New Mojave Dual Boot Install on PC running Windows 10

[NinjaOFSEA]

Hi Guys,

I am attempting to build a Hackintosh geared towards Music Production on the osX platform (using Logic Pro X and/or Presonos Studio One). I am debating if its a wise idea to simply install the osX on my existing PC, instead of building a entirely new system (since there is a significant cost point and space restriction associated with a new build).

A background into my current system running Windows 10:
Intel i7 4790K chipset
ASUS Maximus 7 Formula motherboard,
32GB DDR3 ram,
a single 840 EVO SSD and a 4 TB Western Digital HDD.
[The MBR resides on the SSD].

I am hoping that the experts in the community to shed some light on two questions:

1) Given the hardware I have, is there any way to carry out an installation without requiring a data backup? I am absolutely fine with buying new drives to shuffle things around, but I am prioritizing data integrity above all else. In other words, given its my first foray into such a build, I need a fool proof way of ensuring that no data of my current system on Windows gets impacted.

2) I understand that there is a high chance that this is not going to be a one time build. If I understand correctly anytime the software I am using has an upgrade or the os itself changes, I am opening myself upto a lot of trial and error and may also have to face the possibility of a clean re-install.

Given this nature of events, are there any precautions that I can take to ensure that these changes are isolated from being able to run or access my windows machine? Hopefully I expect that I will be able to transfer my music projects to and from windows and mac os easily. So worse comes to worst, I can consider re-installing the new os and all its software and pick up from where I left off.


I would really appreciate any help or guidance on this.

Thanks,
NinjaOfSEA

 

[Going Bald]

Purchase and install separate drive for Mac OS.
Disconnect Win10 drive or disable the port in the UEFI/BIOS
Install Mac OS on the new drive. Install Clover and drivers for audio, networking, etc.
When you have MAC OS booting from the HDD/SSD and you are basically satisfied that it is working, shutdown.
Reconnect Win10 drive or boot to UEFI and re-enable the Win10 drive port, set the Mac OS drive as first in BBS boot order. Save&exit, continue boot.Win10 will probably show as 4 icons - choose the one that is labeled something like Boot Windows EFI from EFI to boot Win10.
You may need to make some Clover config.plist edits and/or rename the Win10 boot file to get Clover booting Win10. See the pinned guide at the start of this forum.

 

[NinjaOFSEA]

Hi Going Bald,

Thank you for the response. Just to make sure,
> I need to disconnect my SSD and HDD that I currently use for my windows system.
> I am considering buying a new SSD and an HDD for the hackintosh build (boot files => SSD (mac) Music projects=> HDD(mac). So connect both of them for the install of the build
> Reconnect the windows drives after confirmation of stable build.

Just curious, if I leave the drives connected after this process, do they show up in the other os as well?

Also for updating do I follow a similar strategy (wipe the mac SSD and re-install new Mac OS)?

-Thanks,
NinjaoFSEA

 

[Going Bald]

Hi Going Bald,

Thank you for the response. Just to make sure,
> I need to disconnect my SSD and HDD that I currently use for my windows system.
> I am considering buying a new SSD and an HDD for the hackintosh build (boot files => SSD (mac) Music projects=> HDD(mac). So connect both of them for the install of the build
> Reconnect the windows drives after confirmation of stable build.

Just curious, if I leave the drives connected after this process, do they show up in the other os as well?

Also for updating do I follow a similar strategy (wipe the mac SSD and re-install new Mac OS)?

-Thanks,
NinjaoFSEA

> not required to physically disconnect cable if you can disable the port in UEFI/BIOS
> SSD for Mac OS, definitely (hard to install OS if nothing to install it on, yes?) HDD for music files can be connected and formatted later after Mac OS is installed
> Yes

Windows drives formatted MBR or GPT FAT32 or NTFS will show in Mac OS Finder - you can read the drives but not write to them.

Windows will not show any Mac OS GPT or APFS drives in Windows Explorer, but you can use third party apps to do it if you need to, but be aware that they are likely to have corruption problems and some Windows apps will not open a file saved on a Mac.

No need to wipe drive to update Mac OS - just run the install app for the upgrade.

 

[ModMike]

I am still unable to install Windows 10. I have a Mojave install on an internal NVME M.2 drive and want to install on a an internal SSD that has been portioned but otherwise blank.

When Clover comes up it sees the USB installer and starts up fine. When I get to the step where I need to chose the partition, I select the MS DOS formatted partition I set up. I then format it and try to proceed but Windows says it cannot portion the drive or some such issue.

When checking from the Mac side, I see the EFI portion on the selected drive but it is empty.

1) Any tips?

2) Does Clover install a separate EFI partition for each OS?

 

[Going Bald]

I am still unable to install Windows 10. I have a Mojave install on an internal NVME M.2 drive and want to install on a an internal SSD that has been portioned but otherwise blank.

When Clover comes up it sees the USB installer and starts up fine. When I get to the step where I need to chose the partition, I select the MS DOS formatted partition I set up. I then format it and try to proceed but Windows says it cannot portion the drive or some such issue.

When checking from the Mac side, I see the EFI portion on the selected drive but it is empty.

1) Any tips?

2) Does Clover install a separate EFI partition for each OS?

Wrong procedure. From the guide:

For Win10:
Connect a drive, insert OS X Install USB, boot the system and at the POST hit the Function hotkey that allows you to select a boot device. Select the OS X Install USB. At the installation screen, select Utilities->Disk Utility and format the drive single partition GUID/Mac OS Extended (Journaled). When done, exit Disk Utility. Quit the OS X installer.
Remove the OS X Install USB and insert the Win10 USB, boot the system and at the POST hit the Function hotkey that allows you to select a boot device.
Windows shows up as USB: Win10Installer (or whatever you named the USB) and as UEFI USB: Win10Installer.
Select the UEFI USB: Win10Installer and boot the system.
At the installation screen, select Custom Install. At the next screen select the OS X partition and delete it - do not delete the EFI partition. With the resulting free space hi-lited, install Windows to the space. The installer will create and format the partitions for you. When finished, update and install your 3rd party apps and security suite. Reboot to BIOS/UEFI and disable CSM. Save&exit, continue boot to desktop. Shut down, disconnect the drive.