New to Mac. Advice needed on partitoning the hard drive

Hello all.
I am new to Mac having purchased a MacBookPro 13 inches with i7 processor and 750GB hard drive this month. I was using windowsXP since the last 9 years. In the windows system I had my hard drive partitoned to four units. I want to continue to save files in the same pattern i.e in four partitions. I do a lot of work with video/image editing. So here are the things that I want to know
Does partitioning bring down efficiency of the machine ? (More likely to "hang" or otherwise become less responsive)
How much hard drive space should I give to my operating system?
Should I partiton and migrate or vice-versa ?
Thanks for all answers. I actually dont know a thing in the Mac universe and therefore many of the earlier discussions on partitions in these forums (using words such as boot camp etc) were way above my level

1) No not really
2) Since OS X is slight different then Windows as far as installing programs, in OS X you must install programs to the Application folder which is in the ROOT of the OS partition, I would allocate at least 100-150GBs of space. Also all the User files are store in the /Users/Username folder which is also on the OS partition. Things like the iTunes and iPhoto libraries are initially store there but can be moved. That is a later topic.
3) Personally I don't use any built in Migration system. If you do a search of these forum you will see a lot of posts about how it really doesn't work. Yes it will copy your data but it places it in a second User folder. It's hard to explain.
I would just copy your files over and put them where you want.
So the answer is, it is up to you. But I would partition first then copy over.
You may not like the Mac. It is a different beast then Windows. It takes time to get use to, that is if you can get use to it.
Remember this. Apple has a 14 day No Questions Asked return policy. So if after a short time, less then 13 day, you find the Mac way of doing things isn't to your liking you can take it back and get a full refund.
IMHO there is no real difference between Windows and OS X. They both do the exact same thing, write ones and zeros to a hard drive and display stuff on a screen so you can interact with it.
One is no better then the other, they just do some things slightly different. One is not easier to use then the other. They both use the exact same hardware and they both have software and hardware glitches. Only PCs cost less.
Good luck

Similar Messages

New to the forums, not new to Mac. Need help on failing hard drive.

Hello, glad to have found this forum...I need all the help I can get. Let me explain what I have, what it's doing, what I want it to do, what I "think" I need to do.
*What I have:*
733 G4 with superdrive, 512 MB SDRAM, 40 & 60 gig internal original hard drives
*What it is doing:*
For about a year one of the drives (seems to be my 60g start-up drive) has made clicking/popping noises not unlike when you click/cluck your tongue. I've ignored it, foolishly, and gone about my business. Then I began having to click the mouse and punch keys when I start-up in order to get the drive to begin spinning, otherwise it would never kick in and I'd get the "?" face. Anyway, I have been living like that for many months until recently when my start-up drive only had about 500MB left of space, I burned some DVD's and freed up about 6 gig on the drive for some cushion the other day. Well, since doing that, when I start up now I get a spinning globe. I have to hold the option key down at boot and then select the drive manually and I'm back to being fine again.
*What I want it to do:*
I'm freaked out about losing data because I am a photographer and graphic designer, so I would die if I lost any files. I have been using one of my old iPods as a back up drive to dump data on and burning some DVD's too...but still, I have most of my life still on the drive. Here is what I am considering. I would like to get an external drive to move and continue to grow my massive files for my work and creativity. I'm thinking the G-Tech 320 Quad external would be a good fit. Now, moving back inside, my 60g start-up is telling me it's failing and to back up and replace before...well, you know. My 2nd internal drive is 40g and is strictly my iTunes library of MP3s.
How do I save myself and replace my start-up drive?
Do I buy the G-Tech first, move all my files over, then replace the internal, failing 60g? Can I start-up from the G-Tech? Should I/Can I make my 40g the temporary start-up, replace the failing 60g, and go from there? How should I do this and must I get the G-Tech now?
While on this same question, I am getting conflicting information regarding how much my 733 G4 will recognize as far as each drive size. What is the max size each drive can be? What is the max combined?
*What I think I should do:*
I think I should buy the G-Tech, move my life over there, then use the working 40g as my start-up, replace the failing 60g with the largest possible when possible, make the replacement internal the start-up again, use or replace the working/existing 40g as storage/back-up, live happily ever after.
*And on a side note:*
I plan to drop two sticks of 512MB memory, this filling it up to it's max 1.5 gig of memory. Will this have a noticeable affect on my computer? If so, how?
Oh, and the reason I was opting for the Quad G-Tech is because can't I upgrade and add FW800 ports to my G4 rather easily?
Thank you for any time or effort you give me in helping me through this urgent matter. I had run out of places to go and people to ask before running across this forum.

First of all I cannot believe you have no backup strategy and only start to worry about it after problems arise. You're an accident waiting to happen. Before you consider anything make backups.
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
You can begin addressing the problems with your hard drive(s) after you get your stuff properly backed up. Once that's done get two larger drives for the computer and replace the small ones you now have. Your model should support hard drives up to 128 GBs in size. There is not specific limit on external drives so your external backup drive can be large enough to be partitioned into multiple volumes large enough to backup at least one of the internal drives (using the second internal drive as a backup for the first internal drive. This provides redundancy - an internal and an external backup.) You can then use the additional space on the external drive for your data files.
BTW, you risk catastrophic data loss by allowing the free space on your startup volume to drop below 3 GBs.

I wish to recycle a number of macs. What happens to the hard drive when sent to Simms? Do I need to dismount them?

I wish to recycle a number of macs. What happens to the hard drive when sent to Simms? Do I need to dismount them?

Hard drives don't die then come back to life. Your drive never died. You just thought it did.
Obviously, if a hard drive isn't on and spinning its life is longer than when it is always on and spinning. If a hard drive in a laptop is idle it goes to sleep. That's normal because it prolongs battery life. Of course it hardly matters if the computer is running on AC power. The drive may still go to sleep but there's no impact on the battery.
If the computer is in use 24/7 then its useful life will be less than if it's in use only 12/7 or 8/7. This is both logical and obvious. But in the long run all computers or their hard drives fail. There is little you can do to prevent that. They are meant to be used. If your life is dependent on the computer being usable, then buy another one as a spare. Or at the very least buy a backup drive, keep the computer backed up, then you can worry less about drive failure.

I have 1TB hard drive i cant drag or sent to it although i can view it on my desk top do i need to format the hard drive ? please advise

i have 1TB hard drive i cant drag or sent to it although i can view it on my desk top do i need to format the hard drive ? please advise

If the format is NTFS, which it likely is, then follow Ralph's advice, but youmay also want to partition it with GUID partition table.
In Disk Utility, select the drive, then Partiiton tab.
Choose 1-partition from the popup menu.
Click the Options button (it is only enabled if you change the partition layout, above).
Select GUID partition table.
Then, give the drive a Name and format of Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
If you wish to use the drive with Windows, use MSDOS or exFAT. MSDOS will limit files sizes to 2GB. Some think exFAT is flakey.

ThinkPad 2nd HDD Adapter for T40 -do I need to configure the hard drive?

I purchased a new Samsung HM160HC hard drive and a Thinkpad 2nd HDD adapter for Ultrabay slim for a Thinkpad T40. When I install the PATA hard drive into the adapter do I need to configure the hard drive as slave, cable select, or leave as master? Any help would be appreciated.

Reformat usiing the original install disc then update to v10.6.8.
Mac OS X 10.6: Reinstalling Mac OS X

Need to wipe the hard drive

I am selling my 2013 MacBook Air and i need to figure out how to wipe all my information from the computer before selling it.
Any help will be appreciated, im ready to slam this computer through a wall.

Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
       A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
       B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
          1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
          2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
          3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
              side.
          4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
              sure to opt for that.
               Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
               startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
          1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
          2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
          3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
          4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
          5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
     A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
          1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
          2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
          3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
              Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          4. Install OS X.
          5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
          6. Shutdown the computer.
     B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
         Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
                   it is three times faster than wireless.
          1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
              Utilities window appears.
          2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
          3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
              on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
          4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
              and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
          6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
          7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
          8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License.

I have an iMac 17" 1.83ghz intel core from 2006. I need to reformat the hard drive. Which system do I install - the system disk in came with or can I install 10.6.8 which is what it's running now. And does the system have to be for an iMac?

I have an iMac 17" 1.83ghz intel core from 2006. I need to reformat the hard drive. Which system do I reinstall - the system disk in came with or can I install 10.6.8 which is what it's running now. And does the system have to be for an iMac?

Reformat usiing the original install disc then update to v10.6.8.
Mac OS X 10.6: Reinstalling Mac OS X

Hi, i'm paying every mont for photoshop and lightroom, I had to bring my Mac to apple to change the hard drive, and now i want reinstall my programs, anyone can help me?

Hi, i'm paying every mont for photoshop and lightroom, I had to bring my Mac to apple to change the hard drive, and now i want reinstall my programs, anyone can help me?

Download and install the trial version(s) from https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/catalog/desktop.html and activate them with your Adobe ID.

HT1420 Do I need to deauthorize my pc if I need to have the hard drive reformatted?

Do I need to deauthorize my pc if I need to have the hard drive reformatted?

You should deauthorize it first; you may not be able to later except through the Deauthorize All function, which is use-limited.
(81573)

Hello, I am having a macbook air early 2008 and it is having a hard drive failure i need to replace the hard drive is it possible ? the hard drive number is HS082HB

Hello, I am having a macbook air early 2008 and it is having a hard drive failure i need to replace the hard drive is it possible ? the hard drive number is HS082HB could you please help !!

You can replace it with a solid state drive, see the one OWC sells here. The video on how to install it is here.
iFixit.com has used hard drives available here.
If it were me, I'd go with a solid state drive, as the prices have come down recently and the performance improvement is noticeable.

A year ago I brought a 1 TB hard drive (My Passport), I have not used it for over 4 months and now when I use the USB cord to connect it to my mac, it does not register the hard drive. Does anyone know why this is happening?

A year ago I brought a 1 TB hard drive (My Passport), I have not used it for over 4 months and now when I use the USB cord to connect it to my mac, it does not register the hard drive. Does anyone know why this is happening?

The beeps could be caused by something as simple as a loose internal wire or connection. If it is under warranty (not sure how long that is, as WD drives range from 1 to 5 years depending on the model's series - I think "my passport" drives are 3 years) you could contact WD and ask them about it.
If it is out of warranty, you could also try opening the case and check the connections - the drive may be fine, and there have been posts on TomsHardware forums of people getting the beeps, opening up the case and the drive is fine, just some wire worked loose.

I would like to be able to view my security cameras at my home on my apple. I have been told that I would need to partition the hard drive to be able to take a windows program. Is there apple software that would allow me to see my security cameras

I would like to be able to view my security cameras at my home on my apple. I have been told that I would need to partition the hard drive to be able to take a windows program. Is there apple software that would allow me to see my security cameras on my mack book pro

Your security cam questions may have answers if you read the security cam or nanny cam section on EZJim's Website

I need to replace the hard drive in my HP Pavilion dv6405, where can I find a replacement?

I was given this computer, first I had to contact your board to unlock because I had no password for Power on, I got it unlocked with your help, and I thank you for your help, but the hard drive must have failed because it says there is no hard drive. Do you know where I could get a replacement for it? Or is it even worth fixing?

Hi:
First run the hard drive diagnostics found in the BIOS to see what it reports.
If it also reports no hard drive found or reports errors with the disk, the hard drive is probably dead.
I had posted the link to the service manual on your other question regarding the password.
I highly recommend you open the hard drive bay and see if there is a hard drive in there now.
If there isn't, you will not only need a new hard drive, but also the caddy which it needs to be connected to the PC's motherboard.
If the notebook has a hard drive, then you can get any SATA II notebook hard drive. I would not go beyond 320 GB for that model.
This site has hard drives at very reasonable prices.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Drives
Then you just remove the caddy from the old hard drive and transfer it to the new one.
You will also need recovery disks to install the operating system and programs that shipped with the PC.
Please read the info at the link below on how to order recovery disks.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=bph07143#N76
If HP no longer has them for your model, then you can order them from this non-HP vendor. You will need to know if the model is a dv6405us or dv6405ca.
http://www.computersurgeons.com/SearchProducts.aspx
If you discover your PC does not have a hard drive or caddy, it would be best if you ordered a drive from HP (one of the ones listed in chapter 3 of the service manual). I believe they come with the caddy.
Paul

Advice needed for setting up hard drives.

My new editing machine is pretty well complete. Now it's time for configuring everything, so to bring it's performance up to speed.
Starting with hard drives.
Core Components list-
MB- ASUS P9X79-PRO.
CPU- i7-3930k.
Memory- RipjawsZ 8x8 @1600. 64GB.
GPU- GTX 670 4GB.
C: drive- SSD- intel 520s - 180GB (Windows 7 Pro 64 bit OEM is on this drive).
Plus various 7200rpm disks, and more to be added.
I had someone install most of the components for me, as I'm far too ill to handle the heavy lifting. They did a fairly good job, cept for the hard drive setup. So I need to ask some questions to help me get these drives setup correctly, and running at their full potential.
There's some questions in particular that I must ask first-
1/ For some reason they put the SSD on a SATA II port, but put a DVD-ROM drive on a SATA III port. To correct that I just swapped around the SATA data connections between the two. Windows appeared to work ok when I rebooted, but when I gave it a quick test with the WEI, the test failed.
I expected some problem to come as a result.
Here's what it said-
After several reboots the WEI finally ran, and gave the primary disk a higher score than before swapping the connections .
My question is- Should I take the fact that WEI is now able to run the primary disk test as an indication that it's working fine, and setup correctly ?
I also ran several HD Tune tests for that SSD. It's still a bit slower than I expected.
2/ Raid-0 setup. I take it that plugging 2x 7200rpm disk drives into the Marvell ports would be the parsimonious solution, so my question there is- What is the procedure for setting up a 2x disk Raid-0 on those Marvell ports?
The two disks for RAID-0 I chose are the cheap 'n nasty model from Seagate's 2TB range. I know they're not reliable, which is why I'm not relying on them to store such things as project files, or project media (for things like that I have a Seagate Constellation ES.2 2TB) . This RAID-0 volume's sole purpose is to move along high bit rate Uncompressed Intermediatory video at an acceptable speed.
If the data is lost to disk failure it's not a huge problem. The videos can be rendered again.
I tested both of these (see images below) Seagate Barracuda's multiple times in HD Tune. Are their speeds close enough to each other to be paired together in a RAID-0 ?
Barracuda A-
Barracuda B-
3/ So far I have four 7200rpm drives, but wish to add two more.
The model I'm considering is the Seagate ST2000NC000 Constellation CS.2 2TB .On the surface they seem like good value, and faster than my Constellation ES.2, but what's the catch? Are they suitable, and reliable enough to hold such things as project files?

Non-recoverable read errors per bits read:
Value line CS: 1 in 10**14 (1.065% annualized failure rate)
See http://www.seagate.com/em/en/internal-hard-drives/enterprise-hard-drives/hdd/enterprise-va lue-hdd/
Constellation ES2: 1 in 10**15 (0.73% annualized failure rate)
See http://www.seagate.com/em/en/internal-hard-drives/enterprise-hard-drives/hdd/enterprise-ca pacity-3-5-hdd/
For testing whether everything works as it should, try the Passmark benchmark and Prime95 stress-test.

My mac won't boot from the hard drive

Hi Everyone
Yesterday, I tried to dual boot my mac using the Bootcamp Assistant. The hard drive partitioned fine & then started the Windows setup. About half way through it found a corrupt file & cancelled the install. It went back to OSX absolutely fine & was working perfectly. I deleted the partition that had been created & then noticed that the amount of free space on my hard drive was missing the 20GB that I had partitioned off for Windows. I used OnyX to try & find the missing 20GB; it finished & then I tried to open Safari & received an error message. I tried again & received the same message so tried to restart the mac & ever since it hasn't wanted to boot using the hard drive.
It will boot from the CD & I can use the Disc Utility to see the hard drive (which makes me think that the mac is seeing it) & can verify & repair both the disc itself & the Disc Permissions but if I click Startup Disc I only get 2 options: The DVD itself & Network Drive. I also can't re-install OSX onto the Hard Drive as it comes up with an exclamation mark & wont let me go any further in the process.
I'm hoping that someone will have an answer other than erasing my hard drive & starting again (which isn't that big a problem as I backed up all the important bits before starting any of this!)

Why did you wipe the drive?
Were you having problems?
If you were those problem may be related to a failing hard drive and that is why the TM backup could be restored.
In you topic header you say the system won't boot from the SL DVD, But it di for you to wipe the drive. Then it should again boot from the SL DVD.
Insert the DVD and reboot, hold down the Option key and select the Optical drive, SL DVD, as the Boot source.

New to Mac. Advice needed on partitoning the hard drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for