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Dual boot question: Sierra (SSD recommendation?) & Windows 10 (e.g. Samsung 960 EVO NVMe)?

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Sep 21, 2013
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Motherboard
GA-Z170X-Gaming 6
CPU
Intel i7 3770
Graphics
EVGA Geforce GTX 980
Mac
  1. MacBook Air
I am looking to build a new rig with a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 6 - and using my existing CPU/RAM/GPU (for now). I currently have a dual boot setup via Chameleon on Mavericks & Win 10 all using SATA (thanks to this forum). I prefer a set it and forget it configuration that does not require a lot of extra maintenance / going into BIOS all the time to change the boot drive. I currently have an all SATA setup with AHCI (legacy, not using UEFI)

On my new build, I am considering moving to SSD and have the following questions:
Q1: Can I easily setup a trouble free multiboot using Clover with mixed OS drives in a UEFI multi-boot scenario (e.g. M.2 / PCIe connected SSD 960 EVO NVMe for my Windows 10 partition) and have a second SSD SATA connected drive for Sierra (e.g. Samsung 850 PRO - MZ-7KE512BW)
Q2: Considering a setup with both OS on an M.2 connection: I have read that MAC OS prefers AHCI SSD M.2 drives (e.g. Samsung SM951 AHCI MZHPV512HDGL or Kingston HyperX Predator) - is this still the preferred drive type for setting up a Hackintosh via M.2 connection?
Q3: multiboot: BIOS setup / boot drive. I plan to setup Win10 first via m.2 PCIe as GPT as UEFI and then remove the drive, then setup Sierra on my second drive - and then I will set the Sierra drive in my BIOS as my boot drive. Then I will add the Win 10 drive. Is this the right install approach?
Q4: If you were building a dual boot system with Sierra and Windows 10 on two different drives, how would you recommend setting it up (e.g. which SSD would you recommend M.2 or SATA) and which model would you recommend (Win 10 is my primary OS that I will select in Clover). e.g. Win 10 boot performance is more important to me than Sierra performance.

I appreciate your input!
 
Last edited:
Q1: Yes, you can

Q2: Apple had no direct support for NVMe drives. An additional kext was required. Note this may no longer be true - forum search/google is your friend there.

Q3/Q4: See the pinned guides in the Multi Boot forum.
I would suggest you install Mac OS first on SATA drive, then remove it, install the M.2 NVME drive, install Win10, then reconnect the Mac OS drive. This way you only have to remove the GPU once to get to the M.2 drive if it is under the GPU.
 
Q1: Yes, you can

Q2: Apple had no direct support for NVMe drives. An additional kext was required. Note this may no longer be true - forum search/google is your friend there.

Q3/Q4: See the pinned guides in the Multi Boot forum.
I would suggest you install Mac OS first on SATA drive, then remove it, install the M.2 NVME drive, install Win10, then reconnect the Mac OS drive. This way you only have to remove the GPU once to get to the M.2 drive if it is under the GPU.

Thank you for your replies! I appreciate your suggestions!!
 
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