a few questions for triple booting ubuntu, xp, osx

[ichundu]

hi everyone,

so i am dual booting ubuntu and windows xp, and i'm planning to install osx (iatkos v7) as well. i have only one 500gb hdd. i plan to create another partition to install osx on it. i know there are lots of tutorials but i am a bit unsure abouth this. i don't know it it's possible to install osx bootloader to mbr and then recover grub so it will show 3 os choices. i believe that is highly unlikely, i hope i'm wrong though. i would like to do this whithout having to reinstall windows and ubuntu. if this is NOT possible then i guess i wouldn't mind reinstalling all three OSs.

 

here is my partitions tree:

 

- ext4 linux partition

- swap partition

- ntfs partition (C drive where windows is installed)

- ntfs partition (D drive where i save my files and data. i especially need this to store my files when i reinstall windows or ubuntu)

 

my plan here is to split D into 2 partitions, and use one for installing osx and one to keep my files and data. i've heard you cannot have more than 4 primary partitions on a single hdd and i'm not sure if D is currently a primary partition (in disk management in windows, under section 'type' they all show as 'basic' partitions). even if it was i guess it's not a problem because i can change it to another partition type.

 

i would appreciate any kind of help on this, any suggestion or a link to a tutorial that best fits my case.

it is essential to me to keep the partition where i save my files intact, with that in mind i would accept any possible solution.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

here is a screenshot of gparted application in ubuntu

[srs5694]

so i am dual booting ubuntu and windows xp, and i'm planning to install osx (iatkos v7) as well. i have only one 500gb hdd. i plan to create another partition to install osx on it. i know there are lots of tutorials but i am a bit unsure abouth this. i don't know it it's possible to install osx bootloader to mbr and then recover grub so it will show 3 os choices. i believe that is highly unlikely, i hope i'm wrong though.

 

You'll be pleased to hear you're wrong. I recommend you save your boot loader (the first 440 bytes from the first sector of the hard disk) and/or have a Linux emergency disk handy so you can re-install GRUB. Once you've installed OS X, save the boot loader again before you re-install GRUB. If GRUB can't boot directly, you'll be able to redirect the boot process through the file you've saved. To back up your boot loader, issue this command from Linux:

 

dd if=/dev/sda of=~/boot-backup.img bs=440 count=1

 

Your screen shot suggests that /dev/sda is correct, but you can change ~/boot-backup.img to whatever file you like. (Use different files for each backup, of course.) The command in Mac OS is similar, but you'd use /dev/disk0 (or possibly higher numbers) rather than /dev/sda.

 

i've heard you cannot have more than 4 primary partitions on a single hdd and i'm not sure if D is currently a primary partition (in disk management in windows, under section 'type' they all show as 'basic' partitions). even if it was i guess it's not a problem because i can change it to another partition type.

 

Your screen shot clearly shows that /dev/sda1 is a primary NTFS partition. It's probably your boot partition. The remaining partitions are all logical, so you can resize and move them about and create a new logical partition for Mac OS. I've never installed it on a logical partition, but I've heard it can be done. You might want to research this more, though; some OSes can be tricky to install on logical partitions. Alternatively, but with more risk, when you resize your second NTFS partition, you could move your Linux partitions down, shrink the logical partition, and create a new primary partition at the end of the disk for Mac OS. This sort of configuration is a bit odd, but it does work. One of my systems is set up this way.

 

Another option is to convert your disk to GPT, which is the next-generation disk format that does away with many of the annoyances of the old MBR system. The drawback is that Windows can't boot from GPT disks on BIOS-based computers. There's a workaround called a hybrid MBR configuration, but it's flaky and a bit risky if you're not careful. Overall, I'd say you're better off sticking with MBR, unless you think you'll have problems getting Mac OS to install on a logical partition.

[chokia]

Installing Ubuntu on GPT is pure nightmare, i agreed on MBR much more simpler.

[ichundu]

You'll be pleased to hear you're wrong. I recommend you save your boot loader (the first 440 bytes from the first sector of the hard disk) and/or have a Linux emergency disk handy so you can re-install GRUB. Once you've installed OS X, save the boot loader again before you re-install GRUB. If GRUB can't boot directly, you'll be able to redirect the boot process through the file you've saved. To back up your boot loader, issue this command from Linux:

 

dd if=/dev/sda of=~/boot-backup.img bs=440 count=1

 

Your screen shot suggests that /dev/sda is correct, but you can change ~/boot-backup.img to whatever file you like. (Use different files for each backup, of course.) The command in Mac OS is similar, but you'd use /dev/disk0 (or possibly higher numbers) rather than /dev/sda.

it is so good to hear i was wrong i think i can reinstall grub without a problem, i have the ubuntu live cd and super grub disk (in case i screw up anything), i also have an xp disk in case i need to use the repair option. when you say reinstall grub i guess you mean to install it from the beginning (so it will show the mac os x entry in the menu) and not restoring it. either way it should be easy if i just follow these instructions on the ubuntu help page. i only hope osx installation goes well.

Your screen shot clearly shows that /dev/sda1 is a primary NTFS partition. It's probably your boot partition. The remaining partitions are all logical, so you can resize and move them about and create a new logical partition for Mac OS. I've never installed it on a logical partition, but I've heard it can be done. You might want to research this more, though; some OSes can be tricky to install on logical partitions. Alternatively, but with more risk, when you resize your second NTFS partition, you could move your Linux partitions down, shrink the logical partition, and create a new primary partition at the end of the disk for Mac OS. This sort of configuration is a bit odd, but it does work. One of my systems is set up this way.

it sounds more reasonable to create a primary partition for osx. when you say it is risky do you mean i could loose some data on the second ntfs partition? that wouldn't be a problem because before i create the new partition i will save my files on the other partitions and then move them back. i plan to use norton partition magic to create the new partition and i hope there will be an option to set it as primary (EDIT: yes there is). in gparted, if i right click any of the partitions there is a 'resize/move' option but i cannot select it because it is not highlighted, it's grey.

 

i think i will try this in the next couple of days and will report here the results. thanks for the help

[srs5694]

it is so good to hear i was wrong i think i can reinstall grub without a problem, i have the ubuntu live cd and super grub disk (in case i screw up anything), i also have an xp disk in case i need to use the repair option.

 

I also find the Linux System Rescue CD to be very helpful at recovery operations.

 

when you say reinstall grub i guess you mean to install it from the beginning (so it will show the mac os x entry in the menu) and not restoring it. either way it should be easy if i just follow these instructions on the ubuntu help page. i only hope osx installation goes well.

 

It's unclear what you have in mind as the distinction between "install it from the beginning" and "restoring it." What I mean is running the grub-install program to restore GRUB to the MBR of the boot disk. You should be able to do this from a Linux install disc or from something like the System Rescue CD.

 

it sounds more reasonable to create a primary partition for osx. when you say it is risky do you mean i could loose some data on the second ntfs partition?

 

I was referring to the fact that you'll need to move more partitions, and moving a partition is always a risky operation. I was thinking of shrinking everything down so as to clear free space at the end of the disk, which would require moving the Linux partitions. Shrinking up so that there's room between the Windows installation and the extended partition would be simpler in some ways, but this would mean moving the critical first entry in the extended partition. I once lost an entire disk that way. Either approach adds risk, vs. shrinking /dev/sda5 and putting in a new logical partition for Mac OS.

 

in gparted, if i right click any of the partitions there is a 'resize/move' option but i cannot select it because it is not highlighted, it's grey.

 

I believe GParted does this when partitions are mounted. You may be able to unmount the partition to move or resize it.

[ichundu]

setting up the partitions finished without problem. so i resized the second ntfs partition, moved the linux partitions so the unallocated space was left at the end of disk and finally created a primary unformated partition. (gparted live cd helped a lot)

 

It's unclear what you have in mind as the distinction between "install it from the beginning" and "restoring it."

 

restoring grub is a bit different from installing it. for example when i reinstall windows, grub menu does not show at startup because windows boot loader overwrites it at mbr, so to recover grub from the ubuntu live cd i run these commands in terminal:

 

grub

find /boot/grob/stage1 # the output of which is (hd0)

root (hd0)

setup (hd0)

quit

 

actually it was a very dumb question from me, because it's obvious that after mac os x intallation i should install grub with grub-install. sorry about this part.

 

BUT there is one big problem with the iatkos dvd: when darwin bootloader comes up i press enter and it restarts the computer. it keeps restarting over and over again no matter what option i put when i press F8. i've seen other people have the same problem with the iatkos dvd. when i try to boot with 'cpus=1' option, the loading screen with the apple logo shows up but after loading for a minute, a tiny 'stop symbol' comes up on top of the apple logo (shown in the picture attached) and it stays like that forever. when trying to boot with 'cpus=1 -v' option at the end of the screen i get this message: "still waiting for the root device". maybe i should start a new thread about this. i hope other distros like ipc or ideneb will work for me.

 

thanks for guiding me through the partitions thing Rod Smith