Quad boot MBP 8.2??

[YuGwEn]

Hello everyone. I just purchased my first Mac (15" MBP 2.2 i7) and have a question that I'm hoping someone has an answer to. I have a lot of experience building and manipulating pc's, not that that helps in this situation, but I'm stuck as I do not have much experience with Macs period. I have been modifying and hacking iPhones for quite some time though. Anyway here goes..

btw I know there are a lot of threads here and on other sites SIMILAR to this but none correctly address my situation, at least not what I've found in the past week, so please read through the rest of my post before you copy me a link to another thread if that's what you were planning on doing. If you do know of a solution specific to what i am trying to do somewhere else that you can link me to, then I thank you in advance

So the first thing I did when I got my MBP was to rip out the 750gb drive and install a seagate 1.5TB. After that I pretty easily successfully triple booted it with Snow leopard, Windows 7, and ubuntu 11.04, using refit and bootcamp. Everything was flying and working great, now here's my question.

I work in the motion picture industry and the equipment I use for audio and video and the servers I work on require me to have windows XP as well as linux on my machine. I also have programs i need that only work on 64bit systems (hense Windows 7).

So in a nutshell I want to quad boot so I have Mac OS, Windows 7 Pro 64bit, Windows XP Pro, AND ubuntu on my machine.
Once i triple booted it, I tried shrinking the Linux partition and installing XP on that and it totally corrupted the boot file in 7 and messed up bootcamp.
I've searched and found some answers to either have a combo of Mac OS, Vista, and xp, or have Mac OS, 7, and XP, but no answer for what I'm trying to do. I would also LIKE to have the ability to run windows xp in a virtual machine from Snow Leapard IF POSSIBLE, but this is not a requirement, just a luxury I would like to have available.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from some of you Mac experts on here, it's a whole new world for me. Again, thank you all in advance for taking the time to help me out.

 

[awer25]

I'm not an expert in this area, but I know it's a bit difficult to properly resize partitions that are not OSX. There are certain programs meant to resize non-OSX partitions that may work better in this case. The main one that comes to mind is CampTune ($20).

 

[clickclickw00t]

sorry to crash the thread but what 1.5tb drive are you using?

 

[Samuriajackon]

Hello everyone. I just purchased my first Mac (15" MBP 2.2 i7) and have a question that I'm hoping someone has an answer to. I have a lot of experience building and manipulating pc's, not that that helps in this situation, but I'm stuck as I do not have much experience with Macs period. I have been modifying and hacking iPhones for quite some time though. Anyway here goes..

btw I know there are a lot of threads here and on other sites SIMILAR to this but none correctly address my situation, at least not what I've found in the past week, so please read through the rest of my post before you copy me a link to another thread if that's what you were planning on doing. If you do know of a solution specific to what i am trying to do somewhere else that you can link me to, then I thank you in advance

So the first thing I did when I got my MBP was to rip out the 750gb drive and install a seagate 1.5TB. After that I pretty easily successfully triple booted it with Snow leopard, Windows 7, and ubuntu 11.04, using refit and bootcamp. Everything was flying and working great, now here's my question.

I work in the motion picture industry and the equipment I use for audio and video and the servers I work on require me to have windows XP as well as linux on my machine. I also have programs i need that only work on 64bit systems (hense Windows 7).

So in a nutshell I want to quad boot so I have Mac OS, Windows 7 Pro 64bit, Windows XP Pro, AND ubuntu on my machine.
Once i triple booted it, I tried shrinking the Linux partition and installing XP on that and it totally corrupted the boot file in 7 and messed up bootcamp.
I've searched and found some answers to either have a combo of Mac OS, Vista, and xp, or have Mac OS, 7, and XP, but no answer for what I'm trying to do. I would also LIKE to have the ability to run windows xp in a virtual machine from Snow Leapard IF POSSIBLE, but this is not a requirement, just a luxury I would like to have available.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from some of you Mac experts on here, it's a whole new world for me. Again, thank you all in advance for taking the time to help me out.

Windows XP in a virtual Machine try parallels.

Seems to me that I did this once "Run the Boot Camp Assistant and create the Windows XP driver cd. Then exit Boot Camp. DO NOT PARTITION USING BOOT CAMP: you are only using Boot Camp for the drivers, not the partitioning. If you already partitioned, it created a 3rd partition at end of the drive. You can remove it if you boot from another drive and run this command: sudo gpt remove -i 3 /dev/disk0. A simpler way to remove the partition is to use Boot Camp Assistant, which allows to "restore the startup disk to a single volume" (see its manual)." from this wiki site http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Triple_Boot_via_BootCamp

enjoy. Should work for Unix/Linux/Windows 7.

 

[Erasmus]

All the Boot Camp utility really does is partition your hard disk, however it does it in such a way that you don't need to format. However, if you want to run 2 different copies of Windows, I would suggest using Disk Utility to partition the hard disk into 4 partitions, and then installing each OS on each in turn, bypassing Boot Camp utility altogether.

If you are happy to only use XP in a VM on Snow Leopard, and not be able to use it natively, just create a virtual machine in Parallels or Fusion.

 

[Nuckinfuts]

Try again, but this time make your partitions BEFORE installing anything. Use Disk Utility

 

[YuGwEn]

clickclickw00t sorry to crash the thread but what 1.5tb drive are you using?

I bought a seagate goflex 1.5TB portable and ripped it open, I don't believe you can buy just the bare drive. Either way I bought it from micro center only cost $150.

All the Boot Camp utility really does is partition your hard disk, however it does it in such a way that you don't need to format. However, if you want to run 2 different copies of Windows, I would suggest using Disk Utility to partition the hard disk into 4 partitions, and then installing each OS on each in turn, bypassing Boot Camp utility altogether.

If you are happy to only use XP in a VM on Snow Leopard, and not be able to use it natively, just create a virtual machine in Parallels or Fusion.

Well my question wasn't really related to partitioning as much as how each operating system affects eachothers boot files, getting it to work with refit, etc. I just used the disk utility and booted off the OSX cd when I triple booted it and that worked fine, but according to the forum that I followed there were specific options I had to select as far as boot configurations and I had to do things in a certain order. For example I HAD to install windows 7 BEFORE linux to have it work with refit, so I'm sure since I tried to install xp after Linux that helped screw things up, but then even after i deleted the xp partition i could no longer boot into 7 because xp modified the boot.ini in 7. Thats the kind of thing im confused about. Also because of the Linux swap file I think I need 5 partitions, because when I triple booted a few days ago I made 4.

Right now I have two blank 1.5TB seagate drives to experiment with so I don't want to cut any corners I just want to do it right so I don't have to reformat my computer in a month.

Thanks for all the quick responses, look foward to more helpful input!

Btw I will need to run xp natively more than in a vm, if quad boot AND running a vm of the same install of xp is not possible than so be it, but I have to be able to boot into it.

 

[YuGwEn]

This is the link I used to triple boot:

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/0...with-windows-and-linux-no-boot-camp-required/

 

[clickclickw00t]

I bought a seagate goflex 1.5TB portable and ripped it open, I don't believe you can buy just the bare drive. Either way I bought it from micro center only cost $150.

Hey do you by any chance have the exact model number and or maybe a llink to the exact one you have? I have been told that some of the newer goflex drives have circuit boards that are built into the casing, so I just want to make sure I get the right one. 1.5tB would be an AMAZING addition to my 120GB SSD.

Edit:

I found:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate...&ref=06&loc=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=1305576

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148687&Tpk=goflex 1.5tb

I wish the newegg one works becuase I have a $300 gift card to newegg.

 

[YuGwEn]

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuGwEn
I bought a seagate goflex 1.5TB portable and ripped it open, I don't believe you can buy just the bare drive. Either way I bought it from micro center only cost $150.


Hey do you by any chance have the exact model number and or maybe a llink to the exact one you have? I have been told that some of the newer goflex drives have circuit boards that are built into the casing, so I just want to make sure I get the right one. 1.5tB would be an AMAZING addition to my 120GB SSD.

Edit:

I found:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+...ci_sku=1305576

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...goflex 1.5tb

I wish the newegg one works becuase I have a $300 gift card to newegg.

The exact one I used was the STAA1500100. the one you have found on new egg is the STBA1500100, which is the Mac version (meaning they formatted it for you whoopee). That one will definitely work for you. The whole idea of the freeagent series was their swappable connection formats (USB 2.0, eSata, FireWire, etc) and every one of those different adapters has the regular sata connector that is in your computer and it plugs right into the drive through a massive hole in the shell. They have no special funky connectors soldered right to the board like western digital Is famous for.

The only other thing you need to do is invest in a dremel tool if you don't have one and get a grinding bit and slightly file down the inside of the bottom cover to accommodate the massive size of the drive (14.5mm instead of the 9.5mm that they come with). Don't worry it's very easy, you don't have to be a master machinist, just get it flat. Mine took about 10 minutes. Just make sure you give the whole cover a rinse and let it dry for a half hour, you don't want the metal dust being sucked through your computer when you put the cover back on . Hope that cleared it up.


Ok now anyone have any other ideas for me on the quad boot front??

 

[alphaod]

The only other thing you need to do is invest in a dremel tool if you don't have one and get a grinding bit and slightly file down the inside of the bottom cover to accommodate the massive size of the drive (14.5mm instead of the 9.5mm that they come with). Don't worry it's very easy, you don't have to be a master machinist, just get it flat. Mine took about 10 minutes. Just make sure you give the whole cover a rinse and let it dry for a half hour, you don't want the metal dust being sucked through your computer when you put the cover back on . Hope that cleared it up.

Damn, I might actually be able to put my 600GB VelociRaptor [that's been sitting in a antistatic sleeve doing nothing] to use now!

 

[YuGwEn]

Haha damn I've only had a Mac for a week, I can't believe I know something you guys don't. Then again, and I love modifying the crap out of anything I get, I'd say most Mac owners werent planning on ripping out internal components the day they bought it, that's just me. My motto is make it better

 

[YuGwEn]

Bump..

Anybody have any other input? I have a break at work today for a few hours im gonna take another hack at it...

 

[clickclickw00t]

There is no way i'm filing down my 3 week old macbook pro for an extra 500GB of space lol. I thought it was a 12.5 mm drive. Those fit, 14.5 is too much

I have a 150GB velociraptor i was thinking about dropping in there haha

 

[Nuckinfuts]

Bump..

Anybody have any other input? I have a break at work today for a few hours im gonna take another hack at it...

Map out your partitions before installing anything so you don't have to use Partition Shrinking

 

[YuGwEn]

Today 11:27 AM
clickclickw00t There is no way i'm filing down my 3 week old macbook pro for an extra 500GB of space lol. I thought it was a 12.5 mm drive. Those fit, 14.5 is too much

I have a 150GB velociraptor i was thinking about dropping in there haha

well you arent actually filing the macbook, just the bottom cover, which is one piece (assuming you have the unibody). its not dangerous at all and doesnt compromise the integrity of the casing, its just that they add about 1/16"-1/8" of metal around where the foot clips in, its not needed. then the drive fits in there comfortably.

 

[getz76]

well you arent actually filing the macbook, just the bottom cover, which is one piece (assuming you have the unibody). its not dangerous at all and doesnt compromise the integrity of the casing, its just that they add about 1/16"-1/8" of metal around where the foot clips in, its not needed. then the drive fits in there comfortably.

It likely compromises your warranty, though.

 

[YuGwEn]

It likely compromises your warranty, though.

the bottom cover is something you could pick up on ebay for 15$, you arent actually touching anything in the computer itself. unless an apple store technician happened to be at your house when you turned on the dremel i think youd be ok.


anyway back to the reason i started this thread.. ive completely reformatted my drive 4 times so far today with no progress.. heres how i set it up after installing OSX on MacintoshHD. i booted from the install disk and ran disk utility to create the partitions, i did not use bootcamp (remember im still trying to get windows 7 on there as well).

Main Drive

P1 - MacintoshHD - Mac Journaled
p2 - Windows XP - Fat (MS DOS)
p3 - Windows 7 - Fat (MS DOS)
p4 - Linux - Fat (MS DOS)
p5 - Swap - Fat (MS DOS)

first i installed refit.

i tried installing xp on partition 2, 3 different ways. first, by letting windows format the partition to NTFS. after it rebooted, i got an error about the missing hal.dll file. i deleted that partition and tried again, this time selecting to just convert the filesystem to NTFS, but not format. that gave me "disk error, press any key to restart. i also tried leaving the partition FAT and installing, came back with same error.

HEEELLLPP!!!

 

[YuGwEn]

ok tried it all again, still getting hal.dll is missing or corrupt. i gotta run back to work for a few hours, if anyone has any ideas please let me know!

 

[getz76]

the bottom cover is something you could pick up on ebay for 15$, you arent actually touching anything in the computer itself. unless an apple store technician happened to be at your house when you turned on the dremel i think youd be ok.

A real bottom case is about $70 or so.

Also, there is that pesky serial number on the bottom, which is supposed to match the serial number that is associated with your logic board (which shows up in System Profiler). So, when the Apple Genius asks you why the bottom case serial number either does not match or does not have a serial number, what do you tell them? It was damaged? Once you admit physical damage, you are in the world of "what kind of day is the Apple Genius and the manager having", which is precarious.

So no, the Apple Store Technician does not need to be in your house when you turn on the Dremel. Dremel + MacBook = FUBAR Warranty.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

A real bottom case is about $70 or so.

Also, there is that pesky serial number on the bottom, which is supposed to match the serial number that is associated with your logic board (which shows up in System Profiler). So, when the Apple Genius asks you why the bottom case serial number either does not match or does not have a serial number, what do you tell them? It was damaged? Once you admit physical damage, you are in the world of "what kind of day is the Apple Genius and the manager having", which is precarious.

So no, the Apple Store Technician does not need to be in your house when you turn on the Dremel. Dremel + MacBook = FUBAR Warranty.

why can't you buy a case and modify that, then replace it with the original if you ever need to take it to the apple store?

 

[getz76]

why can't you buy a case and modify that, then replace it with the original if you ever need to take it to the apple store?

A much better idea. A bit late for that from the OP.

 

[YuGwEn]

why is it that someone always has to get into a semantic war about something completely unrelated to the topic of the thread. I was simply explaining how i managed to fit that massive drive in my macbook to help out the guy looking for a bigger drive. he already stated that he is not comfortable cutting down anything to do with his macbook anyway. Now im sure if you are bringing your mac back to the store for a warrenty fix, you are either not technically capable or have the motivation to fix it yourself, or its a hardware failure that can not be resolved without a replacement and you feel that the part shouldnt have failed in the amount of time since you bought your machine. That in mind, im sure 80% or more of the people on this forum are here because they ARE capable and/or motivated enough to try fixing almost any problem that they could run into themselves, or at least with the help of the other very knowledgeable members.

my point is If my grandmother asked me how she could get more storage space id say "hey grandma, heres a nice easy USB external drive," but when im talking to people who are going as far as removing their optical drives to install more storage and converting to SSD, then im going to assume they are not going to run to the apple store next time they cant boot up. id love to have an apple technician try to argue that the reason they cant honor the warrenty replacement of lets say a bad LCD screen with dead pixels is because i filed down a centimeter wide section of the bottom cover which isnt even part of the actual computer. now yes, if the manager had spent the night with the inlaws the night before and decided to pull out ye ole' apple legal documents, im sure they could argue that. but Lets say i happen to place my macbook on very rough surfaces at work and i scratched the hell out of the bottom cover and i was tired of looking at it, so i decided to put an aftermarket ebay cover on the bottom, or a real one from another mac that i might have bought for parts from someone. your telling me that they ship macbook pros with an instruction booklet on how to remove/upgrade your hard drive, but replacing the bottom cover with one of your choice voids the warranty? That just makes absolutely no sense.


Aaanywaaay, again back to my MBP. I finally got windows XP to completely install. The hal.dll file error dissapeared once i got rid of the extra two partitions i had made for windows 7 and linux. can someone explain why that would happen? there wasnt even anything on the partitions, they were blank. is the same thing going to happen if i create them again now that XP is already installed? Im going to try it right now anyway but i was just curious if anyone has had similar issues.

 

[getz76]

why is it that someone always has to get into a semantic war about something completely unrelated to the topic of the thread.

Semantic? Wrong word. I believe this is a substantive discussion.

I was simply explaining how i managed to fit that massive drive in my macbook to help out the guy looking for a bigger drive.

I was simply pointing out that you potentially void your warranty if you do such. I honestly do not care what you do, I was just providing useful information for people who might follow your lead.

Now im sure if you are bringing your mac back to the store for a warrenty fix, you are either not technically capable or have the motivation to fix it yourself, or its a hardware failure that can not be resolved without a replacement and you feel that the part shouldnt have failed in the amount of time since you bought your machine.

The point being, if your logic board or optical disk or display fails and your warranty is void, then you pay out of pocket. Most people are not capable of repairing failed hardware.

That in mind, im sure 80% or more of the people on this forum are here because they ARE capable and/or motivated enough to try fixing almost any problem that they could run into themselves, or at least with the help of the other very knowledgeable members.

You have not read many threads.

id love to have an apple technician try to argue that the reason they cant honor the warrenty replacement of lets say a bad LCD screen with dead pixels is because i filed down a centimeter wide section of the bottom cover which isnt even part of the actual computer.

It indicates physical damage, especially if you cannot produce the original. If you produce the original, they are going to notice modifications and then you are in a territory of uncertainty. That is the point.

And what does Apple have to argue? You bring in a machine with replacement parts which they did not replace? Again, depending on the mood, they can send you packing.

 

[squeakr]

If you can get it to triple boot, have you though about using XP mode in WIndows 7? It creates a vM within Windows 7 using XP? COuld go the route of installing VMWare or Parallells and run images of all of the OS's that you want as well. I do QA testing for a living and have images of Windows 7, XP, Various Servers iterations and such, and just run them through VMWare. It allows me to run several at the same time and also to ditch a defective image and replace without any sort of reformatting, etc. It is a possibility, unless there is something that is so intensive it might not work in an image (such as gaming isn't really recommended for such situations). I run some pretty intensive programs and processes and have no issues. In fact I have had 3 images and my host all running at once (love the quad core).