partition. If you're going to be dual-booting with Windows on the thing, make a partition for OS X, a partition for Windows, and a FAT32 data partition that can be read/written by both. Heck, even if you're *not* dual-booting with Windows, I'd still make at least a small part (maybe 50GB) FAT32. There are size limitations (no files over 4GB can be stored in FAT32), but if your drive fails you're more likely to be able to recover stuff through Linux if it's in a universal disk format.

Even if Leopard won't require you to wipe the drive, I'd still recommend it - it's easier to deal with OS problems if you know your data is safe and sound on another partition (or, in the case of a desktop computer, on another drive entirely).

[peeb]

Shifuimam - you are right that that sort of thing might have some benefit to some users, but as a general rule I would not recommend it as a normal practice. The likelihood of a novice user screwing it up negates any benefit from the arrangement.

[post_break]

Bootcamp will not work if you partition the drive. I found that out the hard way.

[shifuimam]

I would disagree - Disk Utility makes it unbelievably easy to partition a drive. I've never had it fail on me yet, and I've done many OS X reinstalls on my iBook - with repartitioning most of the time.

If you back up your data, wipe your drive, and partition, screwing it up doesn't mean a lot - just restart, wipe the already-empty drive, and partition again.

Just make sure you leave enough space for the OS. On a 250GB drive, if you're only installing one OS (Tiger/Leopard/whatever), I would recommend the following configuration:

75GB - OS X (known as "Mac OS X Extended" in Disk Utility)
25GB - FAT32 (aka "MS-DOS")
150GB - HFS+ (aka "Mac OS X Extended")

You can use the 25GB partition for backup of utterly crucial documents and files. In the event that the OS is inacessible and you're afraid you'll kill your partitions trying to reinstall, you can boot off a Linux LiveCD and back up files on the FAT32 partition to a thumb drive very easily.

If you don't want or will not use a FAT32 partition, you can tack on that 25GB to data (total of 175GB), or to the OS partition for a total of 100GB.

Just play around - Disk Utility on the OS X install disk lets you move partitions around without applying your changes. It doesn't hurt to try. If you decide you don't like the setup, just backup your data and reformat with no partitions, and do a fresh OS X install.

Originally Posted by post_break 

Bootcamp will not work if you partition the drive. I found that out the hard way.

That's pathetic. Where is the Windows data stored, then?

[peeb]

Well, fair enough. As a hobby, or someone is really into it, but I still think for most users, leaving well enough alone is a good strategy.

[pcw]

Well I'm definately not a newbie. Soon finished with my bachelor degree in information science. Been on the internet since 95 and have built several PC's since then and though recently I went on the Mac train.

I think I'll go with shifuimam's suggestion. Although if I can't use Bootcamp that sucks.

[peeb]

Then please, partition away! I did not mean to dissuade a determined partitioner, and shis's suggestions have merit, I merely meant that for most people, it's not worth it.

[post_break]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

That's pathetic. Where is the Windows data stored, then?

I am just saying that when I had two partitions setup and I tried to run bootcamp it told me it can only install windows if there is only 1 partition on the drive.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by pcw 

Well I'm definately not a newbie. Soon finished with my bachelor degree in information science. Been on the internet since 95 and have built several PC's since then and though recently I went on the Mac train.

I think I'll go with shifuimam's suggestion. Although if I can't use Bootcamp that sucks.

That whole Bootcamp thing just seems flaky to me. Accdg to Apple FAQs you indeed can only use BootCamp with a drive that has one partition.

Isn't there an open-source thing that was made before bootcamp to allow dual-booting OS X and Windows on a MacIntel?

If not, you could always use virtual machines to run Windows. VMs are super fast and sometimes more convenient than rebooting to just to switch operating systems.

I'd give up Bootcamp in favor of knowing my data was secure, but that's just me. Not only that, but not being allowed to create a third data partition on a dual-boot system really is asinine. How are you expected to have a central place for your data if you only get to have two partitions?

[analogika]

I have been using Macs since 1989, and I only ever had to wipe a system drive once.

Ever.

In 1991.

I used to partition because I *could* (it made me feel all tech), and because I actually had several boot systems, and Opt-booting was the simple method for switching.

Unless you're going to be running several different OSes, you either have no need whatsoever for more than a single partition, or you know why and don't need to ask a public forum.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Unless you're going to be running several different OSes, you either have no need whatsoever for more than a single partition, or you know why and don't need to ask a public forum.

Perhaps system failure has never happend to you in the ninteen years you've been using Apple computers, but it can - and does - happen.

You shouldn't partition if...
> You're too new to computers and don't want to anything that varies from the absolute easiest route
> You're using a machine for testing or other non-critical purposes
> That's all I can come up with

You should partition if...
> You want to play around with Linux - or any other alternative operating system
> There's a chance in hell that you or someone else might need to write data on your computer, and they might be using Windows. Or Linux. Or Unix. Or an older Mac OS.
> You want an additional safeguard against personal data loss in the event that OS X does shït itself.
> You want to learn more about computers - which does involve learning how partitions work and how they can be useful
> You want a low-level method of separating your data, allowing you to better control permissions and access. My boyfriend's dad has an iBook that he does research work on. He's got an OS partition, a partition for his critical research data, and a partition so that my boyfriend's mom can also use the computer and save her stuff to it.

Trust me - I used to think partitioning was lame. I figured it wasn't worth the trouble, it was useless, and it was just for nerdy types who did it because "they could". All I'm saying is, don't discredit anyone else's need or desire to use disk partitioning just because you yourself have never had a system failure or another situation where a second partition would really come in handy. it's not like partitioning is a religion or something.

[peeb]

I don't really understand why partitioning makes your data much safer to be honest. A decent backup seems a better strategy if the point is to recover from drive failure or OS meltdown. But sure, I'm not against it, it seems to fit your needs, and that's great, I'm just not sure I want to encourage people to play with it unless they have some particular reason. I agree with Analogika that it is very rare to have to wipe a system drive these days.

[pcw]

The biggest reason I can come up with is that it's a good thing to separate your OS and your MEDIA.

In my case. I've just gotten the 250gb 2,5" drive that I'm gonna install in my MacBook. Because Leopard isn't available at the moment I will be installing Tiger on it. However Leopard will probably be released this fall (anytime soon) and then if I only have one partition I will have to wipe my whole partition to install Leopard and my MEDIA will be gone. Some of you guys will probably tell me there's an option to upgrade from Tiger to Leopard but I've always done clean installs when it comes to OS'es.

So therefore by having at least two partitions I can easily wipe the OS partition and still have my MEDIA partition intact and not having to copy all the media back on to the MEDIA partition.

That's for me the biggest advantage.

[peeb]

You can reinstall OSX completely without wiping the drive. If you've come from Windows, this is quite counterintuitive.
It is not necessary to remove your user account when reinstalling the OS, even if you want a clean install. It will certainly be possible to upgrade to Leopard without a clean install.

[shifuimam]

It's useful to know that I don't need to do a complete reformat in order to reinstall OS X. However, in some cases, when one reinstalls, one might want to change something - decide to try a dual-boot setup, or simply rethink how they're managing their data. To me, it's just better to keep my data separate from my OS. The two should be mutually exclusive.

I do agree that you should have a good backup system in place for important data - but every step you take helps, especially if things implode on you and your data.

I guess I can't see any reason to not partition. As long as you give enough space for the OS and software - which is why I recommended at least 75GB, although many apps in OS X do not need to run from the boot drive/partition - there's no real reason to arbitrarily have only one partition.

I like having things more organized. It's easier for me and it makes me more comfortable in the security of my data. I'm not trying to convert anyone - I just think it's silly to make a blanket assumption that unless you're booting multiple operating systems, there is no justifiable reason to partition your drive. If anything, there doesn't seem to be a justifiable reason to leave your drive unpartitioned, except because that's how you've always done it or you're just too new to computers to understand how partitions work.

[peeb]

If it makes you happy, then that's cool.