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I partitioned the drive, installed and copied files over before I knew about Boot Camp Assistant.

I have two Mac partitions and one formatted with a pc format for later use. I might add Windows sometime but have been more interested in the various linux options. Lack of space is not a problem with new 20 inch iMacs. There are limitations with the linus flavours -I couldn't run gOS or Kubuntu and when I got round to reading the read me, settled on Mandriva 2008.

When I got that message from Bootcamp I started looking at Parallels and then VMWare. I have some iso images sitting on the pc partition but few clues of how to set this up. I don't feel inclined to follow Bootcamp when it threatens to erase the partitions and demands that I have it formatted as just one partition. Anyway it feels like being dictated to.

How do you go about setting up the Mac to triple boot and don't require boot camp assistant to do so? Is there a piece of software that will handle this?

Belinda

(anyone know how to delete your own posts?)

Hi Belinda,

Triple booting is pretty easy but you just need to know a few limitations. Due to MBR (master book record) limitations you can only have three partitions, which means that you can't have a swap partition (which generally linux distros do). So what you normally do is make a swap file after you've installed linux.

When you actually install linux you want to install the boot manager (which is usually grub) on the actual linux partition (not over the MBR). Then install rEFt (refit.sourceforge.net/) which is basically just a OS selector (allows you to choose which OS to boot into when you start you're mac - has neat graphics too).

Other than that you don't need any special software, just disk utility. Basically just use disk utility to change (can resize any HFS+ partitions and can also remove other partitions without killing data on the HFS+ partition) to make 3 partitions (usually format the other two as MS-DOS - the windows and linux installers can change them to whatever).

If you can post a screenshot of disk utility's partition tab (I'll post a picture of mine) then I can see what's best to do.


Jay.

Belinda wrote:
I don't feel inclined to follow Bootcamp when it threatens to erase the partitions and demands that I have it formatted as just one partition. Anyway it feels like being dictated to.It might seem this way but there is a legit reason for it.

Even though you've made a Windows formatted partition BootCamp can't recognise it for the reason that it hasn't got an MBR (Master Boot Record - sector that tells Windows how to treat the partition). Without this Boot Camp can't boot to the drive. However, try inserting your Windows disc and reboot. Hold down Option (or you may have to hold down the Menu button on your remote) and select the Windows CD. You may still be able to install Windows using that.

Boot Camp is nothing more than a Wizard so you should be able to do a manual install to the pre-formatted Windows partition you have.

Windows is a possibility on the horizon as I don't have a disc readily available. I have been experimenting with Linux instead on vmware and may look at options like Crossover rather than installing Windows.

Is it possible to have an internal drive with one partition with guid and another with mbr?

Have attached an image from Disk Utility in response to an earlier email. I don't know why half the top partition comes out blue. Sorry about the close clipping of the image, as I have been finding out how to use Preview as an image editor and not always choosing the right options.

Belinda

Firstly the blue bit is the what is actually being used. White is free space. You cannot partition the blue bit only the white.

Technically it's possible to dual-boot the Windows partition thus having Windows and Linux on the same partition. Linux itself would then override the MBR and allow you to choose either Windows or Linux whereas Option on startup would allow you to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. It is plausible to have three operating systems installed on the one machine.

All this being said though, if you really want this arrangement Parallels is probably the better option as Parallels Tools tends to install easier on Linux thus you can interact with Mac OS X better. That being said though Linux is somewhat moot because Mac OS X is UNIX anyway. The shell in Mac OS X is Bash which is the default shell in Linux. There isn't really all that much that Linux can do that Mac OS X can't already do, including installing UNIX software.

CrossOver is a hit and miss affair. It is a good product but it can be tricky getting some applications running. Your safest bet is to install Windows but of course this is the most expensive option as well.