09-14-2010, 01:35 AM

Hi

I'm a recent switcher to mac and I'm now using both mac and Windows on iMac and windows on my laptop. I haven't fully transferred my existing files from my laptop to the imac and i'm looking around for a good strategy to manage my files. The reason is i want to start my filing the right way between the multiple OSes so I don't have to mess around with fixing it later on.

Main file categories that I have are: photos, documents, music and videos. I would need my documents to be accessible easily between my imac and laptop as I neeed to work on the laptop from time to time. I would be working on my photos on my imac mainly using Lightroom. Music would be accessed using iTunes from mac as well. For videos, I just need a place to dump all the videos and access to it from either mac or windows and play using vlc.

For the above usage, I'm not very sure how I should partition my 2TB hard drive and also planning a back up. I have a 1TB external hard drive about 1/3 filled with back up from windows and videos.

Any tips for partitioning, where to store the files, backup, etc?

I'm thinking of partitioning 1TB each for OSX and windows and then use time machine on my 1TB ext drive. What do you think? Is a third partition in the iMac accessible to both OSX and windows necessary?

Thanks,
looking forward to a great experience with mac

09-14-2010, 02:26 AM

I recommend a program called dropbox for managing your documents. You get 2GB of storage available online and it is free although you can pay a subscription to have access to more storage. I have my Mac Documents folder and my Windows Documents folder shared between the two computers using dropbox and it automatically updates both machines with any changes. You can also access your documents from any other computer provided theres an internet connection.

For photos I recommend getting a flickr account and storing them all on flickr. Again you will be able to access them from any computer and they will all be safely stored/backed up online.

For local storage a networked hard drive will give you access on either machine or I believe you could use Apple's Time Capsule for a neater solution.

09-14-2010, 03:33 AM

I completely agree. Dropbox is one of those life saving programs. It also makes a very handy backup tool for those documents too! If you find that 2Gb is just not enough you can expand it up to 50Gb