Will Reinstalling Mac OS Mess Up My Bootcamp Drive?

[taberrr]

Hi,

Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this... But here's where I'm at - I went to do a system update which froze on "Configuring The Install" (or something similar). So I gave my quad Mac Pro a cold reboo and I get a prohibited sign, or whatever. (You know, the ghostbusters symbol without the ghost.) I know, I deserve that though, shame on me for turning it off during a system update. I waited a LONG time. I don't think that's the root problem though. Anyway, I boot up via the system CD, load up Disk Utility, which (takes forever) and after trying to Verify, I get an "Invalid B-Node Size" error. I try to click "OK" but Disk Utility continues to be unresponsive for a long time. I wait it out, reboot back into Windows and here I am.

The hard drive is super old. Like probably 7 years. It's a Maxtor 6Y120, 114 gig SATA drive. So I think it's probably just failing. Disk Utility couldn't unmount it or verify it.

So what I want to do is just reinstall Leopard, but I have a LOT of work stuff on my Windows drive. (A separate physical SATA drive, not a partition.) Obviously I will back it all up, but I would definitely like to avoid reinstalling Windows, all my apps, and restoring my work files.

So I have a couple of questions - 1) Will re-installing Leopard "orphan" my Windows bootcamp drive, so I can no longer boot into it? I would want to erase my Mac HD or possibly buy a new one to replace it. Which brings me to my 2nd question - 2) If I buy a completely new hard drive and install Leopard there, will my bootcamp partition still be bootable/intact? Or will they hate eachother?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[gr8tfly]

As long as you don't repartition the drive, you can reinstall OS-X without affecting the BC partition.

If you need to move the BC partition, try Winclone. It works great, and will expand NTFS partitions, if cloning to a larger BC partition.

Also, if you choose to replace the drive (after imaging your BC partition with Winclone), you still need to use the Leopard BC Assistant to setup the BC partition [on the new drive]. Then, you use Winclone to restore your original BC partition on the new drive.

edit: to clarify a move to a new drive - First, use Winclone to image your BC partition. You can then use Disk Utility off the Leopard boot DVD to create a single, GUID Mac partition on the new drive, then use Restore (erase destination) to clone your current Leopard install (or, just do a new clean install and/or migrate?). Anyway, once you have Leopard installed on the new drive, use Boot Camp Assistant to create a new BC partition. Now, use Winclone to restore your old BC partition from the image you made earlier. note: You can put both drives either internal to the Mac Pro, or any combination of external/internal (Firewire being my choice for ext).

 

[taberrr]

Cool thanks for the reply - ideally I would just leave my Bootcamp/Windows hard drive alone completely. It sounds like you're saying that's not an option though huh?

So it would go something like this? (Using bays for clarification)

1. Use winclone to image the Bootcamp HD (in bay 2)
2. Remove crappy bay 1 System HD, step on it a few times
3. Insert shiny new HD in bay 1, install Leopard on it
4. Run the Bootcamp config, thus completely wiping my previous Bootcamp HD
5. Fire up winclone and restore my Bootcamp image to the Bootcamp HD in bay 2

 

[gr8tfly]

Cool thanks for the reply - ideally I would just leave my Bootcamp/Windows hard drive alone completely. It sounds like you're saying that's not an option though huh?

So it would go something like this? (Using bays for clarification)

1. Use winclone to image the Bootcamp HD (in bay 2)
2. Remove crappy bay 1 System HD, step on it a few times
3. Insert shiny new HD in bay 1, install Leopard on it
4. Run the Bootcamp config, thus completely wiping my previous Bootcamp HD
5. Fire up winclone and restore my Bootcamp image to the Bootcamp HD in bay 2

I totally missed you had BC on a separate, physical drive. I was thinking you'd end up with a single, new [shiny] drive, in which case you would have to first install Leopard, then partition for BC. So, if you already have a good BC running on the Bay 2 drive, then you can do anything you want to the Bay 1 drive. It won't affect the other drive (Bay 2). The boot process is done through EFI.

That being the case (if I have it right, now), I suppose you only will need Winclone to backup and/or move your BC partition from Bay 2 (in the future).

I think you'll like Winclone. I stubbornly refused to reinstall XP, and tried methods which did work (well, only one time) in the past. Then I ran across Winclone and was not only able to restore a bootable Windows install, but also expand it to the newer, larger BC partition. (I migrated from a 2.33 17" MBP to the 17" UB 2.66). Very clean app - I didn't hesitate to donate (I don't have any relation to the developer - I just really found it to be well done, and very useful).

 

[taberrr]

Yeah I'm keeping the Bootcamp HD totally untouched. Good to know for future ref about winclone though, thanks.

Just reinstalled and everything is fine, except the bootcamp partition doesn't show up in the Startup Disk prefpane. Oh well, no biggie. I can still load windows by holding option at boot.

Thanks again!

 

[durija]

If you have a lot of important work data on your Windows drive, you might want to think about cloning it to an external as regular daily or weekly maintenance. What if your current Windows hard drive suddenly failed? Yes, it's me, the data backup cheerleader. It has saved my butt more than once.

 

[taberrr]

Good point! I do in fact use an external WD drive for all of the really important stuff. Family photos/videos, etc. And they are also backed up on an internal 500 gb drive, too. Fear not!

I can also replace the stuff on the main Windows HD, I would just rather not have to is all! Thanks!