starting from scratch

[michaelrw10]

Hey guys, I have a question about the first steps i need to take when building and setting up my new rig. I have read all of the install guides and post-install guides pertaining to OS X Lion, but there are still a few things i am unclear about.

Hey guys, I am building a new rig and need a little bit of feedback/guidance. I have 3 brand new storage drives; TWO 64GB SSD's and ONE 500GB HDD. My goal is to have OS X Lion on one of the SSD's, Win7 x64 on the other SSD, and partition the HDD for file storage for both operating systems.
for example,

• SSD 1: Win7[/*:m:2mfdcqdx]
• SSD 2: OS X Lion[/*:m:2mfdcqdx]
• HDD: partition 1 = Win7 files, partition 2 = OS X files[/*:m:2mfdcqdx]

My proposed course of action (After building the rig and connecting all three drives):

• 1. Install Win7 from CD drive, onto SSD#1
  2. partition HDD
  3. Install OS X Lion from USB thumb drive, onto SSD#2

QUESTIONS

• 1. Is there anything wrong with my plan of action here? ie. is it feasible to have a different operating system on each of the two SSD's and use a single HDD for storage? Or would it be better to get another HDD so that Win7 and OS X each have their own drive for file storage?
  2. Is this the correct order of actions needed to accomplish my aforementioned goals?
  3. If OS X is installed on SSD#2, do I need to change the boot order to boot from SSD#2 any time that I want to use my rig as a "Mac"?
  4. Likewise, if Win7 is installed on SSD#1, do I need to change the boot order to boot from SSD#1 any time I want to use my rig as a PC?

Thanks for your time and your patience!
Regards,
MichaelRW

 

[nordemoniac]

Your thinking is correct

What I normally do when I want to dualboot, is to install Windows 7 first, on it's own HDD (this is because I'd normally have Windows 7 as a main OS). When you install OSX on the other drive, you just have to go to BIOS and change main HDD to #2 instead of the one with Windows. That way you will start the Chameleon boot loader.
When you are in OS X you can edit the boot file, and add the Default partition, timeout, hide Windows data partition etc.
When you use this bootloader, you can choose to boot the Windows system partition (100MB), which will then again boot windows.

If you remove the OS X drive, BIOS will default to drive #1, and boot directly from the Windows system partition. (100MB)

Regarding the data drive with two partitions - No problems there! You could in theory buy paragon NTFS, and allow OSX to save to the same partition, if you want to share some files.

Hope this is of any help

 

[michaelrw10]

i guess im just a little confused about something still.

is there a way that I can have it set up to where every time i start my computer a boot screen will pop up showing the OS X logo and the Win7 logo, asking me which operating system I want to use? (even if each operating system is on its own unique drive?)

 

[Scuba]

That's where Chimera on your OS X boot drive comes in. When it gets to the initial Tonymac bootscreen and it is counting down, hit any key and it will give you your choice of boot drives. Arrow over to the drive of choice and hit enter. It's like magic I remember having the same confusion when I started with my Hack. I saw it simply explained in a post and tried it out. It was a particularly useful feature when I was trying different methods of upgrading to 10.7.3.

Works like a charm.

 

[michaelrw10]

That's where Chimera on your OS X boot drive comes in.

ok, and chimera is included with/is a component of the uni-/multibeast correct?

 

[Scuba]

Yep, included in Multibeast

 

[michaelrw10]

also, if I dont have a Mac to begin with, how can I make the bootable USB drive to install Lion? We have a Mac computer lab at the university I go to, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to download and install unibeast on them.
Do i need to find someone with a Mac or is there another way to create the bootable OS X USB drive

theres no way to create a bootable disc or usb drive if I just purchase Install Mac OS X Lion.app from the app store on my PC?

 

[michaelrw10]

then again, it doesnt look like unibeast requires one to install it on the Mac theyre using. So if I download unibeast at school the network should allow me to run the application without any issues.

can anyone confirm that the unibeast app does NOT require installation before use?

 

[nordemoniac]

It doesn't, you run it as a stand-alone, but you have to buy and download the Lion app, and copy the app under "Applications" on the mac you are using to create the USB.