wierd/stupid filesystem question

[speedgeek]

Excuse my n00bness - I left the sysadmin field about three years ago to focus on MPLS networks, so I've kinda lost touch with the ins and outs of managing desktops...so I have a couple of questions:

I'm having a hard time finding a definitive answer via google - Does Windows XP SP2 have a limit on the maximum partition size on IDE drives? I'm about to buy a 250 GB drive to use in an external usb 2.0 hdd enclosure, and I want to know if I'm going to need to create multiple partitions (ick). I believe there is a 32GB limit if using FAT32, but all my PC's are using NTFS. I did read of a 137GB limit if you are running XP pre-SP1, but I'm not sure if thats resolved or not. Any input is greatly appreciated, as it will affect my backup scheme.

Now to make things real fun - I'm //considering// getting a new Macbook once apple gets the whole overheating issue sorted out. I'm guessing that there is no rw-filesystem compatible with both XP and OSX...which means I'll have to reformat my external 250GB'r to use with the Mac, right?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Marc
your friendly neighborhood route monkey.

[Daijoubu]

You can format your whole 250GB using NTFS, not sure if it's a good idea though

Always handy to have the OS on one partition and your data on another :)
The 137GB limit is a limitation of older BIOS, SP2(+ software?) have a workaround for that

[speedgeek]

You can format your whole 250GB using NTFS, not sure if it's a good idea though

Always handy to have the OS on one partition and your data on another :)
The 137GB limit is a limitation of older BIOS, SP2(+ software?) have a workaround for that

LOL, no I wouldn't keep an OS on this drive, I'm not that new! This drive (250GB'r) is going to be a pure backup drive. Right now my desktop has two physical disks: a 40GB'r that runs the OS and not much else, and a 60GB'r that is my data storage disk. I plan on using MS SyncToys to echo my entire data drive to the external drive.

Here's another thought; I know its possible to create a single 125GB partition and format with NTFS (to backup from my Windows boxes). Is it possible to partition the other 125GB for Mac OSX tiger use?

[Cyber6]

Here's another thought; I know its possible to create a single 125GB partition and format with NTFS (to backup from my Windows boxes). Is it possible to partition the other 125GB for Mac OSX tiger use?


What kind of machine are you using??..

My understanding of Mac is that witht the new Intel chips on Mac Pc's, you can dual boot windows with Mac. But the opposite is not true.

Regular off the mill intel based PC's (or AMD based) cannot run Mac OS.


So your answer si YES, you can have two partitions.. one to run Windows and one to run Mac OSX.. but only with bootcamp running on the new intel based Mac's. (at least for now.. ;) )


C.

[goofball]

FAT32 does not have a 32GB creation limit. The limit is from XP's implementation of it. You can partition/format the whole 250GB drive as FAT32 if you can make the drive visible in the updated version of FDISK and DOS. If you try to partition/format inside XP, then you will run into the 32GB limitation.

Here is some more information on it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314463

[speedgeek]

So your answer si YES, you can have two partitions.. one to run Windows and one to run Mac OSX.. but only with bootcamp running on the new intel based Mac's. (at least for now.. ;) )
C.

Just to clarify, the 250GB will be used as a backup drive only. It will *only* contain data, not OS files (XP or OSX).

I think my idea should work, creating two partions of 125 GB each. One partition will be formatted with NTFS and will only be accessible when connected to one of my XP boxes. The other partition will be 125 GB as well, and will be "formatted" (HFS+?) to be accessed from my Macbook (once I get it).

[Daijoubu]

FAT32 does not have a 32GB creation limit. The limit is from XP's implementation of it. You can partition/format the whole 250GB drive as FAT32 if you can make the drive visible in the updated version of FDISK and DOS. If you try to partition/format inside XP, then you will run into the 32GB limitation.

Here is some more information on it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314463
The clusters must be quite big huh
Not to mention the single file size limited to 4GB, so no DVD images ;)

[Cyber6]

I think my idea should work, creating two partions of 125 GB each. One partition will be formatted with NTFS and will only be accessible when connected to one of my XP boxes. The other partition will be 125 GB as well, and will be "formatted" (HFS+?) to be accessed from my Macbook (once I get it).


Got it, I will guess that each operating system will only "see" its corresponding partition.


C.