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Doofy · Sep 25, 2010, 08:58 AM

OK... Mac Pro, 2008.

Everything I read about Boot Camp appears to mention "partitions", which indicates using a single disc in the computer. I can't find any reference to OS X on one disk, Windows on another.

Is it possible to put Windows on (say) disk 3 while OS X runs from disk 1?

Ideally I like the following setup:

- 10.5 on drive 1/2 (it's on a soft RAID).
- Windows 7 on drive 3.
- Windows not able to see OS X drives (1,2,4).

Possible to go 10.6 for the install of Windows (i.e. grab the drivers), then reinstall 10.5?

Thanks chaps.

angelmb · Sep 27, 2010, 01:15 PM

Mac Pro 2006. Two internal HDs. 10.6 installed on one disk and Windows XP (then W7) on the other hard disk. Windows was not able to see the Mac OS X drive. No partitions at all. Everything went smoothly.

Doofy · Sep 27, 2010, 01:50 PM

OK, so it seems like the separate disks thing is possible.

How does Boot Camp operate when it's running? (I've never used it)
Similar to how the Mac operates when running two OS X boot disks? i.e. just choose which you want to boot into via Systems Prefs or via a hold-down-key on startup?

angelmb · Sep 27, 2010, 03:27 PM

Apple - Support - Manuals

Start there. Read the Installation & Setup Guide. Run Boot Camp Assistant inside your Utilities folder. Install Windows.
Dealing with Boot Camp is not as bad as the Internet wants you to believe. I am on the lowest side of the geekness totem and was able to install W7 64bit on a not supported Mac Pro.

How does Boot Camp operate when it's running? (I've never used it). Similar to how the Mac operates when running two OS X boot disks? i.e. just choose which you want to boot into via Systems Prefs or via a hold-down-key on startup?

Both of those work. Either you hold down the Option key during startup or you choose the startup disk in System Preferences (Mac OS X) / Boot Camp Control Panel (Windows).

Good luck.

Doofy · Sep 29, 2010, 04:44 AM

OK, thanks Angel.
Looks like I'll need to do a bit of experimentation to see if I can pop 10.5 back in there once W7 is installed.

ghporter · Sep 29, 2010, 07:59 AM

I've gotta say that Apple didn't make it clear or easy to use Boot Camp on anything that had more than one physical hard drive. I'd think the MP would be perfect for multiple OSs because of how much RAM and onboard peripheral availability inherent in that machine. Talk about "multi-platform development..."

Doofy, do please update us on how things go, and especially what trips you up. Maybe we can put together a sticky on "Boot Camp for the Mac Pro."

Doofy · Sep 29, 2010, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Doofy, do please update us on how things go, and especially what trips you up. Maybe we can put together a sticky on "Boot Camp for the Mac Pro."

Will do. I've got a few weeks of slog ahead, then I can begin experimenting.

seanc · Sep 29, 2010, 12:55 PM

Any particular reason why you feel the need to upgrade to 10.6, then downgrade to 10.5?
FYI, the 10.6 drivers include a HFS+ compatible driver for Windows that allows you to read and write to the OS X drives. You might want to look into disabling that.

Doofy · Sep 29, 2010, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Any particular reason why you feel the need to upgrade to 10.6, then downgrade to 10.5?

As far as I'm aware, the 10.5 version of Boot Camp doesn't allow Win7.

seanc · Sep 29, 2010, 04:39 PM

There's nothing about 'Boot Camp' that does anything particularly special.
Boot Camp merely prepares a partition or drive for having Windows put on it. You could actually do that manually using Disk Utility.

The important part about 10.6, is that the drivers included on the Snow Leopard disc, support Windows 7.
So (briefly), prepare the drive using Boot Camp assistant under 10.5, install Windows 7.
Insert Snow Leopard DVD once Windows 7 is installed and install the drivers from the disk.

Job done.

Doofy · Sep 29, 2010, 05:53 PM

Is that it? I'd got it in my head that it was more jiggery-pokery than that.

So technically, I can pull all the other drives, boot from a Win7 install disk, install, then install the drivers off a 10.6 disk?

seanc · Sep 29, 2010, 05:56 PM

Yep. I have no recollection of the Boot Camp software actually enabling any special hidden firmware options.

I'd prepare the drive using the Boot Camp assistant first, because the Windows 7 installer may get upset if it finds the drive partition scheme set to GPT. The Boot Camp assistant will ensure it is set to MBR.

Then yes, pull the drives, hold down option and boot from the Window 7 DVD. Install Windows 7, the drivers, put the other disks back in. Use option to switch between OSes.

Doofy · Sep 29, 2010, 06:05 PM

Sweet. I'll have a go at that.

Thanks.

Person Man · Sep 30, 2010, 08:36 PM

You don't absolutely have to pull all the other drives to install it. I have 4 drives in my 2009 Mac Pro. A 1 TB Main drive (OS X and my apps and data are on this), a 1 TB Media drive, a 640 GB drive used for various scratch disk-type uses and a 320 GB drive for Windows 7). Used Boot Camp from 10.6 to install and I didn't pull any of the other drives.

Granted, there is extra security in pulling the other drives such that you don't accidentally install the OS on a different drive, but you technically don't need to.

Doofy · Oct 1, 2010, 02:28 AM

Originally Posted by Person Man

Granted, there is extra security in pulling the other drives such that you don't accidentally install the OS on a different drive

Yep. This is why I always (as a matter of policy) pull the "irrelevant" drives when doing anything drastic like install an OS. Extra minute on the Mac Pro maybe? Worth that minute.

seanc · Oct 1, 2010, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Yep. This is why I always (as a matter of policy) pull the "irrelevant" drives when doing anything drastic like install an OS. Extra minute on the Mac Pro maybe? Worth that minute.

This is the idea I was aiming for as well.

I've read too many horror stories of people using XP SP1 discs and hosing everything.
Better to be overly cautious and spend an extra 5 minutes.

Eug · Oct 12, 2010, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by seanc

The important part about 10.6, is that the drivers included on the Snow Leopard disc, support Windows 7.
So (briefly), prepare the drive using Boot Camp assistant under 10.5, install Windows 7.
Insert Snow Leopard DVD once Windows 7 is installed and install the drivers from the disk.

Don't you need a later version of the Snow Leopard disc to support the 64-bit version of Windows 7?

ghporter · Oct 12, 2010, 10:39 AM

I think it's more up to whether the hardware will handle 64-bit Win7. Apple says the only upgrade you need from (apparently) any Snow Leopard installation DVD is the Boot Camp 3.1 update... But they're specific that only some computers support Win7 64-bit; this is almost certainly due to which hardware Apple has produced 64-bit drivers for.