Dual Booting Windows 7 on my Mac: Both OS Can See Each Other's Files

[QueHuong]

I just got the new Mac mini and dual booted Windows 7 on it. I will start sharing it with my roommate, who prefers to use Windows.

If I was just using this computer by myself, it might be good that both OS can see the files on the other partition. But with two people on the same computer, there are privacy issues. I haven't played with it yet, but can they both write to the other partition too? If so, then there're security issues on top of that because we could inadvertently erase each other's files, get infected with a virus that destroys data, or have a trojan that sends private data back to the home server.

How can I prevent (or at least set up user permissions) so that the Mac OS can't read/write to the Windows partition, and vice versa?

I hope the only answer isn't Filevault2 encryption.

 

[lokiju]

There's no easy way in OS X to prevent the partition from showing up but it can be done from Terminal.

http://www.gigoblog.com/2007/03/07/boot-camp-hide-a-windows-xp-volume-on-mac-desktop/

Note to reverse you do the same but with a lowercase v as noted in a comment within that linked article.

By default, if the Windows partition is NTFS, you shouldn't see the OS X partition.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

In windows, you can use Disk Management to pull the drive letter that got assigned to the OS X partition.

If it's your computer, your roomie shouldn't have admin account anyway, Windows or not.

 

[QueHuong]

Thank you for info. It sounds like both suggestions will only prevent other users from viewing the files. Will it prevent either OS from modifying the files of the other OS? For example, if Windows get infected with a virus that corrupts and delete files, will the Mac partition be safe?