Apr 28, 2002 Then I started up. Unexpetedly, it started MAC OS X, altought the MAC OS 9 partition was activated (!!!). During the login process a message box was saying me, that the MAC OS 9 volume couldn't be mounted suggesting that I should start Disk Utililty in order to check it. Then I started up. Unexpetedly, it started MAC OS X, altought the MAC OS 9 partition was activated (!!!). During the login process a message box was saying me, that the MAC OS 9 volume couldn't be mounted suggesting that I should start Disk Utililty in order to check it.
Posted on by Dual-boot systems are a way of configuring the boot drive so that you have the option to start-up your computer (“boot”) into different operating systems. The most common reason to do this is to have both Mac OS X and Windows available on the same system. NOTE: While dual-boot systems allow you to choose which operating system you will run, you can’t switch between operating systems without restarting your computer. However, for me, a big benefit of creating a dual-boot system is that I can have two different Mac OS X systems, with two different versions of Final Cut Pro X, installed. Because all of my media and projects are stored on an external drive, dual-booting allows me to select which version of Final Cut Pro X I want to use for an edit. NOTE: Actually, you can create any number of different boot disks, to run whatever software you want.
Though we use the term “dual-boot,” in point of fact you are only limited by the amount of free space on your boot disk. DETERMINE HOW MUCH SPACE YOU NEED Before we create a new partition, we need to figure out how big it needs to be. There are three components:. The Operating System. Applications.
Home Directory Most Mac operating systems take 20 GB or less to store. So, let’s estimate the OS at 25 GB, to be safe. Open your boot disk, select the Applications folder and choose File Get Info. The total storage space required for all your applications is listed in the top right corner. For this system, applications take 15 GB. Again, let’s round this up to 20 GB. Finally, open the boot disk, twirl down Users and select your Home directory.
(It has an icon of a house.) Again, choose File Get Info and write down the size. In this example, I’m using 3 GB for all my Home directory files. Again, we’ll round up to, say, 10 GB. The size partition you need to create is the sum of these three folders: 25 + 20 + 10, or 50 GB. Your numbers will vary, but this is how you calculate the partition size you need. CREATE A NEW PARTITION As shipped by Apple, your boot disk has a single partition. (You can think of hard disk partitions as similar to rooms in a house.
Right now, your “house” stores all your files in a single room filled with file cabinets.) Partitioning allows us to create multiple rooms. The only problem is that all these different rooms must fit into the space of the original house. So, partitioning allows you to create multiple rooms, but it doesn’t expand the total storage space available to you. NOTE: In the past, we would partition drives to organize our files. This is no longer a good idea, because there’s a performance hit in moving between different partitions. While partitioning the boot drive still makes sense, partitioning for data storage does not.
To create a partition, open Utilities Disk Utility. Select the text ABOVE the words “Macintosh HD.” This is because “Macintosh HD” is already a partition. You can’t partition a partition, you can only partition the hard disk that contains the partition.
NOTE: The name of your hard disk – which will probably be a gibberish of letters and numbers – will vary. The key is to select the drive that contains the Macintosh HD partition. Once the hard disk is selected, click the Partition button at the top center of Disk Utility. If Partition doesn’t appear, you’ve selected the wrong thing in the left-hand panel. To create a new partition, click the Plus key at the bottom left of the Partition Layout.
Click inside the new partition to select it. In Partition Information, give your new partition a name. In this example, I called my new partition, “New Boot Disk.” (You can name the partition anything you want, using any combination of letters, numbers and spaces. Leave Format set to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).” And change the size to the size we calculated at the beginning of this article.
In this example, I’m using 50 GB; however, your actual number may be different. Double-check all your entries, then click Apply to create the new partition.
You’ll get a warning message, read it, then click Partition. After a few seconds, a new hard disk appears on your desktop. Macintosh HD is your original partition, and New Boot Disk is your new boot disk. INSTALLING SOFTWARE At this point, you need to install the new operating system on New Boot Disk, along with any applications you want to use. When you boot into the New Boot Disk you will NOT have access to anything stored on your current boot disk. It won’t be erased, just unavailable.
This includes email and everything in your Home directory. When installation is complete, you are ready to reboot into the new partition. REBOOTING Restart your system while pressing the Option key. After a few seconds a screen appears allowing you to choose which hard disk you want to boot into. Select your new boot drive and click OK. After a few more seconds, your computer is ready to go – and launched into the new partition.
EXTRA CREDIT – REMOVING A PARTITION Removing a partition will erase all the data that is stored on it; so be SURE!!! You have moved all essential data to another drive. (Removing a partition will not affect any other partition on the same, or any other, hard drive. Go back to Disk Utility. Select the Partition you want to remove and click the minus button in the lower left. A warning message appears asking you to confirm your choice. Read the message, then click OK.
The partition is removed, but the space it occupied is not reclaimed by the original partition. To get the space back, drag the thumb in the lower right corner all the way down to fill the gap. Then, click the Apply button to apply your changes. SUMMARY Dual-boot systems are not for everyone. But, when you need to alternate between different operating systems, or different system configurations, a dual-boot system can make that easy.
Hi, good article as I am old school mac and recently picked up a like-new iMac (2009) as it turned out when they sent it they forgot to put an OS on it and their excellent customer service people asked what system I wanted and they would send a flash drive installer. Since my investment is in Powerbook applications I did some research and discovered Snow Leopard with Rosetta installed can run my PB apps, right? So I am having them send Snow Leopard instal discs and a Yosemite flash install. See any issues with this sort of dual boot?
Thanks in advance. Hi, I have followed the instructions – but with no success – I have a Macbook running 10.9.5 with a 250 gig SSD – it has had the OS updated along the way and now my favourite ( and expensive ) R/C Flight simulator wont work properly. Having been in touch with the supplier they said is not supported into this OS version, but it previously ran perfectly on OS 10.6. So I have tried to partition part of the disk ( seems fine as its on the desktop ) but the install disk I have for 10.6 has a big circle and slash across the install option and wont allow me to install on the new partition.
Any ideas on a solution would be great. Thanks, Ross. Stefan: Yes, you can create multiple partitions.
Yes, you can put the OS on each partition – even the same version of the OS. The key is how you define “No access.” Since each partition acts as its own hard drive, after booting up into the drive you want to use, you can easily eject the drive you don’t want to access. This prevents you from accidentally accessing or storing anything on the unmounted partition. However, if you want to prevent anyone from accessing that drive for any reason, you would be better off creating an external (separate hardware) boot drive for that which you most want to keep private.
Then, disconnect and lock up the that drive when you don’t need to access it.
About 'Migrate OS to SSD/HD' In today's era, computer hard drive is not only the medium to store and exchange data, it also provides an entertaining way. You can download good music tracks and movies to the hard drive so as to listen to or watch them whenever you want. As the size of files stored on the hard drive is increasing, the running speed and responding speed of computer will be greatly affected. Meanwhile, the appearance of offers you a wonderful experience in speed.
So to replace the old hard drive with a new SSD or migrate OS to new SSD becomes the first choice to improve computer performance and speed. In addition, some large-scale online games are required to download to hard drive. This can easily make the old hard drive run out of space in a short time. The most direct and effective way to deal with this situation is also to replace the old hard drive with a new larger SSD or HD.
In both cases, if you don’t want to reinstall Windows and programs or don’t want to lose anything, we highly suggest using ' Migrate OS to SSD/HD' feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard to do this, which is an easy and safe process. Below is a detailed MiniTool Partition Wizard tutorial on OS migration. Note: The migration process of Partition Wizard will destroy all data in your target disk, so you’d better transfer data to another device or make a backup in advance. Yet, it doesn’t have any effect on the data in the original disk How to Migrate OS to SSD/HD Step 1: launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface. Step 2: click on ' Migrate OS to SSD/HD' in the toolbar. Step 3: choose a right method to migrate system disk and click ' Next '.
A: To Replace the System Disk Firstly, please select the target disk to migrate system disk to and click ' Next '. Then, choose a copy option. Alternatively, you can manually edit partition size by inputting exact partition size in MB, GP, or TB.
Tricks:. 'Align partitions to 1MB' could help improve performance for SSD and advanced format disks, so please keep it checked if you are using such devices. Checking 'Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk' makes it possible to use all space of hard disk larger than 2TB, but UEFI boot should be enabled in BIOS. MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition doesn’t support migrating OS on disk using GUID Partition table for the target disk.
If you want to migrate Windows which is installed on a GPT disk, you'll not see the option 'Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk'. Next, read a popup note and click 'Finish' to continue. At last, click ' Apply' button to execute pending operations and tap ' Yes' in pop-up prompt window to allow changes. B: To Migrate Windows Only Here, you also need to select the target disk to transfer Windows 10 to and click ' Next ' Then, select a copy option and click ' Next ' Next, read the boot note and click ' Finish'. At last, click ' Apply' button in the toolbar to execute pending operations and tap ' Yes' in the pop-up prompt window to allow changes.