Can you boot your computer from a second storage drive in the MBP ?

how are you putting in a second drive? and is it a mechanical drive or an ssd?

I want to put an SSD in, but i'm dreading having to do it myself. Are you getting it done professionally?

 

well, why don't you just put your ssd in the hard drive bay, install windows 7 on it, and then put it in the cd drive?

even if boot camp doesn't recognize the other sata port, i know the macbook pro's firmware does, because thats how you boot from the install disc.

p.s. i'm so jealous of you right now its unbearable. I can't make the decision of whether i want an internal cd drive or not.

 

don't be in a dilemma! try what i said! it should work!

you can only use bootcamp on the partition that you boot from, thats why it doesn't see the other disk.

 

Create your Windows and Mac partion how you want them to be in size in your internal HDD. Then use disk Utility to put them in the SDD. Shouldn't that work?

 

One more time, Do your boot camp install in your internal HDD. Then using disk utility or other app like it (I don;t recall right now the name), you copy that partition to your SDD. So you do that after you are sure Windows actually works, it will have all the drivers in it, if you properly follow the boot camp installation instructions.

See it like copying or cloning your Windows PC HDD partition to a different media volume.

 

it has been answered before.. you get to choose between drives in bootcamp, had it myself but changed back (minimal usage of win)
of course you dont need bootcamp if you intend to use the whole second hdd

edit: like so -> http://macs.about.com/od/bootcamp/ss/bootcampassist_4.htm

 

like my sig says I´ve got a mbp-"early 2010"
installed extra ram and optibay myself, had only started up once and done the personalization
used disk utility and formatted the intel ssd, checked so it was ok, then partioned using bootcamp
now I got an external case to the superdrive,in the discussion you´re linking the trouble seems to be with the cd/dvd-rom
I never had any issues with that, I´ve got original win7 dvds and hitting alt after apple sound allowed booting from the disc

 

if you have access to a Pc with windows, you could create an usb with win7-install http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool
try booting from that before removing your superdrive, at least its faster

 

Carbon Copy Cloner is good with stuff like that.

google it!

 

yeah, that's what i'd do, because i'd want the boot camp drivers. but i don't think you're getting what i'm saying, let me try explaining it step by step.

1. buy your ssd. Hopefully a nice intel x-25m g2.

2. since you're going to use it as your boot drive, stick it in your main hard drive bay and install mac os x on it using the mac os x dvd through your superdrive.

2. Or, use carbon copy cloner to clone your hard drive data to your ssd. you would need a hard drive enclosure to put the ssd in though, so that you could clone it over usb or firewire.

3. keep/put your ssd in the main hard drive bay, and install windows 7 on it through boot camp. then put the boot camp driver disc in your superdrive and install the drivers onto your windows 7 installation.

4. now, take out your ssd, and put your main hard drive back into its proper place. take out your ssd and put it into your cd/dvd drive place.

5. success! you should be able to boot off of the ssd.

p.s. disclaimer: i haven't done this, but this process seems to work for everyone else.

 

yes i formatted to hfs+ j... the only use in bootcamp is to re-partition fast and easy just drag the bar to what size you want and it´s automated
you dont need to do anything in diskutility

 

Yes you can, Apple genius's do it to troubleshoot software issues.