I plan to switch from a Windows PC to a Mac G5 and I have a few questions
about some compatibility issues.

To avoid any confusion, here is my current PC setup:

On my Windows PC I have two physical hard drives.
The master drive is divided into 4 primary partitions and a couple of
logical partitions.
The "slave" drive is used only for backups.
I have a Windows boot manager product (PowerQuest's PQBOOT) installed on the
first primary partition,
followed by my WinXP "production" operating system on the second primary
partition,
another WinXP "test" system on the third primary partition,
and the fourth primary partition is divided up into a couple of logical
partitions containing only data files.
Both WinXp operating systems have access to the same data files stored on
the logical partitions.

When I boot my PC I have an option of booting to the "production" WinXP or
the "test" WinXP.
I use the second WinXp for testing new software, etc... The boot manager
hides these two partitions from each other.
I use PowerQuest's Drive Image to backup my operating systems to the "slave"
drive.
If I ever have any problems, I can boot to DOS and using PowerQuest Drive
Image,
I can restore my operating system back in about 5 minutes.

Questions about Mac G5 OS X:

1). Is it possible to setup a dual boot environment, keeping the operating
systems separate
on two different partitions?

2). Is there a recommended backup software package for Mac OS that allows a
quick recovery?

3). Does the Mac G5 include "system restore" CD-s in the box that allows you
to restore your system back to "factory new"
condition or would it be necessary to format the hard drive, install the
operating system, install the applications, etc.....?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Tom

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:01:37 -0800, TomJenkins wrote
(in message <Pobtb.396$%b2.261@lakeread05>):

> I plan to switch from a Windows PC to a Mac G5 and I have a few questions
> about some compatibility issues.
>
> To avoid any confusion, here is my current PC setup:
>
> On my Windows PC I have two physical hard drives.
> The master drive is divided into 4 primary partitions and a couple of
> logical partitions.
> The "slave" drive is used only for backups.
> I have a Windows boot manager product (PowerQuest's PQBOOT) installed on the
> first primary partition,
> followed by my WinXP "production" operating system on the second primary
> partition,
> another WinXP "test" system on the third primary partition,
> and the fourth primary partition is divided up into a couple of logical
> partitions containing only data files.
> Both WinXp operating systems have access to the same data files stored on
> the logical partitions.
>
> When I boot my PC I have an option of booting to the "production" WinXP or
> the "test" WinXP.
> I use the second WinXp for testing new software, etc... The boot manager
> hides these two partitions from each other.
> I use PowerQuest's Drive Image to backup my operating systems to the "slave"
> drive.
> If I ever have any problems, I can boot to DOS and using PowerQuest Drive
> Image,
> I can restore my operating system back in about 5 minutes.
>
> Questions about Mac G5 OS X:
>
> 1). Is it possible to setup a dual boot environment, keeping the operating
> systems separate
> on two different partitions?

Yes.

>
> 2). Is there a recommended backup software package for Mac OS that allows a
> quick recovery?

Retrospect is the 800 lb. gorilla of Mac backup software. "Quick" would
depend on the size of the volume being restored, the data speed of the
connection between the backup media and the restore HD, etc.

>
> 3). Does the Mac G5 include "system restore" CD-s in the box that allows you
> to restore your system back to "factory new"
> condition or would it be necessary to format the hard drive, install the
> operating system, install the applications, etc.....?

There are system restore disks, utilites disks, a hardware test disk, and
software disks. You can restore the system by overwriting the existing
system, thereby leaving things as is, or by doing what I believe is called an
archive and install, where the system disks isolate your old system and do a
clean install of a new system. With this method you would have to manually
move any third party software preferences files from the old isolated system
to the new system. But the remainder of the HD is left intact. A re-format
and re-install is of course the cleanest method of eliminating bugs.

In addition, DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro are both excellent third party
utilities disks which most people I talk to say are superior to the old
standby, Norton Utilities. I like both for different reasons, if you are used
to using Norton Utilities, you would probably prefer TechTool Pro. I like
having both. You can't be too rich, too thin, or have too many utilities
disks.

>
> Thanks in advance for any comments.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>

In article <Pobtb.396$%b2.261@lakeread05>,
"TomJenkins" <tjenkins95@cox.net> wrote:

> I plan to switch from a Windows PC to a Mac G5 and I have a few questions
> about some compatibility issues.
>
> Questions about Mac G5 OS X:
>
> 1). Is it possible to setup a dual boot environment, keeping the operating
> systems separate
> on two different partitions?

Yes.

> 2). Is there a recommended backup software package for Mac OS that allows a
> quick recovery?

Yes. Carbon Copy Cloner. Donationware.

> 3). Does the Mac G5 include "system restore" CD-s in the box that allows you
> to restore your system back to "factory new"
> condition

Yes.

Have fun, and welcome to the Light Side.
--
Cheers,
_Chas_
http://www.apple.com/switch
non-spammers can write to chasm at mac (dot com)