Triple Boot w/ SSD/HDD Setup

Hi guys,
I previously had a dual boot setup w/ windows 7. Recently, I upgraded my HD to a 500 gb WD caviar blue and moved it into an optibay along with putting in an intel 320 series SSD. I was wondering if it would be possible to triple boot with having my Mac OS install on the SSD and Ubuntu/Windows 7 on the HDD(therefore having 3 partitions on the HDD, one for my mac data(music,movies, etc.), one for windows, one for ubuntu) My SSD is 80 Gb and therefore would not be sufficient for accomadating all of the OSes so I would need to put it on the HDD. Another complication would be the fact that I am only able to use the external superdrive, but I have already made USB sticks of both OSes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Well, I haven't tried this, but... the documentation says if you have more than one internal disk you have to disable one of them. I also don't know if Boot Camp Assistant will work on a disk that doesn't have Mac OS X on it at all, or if it just has an MBR. I know it gets ****** with three or more (visible) partitions, and will not even let you download/create the support driver USB stick, which is b.s.
However, if you can figure out a combination that Boot Camp Assistant will be agreeable, BCA 4 has the ability to somehow make it possible to run a Windows install image from a USB stick on certain Apple hardware. This is mentioned on page 4, in the middle paragraph, of the 10.7 Boot Camp Install Setup document PDF. But even if your hardware could support this, BCA may not let you do it for other reasons which of course it won't tell you why. It just won't let you. (Per usual Apple's error messages are not at all useful.)
Otherwise, I think you're going to have to remove the SSD, put the HDD back where it was, put the superdrive back inside the computer - do your installations - and then redo the surgery to get back to SSD + HDD.
Windows and Ubuntu install drivers based on the computer used for installation. With Ubuntu you might be able to get around this by rebuilding the initrd/initramfs after you get the drive back into your laptop, but I don't know if you can successfully get Windows to cooperate by moving the drive from one computer to another.
Basically you have a very custom situation and Apple doesn't tend to support custom anything. They provide tools for an extremely narrow type of support and if you deviate from that standard - well, you're on your own. So you have to blaze your own path.
Message was edited by: Chris Murphy. ****** = POd

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Hi,
Over the last few weeks my HDD has been failing verification (4 times in the last fortnight ). I have used both Disk Utility and DiskWarrior to repair the drive and each time the outcome has been successful, only to have Verify Disk report errors a few days later.
I therefore decided to get a new drive. I've gone for a Crucial M-4 256GB SSD. However, as I do a lot of database work (MySQL mainly), I don't want to hammer the SSD with lots of writes. So I have also bought a WD 500GB hard disk (5,400rpm) together with a caddy for installing it into the DVD space. The caddy comes with an external enclosure so that i can slot my DVD drive into there instead and continue to use it via USB.
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In my mind, I will be allocating the following to each drive:
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MySQL data files
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2. Will the SDD automatically be picked up as the primary drive when OS X boots?
3. How best to install OS X? Should I do a system restore from Time Machine or take this opportunity to reinstall from scratch? Time spent on this is not a major issue as I have a backup latop to work on in the meantime
3. Can I actually install Win7 on a secondary drive with Bootcamp or would it need to be on the primary SSD?
4. If I can install Win7 onto the HDD, will that Win7 partition be bootable from Parallels 7? I've heard some people have difficulty with this using VMWare
5. Is it worth having the swap file on the secondary drive or should I leave it on the SSD?
6. If I upgrade to Lion/Mountain Lion, will the full disk encryption work with an SSD?
7. I know that I need to go into the DVD app to edit the path to the DVD drive form 'internal' to 'external'. However, does anytone know if games that require the drive to be inserted also work with external drives? Not a big deal if not as I only have 1 of these left.
Any additional advice most welcome
Thank you.

Sparrowhawk wrote:
Over the last few weeks my HDD has been failing verification (4 times in the last fortnight ). I have used both Disk Utility and DiskWarrior to repair the drive and each time the outcome has been successful, only to have Verify Disk report errors a few days later.
Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the present boot drive to a blank external drive, you can hold the option key and boot off this drive.
Option key or c key boot off the 10.6 install disk and use Disk Utility to Repair the internal drive, preferablly to Erase with Security Option Zero all Data, this will assist in mapping off bad sectors on the drive likely responsibel for your problems.
Reinstall 10.6 fresh and use the same log in name as before, Software update fully and install programs from original sources and lastly files from the clone.
Your drive should be fine after this, if it's still having problems then it's very likely a mechanical issue and needs to be replaced.
The caddy comes with an external enclosure so that i can slot my DVD drive into there instead and continue to use it via USB.
You can't boot or install OS X/Windows from a external optical drive is what I understand, so you will have to plan around that issue with bootable clones, Winclone etc.
Clones can be booted from and reversed cloned onto new internal drives, in a lot shorter time and safer than TimeMachine restores.
note: intalling a drive in the optical slot is a violation and disqualification of warranty/AppleCare
Time Machine on Iomega external firewire drive
TimeMachineo only restores, it's not a bootable clone drive.
Most commonly used backup methods
In my mind, I will be allocating the following to each drive:
SSD - primary drive:
OS X 10.6.8
All my Apps and Utilities, documents etc
HDD - secondary drive:
MySQL data files
OS X swap file
Windows 7 partition
Questions:
1. Does this sound like a valid setup - ie is it doable?
No, Windows BootCamp will have to go on the same boot drive as OS X.
The swap file of OS X should be on the SSD for speed, yes it will wear it out, but it employs wear leveling and likely by the time the SSD wears out your going to be buying a new machine anyway.
So on the SSD, OS X, Windows, Programs, basic user folders. This way if the hard drive has issues your up on the SSD.
On the hard drive place new folders with data there, like a storage drive.
2. Will the SDD automatically be picked up as the primary drive when OS X boots?
You set either Windows or OS X as the Startup Disk in System Preferences, and it is the only boot drive.
With OS X/Windows which you select which partition to boot from using the option key at boot.
You could also go with virtual machine software if your hardware demands with Windows isn't great or you can do both.
Windows in BootCamp or Virtual Machine?
3. How best to install OS X? Should I do a system restore from Time Machine or take this opportunity to reinstall from scratch? Time spent on this is not a major issue as I have a backup latop to work on in the meantime
Scratch and only return files manually, no restores or migrations. This way your free of corrupted data.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
3. Can I actually install Win7 on a secondary drive with Bootcamp or would it need to be on the primary SSD?
SSD primary.
4. If I can install Win7 onto the HDD, will that Win7 partition be bootable from Parallels 7? I've heard some people have difficulty with this using VMWare
VM software of Parrallels and VMFusion can copy the BootCamp Windows and uses it as a file in OS X, which one can save snapshots of that virtual machine file, especially useful for malware and only updating pristine copies of Windows so your not pwned.
5. Is it worth having the swap file on the secondary drive or should I leave it on the SSD?
SSD for speed, it's extra space for memory and the faster it is the better for your computer,
If your in the box, might as well max the RAM, that's even faster.
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With the sensitive data on a external source, then you can use it with any machine.
If you want to keep your speed up, not have to buy all new versions of software and some third party hardware as there are no drivers, I suggest you stick with 10.6 on that machine, it will be around for quite some time.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
10.8 on new hardware is coming, decide then or when 10.9 rolls out, don't torture yourself with 10.7 on older hardware in my opinion.
does anytone know if games that require the drive to be inserted also work with external drives? Not a big deal if not as I only have 1 of these left.
Most games I know install and have their own copy protection not requiring a disk being inserted as it wears out that way also won't work with machines that don't have optical drives.
However I suspect if it has that sort of content protection that it won't work on external optical drives.
Likely a game that old won't work on 10.7 nor 10.8 anymore anyway, so you will have to give it up.
Be warned that 10.7 can cost you more money in upgraded software, PPC based programs of old will no longer work. Also drivers for older third party hardware, so beware before you upgrade.
CS5 doesn't work too well on 10.7 neither, so you'll have to go to CS6 for instance.

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This blog has some of the info you are looking for.. http://booncunian.wordpress.com/

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Quote
A3 means 'IDE Enable' so I guess there is a problem with one of the HDDs (SSD most likely)
Please unplug one by one to find out which device is causing this.

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Sorry about wall of text, I did put line breaks in but they seem to have gone awol.

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I'm new to the whole SSD thing and wanted to know what I should partition my install of Linux along with Windows and what I should/could move to the HDD to reduce some wear and tear on the SSD. It would be nice to also hear what others may have done.

If new the the SSD thing means that you have an SSD that isn't from four of five years ago, you have nothing to worry about. All that crap that still floats around the internet about needing to reduce writes to your SSD are true, but only if you use one of the first generation SSDs (like when they wre new the the market). With wear leveling that actually works and improved garbage collection, today's SSDs should last a long time. I have seen reports of people trying to wear drives out by just writing them to death, and the controller goes out before the flash gets worn out. So at this point, all that stuff is probably just FUD.
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Tutorial - How to triple boot OSX, Linux and Windows 8.1 with a shared Data Partition without any third party Win / OSX softwares

This is not a question, but rather a personal guide that has proved to be running successfully.
I would like to thank numerous sources, including Christopher Murphy's suggestions at:
Re: Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition
Before proceeding, there are certain concepts needs to know:
Why Boot Camp does NOT allow further partitioning of drives after Windows has installed?
Answer: Because the way Apple configures the Mac to be recognized as non UEFI capable system on Windows.
Quote from Christopher Murphy based on the above line:
However, Windows on Macs right now use CSM-BIOS mode in Mac firmware that presents BIOS to Windows rather than EFI. Windows thinks it's on a BIOS computer, and therefore mandates the use of MBR for boot disks, rather than GPT. So that's why we have this hybrid MBR+GPT approach on Mac with Windows on it. You inherit the limitations of MBR, which is four primary partitions.
So what does it means?
It means that OSX + EFI + Recovery HD + Boot Camp partition = 4 primary partitions and thus any attempt to modify the disk will render booting issues of either system.
For more info on GPT (GUID Partition Table disks VS Master Boot Record or MBR in short, you may visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx)
So, how to overcome it?
The general guideline is to install ALL GPT ready OS first then create a Data partition, before installing Windows (Which is again, NOT supported GPT due to EFI configuration by Apple where end-users are not able to modify it).
Interestingly, since Mac Pro 2013 Late supports only Windows 8 and above, thus it is not known if this CSM-BIOS applies to it or not.
Do take note that GPT disks in Windows can only be booted when the system meets the 2 requirements:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx#gpt_faq_win7_boot
1) Windows x64 version (Which is a must for newer Macs. If you cannot go to Boot Camp 5, then you need Windows 7 x86 or 32bit version)
2) UEFI system. However, Windows sees all Macs (With the possibility of Mac Pro 2013 Late is an exception. To be determined) as BIOS, or rather NON-UEFI system.
In short, booting on GPT disks is not possible for Mac in Windows.
Summary,
It is tested that a combination of the following will not work:
- OSX + Windows + Linux
- Windows + OSX + Linux
- Windows + Linux + OSX
Usually it can create the system un-bootable or OSX refused to install due to the system does not recognize such partitions and / or Disk Utility refused to format a free space. An example screen-shot is provided below:
The error message is shown as
Title: "Failed to erase volume" Message: "Failed to wipe volume, as an error occurred: MediaKit has reported that the device does not have enough free space to execute the requested operations."
The second thing is about the preparations we need.
1) 1X Windows 7 or 8 DVD or USB thumbdrive
1A) If you uses a DVD to install, you will need another thumbdrive to load the BootCamp drivers for Windows as well as may requires an external DVD drive for newer Macs
2) 1X Linux DVD of your choice. Personally I choose Fedora 20.
So ready? Let's go.
1. Using Disk Utility, shrink the OSX's partition size to what is needed. For me, I give OSX 150GB. Do NOT create any new partition.
Disk Utility should see something like below whereby only OSX partition is left with desired disk space. The remaining space are to be unused disk space for the moment.
Note: Click on the top most item that should start with the size of your HDD / SSD. Then clicked on "Partition" and specify the desired OSX size. Hit "Apply" after that.
2: Download Boot Camp drivers only via Boot Camp Assistant. The USB thumbdrive shall be used later after Linux's installation.
Boot Camp Assistant should see this:
I have only selected "Download latest Windows Support Files from Apple"
3. Insert Linux DVD, reboot Mac into EFI mode (The left most first "EFI mode").
Note 1: Before rebooting, please plugged in an Ethernet adapter because Wi-Fi drivers is not installed.
Note 2: For Thunderbolt adapters, it must be plugged in before reboot as hot-swapping is not supported under Linux. More on the tips at the end of this article.
Note 3: Press and hold "Option" after the screen turns black. Release Option key after you see the image as below:

For the unfortunate part that did not make it on time to edit the images:
9. Install the Windows Support software from your CD/USB drive to gain full functionality of your computer. Reboot and go to Windows again.
Note 1: You may choose to eject disc at this point of time. For Apple SuperDrive users, you will need to wait until the drivers (i.e. Boot Camp support files) is installed and rebooted before ejecting is reasonably possible (As I failed to figured out how to right click without the drivers)
Note 2: Unlike Windows 7 on KBase article TS4599 Keyboard/trackpad inoperative, black screen, or alert messages when installing Windows 7, USB stick can be plugged in after the Windows installation is done. This is because Windows 7 (And probably Windows 7 with SP1 DVD) does not have a built in USB 3 drivers when it was released back in 2009 where USB3 has not arrived then.
Note 3: Due to TPM, Bitlocker is not supported without the use of thumbdrives.
10. Using Disk Management to determine the given drive letter for the DATA partition (DO NOT DELETE and RECREATE partition or else you can goodbye to booting Linux and OSX). Disk Management will not allow you to format it as exFAT / FAT32 in graphical way.
Note: You may remove or modify some of the disk letters in Disk Management. However, do NOT remove / modfify the drive letter for the partition with 200MB size in HFS. This is because it will disallow booting of Linux and neither could Windows nor OSX can do anything EXCEPT to reinstall Linux only.
11. Open Command Prompt in Administrator Mode (Important!!), and key in the following command:
format F: /FS:exFAT
Give this volume a label after it has successfully formatted before hitting "Enter" again.
Note: Mine Data partition was assigned as F drive. Please make necessary adjustment to "F:" should your Data partition is assigned to other letters.
12. After that, Setup your Data partition structure as you like.
Tip: Minimally create the important folders such as:
- Music
- Documents
- Movie (Videos)
- Downloads
- Pictures
All these folders are commonly used by the 3 OSes. I do NOT recommend changing of /home (OSX and / or Linux) and / or user home directory (Windows) either partially or as a whole.
This is because of compatibility issue.
On a side note, iTunes Media Library used in OSX and Windows are NOT able to be use interchangably due to hard-coded path used.
13. Useful troubleshooting in Fedora / Linux:
With references to these:
http://chaidarun.com/fedora-mbp
http://anderson.the-silvas.com/2014/02/14/fedora-20-on-a-macbook-pro-13-late-201 3-retina-display/
http://unencumberedbyfacts.com/2013/08/16/linux-on-a-macbook-pro-101/
I would like to highlight a few important points:
1) Wi-Fi driver:
http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
Note 1: The sound driver should be installed at Out of Box Experience. However, the Wi-Fi is not.
Note 2: Install both free and non-free repository. By the way, some other software like VLC can only be found after the Free Repository is installed.
Search for "akmod-wl" in Gnome-Package-Installer in order to install Wi-Fi drivers
Note 3: For those who do not have Ethernet adapters and their Mac does NOT have a built-in Ethernet port, it is recommended to get one. This is because Fedora 20 does not have a good support for iPhone USB tethering. Unsure for Andriod / Blackberry / Windows Phone users.
2) Grub Menu:
It will show several options to boot into OSX, even of the capability to boot into x86 or x64 mode. However, neither of them is bootable except Linux and the rescue.
Hence, it is recommended to remove the items by hand in this file:
/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg"
Parts to be removed:
- For any extra kernels, delete the target entry by locating the line "menuentry" under "/etc/grub.d/10_linux" sector to one line above the next "menuentry".
It is recommended to keep one main kernel, and one recovery at the minimal.
- For other OS, delete all the entry (Since neither it can works) under "/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober" sector without removing the lines starts with ###.
Auto Mount exFAT partition:
- After installing extra packages for exFAT support (Since it is not supported by Fedora 20 from a default installation), you may wish to edit "/etc/fstab" in order to mount the exFAT partition during boot time.
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /etc/fstab"
Add the following line in gedit:
UUID=702D-912D /run/media/Samuel/DATA exfat defaults 1 2
Note 1: For DATA partition, OSX & Boot Camp partition, Fedora defaults mounts under: "/run/medua/<Username with case sensitive>/<Partition Label Name>"
Note 2: UUID is unique ID. You can find out the UUID by:
Step 1: First determine the DATA partition number:
"sudo gdisk /dev/sda"
Step 2: Determine the UUID of this partition number:
"sudo blkid /dev/sda8"
Reference 1: http://manpages.courier-mta.org/htmlman5/fstab.5.html
Reference 2: http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/short-tip-get-uuid-of-hard-disks/
3) Overheating CPU
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo"
4) System resumes immediately after suspend
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo XHC1 > /proc/acpi/wakeup"
5) What does not works well out of box:
- Both GNOME and KDE's fonts are too small to be readable for out of box experience. Additional configuration is a need. (Some of the info can be found on "More Tips" later)
- Thunderbolt hotplugging is NOT supported under Windows and Linux so far. Neither FaceTime HD camera works as well.
- The red light in Headphone jack is always on. I do not have luck in switching off the light without losing the sound.
Note 1: It is determined that the module "snd_hda_intel" is used by both cards (HDMI and normal output)
Note 2: It is also known that blacklisting it can switch off the redlight at the price of muting the system.
Note: Based on this article, http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1574
A Mac (Except Mac Pro) needs servicing when there is a red light while the system fails to detect internal speakers. However, this article does NOT applies to this issue.
5A) More Tips:
Install gnome-tweak-tool for more customization
Search for: "gnome-package" to install:
Install Gnome Package Installer for advanced package repository
Install Gnome Package Updater for advanced updates to be install (Whereby Fedora's App Store alike might not show the relevant updates)
14. Verify if disk is still GPT:
Use Gdisk to determine if the disk is pure GPT:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1742682
Command: sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda (The entire hard drive)
You should see the MBR is "Protective" instead of anything else.
15. Congrats, the system is ready for triple boot. (I forgot to eject my Windows DVD when the photo was taken)
Note 1: You cannot set the default startup disk in Linux due to the lack of Boot Camp Control Panel in Linux.
Neither is changing startup disk recommended in Windows due to the inability to display correctly.
For me, I click "Cancel" whenever I am on this tab (Feel free to make other Boot Camp adjustments in other tabs).
Only OSX I know that can show the startup disk options correctly.
Note 2: For some reason, OSX likes to auto mount the EFI partition everytime it boots up. It is not known to have any issue for ejecting other disks or mounting disks via Disk Utility.
Note 3: It is not determined if any Firmware or System upgrades will cause issues. It is only known that all 3 OS's regular updates should not be an issue.
System Updates excludes Mac OSX 10.9.3 updates to OSX 10.9.4 type as I had done it on a OSX 10.9.4 Mac or Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Update 1 since my Windows DVD comes with Update 1.
System Upgrades refers to OSX Mavericks to Yosemite, Fedora 20 to Fedora 21, Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 8.2 / Windows 9 for that matter.
Note 4: Reset SMC and / or PRAM will NOT affect your ability to boot any of the OS (OSX, Recovery HD, Fedora & Windows 8)
Yup, that is it!

Triple Booting Windows 8 on Second Hard Disk

Hi all,
I have an Early 2011, 15 inch MBP and want to dual boot Windows 8 and Mountain Lion. Currently I have a 750GB HDD installed and have just recently replaced my SuperDrive with a 256GB SSD.
The 750GB HDD is partitioned so that Windows 7 takes up 512GB and Mountain Lion has the rest and I would like to install Windows 8 to the SSD so I can migrate files across from Windows 7 at my leisure.
The problem is Windows 8 is giving me an error as follows:
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style"
Is there a way I can triple boot? If not how can I set up my disks so that Windows 8 runs on the SSD and Mountain Lion on the HDD?
Cheers,
Carl

you need to put the superdrive back, so you can do the install.
you would also need to disconnect one drive anyway in order to install to 2nd drive. you can't have OS X or GUID on one drive and install Windows to a different drive. That applies to my 4-dirve setup Mac Pro too.

Triple Boot w/ SSD/HDD Setup

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