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BootCamp + External Drive

Great look forward to hear your results, too bad XP takes so darn long to install I'd like to test some things as well...

Just had a big success here, I managed to get MCE 2005 to install!
Had to copy disc 2 of the install to a USB drive, then point to it when needed during the install as drive D:.

Drivers installed without issue too.
 
:(((

Tried to install XP on my external drive following the instructions from ipedro but no success story here. :mad: :( :( :( :(
When I connect my external drive with firewire, the windows installer sees the drive but if I select it I receive a message saying that windows cannot communicate with this drive. When I connect my external with usb, once again the windows installer sees the drive but if I select it I receive a message that windows can be installed in this drive only if the installer writes some files to the internal drive. But since the internal drive is formatted with OSX, the installer cannot write anything to it. And it suggests to delete the unknown (macos) partition and create a new one.

20 inch iMac, USB2/Firewire ICYBOX (Prolific PL3507 combo device)
 
derajfast said:
well if anyone hears anything or figures out a workaround, please let me know

i wont put windows on this hard drive....only the external....i hate windows hierarchal scheming

will spotlight pick up windows files too?
Click to expand...

no
 
diablakis said:
Tried to install XP on my external drive following the instructions from ipedro but no success story here. :mad: :( :( :( :(
When I connect my external drive with firewire, the windows installer sees the drive but if I select it I receive a message saying that windows cannot communicate with this drive. When I connect my external with usb, once again the windows installer sees the drive but if I select it I receive a message that windows can be installed in this drive only if the installer writes some files to the internal drive. But since the internal drive is formatted with OSX, the installer cannot write anything to it. And it suggests to delete the unknown (macos) partition and create a new one.

20 inch iMac, USB2/Firewire ICYBOX (Prolific PL3507 combo device)
Click to expand...

why not let boot camp make a small partition (say 5 gigs) for xp and let it install those few files? Then it might let you proceed with install on external drive...
 
Electro Funk said:
why not let boot camp make a small partition (say 5 gigs) for xp and let it install those few files? Then it might let you proceed with install on external drive...
Click to expand...

That's what I'm doing now, I think either this chap had a better firewire drive that could do more... or the MacBook Pro has a better firewire controller....

Hey ho! Isn't he a lucky chap!
 
Electro Funk said:
why not let boot camp make a small partition (say 5 gigs) for xp and let it install those few files? Then it might let you proceed with install on external drive...
Click to expand...

Interesting idea...I'll try it soon. I just finished the installation of XP on the internal HD. It works fine and I can say that I am impressed with the speed (compared to my athlon XP 2100+).
 
I was also not able to install to an external 20 GB drive in a cheap USB/FW enclosure. I was trying two things at once to see if I could use the external drive or a USB flash drive to provide the upgrade qualification files from Windows ME install disc, but with either external drives connected during the install, the boot from CD would hang indefinitely at the "Starting Windows" phase after all the drivers are loaded.

Finally got it installed to a 10 GB internal partition, and I may try running the installer from within Windows to get it on the external and see if I can boot from the external only.

B
 
I was trying last night to get it booting from an external drive but no luck.

Frist I cloned the working windows HD to my external drive

Then rebooted an tried the command, option, shift + delete starup command but it wouldnt show up? :confused:
 
:( :( That doesnt work. I've already tried.

And if you have to keep your 5gb partition then you may aswell just keep you windows xp on it and then use an external for programs full stop...

It will take Apple to introduce an update to bootcamp to allow external hd installation and booting.
 
ipedro said:
Exactly my friend. I can confirm that this works. I ran into a minor issue when I tried to install Windows using my above described method, none of the partitions were recognized properly (including size) so I couldn't distinguish which one was my internal drive and which ones were my external partitions.

So I simply went into the Terminal under OSX and formatted my external drive as FAT32

newfs_msdos -F32 /dev/rdisk#s1

(rdisk#s1 being my partition's ID ... you need to check that before you run this command)

I then went booted my MacBook Pro from the Windows CD by holding C on startup, installed WindowsXP flawlessly (mind you, I could have installed VISTA, WinME, Linux, whatever) and then booted into Windows after installation by holding CMD+OPTION+SHIFT+DEL at startup.

The final step was to install the drivers that Boot Camp created previously.

Voilá. You read it here first! (Do I get $13,000? ;) )

This is the perfect solution for me. I don't put crappy old windows living with OSX on the same drive but I get to keep an external drive on my desk at work. When I arrive at work I simply plug in the external drive, boot into Windows and work on that all day. When I get home, I run OSX.

Lovin' It.
Click to expand...

Is the problem you described above only due to the fact that you had multiple partitions on your internal? From your first post, it sounded very simple, and i hope that it is.

Also, just to clarify:

1. Install firmware into OS X.
2. Restart.
3. Boot from XP CD using 'C' Key.
4. Select external Hdd.
5. Install XP
6. restart, and use option+command+shift+delete to select boot drive.
7. install drivers created using boot camp.

I have a few questions regarding the above method. Am i right in thinking that the firmware update allows for step #3 to work? I think you mentioned that the firmware update is for running BIOS. What will the external hdd show up as, when you are given a choice on which hdd you want to install to? How will you know it is the right one? Lastly... Is the option+command+shift+delete key-combo essentially performing the same operation as holding down the option key when booting from one disk?

I hope i make sense... and thanks in advance if you can answer my questions.

Nar
 
Nar1117 said:
Is the problem you described above only due to the fact that you had multiple partitions on your internal? From your first post, it sounded very simple, and i hope that it is.

Also, just to clarify:

1. Install firmware into OS X.
2. Restart.
3. Boot from XP CD using 'C' Key.
4. Select external Hdd.
5. Install XP
6. restart, and use option+command+shift+delete to select boot drive.
7. install drivers created using boot camp.

I have a few questions regarding the above method. Am i right in thinking that the firmware update allows for step #3 to work? I think you mentioned that the firmware update is for running BIOS. What will the external hdd show up as, when you are given a choice on which hdd you want to install to? How will you know it is the right one? Lastly... Is the option+command+shift+delete key-combo essentially performing the same operation as holding down the option key when booting from one disk?

I hope i make sense... and thanks in advance if you can answer my questions.

Nar
Click to expand...

I tried that already, but when you go to choose the external HD, windows tells you it cant be installed on that drive? I formatted it in both NTFS & Fat32 but no luck....
 
huh... Well it seems like it should work... I wonder how ipedro got it to work...

Probably has to do with the type or brand of hard drive.
 
i dont understand why this wouldnt work.....

i just instaleld OS X on my external drive, and downloaded boot camp on it. but it wont even let me put the windows partition on it, even though im booting off it, saying i need to have the partition on the internal
 
ipedro said:
Exactly my friend. I can confirm that this works. I ran into a minor issue when I tried to install Windows using my above described method, none of the partitions were recognized properly (including size) so I couldn't distinguish which one was my internal drive and which ones were my external partitions.

So I simply went into the Terminal under OSX and formatted my external drive as FAT32

newfs_msdos -F32 /dev/rdisk#s1

(rdisk#s1 being my partition's ID ... you need to check that before you run this command)

I then went booted my MacBook Pro from the Windows CD by holding C on startup, installed WindowsXP flawlessly (mind you, I could have installed VISTA, WinME, Linux, whatever) and then booted into Windows after installation by holding CMD+OPTION+SHIFT+DEL at startup.

The final step was to install the drivers that Boot Camp created previously.

Voilá. You read it here first! (Do I get $13,000? ;) )

This is the perfect solution for me. I don't put crappy old windows living with OSX on the same drive but I get to keep an external drive on my desk at work. When I arrive at work I simply plug in the external drive, boot into Windows and work on that all day. When I get home, I run OSX.

Lovin' It.
Click to expand...
Ipedro, I have a couple of questions for you. First, did you use a MBR or a GUID partition table option when you set up the partition in disk utility? Can you check it please? Also, what is the manufacturer and model of your external firewire drive? Capacity? I am unable to get this to work on my 160GB WD external firewire drive. XP sees the FAT32 partition, but when I try to install XP on it it says "Your computers startup program cannot gain access to the disk ....may indicate a CMOS drive type setting issue." I did try the format command you indicated, and I also tried every format and partition option in disk utility that I could think of. At the present time I am leaning towards a Firewire Drive firmware issue. Any thoughts?
 
Harryc said:
Ipedro, I have a couple of questions for you. First, did you use a MBR or a GUID partition table option when you set up the partition in disk utility? Can you check it please? Also, what is the manufacturer and model of your external firewire drive? Capacity? I am unable to get this to work on my 160GB WD external firewire drive. XP sees the FAT32 partition, but when I try to install XP on it it says "Your computers startup program cannot gain access to the disk ....may indicate a CMOS drive type setting issue." I did try the format command you indicated, and I also tried every format and partition option in disk utility that I could think of. At the present time I am leaning towards a Firewire Drive firmware issue. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

BUMP; same problems; any ideas?
 
Harryc said:
No ideas on firewire, but I was going to try USB2 when I get a chance. If anyone tries this please post results.

http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176
Click to expand...

I completed an install of Windows XP onto an external USB/Firewire drive (using USB) with my MacBook last weekend. Apart from the pagefile problem noted on that site it works fine. Not having a pagefile for Windows is not a big deal for me since I have 2GB of RAM installed.

There is a small problem in that holding down command-option-shift when booting to select an external drive will not boot Windows off my USB drive for some reason. Instead, I have to go to the Startup Disk preference pane/control panel each time I want to switch which OS I boot into.

I have also found a way to prevent Spotlight from indexing the NTFS partition when I connect the external drive to OS X. Details posted in another thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/216245/
 
bugfaceuk said:
I'm going to be giving this a go with a firewire drive first, then with a usb 2.0 drive... I can barely wait! Creating slip-stream now, firmware upgrade in a second.....
Click to expand...

Firewire will not work. The Windows XP installer refuses to install onto a Firewire disk even though the disk is visible at the Windows partitioning stage.

With a USB drive, you will be able to partition and format the drive but later in the installation you will get errors that cause the installation to abort. Even if you could complete the installtion Windows will blue screen during the boot process because Windows unloads and reloads the USB drivers part-way through the boot process.

However all is not lost. By following the instructions linked to earlier in this thread you can create a modified Windows install CD that will install Windows onto a USB drive and have it result in a working Windows installation. I performed the installation of Windows onto an external USB drive last weekend and can verify that a "normal" Windows XP install CD will not work.
 
ipedro said:
After installation, according to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459 "Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete during startup to Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)". At this point, you'll be able to select your external drive to boot from. Since Windows will be installed there, you'll boot Windows.
Click to expand...

If you install Windows on an external USB drive then the Option-Command-Shift-Delete key combination will not boot your external drive. The only way I have found to boot Windows from an external drive is to select the Windows installation in the Startup Disk preference panel.

I suspect that the Apple firmware is looking for a GPT partition table when selecting bootable drives. If you install Windows directly without using BootCamp then the Windows drive will end up with only a MBR partition table.
 
mrichmon said:
If you install Windows on an external USB drive then the Option-Command-Shift-Delete key combination will not boot your external drive. The only way I have found to boot Windows from an external drive is to select the Windows installation in the Startup Disk preference panel.

I suspect that the Apple firmware is looking for a GPT partition table when selecting bootable drives. If you install Windows directly without using BootCamp then the Windows drive will end up with only a MBR partition table.
Click to expand...

Though holding down option will show PC bootable HDD disks. Those aren't GPT partitions.
 
7on said:
Though holding down option will show PC bootable HDD disks. Those aren't GPT partitions.
Click to expand...

Only PC bootable partitions on the internal drive. If the internal drive has OS X installed then it has a GPT partition table.

Any disk that boots OS X on an intel Mac has to be a GPT table. If you install Windows using BootCamp you end up with 3 partitions on your internal drive an OS X boot partition, an OS X partition and a Windows partition. All three partitions are defined in a GPT partition table.

In addition to the GPT partition table the disk will also have a MBR partition table. A significant part of the pre-BootCamp install process for Windows involved hacking around to create the correct pair of partitions on the drive.
 
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