New to Mac - bootcamp and redundant formatting

[octorok]

2 questions:

I installed bootcamp and then began the nightmare process of getting XP pro to run on my macbook pro. I had to install XP 5(not exagerating) times, because the installation crashed each time - this means I had to repartition the HD 5 times.
...my question: was it bad to have done this(so many times)? Im thinking of just saying "to-hell" with windows and deleting the partition (again), and reformatting and reinstalling OS X from scratch. My question is - Should I do this? On a PC, I would not hesitate to re-install windows in a situation like this, but with macs, I still don't have a feel for the longevity of the OS (before it becomes buggy - does OSX ever become buggy and need to be re-installed?) Im not sure if a re-install is necessary...

HELP!


Also... Question #2

I tried to install Pro Tools LE on the mac, and it installed fine, however, when I try to enable a track for recording, it tells me that my "volume is not able to be used for recording". So, I go into protools to fix it, and I change the volume tag to "record", which should make it work, but pro tools tells me my Macintosh HD is an invalid volume...???

I was instructed to repair my disk and permissions, which I did, but - same problem! The ProTools website says that my version is not compatable with Mac Dual Core computers, but it isn't specific whether it works with rosetta or not... Theres nothing in the forums there, hence this post... again: HELP!

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

for your first question...I'm not surprised it took this many times !

It is still be Beta software and should really only be used for testing...

Reinstalling and re-partioning a 100 times wouldn't cause problems, so don't worry about that.

I understand what you mean about when to reinstall OS X...it doesn't really become buggy itself, it depends on what software you tend to install. Only you can ten tell when your Mac seems to start slowing down or behaving erratically...

Generally I would suggest that you do an "Archive and Install" every 6-12 months depending on your usage.

As for question 2 I'll have to have a look at Pro tools, I don't have it on this Mac.

regards

Ric

 

[octorok]

Thanks Ric. Yea, if it was PC and I had a failed photoshop install or something of that magnitude, I would probably re-install windows. But mac is still foreign to me, I will definetly take your advice and see if I notice any 'buggy-ness'. I dont think I detect anything, my cursor likes to pause sometimes when I open progs from the dock, but that's normal I presume...

With regard to the "switch"... I can't believe I didn't do this years ago. The main reason I dropped all that dough on the macbook was because it could run windows... but now that I'm getting used to OSX, I can't stand windows!

OSX is like that green pasture that windows users look at from across a busy street. When you finally get there, it's time for Lemonade!

:biggrin:

 

[Kyomii]

Just out of curiosity, did you do a FAT parition for your Windows, and if you did, was it more than 32 GB you allocated to it?

If the answer is yes, that explains the corrupted installs because XP cannot format/install correctly on a drive over 32GB in FAT 32.

It is MS way of making people use NTFS.

 

[Ric]

...my cursor likes to pause sometimes when I open progs from the dock, but that's normal I presume...

Nothing to worry about !

Glad you like the 'green pastures' ;-)

regards

Ric