Jump to content

Stupid Questions -- Partition Mapping


ewhac
 Share

2 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

There are quite a number of "easy" tutorials for installing vanilla OSX, but all of them seem to make one of several assumptions:

  • The installation is to a machine dedicated to running OS X,
  • The installation is to a blank or otherwise unused hard disk,
  • The disk is given a GUID partition map.

In my case, none of the above are true. The machine in question (a ThinkPad Z61t, which should have a good shot at running correctly) is the laptop I use all the time. It already has Debian Linux installed, and the disk partition scheme is MBR. For me to change the partition mapping on the disk would be a huge pain in the neck, as I'd have to copy off everything, reformat the disk with a GUID partition map, copy everything back, and then maybe OS X will work.

 

So: Is GUID partition mapping absolutely necessary to ensure OS X running successfully, or can I reasonably expect MBR to work just as well? As a general rule, can OS X be installed as the second OS alongside an existing installation, or does it insist on being installed first?

 

My thanks in advance for any advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...