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Eug Wanker · Sep 15, 2006, 11:39 PM

Hi. I just got my 2.33 GHz 24" iMac and will be setting it up as my main machine.

Normally I have 2 Mac OS X partitions, one for the OS and apps, and one for data.

If I wanted to create say a main partion of 175 GB, and a secondary partion of 270 MB, how should I do it?

Does Bootcamp work off the first partition?

So say I want a 20 GB Vista partition... I figure I should make two OS X partitions, and then run bootcamp to get the 3rd partition made.

So do I make my primary partition 195 GB and the secondary partition 270 GB?
Or do I make my primary partition 175 GB and my secondary partition 290 GB?

Or maybe I should just run Parallels... All I want to run is Quicken 2006.

Art Vandelay · Sep 16, 2006, 02:31 AM

Bootcamp can't handle a drive that is already partitioned. Just use Parallels if you're just going to be using Quicken.

stefanicotine · Sep 16, 2006, 02:36 AM

I agree. Stupid bootcamp. I just reinstalled Mac OS X with 2 partitions. I copied all my files back onto my hard drive and got it the way I liked it. Then I opened Boot Camp, only to have it tell me that I have to reformat my computer as a single partitioned hard drive in order for it to work.

Grrr, it makes me so mad. I really don't want to reinstall OS X again.

And, iPartition doesn't work. I have 1.5.2 and it won't let me make any changes to the internal hard drive on my iMac. So there goes that idea

Eug Wanker · Sep 16, 2006, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

Bootcamp can't handle a drive that is already partitioned. Just use Parallels if you're just going to be using Quicken.

It doesn't support external drives either so I guess I'm SOL.

I should have bought Parallels when it was still on sale. Has anyone tried Quicken with Crossover Mac?

ghporter · Sep 16, 2006, 10:28 AM

Yep, it's a problem for a lot of us. I can see a "basic" setup for the less than technically inclined, that makes a second partition on a Mac's otherwise untouched drive, but I like to have multiple partitions for Windows too (reinstalling Windows is more time consuming than simply "Ghosting" an image of just the OS back onto a partition, and with Windows you have to think about such things). A four-partition setup would be much better than only two partitions for a lot of people. Three would seem to be a minimum: one for OS X, one for Windows, and one shared-this would allow OS X to reside on an HFS+ partition, Windows on an NTFS partition, and the shared partition to be formatted with FAT32 so both could read it.

It's also important to note that the built-in and third-party partitioning tools for OS X are not compatible with NTFS (and some are not compatible with FAT32) and likewise, Windows partitioning tools are incompatible with HFS+. Unfortunately, the "common ground" file systems used by Linux are not "natively common" to either Macs or PCs, so Linux tools won't help either.

I have said elsewhere that what WE need is a file system that BOTH OSs can read and write natively, but apparently the folks in Cupertino and Redmond are just not listening to me.

Eug, you CAN put anything you want OTHER THAN THE ACTUAL WINDOWS OS on an external drive. So you can set up a small (say 10GB for elbow room) Windows partition on the internal drive, leaving the rest of it for OS X, and then put programs and data on external devices. It's a bit more effort than using separate partitions on an internal drive, but it will work (as long as your external drives are Windows-compatible; when running XP natively, you are using a PC-with much better hardware and styling).

seanc · Sep 16, 2006, 01:21 PM

You could make a partition for OS X of the size you wanted, leave the free space with NO partiton so you only have one and then install OS X. When OS X is installed, run bootcamp hopefully it should use the unpartitoned space for windows (and i assume you can change the size of that windows partiton) install windows and if you have any space left, make more partitons after installing windows.

This is all a theory as I'm I don't have an Intel mac yet, someone disprove it for me

Macola · Sep 16, 2006, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

This is all a theory as I'm I don't have an Intel mac yet, someone disprove it for me

Doesn't work. You can't boot after that.

seanc · Sep 16, 2006, 06:04 PM

Can't boot Windows or OS X? And why?

Macola · Sep 16, 2006, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Can't boot Windows or OS X? And why?

Windows...I don't know why, but it didn't work for me at least. I stand corrected, though--it's possible to set up a triple-boot system (haven't tried it myself):

Triple Boot via BootCamp - OnMac.net Wiki

ghporter · Sep 17, 2006, 09:20 AM

Can you examine any of the files on your Windows partition? There's a text file called "boot.ini," in the root directory of what Windows considers the C: drive. It's marked as hidden and system. It details where Windows looks for its startup code and the actual OS files. Here's mine:

Code:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

(I don't know why the forum system put a space in the word "WINDOWS..." It just did-the space is not really there.)

If Windows is looking for its startup on the FIRST partition of your Mac's drive, then it won't find it-it'll find OS X files instead. In your case, it might need to say "default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDO WS" since the "partition" entry is NON-zero based.

This file is editable with any text editor, but you need to be able to save it, so you may have problems if your Windows partition is formatted for NTFS. But in this case, you can use the Windows Recovery Console to fix things. Here's Microsoft's instructions for how to start it and what to do with it.

Good luck.

Eug Wanker · Sep 18, 2006, 08:38 AM

Meh. The 24" iMac is not supported yet by BootCamp anyway.

Macola · Sep 18, 2006, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Meh. The 24" iMac is not supported yet by BootCamp anyway.

I thought that was fixed in the latest release, but I could be wrong.

Eug · 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Macola

I thought that was fixed in the latest release, but I could be wrong.

Yeah, that's what it says for BootCamp 1.1.1, but the article is specifically about the 24".

Not sure if that Macbidouille article is correct or not, but FYI.

P.S. Here is the original thread. I didn't feel like trudging through it to see if 1.1.1 is specifically mentioned. Maybe someone who understands German can do it.

EDIT:

BZ says he saw the 24" booting XP in the Apple Store. If so, then I guess that German guy just had the wrong version of BootCamp, or did something else wrong.

silver · Sep 20, 2006, 08:21 AM

Hi all, bootcamp allows just one extra partition but if you really want to do 3 partitions without bootcamp just follow the instructions here Mac Geekery - Nondestructively Resizing Volumes .
I tried it and I got 3 partitions set up. 1.OSX 2.XP 3.FAT32.

silver

Eug Wanker · Sep 20, 2006, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by silver

Hi all, bootcamp allows just one extra partition but if you really want to do 3 partitions without bootcamp just follow the instructions here Mac Geekery - Nondestructively Resizing Volumes .
I tried it and I got 3 partitions set up. 1.OSX 2.XP 3.FAT32.

Interesting, but just to clarify, are those OS X and XP drives, primary boot disks on a primary internal boot drive? I note that the drive in the article is a USB drive.

I may wait a while though until some other guinea pigs try it.

I have to wait anyway because my Firewire drives all have my G5 iMac data on them and I want to make sure all is well on the Intel 24" before I start backing up my data to those backup drives.

silver · Sep 20, 2006, 09:17 AM

Hi Eug,
I can confirm Im running this setup on a MBP 17", 100gHD, 2gRam. Now I can access(read/write) my projects in OSX and XP no problems. I was going to buy macdrive till I found that site, much better solution for me and I didn't have to buy any software.

silver

Eug · 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by seanc

You could make a partition for OS X of the size you wanted, leave the free space with NO partiton so you only have one and then install OS X. When OS X is installed, run bootcamp hopefully it should use the unpartitoned space for windows (and i assume you can change the size of that windows partiton) install windows and if you have any space left, make more partitons after installing windows.

This is all a theory as I'm I don't have an Intel mac yet, someone disprove it for me

OK, Macola says this doesn't work.

How about if one installs BootCamp, and then uses another computer to repartition the OS X partition into two, after BootCamp is installed? I assume that won't work either, but has anyone tried it?

Otherwise I'll have to consider silver's method, but the linked page is fairly techie.

So silver, how exactly did you do it? Is this the way:

1) Partition the drive as just one big partition.
2) Install OS X
3) Install BootCamp
4) Go to another machine and play with disktool and shrink the OS X partition and create another.

Is disktool used by DiskUtility?

Macola · Sep 21, 2006, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

OK, Macola says this doesn't work.

Well, it didn't work for me, but YMMV. I used a Linux partitioning tool that I booted from a CD, after partitioning with BootCamp and installing XP.

According to the link I posted, you can set up a triple boot system, so in theory it's possible.