Small XP build Question

[Ginger Tosser]

Right, I've got my new Mac Mini and was looking to put a small bootcamp partition for XP and Halflife 2 - was wondering what the minimum I could get away with? Thinking of just having 10gb

XP will see 3 of the 4gb in the Mini, so I'll have to manage the virtual memory and set it small (really can't see a reason to have more than 1gb VM).

[kernow]

How big is HL2? 10GB seems fine I think.

[Ginger Tosser]

I can't remember the size of HL2, I'm still trying to find the case it's in. Though I suspect it's not huge game.

[abigsmurf]

HL2 is probably around 4gb installed. I'd say you'd want at least 15gb to give you breathing space for add ons, maps and temp files ( I don't know if it caches)

[Taka]

If you're cautious of partition size, I'd give the Windows partition more than you think you'd need (15-20gb) and then see how you go for a few days. Using WinClone on the Mac, you can backup your entire Windows partition which is then adaptable size wise, and just recreate the partition to your exact size needs using Boot Camp assistant.

Done this several times and works a treat, and it's all free.

[bingowings]

i installed Windows for the very same reason - HL2 - and made a 20gb parition, you'll be surprised how quickly it fills up though. although nowadays i play HL2 on my regular OSX using the Steam-less Cider port that was doing the rounds a while back.

[Ginger Tosser]

Looking at the Steam forum I reckon I might need that 20gb! Though at the moment I'll just have the original HL2 with no extras. Just need to get round to actually setting the thing up!

And thanks for the info guys, I'm almost tempted to drop a bigger hdd in the mini. But I reckon i'll be fine. My current Mini 120gb hdd has 65gb spare, so plenty to play with. If things get tight I could always dump my iTunes library elsewhere.

I cleared off around 10 gb of cack the other day (Monolinugal, helped get rid of a fair amount of unwanted files).

[Ginger Tosser]

Done it!

Put a 20gb partition on, took an age to update Steam/Halflife 2. Best of all my old game saves from 3 years ago work!

Only downside is my BlueTooth Mighty Mouse doesn't work. So might just get a normal wired usb mouse instead.

[Taka]

Have you tried creating a new bluetooth link in Windows? Mine works fine in XP, though with limited functionality.

[Ginger Tosser]

I went and bought a cheapy MS mouse. I could do with a spare anyway.

[Ginger Tosser]

Bought Orange box and it needs 20gb! XP partition 20gb!

I reinstalled Steam to use a partition on my external FW800 drive. Works fine!