Grama Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Hello, I am trying to install iATKOS 5i onto my new system (I am far too lazy to do boot-132, plus if I have a 1-stop-shop install disk why WOULDN'T I use it?) The system: GA-EG31M-S2 Motherboard (G31, ICH7, OOB SOund/Lan Support GMA 3100 Int. Graphics, no quartz image) Q6600 C2Q 500GB SATA2HD (Detected by installer) LiteON Something or another SATA CD/DVD Drive (working just fine). The Problem: I dont want to just use OS X. I also want to use Vista, XP, and Two Linux distros (at minimum just 1 which would be fedora). So haven't having installed a full osx86 solution since brazilmac hack when Leopard came out on my old system, I thought this would be easy. Well I should have known better. installing any 1 os is cake, but getting all of them to work in syncrony is living hell. My first issue at hand: GPT or MBR? I first tried to use MBR, but multibooting became an issue. so GPT it is.... oh and for the record my preferred bootloader is the darwin bootloader. next issue: Which partition tool do I use to NOT screw up anything in gpt after I have done my initial partitioning with the IATKOS disk? I need to format my linux partitions and nothing I have found or read baout seems to work with gpt. I have tried to use the mac-fdisk but I cannot seem to figure it out. GParted screws things up, and I cannot find anything on fdisk I have not found any material thru seach or google to indicate there is a guide on how to multiboot 4 or more os's with osx86. I am feeling very defeated. I am hoping somebody can help me! I built the system xmas day and have been working on it since, have reinstalled everything about 10 times trying to make it work, any help? I only have 1 drive ATM, I cannot afford a second right now. Any help would be MUCH appreciated! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/143113-gpt-noob-looking-for-advise/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Gracious!!! All those OSs. The best partition software is GParted live CD 0.4.1-1 It does not ruin GPT, it just deletes the MBR making you system un-bootable so you should always have a boot-132 CD ready to boot back into OS X and reinstall Chameleon after using it (Remember that GPT was not made for BIOS). Also XP doesn't work with GPT unless you sync it with MBR, and that's just messy and troublesome. When installing Linux, make sure you install it's boot loader to it's partition's boot sector and not MBR. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/143113-gpt-noob-looking-for-advise/#findComment-1015746 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grama Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 so in other words, I am proboably best to stick with an MBR solution (try and chainload linux to boot osx)? I know that I have to have my XP partition as the fourth partition of the system (3rd in the initial parition scheme in diskutility) and that my shared partition should be in the first four (3 after the gpt 200mb efi) paritions. SO here is what my partition table looked like. P1 - 200MB EFI part. P2 - 115GB OS X Part. P3 - 100GB Shared Part (NTFS) P4 - 115GB XP Part (NTFS) P5 - 50GB Vista Part (NTFS) P6 - 40GB Fedora 10 Part (ext3) P7 - 30GB Arch Linux/Other Part (ext3) P8 - Whatever is left (I think its around 10-11GB of total 465) Linux Swap Now if another scheme works that is great, I just want those sizes. I was thinking about going back to MBR and doing the chainload trick for multibooting strictly from linux, but I dont see why multibooting from gpt should be a problem. But based on your repsonse, I would say that XP does not like GPT at all, no? I read that XP works as long as it is fourth partition. Anyways, should I go back to MBR or stick with GPT? Thanks for the response and your time! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/143113-gpt-noob-looking-for-advise/#findComment-1016116 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 NO! XP does not support GPT at all (even if it's partition 4). It's too old for GPT. I think you should stick with GPT because it's much faster with OS X and is more flexible in multiboot situations as you can have any number of primary partitions. In MBR you can only have 4. As for XP, I think you should run it on a virtual machine on OS X or linux if you don't mind. Just remember to have a boot-132 CD and chameleon installer ready. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/143113-gpt-noob-looking-for-advise/#findComment-1016172 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grama Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 NO! XP does not support GPT at all (even if it's partition 4). It's too old for GPT. I think you should stick with GPT because it's much faster with OS X and is more flexible in multiboot situations as you can have any number of primary partitions. In MBR you can only have 4. As for XP, I think you should run it on a virtual machine on OS X or linux if you don't mind. Just remember to have a boot-132 CD and chameleon installer ready. ? thats not what I read, I have heard that it is only marginally faster. Somebody on the netkas forum said that its a myth, a 'placebo' if you will. I do need xp to be on the hd. So my plan is to use mbr then, tho it is a hassle, I know that everything will eventually boot (once I get the ting setup correctly. Whatever ends up working I will likely post some sort of guide. I appreciate your input! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/143113-gpt-noob-looking-for-advise/#findComment-1016196 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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