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Old 12-23-2008, 11:22 PM
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nfoav8or nfoav8or is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: WA, USA
Posts: 933
[HOW-TO] Dual boot Windows and OS X from different Hard Drives

I figured since I posted this material in a different post in a reply recently, I'd throw this out there for people to use. Its an old method and can be found all over the net.

This method will use the Windows bootloader on the Windows-installed HD. (any other methods to do this can be added to in posts later)

The windows bootloader can be used to select (at pre-windows startup) which system to boot.

Copy the chain0 file from your OS X drive located at:
Code:
/usr/standalone/i386/chain0
to your windows drive's root directory (ie. "C:\chain0")

Now boot into windows and add
Code:
C:\chain0="Mac OS X"
to your Windows bootloader via many different methods. A few of the most commonly used methods are:

1) enable hidden files/folders and system files from the Folder Options menu. then navigate to C:\boot.ini to edit with the code above.
2) Right click on "My Computer" and select Porperties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery "Settings" and click "Edit" to add the code above.
3) Control Panel -> System (from classic view) -> follow method 2 from here.

Go into your BIOS and ensure that your Windows HD is the one that is selected to boot. When you turn the computer on, you should get a menu for

Windows
Mac OS X

You can choose either, and once you select and press enter, it should automatically boot into the desired OS. No other settings required. You can also change the default system to either drive using the same Windows bootloader.

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