Dual Booting with second hard drive

Okay so I just ordered an enclosure to replace my optical drive with my old HDD. I have already put an SSD where the old HDD was and I could really use some more storage space for video projects. Also, I want to dual boot Ubuntu on this machine. I am wondering what the best way to go about that would be for performance. Should I make a scond partition on the SSD or use the HDD that I am putting in the optical drive bay for Ubuntu? And how can I use the extra HDD space to store data from both operating systems? Any help is greatly appreciated.

It seems that I have run into a problem. After doing a little more reading, it looks like mavericks will not allow me to dual boot. Also, a clarification to an earlier post I do NOT want to run virtual machine. Could I get around this problem by doing what you, LowLuster, suggested at first. Putting Ubuntu on the second drive by replacing the disk drive and installing that way, then putting bot drives into the machine? Also, the hard drive I am putting in place of the disk drive is 750Gb. I do not need 750Gb of space for Ubuntu. Is there a way to use the rest of that hard drive as storage for Mac OS?

Similar Messages

Problems with second hard drive

I bought my PowerMac G5 new in 2005 and about two years after I got it, I installed a second internal hard drive. I didn't have any problems with the drive until about six months ago (which was when I moved, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it). Around that point, I started hearing a single, loud click followed by a slight winding down noise. Then, my computer would almost completely freeze. After a few moments, I would hear a bunch of soft clicks and my computer would go back to normal. I figured that it was a problem with one of the hard drives, but I wasn't sure what to do.
Later on, the problem got more severe, lasting more like 30 seconds. When my second drive unmounted during one of these episodes, I shut my computer down, opened the case, took both plugs out of the second hard drive, put them back in, and started up my computer again. After that, my computer was running great again. But, a few weeks later, the symptoms started up again.
So, I've gone through the same cable un-plug and re-plug process whenever the drive unmounts. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't seem to help at all. Altogether, I think that the second drive has unmounted about five or six times. I haven't had this problem at all with the original hard drive and I haven't noticed any other problems with my computer. (Well, okay, there's the rare occasion when, instead of going to sleep, it turns the screen black and puts the fans on full blast.)
Could the drive itself be going bad and it has nothing to do with the cables? I have a utility installed that always monitors the SMART status and it hasn't reported any problems. Are there any other troubleshooting steps I should take? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Before I bought DiskWarrior, I thought I'd try some troubleshooting with the software I have on hand. But while I was doing that, the problem got worse. Now, I'm having major problems just getting the computer to boot. I'll give you the rundown on what's happened. It goes through a few boneheaded twists and turns and goes on at great length, but I thought I'd relate it all in the hopes that someone can see a likely pattern.
My first thought was the Apple hardware test, which I had thought was on the Mac OS 10.5 install DVD. So naturally, I didn't see the hardware test listed under Utilities. But while I had it up, I used Disk Utility to do repairs on both hard drives (checking both the disk and permissions). It found no problems on the 2nd hard drive, but found a few errors with "leaves" on the booting drive. It also found a bunch of issues with the permissions, but I don't think it was anything out of the ordinary.
Just for the heck of it, I asked it to run the repairs again. Not long into that, I got what I think is a kernel panic (overlaid message saying I needed to restart my computer in a few languages). It also sped up the fans.
I pushed the power button to shut it down, then started it up again. I heard the startup chime, then nothing but a black screen and the ol' hyperactive fans. I went through that several times before I was finally able to boot from the DVD again. Then, I changed the startup disk back to my usual boot volume and restarted. I had to go through the black screen and insane fans several more times before I could boot normally.
Next, I thought I'd try OnyX to see what it could do. Which might not be much, but I had it repair the disks again and also had it run the daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts.
I checked into the black screen & hyperactive fans booting problem elsewhere in the forums, and saw that it was recommended to run the Apple hardware test and also found the correct procedure for doing so, which was to insert the PowerMac G5 install disc (not the Mac OS X upgrade DVD) and press Option when booting. I loaded the disc, restarted, and held down the Option key, but before I could get anything to actually load, I had several more sessions with the black screen of fans.
Regarding that boot problem, I've sometimes seen the red light inside the case turn on almost immediately after I turn on the computer. Other times, it will not light up by itself. But, when I hold the power button in to shut it down, the red light briefly turns on before the unit shuts down. I've also noticed that the light on the Caps Lock button is coming on and staying on when I'm trying to start the computer.
So, after several tries, I checked my G5 User's Guide and it said to disconnect any external devices before trying the hardware test. I had a USB thumb drive plugged in and a FireWire drive hooked up for Time Machine backups, so I took both of them out. Once again, I tried starting up with Option held down and this time, it worked. The fans started running at full blast after I selected the hardware test, which I hoped was normal. So, I asked it to run the extended test and it found no problems. I restarted my computer without reconnecting anything and, at least for now, it's working normally.
Any new thoughts?

Can't Boot from Second Hard Drive

I put a second SSD hard drive into the bay for a second hard drive but I'm unable to boot from it even after making it the primary drive in the computer settings.
Both hard drive are running Windows 8 if that makes a difference.
Any ideas?

Do you have an Intel version of OS X installed on the external drive and did you partition the external drive using the GUID partition scheme? If not then that's your problem. Also, depending upon which model MBP you have you may require a later version of OS X. According to my information the C2D 17" MBP requires at least 10.4.8 (the build that came on the OS X Installer discs that came with the computer.) 10.4.6 will not boot that model.

Booting from second hard drive

I have a T510 (4349-2PU) on which I would like to install a second hard drive using the ultrabay adapter. The primary purpose of this would be to run an alternative OS. I wonder if someone could please confirm whether or not this is likely to work, and if I would need to make any changes to the Bios settings? Also, would it matter which drive has the boot manager installed?
Thanks for any advice.

they would both need boot manager installed you would need to set the one you want to boot to first in the BIOs if you want the ultrabay HDD to boot it has to be listed first in the boot order
correction: from andyp Install the OS on the "second" drive with it in the primary slot - swap it to the bay, insert the original drive as primary and use the F12 function at boot. No need for a boot manager - easy peasy.
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If a post answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!
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MacBook Pro won't boot with new hard drive, but a different MacBook Pro will

So here are the details. My friend and I both have 13-inch Mid 2010 MacBook Pro's. Same processor and specs since they were purchased at the same time, but originally had 250 GB hard drives. His hard drive failed and needed a new one. Put a 500 GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 in his computer, and tried using a flash drive with "Install OS X Mavericks" on it to install Mavericks on his new hard drive. No matter what, it wouldn't install. I finally was able to install OS X 10.9.4 on it by connecting the new hard drive to my computer with a USB hard drive enclosure. I put the hard drive back inside his computer and it wouldn't boot (stuck on the gray screen with apple logo and a spinning wheel). I then attached to the hard drive to his computer externally with the USB enclosure, and then it booted and worked perfectly.
So, it seemed like the problem was with something inside his computer, but then I switched our drives, and that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I put my original hard drive into his computer, and his new hard drive into my computer, and they both booted and worked perfectly, so I have no idea why his computer will not boot with the new hard drive internally.
To summarize, his computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally (won't work if it's internal), and 2) my hard drive internally
but my computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally AND internally, and 2) my hard drive internally.
Both hard drives have OS X 10.9.4 installed
If anyone has any idea what's causing this and how to make his computer work with the new hard drive internally that would be greatly appreciated.

So after switching the internal SATA cables from each computer, now we have
His computer, with my SATA cable:
1) Worked with every hard drive!
My computer, with his SATA cable:
1) Works with 1 TB Toshiba hard drive
2) Works with 500 GB Seagate hard drive
3) Works with my original hard drive
4) Flashing folder with question mark with his old hard drive
So it turns out you were right! Definitely had something to do with the SATA cables. But it's still strange that mine was able to boot with all the hard drives except the one that was originally in his. So it seems like it was some combination of his SATA cable and something else, since when his SATA cable was in his computer only 1 hard drive (my original) worked, and when it was in my computer, 3 hard drives worked. But at least its working, and I'm just gonna keep our SATA cables switched since that seems to work out fine

W540 - boot from second hard drive?

Morning,
I've recently got an ultrabay adapter and wanted to know if I could run two separate OSs, one from each hard disc.
Effectively, I would like to have one version of windows on the internal HDD for general day to day stuff and one as a programming environment and be able to select which to boot from at start up.
I know I could just use a VM, but some of this stuff (Siemens PCS7) can put quite a strain on the system and I'd rather not have that overhead.
Thanks,
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hello.
To run a dual OS setup, you have to turn off Secure Boot and set your boot options to both UEFI and Legacy.
I run a dual boot setup Win8.1/Fedora on both my T440's and though it is possible to set it up with UEFI boot
I just skip that hassle and run both OS in legacy mode. If you're planning on dual-booting different Windows
editions, that even applies more.
Further info here: Dual Booting Windows 7 with Windows 8 Pre-Installed UEFI
In BIOS go to Security - Secure Boot - Set to Disabled.
Then go to Startup - Set UEFI/Legacy Boot to Both.
A little further down, set Boot device list F12 Option to Enabled and then you can press F12 during Post
to select which drive to boot from.
Cheers!
ThinkPad W540 (20BG) - i7-4800MQ/24GB // ThinkPad T440s (20AQ) - i7-4600U/12GB
ThinkPad T440p (20AW) - i7-4800MQ/16GB // ThinkPad Helix (3698-6EU) - i5-3337U/4GB
ThinkPad W520 (4282-W4Q) - i7-2720QM/32GB // ThinkPad T400 (2767-W1C) - P9500/8GB
ThinkPad T61 (7665-CTO) - T7700/4GB // ThinkPad T60p (8741-C2G) - T7400/4GB

Possible to dual boot two separate hard drives?

I just bought a new SSD for my Mac Pro 5.1 and I want to install Windows 7 (x64).
I currently have a dual boot (using Boot Camp) on the hard drive that came with the computer (1TB) with Mountain Lion (OSX) and Windows 7 64 and it is working flawlessly.
Now, what I want to do is install Windows 7 on the SSD, then remove the Windows partition on the 1TB HD so that only OSX is on there. When I start my computer I don't have a preference which OS boots first (pretty sure I can figure this out by using Easy Boot CD). What is the best way to do this? From what I understand Boot Camp only works when you're partitioning ONE hard drive to dual boot. I want to boot off of two separate drives.
Please help!

sure my boot camp menu sees all hd's connected as possible targets

How to boot from second hard drive in Ultra Bay

Hi all!
I recently installed a SSD drive as my primary disk and mounted my old hard drive in the Ultrabay. It still has all its original partitions, which are:
Windows "System Drive"
Windows OS
Ubuntu
Windows Programs
General Data
I can access 1., 2., and 5. from within my new Win7 install on the SSD.
My SSD drive is fully encrypted with TrueCrypt.
Is there any way I can boot from the HDD in the Ultrabay? I still want to access some of the old data on the system drive.
Ideally, there would also be a way to keep the Ubuntu partition and boot it when required. Any chance of making that happen?
TIA
Matt

Hit F12 to pull up the boot menu when you turn the machine on. Select the drive in the Ultrabay. Beware that the drive you boot off of will become the C: drive until you boot off the other drive again. One thing you should do if you haven't already done it is put the stock drive back in the main drive bay, boot into Windows, and burn a recovery disc set. You may need this in the future and it is a good thing to have should you decide to sell the system later since you sill be able to restore it to factory condidtion.
If you just need to access the other partiton all you need to do is right click Computer in Windows Explorer, select Manage, click Disk Management, and assign the partition a drive letter. I would recommend just burning the recovery disc set and wiping out the stock drive so that you can use it for storage.

Why wont my macbook pro boot with external hard drives connected?

After two years of uninterrupted success running my MBP with five external hard drives attached (two USB, two eSATA with LaCie Expresscard 34, one FireWire 800), my MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion 10.8.2 installed will not boot with the drives attached. Starting up with the option key depressed does not work. Anyone have insight? This didn't happen until I upgraded to 10.8.2, so is there a bug fix needed in that update?

Update, I reset the PRAM (i think) and now the chime is back as I start up... small win but thats all it does.
So I decided to dload a copy of Lion and burn to a disc, then try and boot from there. When i boot holding option and select the dvd it sounds like something is happening, contstant turning or reading of the disk, but nothing is happening on screen, just my old friend the apple logo and his mate the spinning wheel. Starting to concede now, just hoping to get my data back, its mostly photos and some files i cant duplicate.
I am going to purchase Mountain lion on my current apple ID using a friends macbook and try and reinstall from there. Although i never had Mountain Lion installed in the first place (just lion) there isnt an option to buy lion on the app store (i dont think) This is prob my last spin of the dice i think before handing it in, unless anyone on here has some ideas....

G5 dual-core with the hard drive installed crooked?

I bought a G5 2.3 dualcore standard configuration from a authorized Apple dealer. Opened the case to remove the plastic strips and noticed that the supplied hard drive was literally jammed in at a 40 degree angle and riding between below the lower rail on bay B (right side of drive) and the space between A and B (left side of drive). It can not be removed because the "buttons" on the left side of the drive have caught on the bay housing behind where the upper B track curves up into A. I applied a bit of force with no result. This does not seem possible in an Apple product yet here it is. Has this manufacturing mishap happened to others?
G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Another person on another forum [mac rumors] had this same problem back in late November - look for it as I'm sure the result of their complaint was also posted. It would appear that there's a disgruntled employee somewhere on the line. This of course is completely unacceptable so contact apple and return your machine ... there's absolutely no way this could have happened any other way other than an assembly employee deliberately shoving the HDD into the bays on a 40 deg angle. If that got by QA on your machine, what else did they miss?

Boot with new hard drive

I just installed a new hard drive. I have a new 2012 MBP 13". How do I get the computer to boot up after installing the new HDD?

See OS X (Lion/Mountain Lion)- About OS X Recovery and Using Lion Recovery when no DHCP service is available.

Need help with second hard drive on mac G4

I recently took apart another computer and installed the hard drive on top of the "master" drive hoping I would be able to download more videos, music ect but when i try and download anything message pops outs that my disk is almost full i need help as you can see. I thought all i had to do was connect the drive but I guess that wasn't it.

chuck818, welcome to Apple Discussions.
What size is your Master HD & how much free space do you have? Are you getting messages about the HD being full?
Insufficient HD space can lead to many problems - freezes, directory/file corruption, etc.
 Cheers, Tom

Boot from second hard drive with ZFS in Solaris 10 x86

Hi,
The usual menu.lst to boot Solaris10 x86 with a boot environment that contains a ZFS boot loader is this one
title Solaris 10 5/08 s10x_nbu6wos_nightly X86
findroot (pool_rpool,0,a)
kernel$ /platform/i86pc/multiboot -B $ZFS-BOOTFS
module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
title Solaris failsafe
findroot (pool_rpool,0,a)
kernel /boot/multiboot kernel/unix -s    -B console=ttyb
module /boot/x86.miniroot-safeI understand that to add an alternate boot disk, I have to play with installgrub and then attach it in the pool.
But my question is : Is there a way to boot from my alternate hard disk by adding a new entry in menu.lst or is the only
way is to modify the BIOS parameter?
Thanks for your help,
Groucho_fr

Groucho_fr wrote:
Thanks for your answer Alan,
But ok, I imagineI can add a grub entry. But what I want to know is what is the exact way to boot from an alternate hard disk on Solaris 10u6
x86.AFAIK there are only two ways to do this. Select the disks via BIOS which becomes a royal PITA in a short amount of time or play with a boot manager such as GRUB until you get the syntax right.
Personally I put all OS's on the primary disks if possible to avoid these situations and if I have others to play with then you can easily mount them in or set them up as D: drive etc...
The only exception would be in an enterprise setting where you need to do things such as mirroring but then again in those situations it's only one OS per machine anyways so it's much easier.
So at the end, I am not sure what I have to configure and what is the procedure to boot from my alternate boot diskTry the grub homepage for the grub manual and hopefully for a mailing list or try a search engine.
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-5461/zfsboot-1?a=view
has an example to follow of using -B.
And moreover, the installgrub does not working for me :
root@mac1 # zpool status
pool: rpool
state: ONLINE
scrub: resilver completed after 0h2m with 0 errors on Thu Mar 26 10:56:24 2009
config:
NAME          STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
rpool         ONLINE       0     0     0
mirror      ONLINE       0     0     0
c5t0d0s0 ONLINE       0     0     0
c5t4d0s0 ONLINE       0     0     0
errors: No known data errors
root@mac1 # installgrub /boot/grub/stage1 /boot/grub/stage2 /dev/rdsk/c5t4d0s0
cannot open/stat device /dev/rdsk/c5t4d0s2
You shouldn't need to do an installgrub if you installed Solaris. Try c5t4d0s0 not s2.
alan

Will not boot with new hard drive

I used a SATA drive with adaptor as a boot drive in an MDD for most of the past year. I just got a MacPro 5,1 and wanted to use this SATA drive as a data drive in the new computer. I pulled it out of the MDD and put it in the MacPro. On start up I get the message You need to hold the power button or press restart. Since it has a boot volume I thought this might be a problem. I held down the Option key during start up to select a boot drive. Here it shows both the this drive and the OEM MacPro drive. Which ever I select I still get the error message. I can put this back in the MDD and get the same error even though it shows up as a boot volume when holding the Option Key. This drive does not seem to be totally dead since it can be seen during start up but it wont let the computer finish booting. It gets to the Apple logo but no farther. Can I salvage this drive? Data on it is unimportant.

You really need to use FW case; reformat the drive to use GPT partition table.
When booting the system's EFI polls all drives to look for valid system paths and to see which is blessed. A corrupt directory can even prevent booting from any drive or DVD.
I tell G5 owners to reformat as soon as possible once data is recovered, even though if they were running 10.5.8 their SATA drive may be okay.
Nuke the drive one way or another, I'd assume you have a spare FW case. And try booting from OS X DVD - you can install a fresh OS as backup/emergency system drive.
Any new SATA II or III drive are fine, WD Black are popular and 640 $69 or 1TB $89.
Have fun, I went from G4 MDD to Mac Pro over 4 yrs ago and it is still running strong -- and quiet!

Imac won't boot with new hard drive installed

So I installed a new 1Tb caviar black in my PPC G5 Imac, but when I turn the computer on, I get no video, no startup chime, nothing. The power light does come on, and fans start running after a minute or so, but thats it. I can't boot from the install disc.
The computer boots up as expected when I remove the drive(startup chime, grey screen, missing folder icon).
Any suggestions to what the problem is? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-D

wierd i have similar problem. I removed HDD after crash to backup in an enclosure before reinstalling os again, put the hdd back and connected the hdd sensor backup (although i thought it was a knock sensor..doh!) . Mac wouldnt start, no screen, no chime, nada, but sleep light stays on. With PCs this usually mean CPU fault so i removed RAM to see if could get a BEEP meaning CPU is ok as it spots ram. No beep. So after checking everything i stripped out ram, hdd, airport and battery and reset PMU, tried again and now i get beep!! so cpu works. slowly adding everything back in and trying power up, last thing to go in was hdd sensor and sure enough when this is connected i reproduce the symptoms. So i disconnected the sensor and tried and i get chimes etc... Ive inspected the cable and made sure is connected right way up and still cant get to work. So it seems sensor is goosed! Debating wether to replace just yet

Dual Booting with second hard drive

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