SilverZero Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 So some guides say to format your OSX destination as FAT32, and some say to format it using the "id=af" command in diskpart. Of course, either way you end up converting it to the Mac OS Filesystem (Journaled) using Disk Utility during the installation, but does it matter which format the destination drive is to begin with (before formatting during the OSX install)? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Formatting a freshly made partition helps Disk Utility to find the existing partition for formatting to MacOS Extended Journaled (HFS+). This is based on experience where people using other methods have found that their partition does not even show up in Disk Utility. If OSX is to be the only OS on the hard drive, formatting to FAT32 also sets up the MBR partitioning scheme needed by BIOS. Setting the id=AF is not formatting. It is setting the identity of the partition. AF is the code for an HFS+ partititon. This helps later after you have installed and are trying to boot the installation Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/#findComment-212729 Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverZero Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 Sweet, thanks for the info. I'll stick with the id=af method. I'm doing a lot of experimenting right now to see if I can avoid the "still waiting for root device" message on installation startup. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/#findComment-212735 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Sweet, thanks for the info. I'll stick with the id=af method. The point is, you should do both. Formatting FAT32 helps Disk Utility during installation. ID=AF helps booting the partition after installation. They have two entirely different goals. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/#findComment-212737 Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverZero Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 Thank you, that's what I am doing. At least, I think I am, because using diskpart, the tutorials say to select the destination partition, then delete it, then "create partition primary id=af." Is that correct? When I do it that way, Disk Utility (during install) sees it as the Mac Journaled FS, whereas before it was the MS-DOS FS, but it seems like it would erase and reformat either one. Also, some guides say to use diskpart to set the destination partition "active" before restarting into the install DVD - what is the purpose of this? I have been comparing different pre-install steps, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. Is it necessary, or will the installation set the partition active on its own either way? Thanks! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/#findComment-212760 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Setting a partition "active" makes it the partition to be booted. The installation does not do that for you. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/30691-fat32-vs-idaf/#findComment-212768 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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