OT: 2TB>BootCamp>64bit>Win7

#1

Hey guys,

I’m ordered another 2TB Cavier Drive yesterday. I have one and have been very happy with it. However this one I am going to be using as a bootcamp system to install Maya 64bit.

I am finding not having full 64bit memory access to be an increasingly problematic bottleneck in my workflow especially so with the huge data files my team and I work with. EIAS is still good at some data sets but in general the files sizes of 2010 would cripple any system that is still 32 bit.

So, as a solution, I want to convert my MacPro1,1 with 11gb of RAM to a Bootcamp PC running 64bit and install Maya 64 bit. (Emulators are not on the menu at all) Ideally I would like to partition at least 500gb to Window XP 64bit then do the Maya install. The remaining 1.5tb I figure would still be available when I am in OSX, WindowsXP should be able to address it while I am in Bootcamp as merely a volume.

I know there were some concerns about MacPro1.1 running 64bit Window and rather I could run Window7 as oppose to XP 64bit. I think I can install XP 64 then upgrade to Win7 and it will work. This is why I am posting hear, to tap into the HW/Window expertise in this forum before the drive arrives.

it seems like a good thing if it will all work together. I do apologize if I ask some of these question before. I am an OSX/SW guy and have been weening myself from hardware.

Thanks.

#2

If your Mac Pro is, like mine, the 2006 edition, Apple doesn’t officially support installing Win7-x64 on it. It supports Vista64, though, so it’s been said that one can install Vista-x64 first and then upgrade it to Win7.

A month ago I tested trying to do a straight Win7-x64 install, finding that the install disc produced this strange menu:

   1.
   2.

Select CD-ROM Boot Type :

It seems the booting routines in the disc are problematic. There are some ways to make a duplicate disc that will work. See Install Windows 7 x64 on a Mac (beat the “Select CD-ROM Boot Type” error!).

Curiously, I am reading that if one has no Mac partitions at all (say, removing all hard drives but one without any Mac Volumes), the disc will work without any need of the Boot Camp utility or those other tricks.

Well. Once I got the OS installed, Apple’s Boot Camp drivers installer wouldn’t accept to install any, but I was able to go to the installers folder and run them one by one. As I am not PC-savvy, I wouldn’t know which ones are specific to my Mac Pro. Certainly, the biggest letdown is that without Apple’s installer I didn’t get get the mounting of Mac Volumes (although perhaps I simply missed it): one ought to buy MacDrive, or get some freeware Mac-aware file manager (I think I have its name somewhere).

I’ll google a bit to see if I can find some more information about this.

#3

If you have a newer model 2009 mac then you may be in luck. Apple just released an updated firmware to address bootcamp. The do specify Windows XP so some digging may be required.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL989

#4

Alonzo,
Be aware that having multiple, identical drives in a Mac Pro will prevent the Windows install disk from being able to run properly (at least with Windows Vista 64).
This is a known issue and limitation of the Windows Installer.

The only workaround is to temporarily remove your Mac formatted drive, and leave only the Bootcamp Drive in place when booting from the Windows install disk. Once Windows is installed, the Mac drive can be replaced, and Bootcamp will run normally.

XP 64 lacks the drivers to run properly in Bootcamp, and it is not a supported operating system, although I think some people are hacking together the necessary files to get it to work.

Windows 7 is supported, at least on the newer Mac Pros.

So there are a lot of “gotchas” when installing 64 bit Windows that you have to look out for.

Dave

#5

Thanks Guys,

I should get the drive today so I will like you know how it goes. I did want to partition it but I will take out other volumes just in case.

I will use XP 64 bitor Vista 64 bit. I’m not sure what the difference of if they are the same.

My MacPro is a one of the first out the gate so I know it’s dated but it’s a great machine.

I 'll see it if takes.

Thanks again.

#6

I’ve been running Windows 7 64bit on a 2007 macbook for a couple of months without issue. I had to extract the vista 64 drivers from the bootcamp cd. The only limitation that I’ve run into is that I have to use the command key on powerup to select an OS when booting as my version of bootcamp doesn’t support Windows 7 it will boot by default into Windows for some reason. I’m on Leopard, not Snow Leopard.

#7

Regarding that, I end up not caring for setting the startup drive in System Preferences, and simply booting with the ALT key pressed to get the graphical list of bootable volumes and select the Windows one.

#8

It seems Apple has just updated Boot Camp to 3.1 for dealing with Windows 7:

Plus an utility for those who upgrade from Vista to Win7 (it seems it is required to prevent Mac Volumes not being properly unmounted when shutting Windows Vista down prior to upgrading): http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/application_updates/bootcamputilityforwindows7upgrade.html

The limitations for old Mac Pros are still there. Let’s see what the adventurous guys out there say about that.

#9

Whoa I can’t tell you how helpful that link is Juan.

If I may, can you provide a link to the actual Windows product I should be purchasing to get me started?

Is it Window XP Professional SP3?

or

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?

After I get it going I want to install Maya 64bit.

#10

Wait a minute, does that mean I can install this and got straight to Windows 7 and Maya 64bit for the KILL ?? No Windows XP Professional x64 Edition or Vista?? :bowdown: :bounce: :arteest:

#11

Sort of. As I said, I managed to install it, but I had to do that trick to avoid the installer disc booting problem (although it looks like that isn’t needed in all cases). If what they say is true, you could avoid the nuisance by pulling all the hard disks out of your Mac but the one you will install Windows in (as long as there is no Mac Volume on it yet): it seems the Mac will behave like a PC and boot from the DVD without Boot Camp assistance.

Now, about this Boot Camp upgrade: it upgrades Snow Leopard’s Boot Camp 3.0 drivers only. If you haven’t got a Snow Leopard DVD, you are stuck with plain Leopard’s Boot Camp 2.x. I think 2.x covered Vista64, so these should work in Windows 7 x64.

Once Windows 7 x64 is installed, upon launching Boot Camp 3.0 to install Apple’s Mac Pro drivers, it will say that it is not compatible with that machine. So you’ll have to search the driver installers in the DVD and launch them one by one. As there are several ones in each category (graphics, networking, etc.), in some cases I installed more than one, not knowing which precise hardware my Mac Pro has. I think it’s harmless to do so.

As this was just a test to taste Win7 a bit, I stopped there. I didn’t manage to install the Mac-like parts (the Boot Camp control panel, the keyboard sound volume control, etc.). Myself I am quite interested in knowing how to do this better.

I’ve just located this guy explaining what he did about that: it looks like it is absourdly easy :slight_smile: He got the Mac Volume mounter to work, too. You’ll see most other issues covered in the discussion included in that webpage.

http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jrobbins/archive/2009/09/02/mac-pro-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-windows-7-x64-love.aspx

#12

OK. It’s Saturday. I am coming to the end of a project. So maybe I can do this today.

  1. Install 2TB drive.
  2. Do not partition drive for Mac and PC. Only Format whole drive for PC to avoid mounting problems. (or not?)
  3. Install Bootcamp from Original Leopard disks,
  4. Burn BootCamp updates to a CD and install them as well afterwards.
  5. Install Windows7 64 because Apple fix all problems early MacPro1.1 or Only install Window XP 64 because none of the new drivers work with early MacPro1.1.
  6. Install Maya 64bit.

I would rather use a partition 2TB drive for Mac and PC. I guess I need to use my original Leapard Disk then the 3.0.1 Boot Camp upgrade. I am also unclear to which version of Windows I can use. I didn’t sound like they resolved the problem and I still must use XP 64 first instal then upgrade to Win7? I just need to be clear. Thanks for you help guys. Forgive me for being so regimentally exacting. I am not much on the technical ins/out of hardware and OSes. So I need to follow a step by step.

#13

If you want to partition that hard drive, perhaps you could make two NTFS partitions via the disc utility integrated into the Windows 7 installer, install Windows in one of them, and later erase the other one as Mac HFS+. I am not sure if it will work, though.

Of course, it would be easier if you could just do that Windows installer DVD reburning trick so that you can boot normally, as I did. You’d need a PC or a virtual PC such as VMware for that, but it is a simple operation that only takes minutes, really, and the tools are free downloads. That way, you can organize that disc as you see fit.

If you use Leopard’s Boot Camp drivers, you won’t be able to take advantage of the new 3.1 version (Mac Volumes mounting, etc.): you’d need Snow Leopard’s 3.0 version to start with (at least that is what some Apple rep said in Apple’s forums). I should note that using Snow Leopard for its Boot Camp drivers doesn’t require that one actually installs Snow Leopard, actually.

#14

I’ve been spending the evening retrying things: installed via the tricked DVD version of the Win7-x64 installer, and then did what that webpage suggested: I inserted my Snow Leopard DVD, opened CMD.EXE as Admin (by left-clicking the program in the Start menu and selecting the option), and typed:

D:

cd “Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple”

msiexec /i BootCamp64.msi

Apple’s installer did its dance without ever complaining about being in an unsupported Mac model. After rebooting I downloaded and launched the new Boot Camp 3.1 updater, which worked OK, too.

Everything seems to be fine. I’ve got Mac Volumes showing, the Boot Camp Contro Panel working, etc.

#15

Wow. I thought XP or Window7 is suppose to be cheap. Got out to the mall to purchase a copy and it was almost $300. ??

This may be on the back burner a week or so.

#16

An alternative would be to install a 64bit Linux and Maya for Linux, I guess.

#17

Or you can get the OEM version from newegg between $100-179 depending on which version. Just search “windows 7 oem” on newegg.

#18

A problem is that an OEM license for a copy of Windows on a Mac probably is incorrect from a legal POV, and so risky for his business.

I am seeing the boxless (downloadable) Win7 Home Premium for $199 at Microsoft’s website: http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Windows-7-Home-Premium/product/7ADA0BF6?WT.mc_id=winonlinetest_shop3_HPfull_default

I don’t know if such version would suffice.

#19

Hmm, apparently the terms have changed on the OEM license recently.

#20

Also, it looks like Alonzo is on a mac pro so he’d need at least Windows 7 Professional to support the two socket motherboard.