partition in Leopard.., can use in win 7? Options

[karchis]

hye..wanna ask..i plan to format the hdisk and create the partition by using disk utility in leopard...lets say i have 250 GB..and using DU,i seperate it in 4 GUID partition...1 partition i want to install osx..the other i want to use it with windows..such as movies..music..and bla..bla..its possible?since i cannot format using windows 7 DVD..

or..

another option..i format the hdisk using ubuntu..which one is better?im using windows all the time..
any suggestions?

[robi62]

hye..wanna ask..i plan to format the hdisk and create the partition by using disk utility in leopard...lets say i have 250 GB..and using DU,i seperate it in 4 GUID partition...1 partition i want to install osx..the other i want to use it with windows..such as movies..music..and bla..bla..its possible?since i cannot format using windows 7 DVD..

or..

another option..i format the hdisk using ubuntu..which one is better?im using windows all the time..
any suggestions?

well I mange do install leopard snow leopard and windows 7 in guid partition no problems at all.

I created 3 partitons in 1st installed snow 2nd left for windows and 3rd leopard.

I installed osx first then I installed windows7 and when I reboted I had to reboot from usb stick with cameleon to get into my mac partions I use osx86 tools not the latest build to make my leo partion active and installed chameleon standard then I run chamelon rc1 and installed the normal boot loader and done computer starts with chameleon and I can choose with system to go too

[karchis]

owh..ok..thx for the info...in my case...i already install win 7 in other hdisk..in my second hdisk..i cannot format it in ntfs becouse i cannot see the partition in wind 7,but can see it when i want to install osx or using ubuntu..

if i use the guid partition,there is no format ntfs...seems to me not possible to save data from wind 7..

may i know, what format u use in DU...where u want ur wind 7 install?
u choose ms dos..or mac os extended?

[robi62]

msdos fat then I format into nfts with windows dvd

[Rod Smith]

You need to be very clear about whether you want to boot from the disk or simply read and write from and to the disk. Windows 7 (at least through the RC; I haven't tried with the final release version) cannot boot from a pure GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk unless the computer uses an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) rather than a BIOS. (It's possible to use a post-BIOS EFI loaded from a USB flash drive or floppy disk, but such configurations are awkward and aren't guaranteed to work.)

If you simply want to read from and write to the disk, while using another disk with a Master Boot Record (MBR) to boot Windows, then GPT should be fine. I don't know if the Mac OS Disk Utility will set up such a disk, but if not, plenty of other utilities will do the job, such as GNU Parted or its GUI variants or my own GPT fdisk. I'm sure there are Windows tools that'll do the job, too, but I'm not very familiar with current Windows partitioning software. If I understand your situation correctly, then using GNU Parted from Ubuntu to convert the partition to NTFS should do the trick, if you've got an NTFS-enabled version of Parted. Robi62's suggestion of formatting for FAT in OS X and then converting to NTFS from Windows will also probably work, although I've not tried that myself.

Another option is to create a hybrid MBR. I strongly suspect that this is what robi62 has done, although he doesn't know it. A hybrid configuration uses both a GPT and an MBR describing the same partitions (or perhaps just a subset of them in the MBR). Most GPT-aware OSes, such as OS X and Linux, give the GPT priority; but Windows and GPT-unaware OSes give the MBR priority. Hybrid MBRs enable you to use GPT while still enabling non-GPT OSes to use the disk, but hybrid MBRs are temperamental and potentially dangerous. IMHO, in most cases it's better to stick to a straight-MBR configuration.

Edit: Based on another of robi62's recent posts, it appears his system may in fact be pure-GPT with an EFI-based computer. Aside from Apple's computers, EFI-based x86 systems are still pretty rare, so if you want to boot Windows from a hard disk, it's very likely that you'll need an MBR entry describing the boot partition, either in the form of an MBR-only disk or a hybrid MBR configuration.

[robi62]

I do not know what is a hybrid mbr all I have done is partition my hdd in guid installed my 2 osx systems then i installed windows 7 rtm and it worked.
I must say that when I install chameleon rc1 I use standard not efi and when computer bot up is shows on left hanside corner mbr although is guid.
Anyway as long as it works I am not bothered the hybrid stuff etc was a bit too complicated for me and by pure luck at the first try I succesed..........

[Rod Smith]

Follow the link I provided to learn about hybrid MBRs. If your boot loader is identifying the disk as having an MBR, then I will (once again) revise my guess and say you've probably got a hybrid configuration. The only way to know is to run certain disk partitioning tools to identify your partitions. Linux fdisk will do the job -- if it shows one partition of type 0xEE, then you've got a pure-GPT configuration; if there are no 0xEE partitions, but other partitions are defined, then it's pure-MBR; if there's a 0xEE partition as well as one or more others, then it's a hybrid MBR configuration.

I know that the whole MBR vs. GPT vs. hybrid thing can be confusing. Unfortunately, there's a lot of bad information, and therefore bad advice, on partitioning issues related to these differences. There are many reasons for the confusion, including the simple fact of the ongoing transition from MBR to GPT, the existence of the ugly hack that is a hybrid MBR, and the very complex set of rules governing which versions of Windows support GPT and in what way (read/write vs. boot). The Wikipedia article on GPT and my own GPT fdisk Web page can clear up a lot of the confusion.

[Cracco]

I have Windows 7 x64 installed on a GPT disk. My MB is able to boot from UEFI and you can try to discover if your MB has this option on BIOS. there is a system partition and a ESP partition after formating with windows 7 (only 64bits version)

[crashnburn_in]

I have Windows 7 x64 installed on a GPT disk. My MB is able to boot from UEFI and you can try to discover if your MB has this option on BIOS. there is a system partition and a ESP partition after formating with windows 7 (only 64bits version)

How do I check for that? Motherboard Firmware Number etc?

[Rod Smith]

Check the manual's specifications page, peruse the firmware menu for any sort of mention of EFI or UEFI, or contact the motherboard manufacturer. EFI/UEFI firmware is still fairly rare in commodity PC hardware, although there are a few models that ship with it. If you can't find mention of EFI/UEFI in the manual's specifications or firmware setup screens, chances are your system uses a conventional BIOS.

[Cracco]

How do I check for that? Motherboard Firmware Number etc?

My mobo is a Intel DP35DPM, go to setup(BIOS) and search for boot menu (where you will find boot device priority, usb boot, lan boot, optical devices boot) and take a look for UEFI boot. If it is there you can install Windows Vista SP1x64 or windows 7 x64 through UEFI on a GPT DIsk.(UEFI boot must to be enabled). UEFI is a real 64 bits enviroment (Bios - 16 bits and EFI - 32 bits).Snow is a 64bits OS and I think that it comes with UEFI instead the EFI 32 bits.

[mikewill57]

I have my HDD partitioned like so using the hybrid method (pretty sure it's hybrid..) here's what I did:

diskpart (windows partition manager)
select disk 0 (this selects your main hard disk)
clean (this will format it)
convert GPT (this converts it to GPT [mac partition table])
create partition EFI size=200 (creates efi partition)
create partition primary size=xx (this is your mac partition, replace xx with the size you
want it to be in megabytes)
create partition primary size=xx (this is your windows partition, replace xx with size)
select partition 3 (this selects your windows partition)
format fs=ntfs quick (this formats it)
assign letter c (tricks windows into installing here)

Now I'm using chameleonRC2 to boot and it's fine. Only when choosing 7 it spits me to that bootloader where I pick again. Any way around that? I also wanted to make my leo partition larger using this method. Went to 7, made another partition (which is now disk0s4). Can't find it in Leo though, I'm only seeing two. Tried this formatted to FAT32 from 7 and not formatted, nothing. In leo only partitions I see with diskutil list are disk0s2 (leo) & disk0s3 (7). Ideas?

[Rod Smith]

Now I'm using chameleonRC2 to boot and it's fine. Only when choosing 7 it spits me to that bootloader where I pick again.

This description ("that bootloader where I pick again") is too vague to tell us what's going on. My hunch is you're seeing the Windows BCD or some variant of it, such as EasyBCD. If so, the solution will be there. Try Googling for information on it (I'm far from an expert on BCD and so can't provide any references or pointers, except by Googling myself). It could be you're seeing something else, though. If you need more advice, try to be more precise. If necessary, take a photo and post it so we can see what you're seeing on your screen.

Any way around that? I also wanted to make my leo partition larger using this method. Went to 7, made another partition (which is now disk0s4). Can't find it in Leo though, I'm only seeing two. Tried this formatted to FAT32 from 7 and not formatted, nothing. In leo only partitions I see with diskutil list are disk0s2 (leo) & disk0s3 (7). Ideas?

You could try using my GPT fdisk to examine your partition table and, if appropriate, change the partition type codes so that your new space will be recognized by whatever OS is appropriate. GPT fdisk won't actually format partitions, though; for that, you'll still need to use Disk Utility or the text-mode newfs utility.

[mikewill57]

This description ("that bootloader where I pick again") is too vague to tell us what's going on. My hunch is you're seeing the Windows BCD or some variant of it, such as EasyBCD. If so, the solution will be there. Try Googling for information on it (I'm far from an expert on BCD and so can't provide any references or pointers, except by Googling myself). It could be you're seeing something else, though. If you need more advice, try to be more precise. If necessary, take a photo and post it so we can see what you're seeing on your screen.



You could try using my GPT fdisk to examine your partition table and, if appropriate, change the partition type codes so that your new space will be recognized by whatever OS is appropriate. GPT fdisk won't actually format partitions, though; for that, you'll still need to use Disk Utility or the text-mode newfs utility.

My guess is that it's the windows boot loader, although it may be EasyBCD, though I think I uninstalled that. I'll double check...yup, it's Windows Boot Manager. Says choose an operating system then lists NST Mac OSX & Windows 7.

As far as GPT fdisk, this may be a really retarded question, but where does it install to? I dl'd the package & installed in Leo, but can't find it to save my life...

From 7 when I go to disk management this is what I see...

[Rod Smith]

The GPT fdisk binary (gdisk) is a text-mode command, so it doesn't show up with other GUI programs. IIRC, it installs in /usr/sbin, but my OS X systems are both shut down right now, so I'm not 100% positive of that. You run the program by typing "sudo gdisk /dev/disk0" (or some other disk device file) in Terminal. (You can omit the "sudo" if you're running as root or when accessing some removable disk types.)

Edit: You can type "man gdisk" to read the man page. More introductory instructions are on my gdisk Web page.