Questions: Upgrade dual boot (XP/10.4) to Leopard

[mikelyxx]

Hoping someone can clarify some next steps for me as I look to install leopard on my laptop.

 

I have a Dell 630 with 3 partitions:

 

1. Win XP

2. 10.4 (Uphuck install; use chain0 in XP to boot)

3. Storage partition used for data

 

I have both the KALYWAY and iatkos disks but haven't done anything with them yet.

 

What I'd like to do is either upgrade or overwrite the 10.4 partition with the caveat that i don't loose my XP or Storage partition.

 

So here are a couple of questions:

1. Do i need to re-partition my drive? I hear a lot of conversation about MBR and GUID, but i haven't figured out if this is neccessary for my situation.

 

2. If i install over my existing 10.4 installation, any negative side effect from either distribution?

 

3. Can i still use the chain0 file on my XP installation? Do i need to reinstall anything in the Mac partition to continue to make this work. Is their an easier method for bootloading?

 

4. What about EFI? I would love to be able to upgrade OS X using software update, but does this do anything to my XP setup.

 

Ultimately I want to continue to boot into my XP partition by default and have the option of going to Leopard as startup.

 

Thanks.

[Bona Fide]

This is actually the preferred method to go. Upgrading from Tiger to Leopard allows you to bypass some rather difficult issues. I would suggest the iATKOS release because many people have reported success when upgrading from Tiger. It's apparently not very good as a full install DVD, but if you're upgrading it works great.

 

1. You don't need to repartition. Leopard will install over Tiger. MBR (master boot record) is basically the order that your OS's boot in. You want OSX to be the first if it already isn't. Use Gparted Live CD to change it to the primary boot partition.

2. I don't think so, but not 100% sure. You might lose your background/dock/shortcut settings.

3. I've heard Darwin Bootloader is the best. It has a screen right after the POST that allows you to pick which OS (Windows or OSX) to boot into.

4. I believe the iATKOS has EFI v.7 built in. If you upgrade to 10.5.1 using Kalyway's release, you'll get EFI 8.