knewsom Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Ok, I've got an extra 160 gig IDE drive sitting around, my current OS is 10.5.3 with Darwin on a SATA drive. From the reading I've done, it seems to indicate that the XP installer will reset my MBR to automatically boot from Windows. However, that was under a partition scheme dual boot setup, and what I'm going for is 2 disks, and I think I've found the simple solution. The plan is to install the other hard drive as master, set my optical drive to slave, install XP Pro 64 from the DVD, and then use my BIOS to make sure that the boot priority lists my Leopard drive FIRST, ensuring that Darwin will allow me to select which drive I want to boot to, yes? The split partition dual-booters said that I'd need to download Arconis to reset the MBR, but since I'm using dedicated drives for each OS, I should be able to use the BIOS for that, right? Thanks in advance to any advice, and apologies in advance for my limited knowledge of windows, I'm a lifelong mac guy (since my Apple IIe!) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 also, am I correct in assuming that I won't run into AHCI issues during my windows install to an IDE disk, or will I have to somehow figure out a way to create an F6 install floppy to preinstall the correct drivers? (could be trouble - I don't have a floppy drive) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-771746 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 anybody have any answers on that AHCI question? I really would like to know what I'm getting into before I just dive in headlong. thanks, -k Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-775865 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilist Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 anybody have any answers on that AHCI question? I really would like to know what I'm getting into before I just dive in headlong. thanks, -k I think (that's THINK) that the AHCI drivers are on the install disk, BUT you still need to hit F6 to tell the installer where they are. But seeing as I haven't tried installing XP under AHCI yet... you might want to wait for a second opinion Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776003 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 rad, that would really be the best option... but the thing is... do I NEED the AHCI drivers if I install to an IDE drive? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776011 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilist Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 rad, that would really be the best option... but the thing is... do I NEED the AHCI drivers if I install to an IDE drive? Check out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host...oller_Interface for info. According to that, you need to get the drivers from your mobo vendor. Isn't this fun! You could always turn AHCI off and go back to EIDE, looks easier... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776040 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilist Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 And dammit! it does need to be on a floppy (Old school enough for ya?) Otherwise the installer just won't see the drive. I had no idea this was going to be as complicated as it is. I guess your options are either slipstreaming (!) or enabling AHCI post-install (assuming that's possible... can't see why not) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776089 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 yeah, but I have to keep SATA in AHCI on the mac side... Does AHCI even apply to IDE busses?? ps, thanks for the advice Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776108 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilist Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 OK, I'm so on a different mobo (P5K = P35 + ICH9), so you might have different results: I dropped a XP SP2 disk in as a test. My setup is SATA drives in EIDE mode, and a PATA drive on JMicron as AHCI. The windows installer sees the SATAs, a usb stick and my mobile phone, BUT NOT the AHCI PATA. It's just not on in the list. F6 only looks for drivers on a floppy, no other options. Time to ask around and borrow a floppy drive, I'd say. Forget what I said about post install; it looks a like a can of worms. (if only installing windows on a PC was as easy as leo...) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776177 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 gah! XP64 was the best OS I could find on the 'bay with a crack. I'd have just done Vista, but I haven't found one that's supposed to work right, and is 64 bit. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776268 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 You have a similar board to me (GA-EP35-DS4). I got AHCI working in Windows XP on a SATA drive AFTER installing it (with AHCI turned off during install) due to the lack of a floppy drive. I don't think it'll be an issue when installing Windows to an IDE drive. Just in case, I'd recommend installing Windows with AHCI turned off, then turning AHCI back on after you successfully install. If you have problems (which I doubt) then enable AHCI for XP post-install. The method I used is btoup's guide here. For me, on the EP35-DS4 this worked perfectly. By the way, if you're not a Windows person, the 2nd step can be very confusing. Basically, you need to use the command line (start/run/ cmd) navigate to the directory where the file in question is and enter the downloaded filename -a command. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776567 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knewsom Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 Hey Zaap, thanks for the tip! I'll be giving this a try before too long... but I'm in for a pretty hectic work week, so it might be a few days! I've also gone ahead and got myself a Vista installer too, just in case, but I think I'd prefer to stick with XP64SP3. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/108655-1053-and-xp-dual-boot-different-drives-osx-first/#findComment-776576 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts