Forum Settings
       
Reply To Thread

Mac OS x and Windows 7Follow

#1 Jul 01 2011 at 5:46 PM Rating: Decent
*
88 posts
So I got my hands on a retail copy of the most recent Mac OS x (10.6.3 I believe) and I was wondering if anyone here has any experience of having a dual-boot machine with these two OS's. I have an i5 laptop so I should be able to on a hardware level I just don't know if I can safely install Mac without erasing my Windows.

I did find some tutorials on Google, but after skimming them it sounds like they are walking you through how to simply install Mac OS x on a PC machine, not dual-booting. I was wondering if the simplest way to do this would be to simply follow one of these guides, reformatting my drive to the Mac standard, and than having a system mirror/full backup of my Windows 7 OS and files, and simply restoring that on a partition I make after installing Mac.

The main guide I was looking at was http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-install-mac-os-x-on-a-pc-without-using-a-mac/
It seems to be the best, but I am pretty sure that wouldn't work for dual-booting because he tells you to format and partition your drive. Unless, of course, my idea for the system mirror works.

Sorry if what I am trying to do is simply crazy and impossible, I am not the most computer literate. I am not completely illiterate but I am certainly lacking. I hope you all can fill in the gaps! Thanks.

P.S. I am simply doing this to say that I can, not for any particular reason. I would still appreciate your advice.
#2 Jul 01 2011 at 11:28 PM Rating: Excellent
Avatar
******
29,919 posts
Macs are evil. They make them out of ground up baby orphaned kittens. Who were also orphans. Steve jobs sucks out their souls to feed his necromantic hungers.
____________________________
Arch Duke Kaolian Drachensborn, lvl 95 Ranger, Unrest Server
Tech support forum | FAQ (Support) | Mobile Zam: http://m.zam.com (Premium only)
Forum Rules
#3 Jul 02 2011 at 1:10 AM Rating: Decent
*
88 posts
True, true. Normally I wouldn't even bother but now it has become a challenge. I must conquer it....
#4 Jul 02 2011 at 4:08 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
***
2,496 posts
You're trying to do what MAC is specifically trying to prevent. MAC runs a very "Does not play well with others" type of model. If you're set on running OS X and Windows on the same machine, you could try installing them on separate drives, or trying to run OS X in a virtual environment. Trying to get them to run on a single drive would probably be a bad idea. Honestly, I'm not even sure what type of formatting the OS X uses, so it might not even be possible to run them on the same drive.
#5 Jul 02 2011 at 11:40 PM Rating: Excellent
Avatar
******
29,919 posts
Mac OS is all Linux derivitive these days. The tricky part is the UEFI bios. There are very few PC's that have a UEFI bios module at this point, and most of those aren't ones that the new version of OS whateverthehell it is will recognize and install on. You might have better luck with virtualization and running it in a vmware session or something along those lines.
____________________________
Arch Duke Kaolian Drachensborn, lvl 95 Ranger, Unrest Server
Tech support forum | FAQ (Support) | Mobile Zam: http://m.zam.com (Premium only)
Forum Rules
#6 Jul 05 2011 at 2:44 AM Rating: Good
*
88 posts
My idea worked. I used Empire EFI to get to the Mac install screen from the disk, after creating an extremely comprehensive back-up on an external hard drive. From that point I just formatted the drive into a Mac OS Extended format. After installing Snow Leopard, I used Boot Camp to install Windows from my system disk. At that point I just used my system mirror to restore all my data. So now I use Chameleon bootloader, and I have a computer that can dual-boot Mac and Windows 7 off of the same drive. (Not at the same time of course.)

I did look into the virtual machine idea, and even installed Virtualbox. For some reason that I couldn't figure out, it didn't recognize the install CD for what it was. I even downloaded the disk image from the internet and that was still a no-go. Good idea though. It introduced me to something that wasn't really known to me before.
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 15 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (15)