Dual Boot MacOSx and Windows 7 for a newbie

[ptuck23]

I am in the process of gathering all the hardware for my hackintosh build with the intent of dual booting Windows 7 from a separate hard drive. I've been doing a ton of research on this site as well as on youtube to learn from all the valuable advice before jumping into it. There is a plethora of great advice (it seems) for dual booting from a single, partitioned drive which seems more complicated than dual booting from separate drives. However, as elementary as dual booting from separate drives may be, I am unable to find a comprehensive guide for it, probably because it should be straightforward (for most people, not me!) I think I have a general idea of how to approach it, but if someone could help with a detailed way to do it, I would very much appreciate it!
Thanks in advance!

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[RehabMan]

I am in the process of gathering all the hardware for my hackintosh build with the intent of dual booting Windows 7 from a separate hard drive. I've been doing a ton of research on this site as well as on youtube to learn from all the valuable advice before jumping into it. There is a plethora of great advice (it seems) for dual booting from a single, partitioned drive which seems more complicated than dual booting from separate drives. However, as elementary as dual booting from separate drives may be, I am unable to find a comprehensive guide for it, probably because it should be straightforward (for most people, not me!) I think I have a general idea of how to approach it, but if someone could help with a detailed way to do it, I would very much appreciate it!
Thanks in advance!

​

Very easy:

- connect only the Windows drive, then install Windows on it (be sure to install in legacy, non-UEFI mode)
- disconnect the Windows drive
- connect only the OS X drive, then install OS X to it using the techniques here
- connect the Windows drive
- make BIOS boot priority such that you boot to the OS X drive (because it has Chimera boot loader on it, which can be used to select which OS you want at boot time)

Enjoy.

 

[ptuck23]

Very easy:

- connect only the Windows drive, then install Windows on it (be sure to install in legacy, non-UEFI mode)
- disconnect the Windows drive
- connect only the OS X drive, then install OS X to it using the techniques here
- connect the Windows drive
- make BIOS boot priority such that you boot to the OS X drive (because it has Chimera boot loader on it, which can be used to select which OS you want at boot time)

Enjoy.

Thanks so much! It certainly seems easy, but with my limited background, I foresee myself being caught up at the with installing Windows in legacy. I'm not sure I know how/where that option will be presented?

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[waytooslow]

was thinking same here - concerning legacy - anyone out there that can elaborate? - have just about all my parts for my customac together - heading to microcenter to get last piece.

 

[RehabMan]

Thanks so much! It certainly seems easy, but with my limited background, I foresee myself being caught up at the with installing Windows in legacy. I'm not sure I know how/where that option will be presented?

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It depends on your BIOS. So, you will have to read your motherboard manual. New BIOSes are UEFI capable. Windows 7 & 8 media can be booted both ways, UEFI and Legacy. So you need to understand how your motherboard implements media boot options and proceed accordingly.

 

[jerichoman]

Very easy:

- connect only the Windows drive, then install Windows on it (be sure to install in legacy, non-UEFI mode)
- disconnect the Windows drive
- connect only the OS X drive, then install OS X to it using the techniques here
- connect the Windows drive
- make BIOS boot priority such that you boot to the OS X drive (because it has Chimera boot loader on it, which can be used to select which OS you want at boot time)

Enjoy.

This raises an interesting question... (well to me anyway)

I've got a 128Gb SSD and a 2Tb HD. I want to dual boot windows 7 and OS X. The ideal (for me) would be to install windows 7 on the SSD and OS X on the 2Tb HD. However it would be very very useful if I could have access to either the 2Tb HD from windows or a separate partition on it from both windows and OS X.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[RehabMan]

This raises an interesting question... (well to me anyway)

I've got a 128Gb SSD and a 2Tb HD. I want to dual boot windows 7 and OS X. The ideal (for me) would be to install windows 7 on the SSD and OS X on the 2Tb HD. However it would be very very useful if I could have access to either the 2Tb HD from windows or a separate partition on it from both windows and OS X.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Josh

Windows can access HFS+ partitions (readonly) if you install bootcamp drivers for HFS+ filesystem on Windows (google it).
OS X can access NTFS partitoins (readonly).

As far as having a shared partition, you can create a FAT32 partition that can be read/write between both systems. In theory, exFAT could be used for this too, but there are widespread reports of a buggy OS X implementation of exFAT, so I would avoid that.

There are also third-party solutions for r/w NTFS/HFS+ access, but I don't know much about them.

 

[haar]

i believe that due to 'real' mac's using a special method to boot, for windows they require "boot camp", but because customac uses chimera, the instructions in post TWO(#2) are correct.

install customac, then on a Separate drive, install windows alone!... meaning disconnect the mac drive for the time being... then install windows, if you don't windows bootloader will add the other OS (maybe)... and problems Ensue...

separate drives are the way to go... unless "boot camp" works with chimera...(????? LOL... not needed because of easier ways to boot windows)


in any case, it is easier to dual boot from multiple drives.
I have just made a customac...i have always used windows (xp,vista,win7)

and even under windows booting the different windows versions or the same version is alot easier with multiple drives.

with multipe drives, you can use the BIOS boot option (f12 gigabyte, f8 asus) to boot multiple OS (i do)...(using ubuntu, and windows... )
but with chimera, everything is made easy...

TL;DR... follow the path of least resistance, use chimera... (and hope that chimera adds a window install that is on a separate drive automatically...