I’m still very happy with my MacBook Pro (3.1) but I do need to upgrade the internal HD. I want to install a 750GB to replace the factory 160GB currently running OS 10.6.8
I’ve regularly upgraded the OS and was always happy, but when I installed 10.6 over 10.4, I lost my version (old) of PhotoShop, important features of my very old version of AppleWorks, Links Golf and maybe a few other not so important apps. All of these were fine for me and I don’t really want to upgrade them.
My intention is to partition the new 750GB with 10.6 (or newer, whenever) on one, and 10.4 on another to regain those apps and functions. I’m thinking maybe 10.6 on 500MB and 10.4 on 250. My questions are is there any reason to make more than two partitions, and how much should I allocate to each, as well as any other strategies and suggestions.
I tend to make fairly small (40-50 GB) partitions for the OSes/applications, and then a big one with whatever remains for data. Thus I can boot my Mac Pro into anything from Tiger to Mavericks, and still have access to the same data. Your needs are less (I’m a software developer, so I need to test a lot on older systems), but the same logic may apply.
However, it’s a lot less important to “get it right” on the Mac, since the built-in Disk Utility will let you move and resize partitions (with some limits) any time, so if you made one too small, you can expand it, possibly with some data shuffling.
So I could consider perhaps four partitions, one for each of those 2 OS and another for a possible third OS and a large partition for data (everything else?). I was thinking I would install the 10.4 dependent apps on to the 10.4 partition but I guess that doesn’t matter? If I’m booted in that OS, the app will open and run properly no matter where on the HD it resides? Seems right.
Older apps, generally yes. Ones installed from the Mac App Store have to be in /Applications to get their updates, but you can re-install for free on each OS (at least each OS new enough to have the App Store). Apps that have installers (Adobe, Microsoft, some others) will occasionally be dependent on stuff the installer placed and have to be installed in each OS. Otherwise, Mac apps are supposed to be self-contained and run from anywhere (you’re preferences in each app are part of the system and will vary from OS to OS).
I should have used the term Applications at least once before using the app abbreviation. I use none of the new “apps” on my computer, just on my iPhone. I’m thinking I’ll create four partitions, two smaller ones to possibly install another OS and/or reinstall, one large enough to clone the HD of my iMac that has 10.4 and all those applications and functions I lost when I upgraded to 10.6 and the largest one to clone this 160GB HD (10.6 & all my applications and files).
I’m hoping for a seamless transition showing the exact same Mac I’m using now (except with more HD space), the ability to boot into my exact same 10.4 Mac. I would then delete anything on the 10.4 partition that is not specific to that OS and those specific applications as well as anything on the 10.6 that doesn’t function properly with that OS.
Thank you for all the info, TimeWinder. I’m looking forward to getting back what I lost as well as a lot more space. I’ll upgrade the memory at the same time and plan on an external HD to back up everything.