1 reply to this topic

[crashnburn]

How? GPT GUID Partitions Multi OS: Clone, Move, Resize, Boot

Machine: X61T

CURRENT:

PRIMARY HDD: 100 GB 7200 rpm - Win 7 64 bit - Primary OS

SECONDARY HDD: Experimental Multi-Boot Scenarios

I want to try out Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion and some Linux options.
Once I get more familiar, comfy and enjoy working on them, I want to integrate into a single HDD.

FUTURE:

SINGLE HDD: 750GB 7200 RPM

I want to be able to CLONE the WORKING OSes from the above mentioned HDDs INTO a single HDD.

I would definitely be going with a GPT/GUID multi partition scenario.

Also, I have access to multiple Partition Management tools: Acronis, Paragon, Easus etc. Server/ Enterprise Editions of several of them.

I also have several such tools for the Mac OSX Platform - Drive Genius, iPartition etc etc.

LIMITATIONS & SCENARIOS:

I know all the above tools wont do all the things I may want to do in terms of
- Cloning certain types of Partitions
- Resizing / Moving them

e.g. I may begin to start using Mac OS X a lot more and hence want more SPACE for it and decide to increase its PARTITION SPACE..
e.g. Maybe have a SL and a Lion partition share a singular HFS DATA partition?
Stuff like that.

- Booting them.. without issues

But I know the individual tools by themselves can do several of them.

WHAT I NEED:
- What I need is to ensure that I understand, how the Partitions are STORED
- How Boot Managers such as Chameleon work in Multi OS Boot Scenarios and..

- How one can force Chameleon (and/or another Multi-OS Boot Manager) to "refresh" and boot OSes, once their Partitions have been rehashed - moved, cloned etc on the MAIN INTEGRATED GPT/GUID Disk?

- How & where can I go to read and understand this stuff as I play with it on the SECONDARY HARD DISK -
- BEFORE MOVING TO THE INTEGRATED BIG DISK PROJECT.

PAST EXPERIENCE:
I've done Partition Manipulation and Multi Boot in the good old days of Parition Magic, Norton Ghost and System Commander (Boot Manager) when I've run these off 3.5" Bootable FDDs all running on shining new Pentium 1/2 processor.

The good old day of Master Boot Recrods (MBRs), Primary/Secondary HDDs, Logical/ Extended Partitions etc.

[sambul61]

I think, your query is not ideal for a Tutorial, but can be answered by different people in spots as you move along (meaning that you actually need to start moving and face a certain problem along the way - then ask a relevant narrow question). This is because its too multifaceted for a Tutorial, and hard to find a qualified writer, well versed in GPT and Mac Boot Managers, and interested in addressing this issue on this (hardly MAC) forum.

As an intro to some aspects of your struggle (assuming you'll entertain adding Win 7 to the mix to have it all), read well detailed Windows and GPT FAQ.

As to cloning bootable partitions to another hard drive in a random order, from my experience the best tool for this in Windows world is Paragon (use top versions), and the method I used is Backup - Restore - Repair.

As to resizing partitions, plan doing it carefully in an order that would not require expending it to the left and moving all data to the left, or shrinking it to the right and moving all data to the right. You may be better off resizing some partitions before it's been moved, and some after it's been moved depending on space available - to do it faster and less obtrusive way.

As you plan to experiment, I'd start from making bootable virtual disks (like Win7 VHDs) and/or getting required Mac & Linux ISO distros and placing a series of such images, with various OSs and own partition schemes, onto a clean drive with a Bootmanager capable of booting selected OSs from virtual disks and ISOs. Try booting them first in "suitable" Virtual Machines. In this scenario, instead of all the headache with installing and moving varios OSs on physical drives, you'll just manipulate a few files, shooting to make each image to boot properly. Anything goes wrong - just edit the problem file or Bootmanager settings. Some Linux distros may require certain files extracted to disk to boot from ISO. In that sense the approach described in Create Native Boot VHDs should work wonders, when accompanied by similar solutions from MAC and Linux worlds.

Once that stage is accomplished, you'll be well on your way to select & install the right subset of OSs to physical partitions as you planned. As an extra bonus, you'll study a virtual (reality) and advanced booting worlds to complement your curiosity in GPT partitioning scheme. Remember, GPT placed OSs may require certain Mobo & FW support to boot.