Interested in installing Windows XP on iMac. Here is my plan.
I allocate 80GB for the Windows partition using boot camp. This has to be NTFS format, because it is greater than 32G. After installing Windows XP, I am going to partition the Windows 80G partition to two 40G(one for XP, one for data) using Partition Magic. Using the software I also reformat the 40G data partition to FAT32, so I can access the data in the Windows from the Mac side.
I am not sure whether this will work or not. Any advice/suggestion? Thanks
MacBook 2GHz, 1GB, 80G HD,
Mac OS X (10.4.11),
iMac 2.4GHz, 1GB, 320G HD, OS X 10.5.1
For your setup, I do not think that you will be able to partition your windows 80gb partition with partition magic. Others have tried it, but it did not successfully work.
I have done 3 partitions, the first for Leopard, second for Data, and the third for Windows. If you are interested, here is how I did it...
I did not use Bootcamp to partition my Vista drive because it was just too confusing. You can use the Leopard Disk utility program to partition your hard drive without losing any data. Try it.
I have done 3 partitions in which one was for Leopard, another for shared data, and the last for Vista.
If you would like to do the same, then you would have to reinstall your OS X. Here is how I made 3 partitions.
1) I inserted the OS X disk during startup and went to Disk Utility.
2) I then had to erase my hard drive...which erased Leopard.
3) Once it was erased, I made 3 partitions in this order (with the 320gb hard drive)
*1st Partition - +HFS Extended Journal - 125gb - Leopard
*2nd Partition - FAT32 - 50gb - Shared Data
*3rd Partition - FAT32 - 120gb - Vista 'MAKE SURE YOU NAME IT WINDOWS/VISTA/WHAT EVER YOU WANT THE NAME TO BE' & THAT WINDOWS IS ON THE LAST PARTITION THAT YOU MAKE
4) Re-install OS X back into the 1st Partition
Once your OS X is installed, now you can install Windows.
5) To install Windows, insert your Windows installation cd during startup and hold down the option key when you hear the chime sound.
7) When you see the Windows installation cd, click on it
8) Now since you partitioned your hard drive and had a FAT32 partition for Windows, you will have to format to NFTS. MAKE SURE THAT IT IS THE PARTITION THAT YOU MADE FOR WINDOWS--the one that you named!!!
9) Now you can install Windows
10) When Windows is installed, you can now install the Boot Camp Drivers.
*BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT since you can partition the hard drive in Disk Utility, you can just partition your hard drive without having to reinstall your OS X. Also make sure that your Windows partition is formated into a FAT32...and if you do want to share files between the two OS's, that partition has to be a FAT32 also
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Thank you for the detailed explanation. I will give a try. Just want to clarify one thing. Can I partition my Mac HD without erasing and reinstalling OS X Leopard?
Leopard can, but Leopard also alters the partition table in some manner. Upgrade (even A&I) versus a clean sweep can result in different behavior. Which is why you should also use Disk Utility Restore first to clone. SuperDuper doesn't yet work with 10.5.
I wonder if anyone can help me with this, and I apologise for bringing back an old thread..
...I've tried the method detailed above and it was working well. However when Windows got to the bit when it restarts, moving from the Blue Screen setup to the graphical XP setup, the computer restarted back into Mac OSX. I've since been unable to get the Windows installation to complete.
Any ideas how to finish it off? Or how to make sure that Windows restarts and continues installing rather than booting Mac OSX?
I'm putting a big NTFS XP and a FAT32 partition on a seperate drive in a Mac Pro.
Anyone? It's driving me nuts! If anyone knows another way to make a 3 partition drive 1 hfs to be used as a backup/clone of a system drive, 1 fat32 shared storage and 1 ntfs windows installation, any help is greatly appreciated.
