Bootcamp Windows 7 Programs on Opti-Bay Drive

[WesCole]

Hello,

I am planning on getting a 2011 15" MacBook Pro and have experience with Macs and Boot Camp. However, I am not 100% sure on this question and was hoping y'all could help.

I am going to have a 128GB SSD in the main HD slot. I will also have a 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive in the opti-bay. I am planning on partitioning the SSD to give OS X 64GB and Windows 7 64GB. My question is...if I install just the Windows OS on the SSD, will I be able to install the Windows programs to the hard drive in the opti-bay slot? I will also use the opti-bay drive to hold music, pictures, videos, etc. for both OS X and Windows.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Danno21]

Similar question

I was actually just going to ask pretty much the same question and am interested as well.

What I wanted to do was put Windows 7 along with OSX on my 240gb SSD while also partitioning my my 750gb HDD that I'll install in the optibay drive so one side is for Windows in NTFS and the other for OSX.

Possible within disc utilies, right? Sorry, I am a new Mac user =D

 

[zwodubber]

I was actually just going to ask pretty much the same question and am interested as well.

What I wanted to do was put Windows 7 along with OSX on my 240gb SSD while also partitioning my my 750gb HDD that I'll install in the optibay drive so one side is for Windows in NTFS and the other for OSX.

Possible within disc utilies, right? Sorry, I am a new Mac user =D

I'm a little confused, I understand the OSX and bootcamp win7 on the SSD but why are you partitioning the 750GB HDD? You might want to format the 750GB as mac osx journaled and get macdrive for win7, that way windows can write to both the bootable osx and the 750GB drive.

I have one drive with 3 partitions. SL, Lion and win7 and can share files between each OS. Just a suggestion...

 

[Danno21]

I see, thank you!

 

[WesCole]

I'm a little confused, I understand the OSX and bootcamp win7 on the SSD but why are you partitioning the 750GB HDD? You might want to format the 750GB as mac osx journaled and get macdrive for win7, that way windows can write to both the bootable osx and the 750GB drive.

I have one drive with 3 partitions. SL, Lion and win7 and can share files between each OS. Just a suggestion...

I understand that part of the equation, but I was wondering if windows would give me the option to install programs (like office and photoshop) to the second hard drive. For example, would the installer be able to tell that it is a hard drive that windows can use to install programs?

 

[johnnj]

I understand that part of the equation, but I was wondering if windows would give me the option to install programs (like office and photoshop) to the second hard drive. For example, would the installer be able to tell that it is a hard drive that windows can use to install programs?

You can put them anywhere you want them. There might be some dlls that'll end up somewhere in the Windows directory, but the bulk, if not all, of the app will reside where you put it.

My current MBP config has Win7 system on a partition on my drive bay drive and the games on another partition on my optibay drive.

You can also use Paragon NTFS to be able to read/write the Windows drives.

John

 

[WesCole]

You can put them anywhere you want them. There might be some dlls that'll end up somewhere in the Windows directory, but the bulk, if not all, of the app will reside where you put it.

My current MBP config has Win7 system on a partition on my drive bay drive and the games on another partition on my optibay drive.

You can also use Paragon NTFS to be able to read/write the Windows drives.

John

Awesome...thanks!

So, just to be clear, I need to format the opti-bay drive partition as NTFS so Windows can read it?

 

[johnnj]

Awesome...thanks!

So, just to be clear, I need to format the opti-bay drive partition as NTFS so Windows can read it?

You'll need to create a new partition using Disk Utility. Once Win7 is up and running, just reformat it as NTFS.

John

 

[WesCole]

Thanks again.

 

[johnnj]

Thanks again.

NP. Good luck.