Triple-booting SnowLeo, Win7 and Ubuntu?

[Vertimyst]

I'm currently dual-booting Snow Leopard and Windows 7 on the same HDD (done using some guides on tonymacx86.com). Everything's mostly working great, I can boot into either using Chameleon. But I'd like to install Ubuntu as a third OS. Is this possible to do without messing up my setup? My main concern is that it will override Chameleon and replace it with GRUB. What I want to do is boot all three OSes through Chameleon.

 

If anyone knows how I can go about installing it like that, I'd really appreciate the help.

[enochpc]

It's possible, the biggest thing to remember is to install GRUB on the partition you are installing Ubuntu in. It will highly suggest against it (and when I did it grub install failed the first try, had to install again). You will have to reinstall Chameleon after you install Ubuntu, and possibly some other fixes (like setting windows to the active partition, etc.)

 

There are guides if you look on the forums. Something to keep in mind, clean installs in the proper order are usually the only way to successfully triple boot. I am including a couple links to point you in the correct direction. These all list slightly different options, I would search triple boot and find one that fits your needs.

 

http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dual-booti...-chameleon.html

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=119348

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51299

[ulumulu]

I did the same and it works for me now, thanks to all!

 

But as I do have a running configuration of Snow Leo, Win7 and Ubuntu, I want to backup my hard disk now. Is there any good Software that supports HFS+ as well as NTFS and ext4? Of course it doesn't depend if it's for Mac OS or anything else, the most important fact is that it supports all file systems!

 

Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks

[dlambert]

Mac drive (Windows) Ext2fs (Maybe) (Mac) Shouldn't Ubuntu read Both?

 

 

Dlambert

[srs5694]

I want to backup my hard disk now. Is there any good Software that supports HFS+ as well as NTFS and ext4? Of course it doesn't depend if it's for Mac OS or anything else, the most important fact is that it supports all file systems!

 

My advice is to stick with single-OS backup tools -- a Windows tool for Windows, a Linux tool for Linux, and an OS X tool for OS X. Although tools like Clonezilla support all the required filesystems, you might have problems getting them all to boot after a restoration. Windows is particularly finicky that way; if a partition's start point changes, Windows sulks and won't boot. Windows-native tools are much more likely to be able to cope with such problems, in my experience.

 

Note also that an OS's ability to mount, read, and even write a filesystem isn't sufficient for backup operations. This is because all filesystems support particular sets of metadata -- things like time stamps, ownership, and permissions. The metadata supported by one OS may not match that provided by another OS's filesystem, so if you use a high-level backup tool (like tar) to back up one OS from another one, you'll lose metadata that may be critical for an OS's operation. Clonezilla and some other backup tools do lower-level backups than this, so this particular problem doesn't apply to it, but you should be aware that an OS's ability to read/write a filesystem has nothing to do with the ability of at least some tools run under that OS to back up and restore the filesystem.

[RSN]

Hi guys.

 

My personal experience is that it CAN NOT be done in the same HD. Or I couldn't do it, after at least 5 or 6 times with different schemes.

 

Firstly, you can not install windows in a PC with more than 1 HD , it says System doesn't meet requirements or something of the sort. The "apparent" reason is that the are more than 1 HDs and sort of gets confused or will get confused during install and its many reboots. What I do is disconnect (physically) the other HDs and install windows and then reconnect the other HDs.

 

Next, considering you only have 1 HD, you want to install OSX, Windows 7 and Ubuntu, you will need 1 partition for OSX, 1 partition for W7 and 2 partitions for Ubuntu (System and Swap). Since you will make a GPT partition, there is an extra partition, the EFI partition, which makes 5 partitions (at least when using Disk utility in Mac to create partitions).

 

When you install Windows (1 HD case) it will refuse to install with the same Doesnt meet System Requirements error. As far as Ive been able to figure out, Windows can not install to GPT (normally) as heard in many forums. Now the funny thing is that if you do a disk partition with Disk Utility in Mac and make 4 partitions with GUID partition (GPT) Windows WILL Install. If it sees 5 partitions, it will not install. As I say, this from multiple tries to install 3 systems. BTW, MBR can only make 4 partitions.

 

Ive tried to create 4 partitions, install W7 (ok), install OSX (ok) and then when in Ubuntu installation, break the last partition into 2 (in Ubuntu install), one for Linux and the other for Swap. Ubuntu is installed but when later booting from Chameleon and selecting Windows it gets again stuck with some dumb message. It doesnt matter I "repair" the Windows installation, it wont boot.

 

If you can install Ubuntu without a Swap partition, I guess it would work.

 

If there is another method, Ill love to hear about it.

 

Hope it helps.

[ulumulu]

thank you very much for your qick replies!

I think I'll have a look at clonezilla first!

 

thank you!

[srs5694]

Firstly, you can not install windows in a PC with more than 1 HD , it says System doesn't meet requirements or something of the sort. The "apparent" reason is that the are more than 1 HDs and sort of gets confused or will get confused during install and its many reboots. What I do is disconnect (physically) the other HDs and install windows and then reconnect the other HDs.

 

I've never had this problem. The error message you report is reminiscent of what Windows reports when you try to install it to a GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk on a BIOS-based system, although I don't recall the exact wording. Perhaps that's what you were running into....

 

Next, considering you only have 1 HD, you want to install OSX, Windows 7 and Ubuntu, you will need 1 partition for OSX, 1 partition for W7 and 2 partitions for Ubuntu (System and Swap). Since you will make a GPT partition, there is an extra partition, the EFI partition, which makes 5 partitions (at least when using Disk utility in Mac to create partitions).

 

This is correct for some configurations; however, GPT isn't absolutely 100% required, so the EFI System partition isn't absolutely required, and the Linux swap partition also isn't absolutely required. (Even on a GPT disk, the EFI System Partition can be eliminated after OS X is installed; it's not needed on a BIOS-based system. Removing it might complicate future upgrades, though.) OTOH, it's possible to use more partitions than this -- say, for a shared-data partition or a separate /home partition for Linux.

 

When you install Windows (1 HD case) it will refuse to install with the same Doesnt meet System Requirements error. As far as Ive been able to figure out, Windows can not install to GPT (normally) as heard in many forums. Now the funny thing is that if you do a disk partition with Disk Utility in Mac and make 4 partitions with GUID partition (GPT) Windows WILL Install. If it sees 5 partitions, it will not install. As I say, this from multiple tries to install 3 systems.

 

Chances are there's some hybrid MBR weirdness going on here that's giving you grief. If you don't understand hybrid MBRs, they will bite you, and hard! A brief summary of some key points:

 

• MBR is an old partitioning scheme that employs a primary partition table of up to four partitions, one of which may be an extended partition that serves as a placeholder for an arbitrary number of logical partitions.
  
• GPT is a newer partitioning system, used by Apple on its Intel-based Macs, that abolishes the primary/extended/logical partitioning scheme, supporting 128 partitions per disk by default (this value can be changed).
  
• A standard GPT layout includes a "protective MBR," which is an MBR data structure designed to keep older GPT-unaware OSes and utilities from messing with the disk.
  
• Windows refuses to install to or boot from GPT disks on BIOS-based systems.
  
• OS X (at least version 10.6; I'm not sure about 10.5 or earlier) refuses to install to MBR disks, but it will boot from an MBR disk.
  
• Linux is happy on either MBR or GPT disks (although there are exceptions for a few distributions).
  
• A hybrid MBR is an illegal variant of GPT in which the protective MBR is modified to include up to three GPT partitions as MBR partitions. It can be used to get around the Windows/OS X issues, since Windows can boot from a hybrid MBR disk and OS X is happy with the GPT side of the disk. Apple relies on hybrid MBRs for its Boot Camp on regular Macs.
  
• OS X's Disk Utility creates a standard GPT if you only put HFS or HFS+ partitions on the disk; however, if you create a FAT partition, Disk Utility converts the disk into a hybrid MBR disk.
  

 

Your report that Windows will install on a 4-partition disk but not on a 5-partition disk is unclear. Presumably you're talking about GPT partitions, but without knowing which of those 5 partitions are duplicated in the MBR, it's impossible to make predictions about how Windows will see the disk. If the partition you intended for Windows was not duplicated in the MBR, then of course Windows won't install because it won't see any suitable partitions. Or, worse, it might see "empty" space and create "new" MBR partitions in that space, thus wiping out space that was already in use as far as GPT was concerned. This is one of the many possible dangers of hybrid MBRs.

 

BTW, MBR can only make 4 partitions.

 

This isn't quite true. As noted above, you can have an arbitrary number of logical partitions, so long as the disk has an extended partition. Linux is happy to install in and boot from logical partitions, although Windows won't do so. I've seen reports that OS X can be coaxed into booting from a logical MBR partition, but apparently it's a bit tricky.

 

As a side note, it's theoretically possible to create a hybrid MBR disk that includes an extended partition and logical partitions. Such a disk would be a nightmare to maintain, though. Fortunately, I know of no utilities that are reckless enough to create such a disk. Thus, you're limited to three partitions on the MBR side of a hybrid MBR disk. (The fourth MBR partition is devoted to the EFI GPT protective partition that's required by GPT.)

 

Ive tried to create 4 partitions, install W7 (ok), install OSX (ok) and then when in Ubuntu installation, break the last partition into 2 (in Ubuntu install), one for Linux and the other for Swap. Ubuntu is installed but when later booting from Chameleon and selecting Windows it gets again stuck with some dumb message. It doesnt matter I "repair" the Windows installation, it wont boot.

 

Again, it's impossible to tell with certainty what's going on without seeing your complete partition setup, including both the GPT side and the MBR side (assuming it's a hybrid MBR disk). I can think of several possible reasons for the problems you report. The most probable is that the Linux installer was fixing the broken protective MBR, thus converting a hybrid MBR into a proper protective MBR. This would render Windows unbootable. One fix would be to convert it back into a hybrid MBR again, using gptsync or GPT fdisk. Another fix would be to convert the disk from a hybrid MBR into a conventional MBR, ditching the GPT data. This isn't always possible, but sometimes it is with the right utility (namely, GPT fdisk).

 

FWIW, I have (or had in the past) two systems that triple-booted (one does more than that):

 

• A now-defunct laptop booted Windows Vista (pre-installed), OS X, and Linux using a hybrid MBR configuration. I don't recall the exact steps I used to set these up, but it certainly worked once it was set up.
  
• A desktop system I've got boots six OSes: DOS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, OS X 10.5, OS X 10.6, and Linux. This system is a two-disk pure-MBR setup; there's no GPT involved on either hard disk. IIRC, I copied the OS X 10.6 installation from a GPT install on another disk. Other than that, I don't recall the details of how I set it up.
  

 

I realize this sort of configuration can be confusing and difficult to set up if you don't understand the partitioning or boot loader issues involved. Once you do understand these issues, it's not really that hard, although you may need to jump through some weird hoops to get everything working. Unfortunately, the partitioning rules are fairly complex; MBR, as it exists today, is a tangled mess of workarounds for about three decades worth of problems. GPT simplifies things in some ways, but the existence of hybrid MBRs makes it all complex again with a new set of bizarre complications.