Vista only on a Mac - want to remove OS X

[SuperKRad]

Not looking to start a flame war, just need some advice on how to do this.

Trying to make the entire partition Vista only - in other words, want to make the entire disk NTFS with no trace of OS X anywhere.

Can this be done, and how?

[Eidorian]

You should be able to wipe the Unknown Partition (a.k.a. HFS+ and some other space) and then format them to NTFS using Disk Management.

Merging them space is another thing entirely.

If you're installing Windows the first time just delete all the partitions and do what you want with them.

[speakerwizard]

its not advised, just make your mac os install as small as possible (no drivers / languages etc) and partition the rest for vista, microsoft doesnt support efi so its best to keep macos around incase ya need bootcamp utility, anyone else feel free to correct me on this though

[SuperKRad]

So essentially if I buy a brand new iMac at the store, I can open it, pop in a Vista install disk, format the entire thing to NTFS and Im good?

Also, using Boot Camp, whats the maximum partition size you can set for Windows? Or I guess I should say, the minimum you can set for OS X?

Thanks for the quick response.

[Eidorian]

its not advised, just make your mac os install as small as possible (no drivers / languages etc) and partition the rest for vista, microsoft doesnt support efi so its best to keep macos around incase ya need bootcamp utility, anyone else feel free to correct me on this though1. BIOS emulation will be used by the firmware (as it already is...)
2. Vista x64 variants do support EFI.

So essentially if I buy a brand new iMac at the store, I can open it, pop in a Vista install disk, format the entire thing to NTFS and Im good?

Also, using Boot Camp, whats the maximum partition size you can set for Windows? Or I guess I should say, the minimum you can set for OS X?

Thanks for the quick response.I suggest installing Boot Camp first and making sure the Mac runs 10.4.6 at least first. OS X stock only needs 1.9 GB. (Tiger on Intel) You'll need a little more space them that. (5-10 GB)

[psychofreak]

Its good to keep OS X for firmware updates...

[kalisphoenix]

Its good to keep OS X for firmware updates...

And in case your 'puter blows up and you need to get it repaired :)

[Osarkon]

You should be able to wipe the Unknown Partition (a.k.a. HFS+ and some other space) and then format them to NTFS using Disk Management.

Merging them space is another thing entirely.

If you're installing Windows the first time just delete all the partitions and do what you want with them.

Vista's Disk Management can merge and expand partitions on the fly, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Willis]

as others had said, keep around 7-10GB of free space for OS X, because any bootcamp updates which help run windows better are pretty much a nice touch. And again, for the all important warrenty

[SuperKRad]

as others had said, keep around 7-10GB of free space for OS X, because any bootcamp updates which help run windows better are pretty much a nice touch. And again, for the all important warrenty

If I use Boot Camp to make a very large Vista partition, are there any limitations as far as file size and NTFS?

[mkrishnan]

If I use Boot Camp to make a very large Vista partition, are there any limitations as far as file size and NTFS?

NTFS is NTFS. It would be just like an NTFS partition you made on any other computer.

[Eidorian]

Vista's Disk Management can merge and expand partitions on the fly, so that shouldn't be a problem.I thought it could. Thanks

[M@lew]

I don't know if I'd completely format the computer though. When Leopard comes out, Boot Camp won't be supported on Tiger...so if something happens and you need to get back to OSX, you'd need to format all your data.

[v-ault]

Lol, this guy is just buying an Imac for the look of it. You should give the mac os a try.

[AutumnSkyline]

Lol, this guy is just buying an Imac for the look of it. You should give the mac os a try.

Agreed, at least take some time out your surely busy schedule and learn the OS, frankly, it took me a day to get used to going to the left instead of the right for the X - + and everything else, you should be fine, and you will probably like it better than vista.

[ghall]

No offense, but why buy a Mac if your just going to use Windows? Macs were designed to run Mac OS as the primary OS. You should at least give Mac OS X a try, you might end up liking it. And if you need Windows, you cal always do half and half or something. I'm sorry if I wasn't very helpful, it's just hard for me to understand your reasoning here.

[MacRumorUser]

His choice either way. Your mac, do what you like. For a lot of windows users Mac OS is not the godsend we see it to be. I once convinced a windows user to go mac, but she hated it and could not adapt, in the end - I ended up buying the mac off her, so she could buy herself a dell - she's happy which is the main thing.


The only thing about Vista i've found is that it makes my MBP run very very hot. Its like it doesnt control the fans properly or somthing.

[elppa]

Just to echo what others say, this is a really bad idea. I'd think long and hard about whether for the sake of a few GB you want to completely get rid of Mac OS X.

Use Vista as your primary OS if need be, but it's worth keeping the Mac partition for many of the reasons pointed out above.

[Iggy]

Shame on you!

[Southernboy]

Not looking to start a flame war, just need some advice on how to do this.

Trying to make the entire partition Vista only - in other words, want to make the entire disk NTFS with no trace of OS X anywhere.

Can this be done, and how?
Go and sit on the naughty step now! ;)

[gnasher729]

No offense, but why buy a Mac if your just going to use Windows?

If I ever had the intention of buying a computer to use with Vista :mad: I would surely look at buying a Mac. MacMini, MacBook, iMac and the eight core MacPros are definitely competitive with anything in the PC market.

(What's wrong with that statement? Buying a Macintosh is very often a sign of _taste_. Buying Vista is a sign of having no taste at all. Vista on a Macintosh is like putting lipstick (Vista) on a pig (Windows) and sticking it into an Armani suit (Macintosh). )

[siurpeeman]

If I ever had the intention of buying a computer to use with Vista :mad: I would surely look at buying a Mac. MacMini, MacBook, iMac and the eight core MacPros are definitely competitive with anything in the PC market.

(What's wrong with that statement? Buying a Macintosh is very often a sign of _taste_. Buying Vista is a sign of having no taste at all. Vista on a Macintosh is like putting lipstick (Vista) on a pig (Windows) and sticking it into an Armani suit (Macintosh). )

this is what my horoscope read for the day. scary.

to the op, what's so bad about mac os x? i'm just curious.

[Glen Quagmire]

What's the point? Surely most people buy a Mac because of the OS and the software, not because it's pretty? Why not just buy a Dell?

It's like buying a Ferrari and leaving it in first gear all the time. Strange.

[OldSkoolNJ]

What's the point? Surely most people buy a Mac because of the OS and the software, not because it's pretty? Why not just buy a Dell?

It's like buying a Ferrari and leaving it in first gear all the time. Strange.

NO that would mean it can run. This would be more like buying a Ferrari and driving it in forst gear with boots on three out of four wheels. ;)

*flash back to the simpsons where Homer drove his wagon with the boot on it* lol

Kevin :apple:

[androvboy]

C'mon guys. I have a MacBook Pro 17. Had it for 12 months now. I purchased because the hardware reliability is excellent on all the reviews, and I wanted strong reliable kit.

I love the hardware, but cannot get on with Mac OS. I only boot into the MAC OS for bootcamp upgrades.

Steve Jobs got most of my cash and Bill Gates got a little bit. I have too many Windows programmes that I cannot be bothered to track down in Apple format and because I work on website development it is more important that I spot possible errors instantly for the 95% of website viewers that are using Explorer.

It does you guys no favours to always moan on about MAC OS is better, especially in this part of the forum. Thou doth protest too much.

[Peace]

There's nothing wrong with using a Mac for Windows only.Apple makes the best system.It's a natural.I would suggest leaving OSX on it though because the EFI will be needed for future updates and Leopard will be out soon so you never know how Apple will impliment the EFI.

[biturbomunkie]

like others have pointed out, i'd keep OS X for firmware updates and such.

also, i'm not sure if i'd pick vista as the one and only OS when you actually have the opportunity to use OS X. vista can get very needy and at times i find myself pampering the OS than actually using it.

[biturbomunkie]

C'mon guys. I have a MacBook Pro 17. Had it for 12 months now. I purchased because the hardware reliability is excellent on all the reviews, and I wanted strong reliable kit.

I love the hardware, but cannot get on with Mac OS. I only boot into the MAC OS for bootcamp upgrades.

Steve Jobs got most of my cash and Bill Gates got a little bit. I have too many Windows programmes that I cannot be bothered to track down in Apple format and because I work on website development it is more important that I spot possible errors instantly for the 95% of website viewers that are using Explorer.

It does you guys no favours to always moan on about MAC OS is better, especially in this part of the forum. Thou doth protest too much.

i'm not sure how to describe what you have posted - silly, ignorant, misinformed, or...?

sorry if i sound rude. but i'm just amazed by your post, especially if you work on web development.

btw, since when IE has 95% of usage share?

[babyjenniferLB]

i'm not sure how to describe what you have posted - silly, ignorant, misinformed, or...?

sorry if i sound rude. but i'm just amazed by your post, especially if you work on web development.

btw, since when IE has 95% of usage share?

and last i checked i have ie 4, 5, 6 and 7 running on my mac without windows. That plus Opera, Firefox 1 and 2 both windows and mac versions and i also run safari 2. That pretty much covers the cross platform web designer can't do that in windows. Oh and IE 6 is 30% of my sites traffic, IE 7 is 5% the rest is firefox and 15% is shared between Safari, Opera and Older IE and netscape browsers.

[applecow]

Is it possible to run OSX on the original machine and boot Vista from an external hdd? Like many other people have said, it is best to keep at least some of OSX on there just for updates and such.

And fwiw, im sure there are a ton of web development software out there for the mac.

[PCMacUser]

and last i checked i have ie 4, 5, 6 and 7 running on my mac without windows. That plus Opera, Firefox 1 and 2 both windows and mac versions and i also run safari 2. That pretty much covers the cross platform web designer can't do that in windows. Oh and IE 6 is 30% of my sites traffic, IE 7 is 5% the rest is firefox and 15% is shared between Safari, Opera and Older IE and netscape browsers.

Wikipedia has an interesting article on browser statistics. It lists the percentages from different sources (in 2007), and there's quite a variance. Although your statistics resemble nothing like anything I've seen. Perhaps it's the type of site you run?

The statistic range presented by a host of different sites is as follows:

IE: 77.34 - 85.81%
Mozilla/Firefox: 11.69 - 14.34%
Safari: 1.64 - 4.68%

The rest was scattered amongst Opera and old browsers.

[flopticalcube]

All you need now is to know the percentage of Mac users that run Safari as opposed to Firefox and you have a decent metric for measuring Mac market share.

[bloodycape]

and last i checked i have ie 4, 5, 6 and 7 running on my mac without windows. That plus Opera, Firefox 1 and 2 both windows and mac versions and i also run safari 2. That pretty much covers the cross platform web designer can't do that in windows. Oh and IE 6 is 30% of my sites traffic, IE 7 is 5% the rest is firefox and 15% is shared between Safari, Opera and Older IE and netscape browsers.

wait how did you get cross over office(that what I am assuming you are using) to run IE7 without the genuine activation error?

[TimJim]

if you must do this, i suggest partitioning down Mac OS to 7 GB and give vista the rest. the reason for this is for updates on bootcamp or the hardware.

i hope your happy with your choice :(

[elppa]

C'mon guys. I have a MacBook Pro 17. Had it for 12 months now. I purchased because the hardware reliability is excellent on all the reviews, and I wanted strong reliable kit.

I love the hardware, but cannot get on with Mac OS. I only boot into the MAC OS for bootcamp upgrades.

Steve Jobs got most of my cash and Bill Gates got a little bit. I have too many Windows programmes that I cannot be bothered to track down in Apple format and because I work on website development it is more important that I spot possible errors instantly for the 95% of website viewers that are using Explorer.

It does you guys no favours to always moan on about MAC OS is better, especially in this part of the forum. Thou doth protest too much.

Mac OS X, not Mac OS, there is big a difference.

No one is "moaning", but everyone with any sort of knowledge can clearly see Mac OS X is architectually and technically superior.

Your arguement is that there are more programs available for Windows. Yes, that is true, but it does not make it a good OS.

Unless you are using Visual Studio ASP/.NET, Mac OS X is a compeling platform for web development, especially with parellels.

You do come across a little ignorant.

[MacRumorUser]

You do come across a little ignorant.

And not respecting somebodys opinions or choice isnt ? :confused:

[balamw]

Is it possible to run OSX on the original machine and boot Vista from an external hdd? Like many other people have said, it is best to keep at least some of OSX on there just for updates and such.

Unfortunately Windows is designed to not be able to boot from any external media, unlike OS X, Linux or most other modern OSes. (It unloads and reloads the USB stack during boot).

There are hacks for booting XP on an external, but you can still achieve a similar effect by putting OS X on the external, which'll boot and work fine.

B

[Eidorian]

Unfortunately Windows is designed to not be able to boot from any external media, unlike OS X, Linux or most other modern OSes. (It unloads and reloads the USB stack during boot).

There are hacks for booting XP on an external, but you can still achieve a similar effect by putting OS X on the external, which'll boot and work fine.

BI wonder why my USB drives keep coming up in the Windows installer then...

And the option to boot via USB in the BIOS...

[iHerzeleid]

Unfortunately Windows is designed to not be able to boot from any external media, unlike OS X, Linux or most other modern OSes. (It unloads and reloads the USB stack during boot).

There are hacks for booting XP on an external, but you can still achieve a similar effect by putting OS X on the external, which'll boot and work fine.

B

You can boot windows from an external.

[raggedjimmi]

If you do manage to get OSX clean off the iMac, install OSX onto a USB/Firewire drive. I'm thinking about installing a little Linux OS onto my old iPod so I'll basically have a portable computer on me old iPod :)

[chelsel]

and last i checked i have ie 4, 5, 6 and 7 running on my mac without windows. That plus Opera, Firefox 1 and 2 both windows and mac versions and i also run safari 2. That pretty much covers the cross platform web designer can't do that in windows. Oh and IE 6 is 30% of my sites traffic, IE 7 is 5% the rest is firefox and 15% is shared between Safari, Opera and Older IE and netscape browsers.

How do you accomplish this? I am considering a MacPro for development purposes and this would be perfect to have all these browsers to test against!

Thanks,
Cliff.

[yellow]

For the record, I suggest keeing OS X on there for 2 reasons.

1) If you have hardware issues with it. It's unlikely that the AppleCare people will do much with it when it only has Vista on it.

2) If BootCamp or Leopard gets new drivers for the Windows, you won't have any way of getting them without using someone else's Mac.

[bobber205]

Lol. What a dork. ;) Enough said. :cool:

[babyjenniferLB]

wait how did you get cross over office(that what I am assuming you are using) to run IE7 without the genuine activation error?

i used a *cough* version of IE7 that had genuine activation stripped form it

[babyjenniferLB]

How do you accomplish this? I am considering a MacPro for development purposes and this would be perfect to have all these browsers to test against!

Thanks,
Cliff.
just use crossover office and have each browser in a diffrent bottle, i even have 4 versions of ie6 with diffrent plugins and security settings and one with stock settings since it only takes up 50 MB or so for the install i dont see why not.

[bloodycape]

i used a *cough* version of IE7 that had genuine activation stripped form it

yes I figured that how it was done but let just say the loophole people told me about would not work with Crossover.

[balamw]

I wonder why my USB drives keep coming up in the Windows installer then...

And the option to boot via USB in the BIOS...

You can boot windows from an external.

Quick! Someone tell Microsoft. :p

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usbfaq.mspx

Q: Can a USB storage device be the primary (and only) means of storage?
No. USB-based mass storage devices cannot be the primary hard disk storage solution on a regular system (Microsoft Windows Logo Program System and Device Requirements, B10.1.5.6). However, these devices might be expected to be a replacement for booting to load an operating system (for example using a CD-ROM drive over USB) on the primary boot drive or as a replacement for legacy floppy disk drives. Booting from an external USB CD-ROM or USB floppy disk drive requires BIOS support.

If your internal HDD is not NTFS or FAT32 you're SOL, unless your BIOS is making the external drive look like a slow internal through int13 emulation.

B

[solvs]

You do web dev on Vista? I hope you're running IE 6 too, because it's the most popular browser. You do know IE 7 is a little different right? Why you wouldn't use PS with one of the top Mac web dev apps, along with Parallels and/or VMWare for testing IE 6, 7, and FireFox for Windows, along with Safari and others on the Mac, I don't understand. I mean, your choice... but really? You know, Leopard is coming out soon. Should have some pretty colors like Vista too.

Sorry, but if someone wanted to do web dev and testing on a Vista machine where I work, they'd be laughed out of the building.

[mirunit]

You do web dev on Vista? I hope you're running IE 6 too, because it's the most popular browser. You do know IE 7 is a little different right? Why you wouldn't use PS with one of the top Mac web dev apps, along with Parallels and/or VMWare for testing IE 6, 7, and FireFox for Windows, along with Safari and others on the Mac, I don't understand. I mean, your choice... but really? You know, Leopard is coming out soon. Should have some pretty colors like Vista too.

Sorry, but if someone wanted to do web dev and testing on a Vista machine where I work, they'd be laughed out of the building.

IE7 is really not that different. I would guess you have never done web development before.

[elppa]

And not respecting somebodys opinions or choice isnt ? :confused:

Not when that opnion is:

"I haven't given Mac OS X a fair go, despite the array of quality tools and technologies for web development available on the platform (as I can't be bothered to ask/look for them)"

[solvs]

IE7 is really not that different. I would guess you have never done web development before.

Yes it is and yes I have.

[androvboy]

silly, ignorant, misinformed, or...?

You do come across a little ignorant.


Thanks guys - always nice to make a potential crossover user from Windows to Mac feel welcome over here. Glad to see you are not endorsing the opinion that Mac users are all elitist and blinkered.

I am posting in the "Windows on the Mac" part of the forum after all.

The more I get bullied into being made to feel I should use Mac OS the less I want to try it again. Frankly if it is going to make me have the attitudes of some of the people here, I think I would rather be a Windoze user.

I know from my own website stats the % of users on Apples and PC's, so I know which users pay my bills. And it is not the Mac punters.

And no I am not a web developer, apologies if that was implied, but I do update my own e-commerce websites and that takes maybe 5-10% of my working life. I am a jack off all trades. I am not a computer whizzkid - just a humble user that is happy with Windows and not seen anything in the Mac OS that justifies the extra time and expense of switching everything over.

There may be some nice bits in the MAC OS, but it will also restrict me in many ways as well.

[yellow]

There may be some nice bits in the MAC OS, but it will also restrict me in many ways as well.

Regardless, driver updates and firmware updates will require OS X, so you should REALLY keep at least a minimum installation handy.

[elppa]

And no I am not a web developer, apologies if that was implied, but I do update my own e-commerce websites and that takes maybe 5-10% of my working life.

That explains a bit more.

I would be a bit alarmed if someone who was a professonial developer was that dismissive of the Mac platform as it can run a lot of great software for web development, some of which comes bundled.

Ignorance is not always a bad thing (ignorance is bliss!?) — I know I am ignorant about plenty of things.

Many Apologies and Happy computing! :D

elppa

[wyatt23]

C'mon guys. I have a MacBook Pro 17. Had it for 12 months now. I purchased because the hardware reliability is excellent on all the reviews, and I wanted strong reliable kit.

I love the hardware, but cannot get on with Mac OS. I only boot into the MAC OS for bootcamp upgrades.

Steve Jobs got most of my cash and Bill Gates got a little bit. I have too many Windows programmes that I cannot be bothered to track down in Apple format and because I work on website development it is more important that I spot possible errors instantly for the 95% of website viewers that are using Explorer.

It does you guys no favours to always moan on about MAC OS is better, especially in this part of the forum. Thou doth protest too much.

i hate to break it to you, but according to the browser usage share ratings, internet explorer is dwindling from it's former grace...

these companies publish their results of the percentage of visitors to a group of web sites that use a particular browser.

the (edit: most recent) results: (according to cited sources on wikipedia)

w3 counter - 66.67%
net applications - 78.34%
adtech - 77%
thecounter.com - 83%
onestat.com - 85%

make way for gecko and webkit!:apple: :D

[thekiller]

Shame on you!

lol,,,,but that's his mac