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Boot custom PC from an old Mac HD


dandirk
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Hello, first post, and sorry if this is a very beginner question. I'm sure this has been asked many times before, but it was very hard to find the direct answer that I am looking for.

 

I have an old Mac Book Pro laptop sitting in my room, perfectly fine and boot-able but it has no battery. Im curious as to what I have to do to take the HD from the MBP and use that as the boot disk in my newly built PC. I've checked my PC specs and everything seems to check out fine for OSx requirements.

 

I'm sure its not as easy as "plug it in and boot from the old disk". So where should I start to make this happen?

 

 

Thanks very much and I'm sorry if this has been posted before! :angel_not:

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It's possible but can be tricky especially for first Hack. Process will depend on OSX version. If SL, look for info on how to boot retail installer CD, do the same but pick your mac HD from the boot menu instead. Prior to removing HD from MacPro, delete the kernel cache/startup cache files and don't rebuild them

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Do you have a thumb drive? If you have, boot you MPB using the power cord and install an app called Chameleon on the thumb drive. It's a boot loader, meaning it makes OSX boot in your non-Apple machine. You can download any Chameleon package, but i recommend the newest, which you can find in this site, section Developers Corner, forum Bootloaders, topic Chameleon Official Packages and Binaries.

 

Now, if your MBP cannot boot at the moment (damaged power cord and battery, etc), you'll have to do it on Windows: then you'll have to do a little research for installing the bootloader, but there are plenty of resources in Google, which is our friend, as we all know. :)

 

When Chameleon is installed in your thumb drive, boot from it on your non-Apple machine and at the prompt type the following: -v -f npci=0x2000 GraphicsEnabler=Yes and, if the boot hangs somewhere, you post here, adding pictures if you can. Good luck and welcome to the boat!

 

Best regards!

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Hello again,

 

So my PC specs are as follows:

 

Processor - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

RAM - PNY 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3

MOBO - ASRock X79 Extreme6 LGA 2011

Video - NVIDIA GTX 680 superclocked

 

The MBP's battery is gone. I cant even turn it on with just the power cord because its an older model. So im assuming I would have to plug it into my PC and go in there and hand edit the files on the disk. Am I correct?

 

Please let me know if these Specs will support a Hackintosh.

 

Thanks

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thanks for your help theconnactic,

 

So, I was able to successfully retrive the HD from the MBP and connect it to my PC. I downloaded a utility called "SalvageData". I want to clone the Old HD onto a new SSD that I have. Will I still be able to boot from that SSD afterwards? My reason for cloning the drive is because the old MBP hard drive is almost 6 years old now, and i'm not sure how much longer it will last.

 

Exactly what should I do to the contents of the Mac HD to get it up and running as the main boot drive? Sorry for all the noob questions, I'm still new to this. My ultimate goal is to have a stable, up-gradable version of OSX running permanently on my PC.

 

Thanks, everyone has been very helpful so far!

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You'll have to install a bootloader (http://www.insanelym...19-bootloaders/): either Chameleon or Clover (If your board is UEFI, use Clover, since it can even be installed - in fact, unpacked - from Windows, and uses the native bootloader of Mac OSX). If not, your SSD won't even boot.

 

You'll also have to install AnV's decrypt tool (AppleDecrypt Sinetek AnV (V3.0.0) for SL, Lion and Mountain Lion) or, if it fails to boot (see below), FakeSMC (http://www.insanelym...5429-hwsensors/): use MacDrive to install them from Windows, and install at first in a FAT formatted thumb drive, booting from it.

 

Then, you can try to boot, typing this at the boot screen or boot options (if you use Clover): -v npci=0x2000 GraphicsEnabler=Yes (exactly as written, if it fails, post pictures here).

 

Ask for help in the topics and forums i linked. Good luck!

 

Best regards!

Edited by theconnactic
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You need the correct settings in your config.plist (/EFI/config.plist). You can edit it with any text editor, but i strongly suggest you to ask directions here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/284656-clover-general-discussion/page__st__1220#entry1894179 before editing anything, because the developers usually post there and provide help for Clover users.

 

Best regards!

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