1) If I partition the drive for windows xp and later on decide that I don’t want windows on my mac would I be able to get my patition back into my main harddrive without having to format the whole harddrive??

2) They keep mentioning this bootcamp is on a temporary trial. When that trial is up does that mean I can’t use the windows xp anymore?

3) Can I just install the windows xp on a external hd and boot the mac from there?

Txun - 17 September 2006 12:45 PM

1) If I partition the drive for windows xp and later on decide that I don’t want windows on my mac would I be able to get my patition back into my main harddrive without having to format the whole harddrive??

2) They keep mentioning this bootcamp is on a temporary trial. When that trial is up does that mean I can’t use the windows xp anymore?

3) Can I just install the windows xp on a external hd and boot the mac from there?

I have some advice for #3. Yes, you can install Windows on an external drive, then select it as the “startup” drive in System Preferences. Here’s the advice part - the external disk “must” be Firewire - the Mac will not boot from an external USB drive!

For #2, boot camp being “trial” means after a time, it won’t be free, you will have to pay a nominal fee to continue using boot camp - not Windows.

For #1 - I don’t believe once you’ve partitioned an internal disk, you can reclaim that space for the whole without repartitioning and formatting - but I could be wrong with the new technology for disk partitioning “on the fly?”

BootCamp should be able to get the “wasted” partition back without trouble. BootCamp is a BETA, meaning that it will most likely expire if you keep using an old release. Most likely they will ask for a few bucks to continue using it (how tough? BootCamp is basically a partition manager, with some drivers, and added stuff to the firmware on the Mac. My guess is that nothing will happen, or that, lol, drivers for windows will expire. That would be hilarious.) or just getting Leopard that ships it in full form. A thing that i heard, is that the final release of BootCamp will have that WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage or something similar) to prevent the use on a pirated copy of Windows. This might worry somebody, if it’s true. I don’t believe it, anyway.
Finally, you can’t absolutely boot Windows from an external drive. Sure, the Mac supports it, but Windos dosen’t. Firewire? Izzat sum MAC mumbojumbo? is most likely what you’ll see on your screen if you try Windows on FireWire, :D , and since Windows initializes and resets the usb halfway during startup, giving you a funny gray screen, with an apple in the middle. Yes, you just had a wonderous auto reboot. (personally tested, it won’t work. There are hacks that fiddle around with the startup sequence, but it will only lead to a more unstable Windows, and it’s pretty a difficult operation)
The good news: Intel Macs support booting from both USB and FireWire, so you could place a backup copy of OS X in your video iPod, and boot even tough it supports only usb for data transmission.

And finally, the resizing of partitions has been around for ages… at least in the Windows world.

Summary: BootCamp supports only Windows XP ServicePack2 install discs, and due to Windows limitations you can only install it on an internal drive.

Thanks AlexTheStampede! I should have done a bit more research, but since I have no desire or intention of running Windows on my Apple computers ?! I still have a Windows XP Pro desktop, mostly for use by the grandkids to use when they come to visit. So if I should come across a need for Windows, I have that option.

MrSin - 17 September 2006 02:00 PM

I have no desire or intention of running Windows on my Apple computers ?! I still have a Windows XP Pro desktop

Same here, but i like to try things. And i have a Windows 2000 running under Parallels, in case i needed it.

Now, interesting information tidbits:
USB2 nominal speed is better than FireWire’s one, by 80 megabits. On a field test, tough, the FireWire is “less slow” than an USB2. That’s because it has an internal controller to self manage the devices, cascaded or in daisy chain configuration, and because it’s faster in big data transfers. On the other hand, USB is faster for small and repeated data transfers, but every new devices plugged in, gives further load on the cpu.

On a newly initialized and installed Tiger system (17” Core Duo iMac, little brother’s toy) BootCamp allowed one of the slowest XP installation i’ve ever seen. And at the second reeboot it already had some system data damaged.

Well the reason I wanted to try out windows in my mac is because theres some games I really want to play. I am not really interested in partioning my harddrive though so I guess its a no go for me :(

Edit: I wanted to know if Paralells wants you to partition the harddrive to use it? Also is it good for running games?

To my knowledge, you cannot install Bootcamp on any EXTERNAL disks, without some maneuvering.  Bootcamp 1.1.2 supports installing on any INTERNAL disk now, which is great. When it started, you had to divide up your Mac hard drive, but that’s a luxury for others who have the ability to add multiple internal drives… Mac Pro users.  I imagine installing on an external USB or Firewire drive will be supported in the future. 

Once external drives are supported, you will more than likely be able to boot from Firewire or USB - the Intel macs support both, contrary to popular belief.