Time Machine and Windows Vista

[rrm74001]

I had a quick question about the new Time Machine feature in Mac OS X Leopard. Just as Mac OS X backs up it's hard drive, does it also back up files from a guest operating system, such as Windows Vista via Boot Camp? Or does it only back up files on the same partition as Mac OS X?

 

[X-Istence]

I do not believe it backs up NTFS partitions (Windows XP/Vista installed through BootCamp). Mainly because there is no way for Mac OS X to write to an NTFS partition yet, and thus there is no way to place the special files on disk that are required by Mac OS X to know which files have changed.

You will have to have a separate program set up that will back up those partitions.

 

[rrm74001]

Thank you, X-Istence. Do you think I will be able to backup both operating systems using two different programs on the same hard drive? Or am I getting a little too complicated here?

 

[X-Istence]

You will probably be able to accomplish that without any issues. I am not sure if SuperDuper will do what you want it to do, but that is the app that I hear recommended the most for Mac OS X backup solutions.

 

[rrm74001]

Thanks again, X-Istence!

I noticed in you original post that you said you did not think Time Machine could backup NTFS. However, what if I made my Windows partition a FAT32? (I believe this is an option in BootCamp Setup Wizard, correct?)

Of course, if i do it this way, I cannot make the partition bigger than 32 Gb (?) or something like that.

 

[X-Istence]

FAT32 won't be backed up either. The only file systems that are backed up are HFS+ file systems. Also, FAT32 is not suggested for Windows XP/Vista installs, so just stick with NTFS and a custom backup solution, or use VMWare Fusion or Parallels to run Windows within Mac OS X, and have TimeMachine backup the resulting image file.

 

[rrm74001]

Cool thanks alot for your help. I am buying a new MacBook Pro for college this August and I want to be as backup up as possible.

I do have one last question, which is a little off topic, but is it possible to run Windows by itself? (witout having Mac OS X installed). I would never do that, nor am I interested in doing that, but it is possible?