steps to partitioning

zoranb

Registered
Can someone guide me through the steps in how to partition a 1TB hd into two partitions. One NTFS 750gb and the other HFS+ 250gb!
 
1) Open Disk Utility.

2) Click on the device name in the left-hand sidebar.

3) Click the "Partition" tab.

4) Set up partitions -- one of 250GB, one of 750GB. 250GB as HFS+, 750GB as "unformatted" or "free space".

5) Partition away.

6) Take drive to a Windows computer and plug it in.

7) Launch "Device Manager" or whatever. Format the 750GB free space partition as NTFS.

8) There is no step 8.
 
Thanx ElDiablo, looks pretty clear!
Now... before posting this thread, this is what i had tried to do! Actually i did the opposite, i started with making the partitions in Windows, made a primary, formatted it NTFS, then made a second primary and left it unformatted. Then i connected the drive to the Mac (already had macfuse installed). The NTFS partition was recognized, but i couldn't see the unformatted one. So back to windows again, format the unformated as NTFS, then back to OSX again, i tried to erase the 2nd NTFS partition as HFS+, but hey presto... the result was that the whole drive (both 1st and 2nd partition) was HFS+ partitioned! Why the heck did that happen?
 
El Diablo i did as you said but when opening the Device Manager as you said, there was a 128MB empty unallocated space, how can i get rid of that or join it to the partitions already existing?
 

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Don't worry about that partition -- when going from Mac to PC or PC to Mac, sometimes the operating systems write Mac-specific or PC-specific partition information into a third partition.

I wouldn't muck with that 128MB partition -- it's a tiny, tiny fraction of the 1TB of space you've got.
 
Just leave it be. It isn't automatically mounted, right? Worst case, joining it to something else might mess up the other partition. Best case, you _gain_ a measly 128 MB. Just leave it.
 
More news on the subject... i cant format the unallocated space! I have installed MacDrive on the PC... please have a look at what im facing here!
 

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Disable MacDrive temporarily, then format the free space as NTFS with the Device Manager.

It looks like MacDrive's getting in the way here.
 
When MacDrive is disabled it all seems like one partition, 1TB, it doesnt recognise the 2 partitions made (actually one HFS+ and one Free space)!
 
Then I'm not really sure where to go from here... you have MacDrive installed on your Windows PC -- can you try partitioning the entire drive from there, making the HFS+ and NTFS partitions solely from the Windows machine?
 
Ok, i did as you said, all of the job is been made in Windows using MacDrive and formatted the 2nd partition in Windows Disk Management as NTFS. Problem now is that its not seen in OSX, even by the use of MacFuse. Whats wrong now?
 
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I wish I had told you to leave that 128 MB partition alone. Wait, I did! Can't you go back to _that_ state by following your initial steps? It *did* work back then, didn't it?
 
From what i understand, when creating an HFS+ partition then its accompanied with a 128mb partition (dont know why, but it is). This time, the NTFS partition doesnt have a 128mb one with it, but the HFS+ does! Maybe thats why the NTFS isnt viewable in OSX (even having MacFuse)!
You know what? Im considering to making them both HFS+ partitions and use MacDrive in the PC. But the reason i dont really like MacDrive is because its not really reliable!
 
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I'm sorry, I have to repeat my question. When you originally ended up with a 128 MB partition that annoyed you somehow, did it _then_ work? Why can't you do it again like you did at the beginning, then?
 
I dont know, never got to the end of it cause the 128Mb partition was getting in my
"way", guess ill have to see it all over again! But besides that do you think making all partitions HFS+ and working with macDrive on the pc, is that a good solution? Want an opinion on this!
 
Not really, since if you ever needed to use the external drive on another PC, you always have to install MacDrive. I'm for native-to-each-OS, i.e. HFS+/NTFS.
 
Well to be exact, the NTFS will only be needed as a backup drive. So i will only be doing file transfers to it once or twice a week. But the HFS part that would be my main working area!
 
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