Multiple OS

[jameshumphries47]

alright guys, I am building a pc at the end of this year, im thinking I know its possible to run multiple os's on multiple hard drives.

I want to run win7 or win 8 on a 120gb SSD and 1TB HDD a version of Mac os (hackintosh) on a 500gb hdd and finially Linux on a 120gb hdd

so here is my problem how could I use the 1tb storage only in the Windows 7/8 OS and it is not visible on the Linux, or mac side.

and is it possible I could make it so when I boot up my gaming pc that I get a screen were I can choose mac windows or Linux, if so how?

thanks for your help

~James

[lutzee]

Okay, chances are OSX will always see all drives and mount them, linux you can choose to mount a drive or not (but the file manager will still see it)

 

Next is the boot menu you want, linux generally comes with GRUB, which will happily load both windows and linux... OSX may take a little editing to get running but it is possible. 

 

You are going to have to look carefully into the right order to install everything, you should take a good look through the tonymacX86 forums before you start anything.

[Peer Review]

The easiest way would be. Install windows on whatever disk you want with only that disk plugged in. Unplug that disk and plug in the one for Mac. Install OS X. Then plug the windows drive back in. So now you have both disk plugged in and OS's installed. Plug in the third disk.(if there is one) Boot up whatever Linux Distro you want.(Most of them ship with GRUB 2 now. which excels at detecting other OS's installed.) Install it wherever you planned and pick which disk you want the boot loader to be on. After the installation next time you boot up you will be greeted with GRUB 2's boot menu with all of the OS's available to pick from. I believe this is the easiest way for you to complete the task.

There are countless ways to do what you're asking, BUT if you intend on having all three Different OS's installed I would just let GRUB take care of it. I think this way to be the simplest && most straightforward.

[jameshumphries47]

The easiest way would be. Install windows on whatever disk you want with only that disk plugged in. Unplug that disk and plug in the one for Mac. Install OS X. Then plug the windows drive back in. So now you have both disk plugged in and OS's installed. Plug in the third disk.(if there is one) Boot up whatever Linux Distro you want.(Most of them ship with GRUB 2 now. which excels at detecting other OS's installed.) Install it wherever you planned and pick which disk you want the boot loader to be on. After the installation next time you boot up you will be greeted with GRUB 2's boot menu with all of the OS's available to pick from. I believe this is the easiest way for you to complete the task.

There are countless ways to do what you're asking, BUT if you intend on having all three Different OS's installed I would just let GRUB take care of it. I think this way to be the simplest && most straightforward.

thanks mate ill take this into account  

[FranktheDinosaur]

If you do manage to get a working OS X partition going you can use your chameleon boot loader to choose which drive to boot up from. Plus you can customize its themes!

 

ie:

[brownix]

Firstly what you are asking to do is very difficult and may take days to fully complete everything. The Hackintosh alone takes days to configure the pc parts.

From experience if you do want to run Hackintosh and Windows do what @PeerReview said to do but not for GRUB but for the Hackintosh boot. I forget the name for it but almost all guides on tonymacx86 suggest OSX first cause Windows boot screws up everything. But Linux will be annoying. Triple boots are generally annoying and may not utilize all specs. I would say it would be better to run one or two of them in a virtual machine. Performance isn't great but at least you system will be STABLE.

[jameshumphries47]

Would this work I install windows on my ssd take it out istall OSX on a hdd and install Linux on the other hdd. put them together and to boot it up I go into the bios, and choose boot order.

@brownix

@Peer Review

[Aycee]

Just to let you know this kinda thing is do-able.

 

I've got my windows 7 OS running on my 120gb SSD. My OSX Mavericks installed and fully functioning on my 500GB hard drive. And a 2tb hard drive that can be accessed from both operating systems. I've got my BIOS configured to boot into windows by default (booting on the SSD), so if I wish to use OSX I simply spam F8 when I turn my pc on to access the boot menu and then I just manually select the 500GB hard drive that has OSX on it.

 

It's a bit of a pain to get the Hackintosh fully functional (lots of messing about with drivers etc) but rewarding once it's done. I use it primarily for Logic Pro 9 (osx only) as I'm studying Music Technology at college and it is my preferred DAW software. 

 

Good luck

[FranktheDinosaur]

Just to let you know this kinda thing is do-able.

 

I've got my windows 7 OS running on my 120gb SSD. My OSX Mavericks installed and fully functioning on my 500GB hard drive. And a 2tb hard drive that can be accessed from both operating systems. I've got my BIOS configured to boot into windows by default (booting on the SSD), so if I wish to use OSX I simply spam F8 when I turn my pc on to access the boot menu and then I just manually select the 500GB hard drive that has OSX on it.

 

It's a bit of a pain to get the Hackintosh fully functional (lots of messing about with drivers etc) but rewarding once it's done. I use it primarily for Logic Pro 9 (osx only) as I'm studying Music Technology at college and it is my preferred DAW software. 

 

Good luck

 

I think how much trouble it is to get a 100% stable OS X install working really depends on what parts you are using. My machine only runs OS X and is completely stable from day 1. 

Right now your best bet for a new rig is:

 

1. Intel CPU+Chipset

2. Gigabyte Motherboard

3. Nvidia or integrated graphics