Installing Windows 7 onto my 2TB data drive

[captainreynolds]

Hey everyone,

I have a 256gb ssd that runs OSX, and a 2tb hard drive that stores all my data for OSX. I've got plenty of space on the data drive, and would like to make a 500gb partition on it for windows.

From what I have read, this might be tricky. Will windows make other hidden partitions on the data drive when I install it? If so, could this damage my data on the HFS side of the data drive?

Any other tips you guys have would be helpful! Thanks.

 

[RehabMan]

Hey everyone,

I have a 256gb ssd that runs OSX, and a 2tb hard drive that stores all my data for OSX. I've got plenty of space on the data drive, and would like to make a 500gb partition on it for windows.

From what I have read, this might be tricky. Will windows make other hidden partitions on the data drive when I install it? If so, could this damage my data on the HFS side of the data drive?

Any other tips you guys have would be helpful! Thanks.

Not really that tricky. You will have to modify the partition map on the data drive to allow for a 500GB partition for your Windows install, of course.

You will get the best performance if you install Wiindows to a partition that is at the *beginning* of the partition map on the HDD. This is because of the higher rotational velocity of cylinders that are at the outer edge of the platter (which corresponds to data stored on the partitions first in the partition map). So, doing that will require making a backup of your data, then restoring it (or moving it -- a bit dangerous in my opinion), because a shrink won't work.

And there is no such thing as "hidden partitions," so you won't have to worry about that one. There can be volumes which don't show in Explorer (because they don't have assigned drive letters) or Finder, but if you look at a partition map in a partition editor, you always see all the partitions in that partition map.

The only thing that could damage the HFS+ data you have on the drive is user error. So, if you're concerned about that, make sure you have a backup. In fact, I would recommend having a backup anyway -- hard drives can fail at any moment. It cannot be predicted.

 

[captainreynolds]

Thanks for the quick response. Interesting about the location of partitions on the hard drive - it really makes that much of a difference, huh?

I do keep a backup of both drives, so no issues there. I'll give this a try then, but I don't want to fuss with erasing and restoring all the data on my data drive, I might just deal with a slightly slower Windows.

 

[RehabMan]

Thanks for the quick response. Interesting about the location of partitions on the hard drive - it really makes that much of a difference, huh?

I do keep a backup of both drives, so no issues there. I'll give this a try then, but I don't want to fuss with erasing and restoring all the data on my data drive, I might just deal with a slightly slower Windows.

It does make a difference. You can see it in almost any HDTune HDD benchmark result.

 

[v33]

if you have backups then i'm with RehabMan on this. make sure everything is backed up and then disconnect the SSD just to be on the safe side, reformat the drive with a .5TB partition and install win7. once done, just format the other partitions and bring the data back in.

I never liked using 3rd party drive partition utilities, they may provide swift resolutions to partitioning but may be costly in the long run.

hth!