Need two Mac OS X 10.5.5 Partitions--Dual-Boot

[polliwog]

I have a MacBook with OS X 10.5.5 on it. I'm allowed to use my personal laptop at work, but they have said I must have dual-boot and only use the one partition while I'm at work, to access the programs I need to while at work. Everything must be completely separate (my personal stuff, and work stuff). Their software is both in mac and pc versions. Instead of using bootcamp and having a dual-boot option for Windows I'd like to instead have two OS X partitions to boot to, one for personal use, one for work. I tried using bootcamp and then loading my OS X DVD into the drive to create a second partition, and it won't work... It seems Bootcamp is made to work when only creating a second partition with Windows. Well, then I went to the mac store and spoke to a Genius and ...well they said it's something I need to make an appointment for and come in to do, because it's fairly complex. Wondering if anyone has a clear, step by step guide to do this... I'd really appreciate the help!!

 

[kolax]

Well, I would have thought using:

- Boot Camp Assistant to partition the drive
- Using Disk Utility to reformat the partition to HFS+
- Restarting and booting off your OS X DVD to install on your new HFS+ partition

Can't see why that wouldn't work.. I've never dual booted OS X though.

 

[polliwog]

It sounds easier said that done. I think I'll need to take it in to the store to get help. I don't even know what HFS+ is.

 

[kolax]

It sounds easier said that done. I think I'll need to take it in to the store to get help. I don't even know what HFS+ is.

Do what I said.

HFS+ is basically Mac OS X format. Just like FAT32 and NTFS are Windows formats (file structures). Select the partition in Disk Utility like this, and erase and select Mac OS Extended like in the screenshot.

Rename it to something meaningful, like Work so you don't get muddled up.

 

[polliwog]

But you said before the first step is using boot camp to partition the drive? I mentioned before when I used bootcamp it wouldn't allow me to. It wouldn't recognize my OS DVD when I inserted it into the drive when I was requested. So it seems if that's the first step, I won't be able to get past that...

 

[BlueRevolution]

Don't use Boot Camp. That would be silly. In Disk Utility, select the drive (not the partition), go to the Partition tab, click on the partition under Volume Scheme, and click the + button. It's that simple. No erasing necessary, and you don't even need to reboot, until you run the installer, of course.

You should think about updating to 10.5.6.