Optiplex 7010 - OSX / Win7 dual boot - how to?

[elitom]

HI all

 

I have just aquired a slightly used 7010 with the following specs

 

Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Processor
12GB RAM
1TB HDD
e-GeForce 8400 GS Graphics Card

 

from what I can understand from here this should be a relatively easy to run OSX. I have read elsewhere that the nVidia 8400 is OSX compatable.

 

I have done one Hackintosh before !

 

I will use this guide and have OS X Mavericks InstallESD.dmg from my MacBook Pro update

 

http://myhack.sojugarden.com/guide/

 

my question is can someone posta  link to a guide to allow me to still keep Win7 Pro on this machine - i.e. have a dual boot if this is possible?

 

many thanks

 

EliTom

[v3ct0r]

EDIT: I just read that you want to keep Windows 7 on your machine! In my past experiences, I have found that the best way to go about doing such a project is to back up EVERYTHING to an external drive, doing a clean reinstall, and then restoring your data from there. In the end, this results in better performance, less crap on your hard drive, and a chance to make any upgrades you may have wanted to (OS wise). Dual booting with an existing Windows partition can be done, but it increases the chance of errors and isn't supported by default under OS X. If you still want to dual boot with the existing partition, post back here and I'll try to write a guide later. 

 

Here's a very rough guide I just wrote. Some of the things may not be called the same thing as I am doing this from memory, but it should give you a pretty good idea of how to get it done...

 

If you have 2 hard drives and want OS X on one, and Windows on the other:

1. Boot into the OS X Installation Disk and open up Disk Utility from the Utilities menu in the menu bar.
2. Partition the 1st disk (select the top, local hard drive in the list (the one that isn't indented), move to the partition tab) as the following:
   •  Master Boot Record (Options... button in the bottom left of the Partition tab), 1 Partition, FAT, and give it any name you want
3. Hit Apply
4. Partition the 2nd disk (select the second, local hard drive from the top (the one that isn't indented), move to the partition tab) as the following:
   • GUID Partition Table, 1 Partition, Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and give it any name you want (as long as it's different from the first drive)
5. Apply again
6. Restart the machine (Apple logo in the top left, Restart) and boot to the Windows installation DVD/Flash drive/whatever you're using to install
7. Assuming you're installing Windows Vista/greater, select your language if prompted, click Start Install, select custom, and find the name of the first disk in the partition list. Look at the number of the disk (It should either be Disk 0 or Disk 1) and delete the partition (advanced in the bottom right of the window, delete) you just created as well as any others that may be on that disk, until you're left with just one Disk 0 or Disk 1 and it says "Unallocated Space" next to it. 
8. Highlight this Unallocated Space and click Next
9. Windows should install without any trouble.
10. When finished, boot back into the OS X installer and Install OS X to the second drive.
11. You should now have a successful dual boot on two hard drives.

 

If installing on one hard drive:

1. Boot into the OS X Installation Disk and open up Disk Utility from the Utilities menu in the menu bar.
2. Partition the disk (the one that isn't indented), and head over to the partition tab in the top to do the following:
   • GUID Partition Table (Options... button in the bottom left of the Partition tab), 2 Partitions, FAT for the first, Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) for the second and give them names you want, (just make sure they're different)
3. Restart the machine (Apple logo in the top left, Restart) and boot to the Windows installation DVD/Flash drive/whatever you're using to install
4. Assuming you're installing Windows Vista/greater, select your language if prompted, click Start Install, select custom, and find the name you gave the first partition in the partition list
5. Click advanced in the bottom right of the window, and click delete
6. Highlight the partition that just got deleted, click next, and Windows should install just fine.
7. Reboot into OS X and install OS X to the second partition.
8. When it completes, you should have a successful OS X/Windows dual boot.

 

You can now perform all the necessary post install actions under OS X (and install an Windows drivers) needed to get your machine running smoothly.

 

Post back here if you run into any problems.