Bootcamp Parition Size - and what OS?

[epoxy5]

Well I will need to install bootcamp on an imac and I was wondering about a few things:

1 - I have both Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows XP and I would prefer Vista for the bootcamp OS but this is mainly because it looks better than XP... Would it be better to sell my Vista software and just install XP - are they both equally well implemented?

2 - What size should I choose for a partition that will mainly hold the OS, Office 2007 and a few small programs I need. I would love to have some GB's left on bootcamp for installing future stuff. I read something about Mac Os does not like ntfs - so should I just go for a fat32 partition?

3 - If I don't plan on playing any games via Windows, should I just skip the whole bootcamp idea and run with parallels / fusion instead?

Thanks for sharing any tips / experience you might have..

 

[Will_3rd]

Both will work fine, but you might want to go for Vista as it is newer.
Ultimate will take up a lot of disk space though, so you might want to look into a custom install using vLite.

At default Boot Camp will give you 5GB of space, with option for 32GB and to divide equally. I would say 30-40GB should be enough. NTFS under Mac OSX out of the box is read only. Vista does not work under FAT32.

Bootcamp will always be slightly faster, but virtualisation is always an option to check out would save on rebooting all the time.

 

[Fillado]

1. Both are equally well implemented - I believe, there are drivers for both anyway so it's generally a personal preference.

2. If you want to keep the size down this is where i'd suggest going with XP. I've got XP and everything I need (Office 2007, programs etc.) inside of 10GB on a 15GB partition. I think Vista needs 15GB just to install (again I don't have Vista so I can't accurately comment, just what i've heard).

If you want to easily share files between Mac OS X and Windows then format as FAT32. This is because Mac OS X can read and write to that whereas it can only read NTFS.

3. You could, but it'll cost you for the doing so. Again this is up to you (I much prefer to have an OS running natively)

 

[epoxy5]

Thanks for the inputs both, that helped a lot but also raised a couple of new questions

Let's say I choose Vista, I will need to run NTFS no matter what - right?
I know that the NTFS drive will be read-only for Mac, but what does this mean in real life situations?

Are there normal daily work routines where you would write to the Vista partition - any software that would regular try to do it? It might be a completely stupid question, I just didn't want to make all sorts of installs and then have witness some obvious limitation with the NTFS partition.

I really love the v-lite option, but again I bet there are loads of stuff I should not exclude from the iso in order for Mac to install the OS and make the partition - something I should be aware of here?

Hope you can shed some light on this as well.

Thanks in advance
Thomas

 

[Will_3rd]

Let's say I choose Vista, I will need to run NTFS no matter what - right?
I know that the NTFS drive will be read-only for Mac, but what does this mean in real life situations?

As far as I know yes, means you can only copy files from NTFS volumes nothing else. But there are 3rd party NTFS drivers some better then others.

Are there normal daily work routines where you would write to the Vista partition - any software that would regular try to do it? It might be a completely stupid question, I just didn't want to make all sorts of installs and then have witness some obvious limitation with the NTFS partition.

Dunno what are your daily routines?

I really love the v-lite option, but again I bet there are loads of stuff I should not exclude from the iso in order for Mac to install the OS and make the partition - something I should be aware of here?

True, can't say I've heard of anyone installing custom installs of Windows via Bootcamp

 

[epoxy5]

True, can't say I've heard of anyone installing custom installs of Windows via Bootcamp

LOL I am already forgetting why I wanted to get a Mac in the first place...
I think I will go for a small fat32 partition and windows xp - or even just emulated... It's just for some IE testing and a little finance work, so a lot is not needed.

Thanks again for the nice inputs.

Thomas

 

[Sic]

can't say I've heard of anyone installing custom installs of Windows via Bootcamp

weird. I'm running a custom installation I made from a tutorial ages ago. Just streamlined SP2 and removed some stuff as I only really need the Internet Explorers, Live! and Steam so the other stuff is just space waste.

 

[Will_3rd]

weird. I'm running a custom installation I made from a tutorial ages ago. Just streamlined SP2 and removed some stuff as I only really need the Internet Explorers, Live! and Steam so the other stuff is just space waste.

oh well now I know

cheers Sic

although I've just remembered Apple recommended you slipstream SP2 onto a disc if your copy of Windows XP did not have it silly me

 

[Sic]

yeah, you probably don't need to with the more recent ones, but I've not purchased Windows for about 2.5 years or something like that. Can't remember when SP2 came out but it's not on my disk :/