Disk partitioning of MacHDD to prepare for WinXP & data sharing

Hi, I had asked this question by hijacking one other thread, but it seems that it did not receive the attention as a result. Sorry for reposting as a new thread.

I am planning on getting a MBP with the 160G hdd (17"). I have some experience with partitioning the hdd because I dable a bit into linux systems (ubuntu mainly). I use QTParted or Gparted live CD to prepare the hdd for multibooting with XP. So I was wondering if I could not do the same with the machdd.

1. Can one use QTparted (based on Linux kernel) to partition the macHDD into smaller partitions?; by first formating the machdd cleanly. and have a disk map like this---(160G hdd size)

60 HFS+ for MacHDD|30 FAT32 for data|30 FAT32 for data|40 FAT32/NTFS for WinXP via bootcamp|

Once I have the drive formatted as above using the respective filesystems, I will then re-install OS X on partition#1; and then using bootcamp install windows XP on partition#4; the rest I will leave as it for inter-OS data exchange. Bootcamp says can't have more than 32G FAT32, hence these 2 partitions.

Can this be done using bootcamp? Any suggestions, recommendations? Much appreciated.

I did a thread search and also googled a bit, but did not get a straight forward answer. Hope you can help.

thanks

 

I'm not quite sure what exactly you are asking, but I'll try to clarify a few things. First, Mac OS X has an application called Disk Utility which can be used to reformat and partition your hard drive. Using Disk Utility, you can choose from HFS+, HFS+ (Journaled), FAT32 aka MS-DOS, and I believe they is one labeled Free Space. I assume if you partition with free space, it will not format that partition, so you can use your Windows XP Installation CD to format it into NTFS.

Through Bootcamp, you can choose how large of a partition for each OS, the minimum being 5GB for Windows XP. In Bootcamp, there is an option to either format your Windows partition with FAT32 or NTFS. I haven't tried creating more than my current 2 partitions (HFS+ and NTFS), but I have used Disk Utility to partition/format my external HD.

Hope this helps!

 

knp, thanks for the reply.

I guess what I want to achieve is this; I get the MBP with OS X preinstalled on the hdd (probably occupying first portion of the hdd, bootable). Now once I start the machine, I will just see the machdd, right? What I want to achieve is a drive that will have a partition that both OS X and XP can read and write; hence, I chose Fat32 for this-but, I also want it to be separated from OS part of XP.

I thus wish to have this drive configuration:
60 HFS+ for MacHDD|30 FAT32 for data|30 FAT32 for data|40 FAT32/NTFS for WinXP via bootcamp|

I hope I am making sense here.

-S

 

That is the portion I don't quite understand. When using Bootcamp, there will be an option to split your hard drive, one for your current HFS+ (Bootable) and one for FAT32/NTFS. You will not lose any data when going through this process, your Mac OS X partition is only resized according to how much space you decide to allocate your Windows XP partition. Now, I'm not too sure about creating 4 partitions you want using BootCamp as Disk Utility will wipe your entire hard drive if you so choose to partition and reformat.

 

Thanks again. Using bootcamp will I be able to create an additional partition of FAT32 filesystem for data sharing between native OS X and to-be installed XP; I guess this is essentially what I am asking.

 

I see...I've been reading around and some people say it's possible, many say it's not. The methods of creating these partitions are more complex than the simple Disk Utility or BootCamp Setup, but I believe this still requires a loss of data and installation of all operating systems from scratch. Here's a topic I found from onmac.net Forum Archives:

http://forum.onmac.net/archive/index.php/t-1005.html

Also, more information on multiple booting:

http://forum.onmac.net/search.php?searchid=84098

 

Thanks for attaching the links here; this led me to this further link that others may find useful: http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Triple_Boot_via_BootCamp

It can be done, but it is a labor intensive process--ah, well, coming from linux, I am sure I will find this challenging. Will keep posting.

 

Good luck with this process. The guide on Wikipedia however is creating a partition using Linux. So you might have to deviate from the directions a bit.