Hi David,
This is REALLY great info. Thank you!
Now, if there were a partition that was visible to both OS X and WinXP, a WinXP virus could damage data there or plant a nasty that could run on OS X in addition to its WinXP payload. I don't know where OS X stores its user-level startup routines, but if it's in /usr filespace and you put your /usr folder on the partition that is accessible from both OS's, that could allow a clever WinXP virus to drop an OS X-only payload that could cause problems in OS X.
The XP partition isn't visible to OS X so that is good. And the user startup routines are not in the /usr folder as far as I know. I haven't read much about the boot sequence on the new machines....I know it is different in some ways but I've been searching for info and there isn't much out there yet. Also, the partition scheme is different on the Intel machines....so I have a lot of questions about how this all works now too. They will probably preview the next version of the OS (Leopard) at WWDC...which is later than usual this year as they will not be ready by June. A lot more information will be public of course by then.
But the answer to that is to never store your /usr folders (or any other data associated with OS X startup or operations) on a partition that is read/write accessible to both OS's.
This is GREAT information. I was messing around with MySQL for awhile...this could be an issue depending on where things are installed. I also temporarily hid my main user folder (/Users/ yournamehere) in /usr when I took one of my machines in for repair just for privacy's sake. I'll have to find another place to do this next time (hopefully there won't be a next time ;-)) as far as working with the new machines.
I believe that OS X can read but not write NTFS, and Windows can't do either with OS X's file system. I believe there are utilities for the Mac that can make NTFS volumes read/write, so that would be a requirement to make this work. But my guess is that this would have to be a third partition, outside either the OS X or WinXP partitions, for it to work.
Thanks again David. This makes a lot of sense and also is good to know as things progress with the new hardware and software. I feel much better now having more of an understanding of what would have to take place for there to be issues. Now I know who to ask too about potential problems!...I'll send along boot process info for the new systems if when I find it.
Best, Karen _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
