Can you install Windows 7 on a dedicated drive?

[MacFanJeff]

I searched the threads, but the thread titles did not help much so I am hoping someone can help.

What I want to do is install Windows 7 RC on a separate internal dedicated hard drive on my Mac Pro. I would like to be able to boot from either drive and simply choose which drive I want according to which OS I want to use on power up.

The problem is I want to dedicate an entire drive to both OS systems and simply choose which one I want to work in. So far, I have not read how to do this and think Boot Camp won't be much help here.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Consultant]

Bootcamp in osx partitions drive. You are not partitioning the drive so you don't need to run it in osx.

You can just boot from windows disk, format the drive (make sure you do the right one), and install.

 

[MacFanJeff]

Bootcamp in osx partitions drive. You are not partitioning the drive so you don't need to run it in osx.

You can just boot from windows disk, format the drive (make sure you do the right one), and install.

But how does the Mac know which drive to boot from on power up? If I do what you said, I don't know how it will know which HD to boot up from. I would like to have a menu prompt me on each drive on power up for either my dedicated Mac HD or my dedicated Windows 7 HD.

 

[joeridgway]

Holding alt/option on boot up will bring up a menu to choose which HDD to boot into

Joe

 

[MacFanJeff]

Holding alt/option on boot up will bring up a menu to choose which HDD to boot into

Joe

OK, I did not know that. Basically then, all I have to do is install Windows 7 RC on my dedicated 2nd internal drive by booting from the install DVD and choosing the blank drive just like you would be doing a normal install. Then after it finishes, just use the alt/option to boot from a specific drive.

Sounds good, but I was wondering one other thing. If my Mac HD is in the primary slot #1 on my Mac Pro and the dedicated Windows 7 HD in slot #2, would the Mac automatically default boot from the HD in slot #1 if you don't hold down the alt/option key? If so that would be perfect.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Yes, it should boot into Mac by default. You can actually select the default startup disk in System Preferences.

 

[MacFanJeff]

OK, I'm stuck a little on this.

I have burned the ISO to a DVD, but how do I get it to install upon boot with the DVD in the drive on startup?

Keep in mind I want to install this on a seperate NEW, unpartitioned and unformatted HD. The Mac OS main drive is in #1 drive bay on my 2008 Mac Pro and the new HD is in bay #2.

I thought I could boot from the DVD with the ISO, then let Windows 7 RC run the setup just like normal selecting the HD you want to format and install on, but it will not let me. When I startup with the DVD ISO it has a "?" there. What are the steps I need to take here? Should I extract the ISO and burn those files to another DVD and boot from it? Do I need to format the HD in bay#2 for Windows 7 (if so how) or is there anything else I need?

Thanks.

 

[MRU]

^^ Check how you burnt the ISO. You may have a bad ISO image in the first place.

________


General advice for installing 7.



You do not have to do this, but if your unsure I would recommend that..

Open up your mac, and simply dislodge HD1 for a start so that it's not plugged in. This will prevent you from a formating error when installing Windows 7 and wiping the wrong drive.




Standard instructions after or without doing the above.

Turn your mac pro on. Hold down ALT/OPTION key.
Choose WINDOWS & DVD/CD ICON
As soon as windows 7 boot-loader, says press key to boot from CD/DVD do so.
Go through the Windows 7 installation process. When it comes to the drive select / format option make sure you choose the right drive. If you have done as I suggested, you should only see one drive anyway.
Format / Install.
Install bootcamp drivers from Leopard DVD.


Done.

Turn off machine and plug in the HDD if you removed/dislodged it like I suggested.

Hold down ALT/OPTION to select Window 7 or Mac OSX hard drive icons to boot into either operating system.

 

[PrincessPeach]

I formatted my drive2 in Disk Utility first (to FAT32 to be extra simple, though it will make you change to NTFS from the Win7 installer when you're up and running - only takes a moment). I gave it a distinctive name so I'd immediately recognise it when installing which was definitely helpful. I didn't bother tugging my OSX drive out of place but it's a good tip to be 100% safe!

I second the theory that you have probably got a problem with your disc. Did you burn the ISO as a file on the disc or did you set it to make a PC-compatible disc from ISO? If you let us know which app you are using (Toast or Disk Utility being the favourites here) we can assist if needed.

 

[MacFanJeff]

Thanks for the notes on this. I did the ISO in Disc Utility on the Mac so I think the image is OK. If this does not work I will burn again (I did so at lower speed too as recommended).

When you say "install Boot Camp drivers from Leopard DVD" how do I do that and what is the process after I get windows installed on the HD?

 

[MRU]

Thanks for the notes on this. I did the ISO in Disc Utility on the Mac so I think the image is OK. If this does not work I will burn again (I did so at lower speed too as recommended).

When you say "install Boot Camp drivers from Leopard DVD" how do I do that and what is the process after I get windows installed on the HD?

Once windows is installed. Insert your Leopard DVD into the superdrive. You may have to right click on the drive icon in MY Computer and choose eject as your keyboard eject will not be working at this stage. Put the disc in, run setup. That's it.

You may get warning messages about drivers and known issues, just say ok.

 

[MacFanJeff]

^^ Check how you burnt the ISO. You may have a bad ISO image in the first place.

________


General advice for installing 7.



You do not have to do this, but if your unsure I would recommend that..

Open up your mac, and simply dislodge HD1 for a start so that it's not plugged in. This will prevent you from a formating error when installing Windows 7 and wiping the wrong drive.




Standard instructions after or without doing the above.

Turn your mac pro on. Hold down ALT/OPTION key.
Choose WINDOWS & DVD/CD ICON
As soon as windows 7 boot-loader, says press key to boot from CD/DVD do so.
Go through the Windows 7 installation process. When it comes to the drive select / format option make sure you choose the right drive. If you have done as I suggested, you should only see one drive anyway.
Format / Install.
Install bootcamp drivers from Leopard DVD.


Done.

Turn off machine and plug in the HDD if you removed/dislodged it like I suggested.

Hold down ALT/OPTION to select Window 7 or Mac OSX hard drive icons to boot into either operating system.

OK, I followed the above steps, but still can not get it to show up during the install. I checked the ISO and it shows up just fine inside the Mac OS and everything seems OK there. Also checked on a Windows laptop and seems fine. However it does NOT do anything when I put it in and hold down option key on startup. There is no hard drive icon because my HD I want to dedicate to the Windows 7 RC install has yet to be formatted. My Mac OS HD does show up OK when "option" key is held down. But nothing shows up for my DVD of Windows 7 there. Like I said, it DOES show up inside the Mac OS just fine.

Any thoughts as to why the ISO and DVD are showing OK in the Mac OS and NOT upon bootup while holding down "option"? All I can think of is for some reason the ".ISO" package needs extracting first if doing this without Boot Camp under the Apple OS or I need to burn it somehow with different options? It seems OK and I burned it at 4X only with a good Verbatim DVDR.

Can anyone tell me how to re-download from Microsoft because I am installing the 64 bit version and I can't figure out how because all it does is give me my key code again but no download link.

Thanks for any thoughts as to what is going on.

 

[eXan]

OK, I followed the above steps, but still can not get it to show up during the install. I checked the ISO and it shows up just fine inside the Mac OS and everything seems OK there. Also checked on a Windows laptop and seems fine. However it does NOT do anything when I put it in and hold down option key on startup. There is no hard drive icon because my HD I want to dedicate to the Windows 7 RC install has yet to be formatted. My Mac OS HD does show up OK when "option" key is held down. But nothing shows up for my DVD of Windows 7 there. Like I said, it DOES show up inside the Mac OS just fine.

Any thoughts as to why the ISO and DVD are showing OK in the Mac OS and NOT upon bootup while holding down "option"? All I can think of is for some reason the ".ISO" package needs extracting first if doing this without Boot Camp under the Apple OS or I need to burn it somehow with different options? It seems OK and I burned it at 4X only with a good Verbatim DVDR.

Can anyone tell me how to re-download from Microsoft because I am installing the 64 bit version and I can't figure out how because all it does is give me my key code again but no download link.

Thanks for any thoughts as to what is going on.

You need to burn the ISO as a disk image. I used Toast and it worked great (typing this from just installed Win7 RC )

 

[MacFanJeff]

You need to burn the ISO as a disk image. I used Toast and it worked great (typing this from just installed Win7 RC )

Thanks, I got it installed OK. It was in fact the ISO burn as you mentioned so I did it again by dragging the ISO to the left pane in "Disk Utility" then did the above steps. Worked fine. It even works OK with my keyboard and audio so I hope everything is a go for now.

I just wonder if we will all still get a warning message when installing the Leopard Drivers from the Leopard DVD once Windows 7 actually hits the market or if Apple will update the drivers?

 

[madmaxmedia]

I have a question- can this method be used to install Windows 7 to an external USB hard drive?

 

[TBi]

I have a question- can this method be used to install Windows 7 to an external USB hard drive?

It is possible but hard to do. The mac can boot from USB but as windows starts up it will take control of the computer hardware. Basically it will switch the USB between EFI/BIOS control to it's own drivers, but it switches before the USB driver is loaded.

This means the USB drive is disconnected and windows will fail to boot. There is a way to hack windows to load the USB driver up earlier. Google around for people who've done this.

Google is your friend

 

[contitego]

I have a question- can this method be used to install Windows 7 to an external USB hard drive?

If you think windows is slow now, just wait to you have to read it off of a usb drive. USB2's thoughput is about 400MBs on a good day. If you have a sata drive that is 3GB/ps read, you would be better off.

 

[madmaxmedia]

If you think windows is slow now, just wait to you have to read it off of a usb drive. USB2's thoughput is about 400MBs on a good day. If you have a sata drive that is 3GB/ps read, you would be better off.

LOL, you're right. Thanks guys for the replies.

 

[gugucom]

If you think windows is slow now, just wait to you have to read it off of a usb drive. USB2's thoughput is about 400MBs on a good day. If you have a sata drive that is 3GB/ps read, you would be better off.

Apple never lets you use the 3GB/s with Windows. They install legacy drivers that reduce the transfer speed. Check for yourself and you will see that under OS X the drives run under AHCI mode. To put SATA drives into AHCI mode under Windows is a nasty affair. I did it for my MacPro1,1 with Intel drivers. I havn't figured out how to do it for my MBP alu with NVIDIA drivers though.