Parititioning properly

[Lucky Evie]

Hi all!

 

I'm in a bit of a bind here and I need some expert input. I'm trying to dual-boot my new (well, used) 2007 iMac with 10.6 and Windows 7, and while I could do that from bootcamp, I want to go a little deeper. I'd like to partition the drive with Mac OS X at first, then Windows 7, then a 200gb "data" partition read/writeable by both.

 

At the moment after all the manipulations I did, it seems my system is half screwed up - MacOS boots, but I can't see my Windows partition at bootup and MacOS can't mount them from Disk Utility (they are formatted as NTFS). eFi saw my drives but they didn't boot (bootmgr missing or no operating system found).

 

So basically my question is, if I were to be alright with reinstalling from scratch , what would be the best way to install MacOS X, Windows 7, and then a Data partition, in the correct and proper way, using bootcamp.

 

I have a Linux liveCD at my disposal so if I need to modify partitions I can use gparted.

 

Thanks,

:Lucas

[Lucky Evie]

After a bit more sear hing it seems that I did find what needed to be done. I started again from scratch, mostly because the Disk Utility refused to delete the existing NTFS partitions. So, for the sake of posterity and because a lot of people will see this post, here is how to do a completely fresh (nuke & pave) install of dualboot MacOS 10.5 or 10.6 with Windows 7 (x64 only!) with a shared NTFS partition, on an iMac (and presumably on any Intel-based Mac)

 

1. Insert your Installation DVD and boot your mac (I use Snow Leopard 10.6)

2. When the chime sounds, press and hold the ALT key

3. Boot from DVD (May take a few seconds for the DVD to appear)

4. Before starting the installation, go to Utilities, Disk Utility

5. Select your hard drive, click Partition, and select a 3-partition installation scheme

6. Format the 1st partition as HFS+ for MacOS (I gave it around 50gb), the second partition as HFS+ for your Data (size will vary depending on your actual HDD size) and the third partition as "MS-Dos FAT" for Windows (I gave it 40gb). Go ahead and format, and close Disk Utility.

7. Install MacOS on the first partition as usual.

8. Insert the Windows 7 DVD, reboot, hold ALT and boot from DVD again (it will be called "Windows")

9. When Windows 7 asks you where to install, select the last partition (40gb), and make sure you Format it. Don't format the middle partition for now, and ignore the 128 MB free spaces. It's annoying, but just shrug it - they are necessary AFAIK.

10. Continue the installation as usual. Once it's complete, locate and download the 64-bit bootcamp installation on the internet, download and install it.

11. Once all that is done, the last step is to reboot with the MacOS installation DVD, go back to the Disk Utility, click on the middle partition you created (NOT the whole hard drive) and "Erase" it as a MS-Dos FAT partition. Submit, and then quit the installer.

12. Boot in Windows (ALT on startup, as usual), and reformat that drive as NTFS.

 

You're done.

 

Notes:

* To read and write to NTFS partitions, you'll need to use tools such as MacFuse with NTFS3G. In Snow Leopard I think I has the support but not "activated". You can use "NTFS Mounter" (ntfsmounter.com) to mount any drive as read/write.

* As you may be aware, sound can be extremely dim on the Windows side even with the bootcamp drivers. Find out which sound card you have (MacOS/System Information), and install the drivers from the internet. In my case, it was the Realtek HD audio drivers, and that resolved the issue.

* If you want better performance for games on the windows side and you have an ATI video card, download ATI MobileModder and patch your drivers before installing them. It's worth it.

* Bootcamp software stupidly has no clue how to handle more than 2 partitions, so I recommend installing rEFIt, a nice and easy boot loader that will see all your partitions and will start without any key press.