3TB iMac and Boot Camp

If I can't Bootcamp with 3TB HD it's a problem

What is the difference between Bootcamp and Paralells? Will it not work with Paralells either??

virtualization will works...
with hardware intensive applications the difference is enormous

no way


bootcamp it's a feature on the new iMac page and so have to work with the new product... otherwise I'll be very disappointed

How will bootcamp work with the Fusion drives? Am i correct in thinking the SSD/HDD are combined with software run in OS X? therefore im guessing windows will either run without the SSD drive or there will be some kind of update for the bootcamp and add the new software as windows drivers to make it function


I would hate to run windows without the SSD speeds

If I create a hard disk partition is it part of Fusion Drive?
The additional partition is not part of Fusion Drive. The new partition is a separate volume that is physically located on the hard disk drive.

Windows partition = no ssd

Err... wow, that's a stunning fail.

I hope that gets fixed quickly.

The Phazer said:

Err... wow, that's a stunning fail.

I hope that gets fixed quickly.

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I am not impressed with this Fusion business myself. I predict it will bring a world of pain and "where is all of my data gone to. Cannot read fusion disk. etc" threads.

I'm sure Apple will fix this on release of the iMac or within a couple of months (it took them a few months after the 2009 iMac to get an official Bootcamp solution for Windows). If not then it would be a massive fail on Apples part, but as I said, cannot imagine that Bootcamp will be an issue on this release.

I can wait a couple of months for the fix.... just I need to be sure that will be fixed
otherwise I should choose the 1TB solution plus an exteranl storage unit

Would something like refit solve this?

tyche said:

Would something like refit solve this?

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Yes, you could, in theory, create a partition on the HDD by yourself using Disk Utility and then use refit to install windows.

Having said that, it really depends on what you're planning to use Windows for. If it's office productivity type stuff, then you would be best off with using Parallels or VMWare fusion and running Windows as a virtual machine. You should get better performance, because the virtual machine file should be on the flash "cache" drive. Again, this is a theory without having the details of how "Fusion drive" will prioritise which files go where. If it's based on how often they are accessed, then you're in luck. But you may be out of luck because there will probably be a switch about how big the files can be and it will probably try to move large files, like vms, to the mechanical HDD anyway.

btw the 3tb bootcamp limitation is it not fusion drive related.
the issue is the same with a standard hard disk with a size more than 2tb

If you change hd with a 3tb one in the actual iMac you cant bootcamp

81Steven said:

btw the 3tb bootcamp limitation is it not fusion drive related.
the issue is the same with a standard hard disk with a size more than 2tb

If you change hd with a 3tb one in the actual iMac you cant bootcamp

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That's the part that troubles me. I hope someone somewhere can come up with a workaround in the near future.

tyche said:

Would something like refit solve this?

Click to expand...

That would remain to be seen, but what I'm wondering about is how to install Bootcamp without an internal DVD drive.

I just went through this hell with my Macbook Pro. The internal DVD is removed and replaced with the stock 500gb hard drive. I have an SSD in the main disk bay.

The issue is that you cannot boot Windows (or anything) from an external CD or USB drive of any kind on the Macbook Pro, even using rEFIt. I had to put the internal DVD superdrive back into the Macbook to install Windows. I'm just wondering if the iMac works the same way.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see a problem. The OP's post says, "if the 1st sector of your Windows partition is outside the 1st 2TB of the disk, the Windows installer will fail." So, what if you set the Bootcamp partition at a size larger than 1TB? This will put the Windows start before the 2TB limit. Or, is Bootcamp partition size limited to something less than 1TB? Anything I've read indicates no maximum size limit for a Bootcamp partition. I've seen mention of a an entire 2TB disk used as a bootcamp partition for a Windows only, Mac.

MatthewAMEL said:

Yes, and it seems like it would work that way.

One of the many work-arounds I tried was creating a 1TB Mac partition, then the Boot Camp partition (inside the 2TB limit).

The Boot Camp assistant would work, the Windows installer would run, but it would quit with an error when it attempted to install.

Apple has finally acknowledged this as a limit because they now ship a factory Mac with a 3TB drive available.

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This is interesting. What happens if you give OS X the full 3TB, then create a 1.2TB bootcamp partition, as per the normal procedure?

Anyway, in the present situation, are you able to format the bootcamp partition as NTFS? Also, at what point in the install do you get the error, and what is the error message? Win 7 doesn't care what partition size you are using. it could be 10TB, and it would still install.

Another thought, if you have nothing important on the disk, what happens if you erase it, and give Windows the entire 3TB?

I see what's going on now. Bootcamp sets the Windows partition as MBR, but the windows installer is prevented by bootcamp from repartioning the partition to GUID. So, here we have a situation where Windows would be happy with GUID, but bootcamp insists on MBR. I suppose you could give OS X 1TB, and Windows 1TB, but then you would lose use of the 3rd TB.

Aside from providing the applicable Mac drivers, is bootcamp even needed? Could OS X create a second unformatted GUID partition, so that the 64 bit Windows installer would recognize it as a bootable partition and be able to format it as NTFS?

drambuie said:

I see what's going on now. Bootcamp sets the Windows partition as MBR, but the windows installer is prevented by bootcamp from repartioning the partition to GUID. So, here we have a situation where Windows would be happy with GUID, but bootcamp insists on MBR. I suppose you could give OS X 1TB, and Windows 1TB, but then you would lose use of the 3rd TB.

Aside from providing the applicable Mac drivers, is bootcamp even needed? Could OS X create a second unformatted GUID partition, so that the 64 bit Windows installer would recognize it as a bootable partition and be able to format it as NTFS?

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During the Windows 8 beta that is how I was running Win 8 on my iMac. I used OSX disk util and made a unformatted GUID partition. I booted up from the Win 8 DVD and used it to format the partition NTFS and install Win 8. After the install I made a folder on the windows drive where I copied the Bootcamp drivers and installed them. Worked fully.

Does anyone have any idea when a bootcamp 'fix' might be coming out to address this issue and allow installation 3TB hard drives?

reflekshun said:

Does anyone have any idea when a bootcamp 'fix' might be coming out to address this issue and allow installation 3TB hard drives?

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No one knows when they're coming out, or even if they're coming out. But, if I had to guess I'd say that Apple will 'fix' it when they release Windows 8 drivers - that's if they decide to fix the >2TB problem.

Nishi100 said:

No one knows when they're coming out, or even if they're coming out. But, if I had to guess I'd say that Apple will 'fix' it when they release Windows 8 drivers - that's if they decide to fix the >2TB problem.

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Hmm good point Nishi, I think its best to assume that it's not coming for the time being and configure a 2TB HDD somehow. Heres hoping that it's possible to safely replace the HDD in the new 27" imac!!!