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Apple Computing Products:
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<blockquote data-quote="summer_days" data-source="post: 780766" data-attributes="member: 80491"><p>Hi,</p><p></p><p>(This will be long for the purpose of clarity, but I hope answering my question won't take as much time as reading it. I've also posted it on the apple support boards but got no real solution there.)</p><p></p><p>Yesterday I changed my 2004 iBook for a new Macbook Pro and I would like to know what is the best way to set up the MBP. </p><p>The use I will give this computer is minimal, I imagine, compared to the use other people give a MBP. I normally just use the computer for Office and text documents, music/movies/pictures (no editing), light web browsing, and Mail.</p><p>But of course all of this information is valuable to me and I need to have a backup of it somewhere.</p><p>For the moment I cannot buy an external hard disk.</p><p></p><p>So these are my two purposes: 1) to make the OS run as smoothly as it possibly can, and 2) to keep a backup of my files.</p><p></p><p>After reading many different suggestions online, I concluded that a good thing for my purposes might be to partition the startup disk into two volumes. In the main partition (let's call it "P1", 160GB) I installed the OS, Leopard 10.5.6. I have left the second volume empty ("P2", 72GB). I have not yet transferred my files to the Macbook.</p><p></p><p>Now, I did this but I still don't quite get how partitions work, so please excuse my ignorance. My questions are:</p><p></p><p><strong>1) What is the best way to organize my files</strong>: </p><p></p><p>A. Keeping them in P1, and keeping a separate copy of them in P2?</p><p>B. Keeping them only in P2?</p><p></p><p><strong>Can P2 be left without an operating system?</strong> In other words, can I simply drop all my folders and files in it? (I have trouble imagining 'where' the files are, in what structure. I can open them without trouble with the applications installed in P1, right?)</p><p></p><p>Or do I need to install an operating system in P2 for those files to be really accessible, in case something happened to P1? </p><p>Installing an OS and having a copy of all the files in P2 seems a bit dumb, doesn't it? It would literally mean having a duplicate of my main volume.</p><p></p><p>Or is there a possibility, for example, of installing a program in P2 that would protect that backup and make it accessible in case something happened to P1? (accessible from the same Mac, or from another Mac, or from a PC).</p><p>Ideally, this program would also allow me to boot the computer in case of an emergency, or work along with another program to boot the computer?</p><p></p><p></p><p>2) As I mentioned, I already partitioned the disk. But it now seems logical to me that if I can have in P1 only the OS and all the programs, I don't really need it to be 160GB, no? Maybe 30GB would be enough? This, assuming I can have all my files in P2. So would this configuration be best for keeping the OS tidy and my files safe? </p><p></p><p>So it seems I can resize the partitions with Disk Utility. <strong>But is this safe? </strong>Or will I have to re-install everything? I've read the support file <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2374" target="_blank">Mac OS X 10.5: About resizing disk partitions</a>, but I am not sure what "Master Boot Record Partition" means. </p><p>In other words, if I go and drag the line up so as to get a 30GB P1, and a 200GB P2, will this erase all information on P1?</p><p></p><p></p><p>3) I also haven't been able to understand what use, if any, I could give to Time Machine. Is it only designed to work with an external drive? Or could I use Time Machine to back up things to my secondary volume?</p><p></p><p></p><p>Thank you very much for reading, and I would really appreciate any help you can provide.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="summer_days, post: 780766, member: 80491"] Hi, (This will be long for the purpose of clarity, but I hope answering my question won't take as much time as reading it. I've also posted it on the apple support boards but got no real solution there.) Yesterday I changed my 2004 iBook for a new Macbook Pro and I would like to know what is the best way to set up the MBP. The use I will give this computer is minimal, I imagine, compared to the use other people give a MBP. I normally just use the computer for Office and text documents, music/movies/pictures (no editing), light web browsing, and Mail. But of course all of this information is valuable to me and I need to have a backup of it somewhere. For the moment I cannot buy an external hard disk. So these are my two purposes: 1) to make the OS run as smoothly as it possibly can, and 2) to keep a backup of my files. After reading many different suggestions online, I concluded that a good thing for my purposes might be to partition the startup disk into two volumes. In the main partition (let's call it "P1", 160GB) I installed the OS, Leopard 10.5.6. I have left the second volume empty ("P2", 72GB). I have not yet transferred my files to the Macbook. Now, I did this but I still don't quite get how partitions work, so please excuse my ignorance. My questions are: [B]1) What is the best way to organize my files[/B]: A. Keeping them in P1, and keeping a separate copy of them in P2? B. Keeping them only in P2? [B]Can P2 be left without an operating system?[/B] In other words, can I simply drop all my folders and files in it? (I have trouble imagining 'where' the files are, in what structure. I can open them without trouble with the applications installed in P1, right?) Or do I need to install an operating system in P2 for those files to be really accessible, in case something happened to P1? Installing an OS and having a copy of all the files in P2 seems a bit dumb, doesn't it? It would literally mean having a duplicate of my main volume. Or is there a possibility, for example, of installing a program in P2 that would protect that backup and make it accessible in case something happened to P1? (accessible from the same Mac, or from another Mac, or from a PC). Ideally, this program would also allow me to boot the computer in case of an emergency, or work along with another program to boot the computer? 2) As I mentioned, I already partitioned the disk. But it now seems logical to me that if I can have in P1 only the OS and all the programs, I don't really need it to be 160GB, no? Maybe 30GB would be enough? This, assuming I can have all my files in P2. So would this configuration be best for keeping the OS tidy and my files safe? So it seems I can resize the partitions with Disk Utility. [B]But is this safe? [/B]Or will I have to re-install everything? I've read the support file [url=http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2374]Mac OS X 10.5: About resizing disk partitions[/url], but I am not sure what "Master Boot Record Partition" means. In other words, if I go and drag the line up so as to get a 30GB P1, and a 200GB P2, will this erase all information on P1? 3) I also haven't been able to understand what use, if any, I could give to Time Machine. Is it only designed to work with an external drive? Or could I use Time Machine to back up things to my secondary volume? Thank you very much for reading, and I would really appreciate any help you can provide. [/QUOTE]
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