System Admin

11-Jan-13 13:55

I own a Dell Inspiron N4110 and I'm looking at buying a $20 install disc for OSX 10.6. (I really want to try out OSX Wink | ;)

)
The catch is that I already have Windows 7 and Windows 8 installed.

Everywhere I read says that I have to install Windows after OSX is installed. Mad | :mad:

So, short of using a virtual machine (something I DO NOT want to do), can I install OSX and just repair my windows installations? (like no hard drive wiping? Roll eyes | :rolleyes:

)

modified 12-Jan-13 8:30am.

Redgum11-Jan-13 14:57

Redgum

11-Jan-13 14:57

Short answer: No.

The madman is not the man who has lost his reason; the madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

--G.K. Chesterton

Casey Sheridan11-Jan-13 15:01

11-Jan-13 15:01

Not exactly what I wanted to hear but I appreciate the answer just the same. Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

May I ask, though, is this answer from knowledge or experience?

Redgum11-Jan-13 16:17

Redgum

11-Jan-13 16:17

Mac OSX and Windows NTFS are incompatible file systems, so in order to make one work with the other as you describe:

* You must partition the storage medium with two or more partitions and provide for a dual-boot system.
-or-
* One of the operating systems must provide intrinsic support for the other - an emulation tool, native drivers or provide a shell.
-or-
* One of the operating systems must provide a tool that permits re-provisioning and co-location.

Since you already have Windows loaded on your machine, re-partitioning would be destructive. Sure, there's dual-boot tools and even some that claim non-destructive re-partitioning, but YMMV and rule #33 of Mike's rules of happy computing is don't trust 3rd party hacks when it comes to your boot sector.

Windows doesn't intrinsically support OSX. OTOH, OSX does have intrinsic support for windows. The problem, as stated, is that the egg came before the chicken in this instance.

There are no tools I know of for Windows that permit re-provisioning the partition/boot sector/OS load and file system to play paddy-cakes with a Mac OS, so your options are hence somewhat limited. Sigh | :sigh:

Cheers

-Mike

The madman is not the man who has lost his reason; the madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

--G.K. Chesterton

Casey Sheridan11-Jan-13 16:33

11-Jan-13 16:33

Thanks so much for the in-depth description! Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

After posting this question, I continued my previously fruitless search and finally came up with this[^] piece of software.
I may give it a try after a complete backup.
If it works, great! Otherwise... I hope my backups work. $Shucks | :-\$

Redgum10-Apr-13 9:32

Redgum

10-Apr-13 9:32

Well, curious minds would like to know - did the Hackintosh method work, or did you need to decisively trim your fingernails whilst perfoming a system restore? Blush | :O

The madman is not the man who has lost his reason; the madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

--G.K. Chesterton

Casey Sheridan10-Apr-13 9:51

10-Apr-13 9:51

Redgum wrote:
did the Hackintosh method work

Well, unfortunately, I was a little indecisive about going through with the project and then I started doing something else and it got pushed aside.

So I don't know yet if that will work or not. $Shucks | :-\$

Albert Holguin31-Jan-13 7:35

31-Jan-13 7:35

Something I've begun doing for my multi-boot machines is to just put different OS's on different drives.... and choose boot OS by adjusting boot device order. Works well and there's never any interference... and it's really easy to do (provided you can easily change the disk).

Casey Sheridan31-Jan-13 7:38

31-Jan-13 7:38

Albert Holguin wrote:
and it's really easy to do (provided you can easily change the disk)

I would love to do that!

Unfortunately, the disk is a terror to get at. I'd have to tear apart the entire computer to get at it. Cry | :((

Albert Holguin31-Jan-13 10:59

31-Jan-13 10:59

Does it happen to have room for two drives? ...if so, you can still do this, just pop one in, load OS, remove, pop the other load OS... place both in, choose OS by changing boot order. One of my laptops has two drives in it but it's not as common on lower end models (or smaller/sleeker models).

Casey Sheridan31-Jan-13 14:04

31-Jan-13 14:04

Albert Holguin wrote:
but it's not as common on lower end models

Mine is like the lowest of the low. Frown | :(

Here's a 5 minute video showing the complexities of getting to my drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbnFKmwiTto[^]
It doesn't look like it has room for another. Cry | :((

Albert Holguin31-Jan-13 14:28

31-Jan-13 14:28

I've never seen a drive that difficult to remove! ...that's ridiculous!

Casey Sheridan31-Jan-13 14:31

31-Jan-13 14:31

That's about what I thought.

It came as a particular shock after having the luxury of one little panel on my Dell Latitude E6400. Frown | :(

Albert Holguin31-Jan-13 14:36

31-Jan-13 14:36

Oh well, sometimes you don't think about things like that until you've already purchased the product. Now you know for next time, make sure the hardware is reasonably accessible. I just bought a new desktop and it has easily removable SATA drive bays, so I load different operating systems on different bays. I can easily swap drives when I want and they also have a key lock so I can secure them if need be.

Casey Sheridan31-Jan-13 15:38