Persistent HDD problem with dual boot

[lilpirate]

I have an OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD which has 30 GB for Mac 10.8.4 and 30 GB for Windows 7. I have another age old 1 TB SAMSUNG HD103SI. It has three exFAT partitions and 1 HFS+ for TimeMachine.

My problem:

Every time I boot into Window and I am doing some HDD-intensive tasks (copy large files), I get BSOD. If I boot into Mac after booting Windows, all the partitions of the 1 TB drives crash. Even the HFS+ one. I have to repair all the partitions manually from Disk Utility to mount them.

Once, while copying a file from an exFAT partition, my Mac froze. I plugged it off and on again. And the partition I was copying the file from, was completely erased.

I am not sure what the problem is. My guess is that the HDD is nearing its end. Although, I wanted to be sure before spending $80 on a new one. Could this be an issue with exFAT? Would it work better if I format the drives to NTFS and then use proprietary software on Mac to write those?

This has completely rendered Windows useless for me, which I mostly use for gaming, since I hate repairing the partitions all the time.

 

[RehabMan]

I have an OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD which has 30 GB for Mac 10.8.4 and 30 GB for Windows 7. I have another age old 1 TB SAMSUNG HD103SI. It has three exFAT partitions and 1 HFS+ for TimeMachine.

My problem:

Every time I boot into Window and I am doing some HDD-intensive tasks (copy large files), I get BSOD. If I boot into Mac after booting Windows, all the partitions of the 1 TB drives crash. Even the HFS+ one. I have to repair all the partitions manually from Disk Utility to mount them.

Once, while copying a file from an exFAT partition, my Mac froze. I plugged it off and on again. And the partition I was copying the file from, was completely erased.

I am not sure what the problem is. My guess is that the HDD is nearing its end. Although, I wanted to be sure before spending $80 on a new one. Could this be an issue with exFAT? Would it work better if I format the drives to NTFS and then use proprietary software on Mac to write those?

This has completely rendered Windows useless for me, which I mostly use for gaming, since I hate repairing the partitions all the time.

How did you originally setup your partitions? Hopefully, you never used Windows to do it...

 

[lilpirate]

No, I remember using Disk Utility to do it, although, I am not sure. But, why does it matter?

 

[RehabMan]

No, I remember using Disk Utility to do it, although, I am not sure. But, why does it matter?

You never want to use a utility that does not understand hybrid MBR/GPT. Windows diskmgmt.msc is one such utility. It only sees the MBR side. It is important that any change to the partitioning is done in a way that the GPT and MBR partition tables are kept in sync. Failure to make changes on both sides can lead to data corruption.

Disk Utility or Linux gparted (followed by rebuilding the MBR table via gptsync or gdisk) is the only safe way to edit partitions on a hybrid.

See here for more info on hybrid GPT/MBR: http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html

 

[lilpirate]

But I don't have any issues using the SSD (which is, I know, hybrid). It's the HDD (my HDD shouldn't be hybrid.. or is it? ).

What's the best course of action? Should I completely erase my HDD and format it with exFAT from Disk Utility? Or is there any other solution?

I am good with completely erasing the HDD since I have moved off most of my data to another disk.

 

[RehabMan]

But I don't have any issues using the SSD (which is, I know, hybrid). It's the HDD (my HDD shouldn't be hybrid.. or is it? ).

Definitely hybrid. It has both Windows-type (exFAT) partitions and OS X-type partitions (HFS+J) which certainly you created with Disk Utility.

What's the best course of action? Should I completely erase my HDD and format it with exFAT from Disk Utility? Or is there any other solution?

I am good with completely erasing the HDD since I have moved off most of my data to another disk.

I would completely erase it, setup your partitions only using Disk Utility (it will create a hybrid MBR/GPT), then restore your files.

Then... in the future... be careful about editing any partition data in Windows (eg. don't do it).

One other thing... There is somewhat widespread reports of OS X exFAT implementation being buggy, especially when deleting files from exFAT partitions. I never ran into any issues, and really I wonder if it isn't that some people leave a Windows session hibernated while they boot into OS X (bad idea) and manipulate the exFAT partitions.

 

[lilpirate]

Thanks for all the advice! One more thing -- I am thinking of using all the 60 GB SSD for MAC instead of 30-30 for MAC and Windows. So now, I am partitioning my HDD with Disk Utility.

Can I resize my SSD by deleting the second windows partition and then simply resizing the first MAC partition?

Once this is done, I will have to install Windows 7. I want to install it on the HDD. How should I partition my HDD from inside Disk Utility so that Windows Setup detects it properly? Can I just use BootCamp?

Thanks again!

 

[RehabMan]

Thanks for all the advice! One more thing -- I am thinking of using all the 60 GB SSD for MAC instead of 30-30 for MAC and Windows. So now, I am partitioning my HDD with Disk Utility.

I don't blame you... 30GB is a little tight for OS X (it works ok if you don't install any large apps), but 30GB for Windows is not enough to apply a service pack.

Can I resize my SSD by deleting the second windows partition and then simply resizing the first MAC partition?

Yes.

Once this is done, I will have to install Windows 7. I want to install it on the HDD. How should I partition my HDD from inside Disk Utility so that Windows Setup detects it properly? Can I just use BootCamp?

Probably best to just follow this guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/96000-guide-dual-booting-mountain-lion-windows-8-a.html (Win7 is the same as Win8). Bootcamp is only for Macs.