Partitioning a hard drive - newbie Q
I've been reading my Switching from PC to Mac book and noticed some warnings that say that partitioning the hard drive erases anything that's on it. Do I need to partition my hard drive when I first get it and if so, how, or do I just use it and not worry about it. What's the need for partitioning anyway.
Comments
Enjoy your new mac!
Basically it splits your hard drive into logically separate areas which are then treated as physically separate drives. There are various reasons for doing it (such as keeping a "clean" drive for video, or installing multiple operating systems), but it's really not essential.
A CD with an operating system, your Mac OS X CD will work or the late Mac OS 9 CD. Say you use your OS X CD. You would boot from it, select drive setup from the apple menu and proceed to partition it with that piece of software. And yes it will erase everyone on your hard drive so if you ever come across the need to partition for what ever reason, please be sure to back everything up first.
Hope that helps.