Questions on OS and filesystem

[Salax]

I just ordered a 500 GB hard drive for my laptop. I'm planning on tri-booting Windows, Ubuntu, and SnowOSX Universal (OSx86 distribution). I have a few questions:

1-I'm currently running XP, and I have a free upgrade to Vista I could use if I wanted to. I'm also considering pirating Windows 7, but I'm wondering if that's worth the hassle. If it's not, would you recommend I use Vista or XP? If it is, what's the best method? RemoveWAT, Windows 7 Loader, or something else?

2-I'm planning on having a ~200 GB storage partition, which is accessible from all three operating systems. I know Linux can handle everything, but I'm not sure what the best option would be which supports OS X and Windows.
Thanks,
~Salax

 

[person66]

1. If you have the option I would say win 7 is definately worth it. but if you can only do xp or vista then use xp if your laptop tends to be slow, or vista if you have a fast laptop with at least 2 gigs of ram.
The best way of activating windows 7: Pay for it you dirty pirate (its only $100 on newegg). Or if you must pirate it, I would say windows loader by daz, as it seems micro$oft keeps blocking removewat.

2. Fat32 will work on all of them by default, but then your restricted to a 4gb file size limit. So I would probably suggest ntfs, if you want windows to work perfectly. Macs can only read ntfs by default, but the attached link tells you how to get read/write working working on them.(note: it only works with Snow Leopard, so if you are using an older version just look up how to do it on google, there are plenty of guides)

hope this helps

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=785376

 

[megafanzero]

1) If it's not...(my opinion) xp>vista

Best method?
I don't use windows 7, so I wouldn't know.

2)Best option?
Linux cannot fully support osx and windows.
Under wine, linux/osx can run SOME windows applications [.exe mainly].
All of them have their ups and downs.
For example, viruses are plentiful on windows, but whereas osx and linux distros, they are virtually extinct.

There's some stuff like microsoft visual studio or microsoft office that are made for windows (office is also for osx) that won't run well or at all under wine in linux.
But there's many alternatives, such as open office, gimp, blender 3d, etc.

I don't know, just depends what its used for (work, school, surfing).

http://www.winehq.org/

 

[ThePowerOutage]

1. Depends on your specs.
2. NTFS with NTFS-3G

 

[FireGrey]

Windows 7 is the best but it's kinda hard o pirate i think.
Out of XP or Vista, choose Vista, people just make vista seem bad when it's great. It beats XP anyday.

 

[Salax]

I have a 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo P8600 processor with 3 GB of RAM, So I'm pretty sure 7 will work out fine.
@person66: I can't afford it, I'm a teenager and I don't have a job. Thanks for your help.
@megafanzero: ...I use Linux a lot, I'm dual-booting it currently and am running it on my server, so I already knew all of that. Thanks anyway.