Installing Windows 7 on Separate Drive

[jleffell]

Has anyone done this who wouldn't mind giving me a course of action?

I have purchased a second WD Caviar Black and will install Windows 7 on it. Does it make sense to use Bootcamp or do I simply install Windows 7 on this drive then install the bootcamp drivers for sounds, etc....?

Thanks very much.

BTW - I have searched for this quite a bit but there isn't that much info (so I have found) that deals with options for installing Windows on a new and separate disk.

 

[VirtualRain]

Has anyone done this who wouldn't mind giving me a course of action?

I have purchased a second WD Caviar Black and will install Windows 7 on it. Does it make sense to use Bootcamp or do I simply install Windows 7 on this drive then install the bootcamp drivers for sounds, etc....?

Thanks very much.

BTW - I have searched for this quite a bit but there isn't that much info (so I have found) that deals with options for installing Windows on a new and separate disk.

I did this awhile back with Win7 RC... there's not much to it.

As you point out, you don't need Bootcamp. Bootcamp is just a partitioning tool that's used when you want OSX and Windows booting off the same drive.

To limit confusion for both the installer and myself, I temporarily pulled all my OSX drives out of my Mac Pro for the Win7 installation process and installed the sole drive destined to run Win7... then booted the Win7 installer DVD (holding down Option during Startup and selecting the DVD).

Windows should install just like it would on any old PC. In fact, I didn't need any other drivers... Win7 came pre-packaged with everything I needed... except a recent display adapter driver which I downloaded and installed after Win7 was up and running. Even the USB sound on my 24" LED ACD worked without an additional driver.

After you've got your Win7 drive running fine, install all your other drives back from whence they came and reboot using the option key to choose your desired startup volume.

Piece of cake really.

 

[JPamplin]

The deal with it, and the reason I went with an XP install, is using VMWare on top of THAT - so you can run it in a dedicated partition at full speed when you need to (ie, games), but then use the same partition inside a VMWare VM when you just need to have Windows up on a second monitor for "casual" apps.

The issue is how VMWare handles the "System Reserved" 100MB partition before the NTFS volume that actually stores your data. VMWare Fusion 2 doesn't like that too much - hopefully the just announced VMWare 3 will handle it correctly.

I've already ordered my copy.

JP

 

[gugucom]

If you use the described method your disk gets partitioned the way Microsoft does it, usually with a MBR partition table or in worst case with a MS GUID partition table.

I found it better to use disk utility and make sure that I have the Windows drive partitioned in one Partition with a GUID partition table option. That way I'm sure I have it exactly the way Apple wants it.

If you use the bootcamp Assi it will display all available drives which includes empty drives as well. You can then select the Windows drive and tell the Bootcamp program to use it completely for Windows.

From there the installation is the same. Windows 7 will format the whole drive with NTFS but you will have the 200 MB EFI partition which Windows recognizes as the GPT protection partition.

Although Win7 recognizes most hardware it is nevertheless worthwhile to install the latest Bootcamp 3.0 drivers which are all on the Snow Leopard disk. For the 32bit version they install with setup. For 64 bit you have to use Explorer to go to the drivers/Apple folder. There you start Bootcamp64.msi and it will do the install for 64bit. In both cases you will have to use the compatibility program that is available by right click menue. It may also be necessary to kill the user account control, re boot and run the installer as admin.

Whichever way you use for your installation be aware that Windows on a Mac will not use AHCI high performance SATA drivers as OS X does. You have to activate the AHCI mode separately. I have a written a tutorial about that issue which you find here on Mac Rumors in the Mac Pro section. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/760482/

 

[jleffell]

So I have installed my drive. Do I now just run bootcamp to install Windows on the new drive?

Many people have suggested that I unplug my Mac volume when I install Windows but I cannot do this if I am using Bootcamp Ass. to run the install. How do I use Disk Utility to make sure there is a separate partition between the disks.

Sorry for my ignorance but I am new to this.

Thanks for all of the help.

 

[jleffell]

Ok I now see in Disk Utility (when I select the new drive and not its sole partition) that it is, in fact, GUID Partition Table.

Now do I simply go into Bootcamp and run the install on the disk without removing my MacHD?

 

[tdgrn]

You need to make sure that you format your Windows drive as a Master Boot Record, otherwise Windows wont be able to see it. After that, you should be good to go.

Edit - The screen shot was taken within Disk Utility, when you are formatting your drive. Click on options and this should bring up the window that I showed you.

 

[jleffell]

Well I didnt do that but it seems to be loading....if it fails I will erase the disk and do what you suggest

 

[jleffell]

So its up and running. A few basic questions left.

How do I close my superdrive without pushing it closed?

Why does the Windows drive say Bootcamp? - Will this last?

Any other tips?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[gugucom]

You need to make sure that you format your Windows drive as a Master Boot Record, otherwise Windows wont be able to see it. After that, you should be good to go.

Do not believe this guy!!! Your partition table must be GUID as in the picture. MBR works only if Windows is the using a single partition on the drive. This practically applies only to the Mac Pro which provides multiple drives.

Apple specifically requires all drives for Intel machines to use GUID. If you disregard that you cannot do multiple booting from the drive and you can have firmware issues if the MBR drive is your only drive.

 

[gugucom]

So its up and running. A few basic questions left.

How do I close my superdrive without pushing it closed?

Why does the Windows drive say Bootcamp? - Will this last?

Any other tips?

Thanks for all the help!

If you mean how to pull the tray in with a Mac Pro you can use the eject button on your keyboard.

You can rename the Windows drive with Windows Explorer. Right click the drive and select properties. You will find the name field there for renaming.

Other tips: Use your Snow Leopard disk to install Bootcamp 3.0 drivers.

 

[Galileo]

Does VMware or parallels work better or worse if windows is installed on the same HD as OS-X or does it not matter ?

 

[ayeying]

Does VMware or parallels work better or worse if windows is installed on the same HD as OS-X or does it not matter ?

It would be better if its on another drive to prevent sharing of write/read from a single drive. But unless you're doing something extremely read/write heavy, it shouldn't be too much of a difference.

 

[jjd]

You need to make sure that you format your Windows drive as a Master Boot Record, otherwise Windows wont be able to see it. After that, you should be good to go.

Edit - The screen shot was taken within Disk Utility, when you are formatting your drive. Click on options and this should bring up the window that I showed you.

I am trying to install Windows on my Mac Pro, on a dedicated drive in slot 3. I am looking to partition it as an MBR drive, but when I run disk utility, I do not get the options you have in your screen grab. I only have "MS-DOS (FAT)" as an option - nothing about MBR. What am I doing wrong?

 

[lostime]

I am trying to install Windows on my Mac Pro, on a dedicated drive in slot 3. I am looking to partition it as an MBR drive, but when I run disk utility, I do not get the options you have in your screen grab. I only have "MS-DOS (FAT)" as an option - nothing about MBR. What am I doing wrong?

I remember seeing the format options they were talking about when re-partitioning in Tiger but I get the same screen you do when I look at disk utility. Hopefully someone will post some help.

 

[JPamplin]

I am trying to install Windows on my Mac Pro, on a dedicated drive in slot 3. I am looking to partition it as an MBR drive, but when I run disk utility, I do not get the options you have in your screen grab. I only have "MS-DOS (FAT)" as an option - nothing about MBR. What am I doing wrong?

See that button called "Partition" just to the right of Erase? Click on that. Then select One Partition, MS-DOS format. Then Click the Options button on that screen, and select MBR. That's it!

 

[jjd]

Black screen of death?

So, I am only just getting around to doing this. And, after booting from the Win 7 install disk I get this. Weird. I am unable to select either of these options - the keyboard does not work. Any ideas?

 

[jjd]

Disregard my last

Guys - I just found this thread so I will wade through this to try to figure out what to do... https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/5283893/

 

[MacFanJeff]

I am not sure what all the other steps and talk is about as VirtualRain is correct. In fact, I have been running a TRIPPLE boot for 6 months now: Leopard, Windows 7 64bit and Linux all on separate dedicated drives. It very easy to do and I simply hold down 'option' on boot to select the OS I want to work in.

The steps could not be more simple. Just do as the post said, remove all other drives but the drive you will install windows on (you don't have to but it is easier and safer) and boot from your Windows 7 DVD. Hold down 'option' on boot, select your Mac DVD drive to boot from and it will go through the Windows 7 setup just as any PC. You may need to do the "custom install" and just select the whole drive to format if upgrading, otherwise if it is TOTALLY a blank drive this step is not required. Once done just install your Boot Camp drivers which enables your Apple keyboard, sound, etc.

That's it, put back in the other drives if you removed them and you can boot from any OS. Works fine with both Boot Camp 3.0 drivers and Windows Vista 64bit Boot Camp drivers from my own use.

Good luck.

 

[polishtheapple]

Problem after updating Bootcamp

When I got my Mac Pro about 2 years ago (2 X 2.6 dual core Xeons) I pulled all but the drive to install XP on. After installing XP by simply booting from the CD, I installed Bootcamp.

Recently I upgraded to Snow Leopard and wanted to be able to see the OS X files. I finally figured out that I needed to install the upgraded Bootcamp from the Snow Leopard CD when running XP.

Then, when running XP using Bootcamp, I kept getting a Windows warning alert that a foreign drive is not recognized and should be removed. Finally, I had to uninstall bootcamp and reinstall the old version of bootcamp.

I do not have this problem on my MacBook where OS X and XP are on partitions on the same hard drive.

Anybody else have this problem on a Mac Pro?

 

[MacFanJeff]

When I got my Mac Pro about 2 years ago (2 X 2.6 dual core Xeons) I pulled all but the drive to install XP on. After installing XP by simply booting from the CD, I installed Bootcamp.

Recently I upgraded to Snow Leopard and wanted to be able to see the OS X files. I finally figured out that I needed to install the upgraded Bootcamp from the Snow Leopard CD when running XP.

Then, when running XP using Bootcamp, I kept getting a Windows warning alert that a foreign drive is not recognized and should be removed. Finally, I had to uninstall bootcamp and reinstall the old version of bootcamp.

I do not have this problem on my MacBook where OS X and XP are on partitions on the same hard drive.

Anybody else have this problem on a Mac Pro?

I am not running XP, only Windows 7 so I have not seen anything like this. It would not surprise me if that is not uncommon as XP is not supported by Apple currently as they are moving to Windows 7 support officially.

Maybe you should start a separate XP thread and see if you get any replies.

 

[jjd]

I am not sure what all the other steps and talk is about as VirtualRain is correct. In fact, I have been running a TRIPPLE boot for 6 months now: Leopard, Windows 7 64bit and Linux all on separate dedicated drives. It very easy to do and I simply hold down 'option' on boot to select the OS I want to work in.

The steps could not be more simple. Just do as the post said, remove all other drives but the drive you will install windows on (you don't have to but it is easier and safer) and boot from your Windows 7 DVD. Hold down 'option' on boot, select your Mac DVD drive to boot from and it will go through the Windows 7 setup just as any PC. You may need to do the "custom install" and just select the whole drive to format if upgrading, otherwise if it is TOTALLY a blank drive this step is not required. Once done just install your Boot Camp drivers which enables your Apple keyboard, sound, etc.

That's it, put back in the other drives if you removed them and you can boot from any OS. Works fine with both Boot Camp 3.0 drivers and Windows Vista 64bit Boot Camp drivers from my own use.

Good luck.

Yes, that is exactly how I run XP. But, for 64 bit Win, unless you have a very recent Mac with 64 bit-ready firmware (which you clearly do), then you need to go through the steps in the thread I referred to above. I have a late '06 Mac Pro and it will not work without the extra steps.

I just burned the new install disk on my work PC so I will see tonight whether it works