Bootcamp and internal striped raid volume...

Hi,

Apples answer to BootCamp and RAID:

Boot Camp does not support the installation of Windows onto a Mac using hardware or software RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives). This includes Microsoft Windows' built-in software RAID as well as the Mac Pro RAID Card.

Sorry

Stefan

Hi,

with a striped RAID there is no 'single' HD anymore as the data is splitted across the physical harddisks.
So , no way to 'choose'.

Easiest (but costly) way is to get a third internal harddisk, leave it outside your RAID and then use it for Windows.

Stefan

Windows RAID is totally different animal. If you want your RAID and Windows, use a VM. If you want native, then use one of your 4 drive bays and dedicate all or part to Windows.

There is no rule that Windows must be on the boot drive, only that it be internal.

If there was a built-in Intel Silicon Image chipset in the Mac Pro that supports RAID 0,1,10,5 then maybe but not Apple RAID.

And a boot RAID can't be used to apply Apple firmware updates. Nor is a boot RAID always going to improve real performance. A scratch disk plus boot drive, AND a data drive (the dedicated OS/apps setup) is often a better configuration.

For Vista, I have:

system drive
vm page file and temp/tmp files and scratch
home account
backup drive

Pretty much that same drive setup I use in OS X.

I'm having the identical problem. However, I also have an internal, non-raid drive in my machine as a secondary drive. I would like to partition this and run boot camp on it. However, Boot Camp Assistant does not let me select the secondary drive, giving me the same error message cited above:

"You cannot partition an external disk drive. Restart your computer using your computer's internal startup disk."

Aside from this being an inaccurate dialog, it does not appear to give me a way to select any other drive.

Does anyone know how to remedy this?

-Steve

It's pretty unwise to have a RAID as a boot disk. You should do everything in your power to avoid that - you double your chances of having a system that will not boot, and you get no real performance bump from it. You should split those into two and use one as a media disk or perhaps for your apps or User directories.

@Maxplanar

I would agree with you if I were using RAID-0 (Striped), but the entire point of RAID-1 (Mirrored) is to provide redundancy should something go wrong with one of the drives.

Regardless, it's what I have. So the original question stands: is there a way to run boot camp off a secondary, non-RAIDed, internal drive?

Thanks,
Steve

This is from the Apple Bootcamp FAQ:

{quote:title=From http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306823:}I have more than one hard drive, can I install Microsoft Windows on any drive?

You can install only one Windows partition on any of your computer volumes. The Setup Assistant will allow you to partition drives, or to install Microsoft Windows on an entire drive if it does not contain Mac OS X.{quote}

This would seem to indicate that the erroneous "external disc" dialog that appears when you launch Setup Assistant on a RAIDed machine is in error.

Still looking for a solution, but I thought others might find this interesting in the mean time.

-Steve

I'm having exactly the same problem: I'm booting from a RAID array (across two internal drives), and want to install Windows on a third internal drive. I'm getting the same error you are.

If you find anything, please post here. I'll do the same. Thanks!

OK, here's what I've found - You don't need to use the Boot Camp assistant if you're not going to be repartitioning.

Last night I just booted off the XPSP2 DVD, installed it on my separate drive in my Mac Pro, and when it was done installing I just put in the Leopard DVD and installed the drivers. Worked fine, and I didn't use Boot Camp Assistant at all.

I have the same problem - Boot Camp assistant gives the bogus error about the internal drive. Why not install a slim Leopard on the non-raided internal drive, boot off it, then you should be able to use Boot Camp assistant on that disk. Possibly delete Leopard afterwards and go back to the raid? Anyone tried that?

As long as it is an internal drive...

Does Apple read these things? They really seem to do a terrible job supporting RAID users.

Anyway I am in exactly the same predicament as Steve (Mirror RAID for Leopard, extra drive for Windows). Adding my 2c in case frequency of submissions prompts someone at Apple to help.

BTW: I have Apple Care and the answer I received on the phone was that Boot Camp is not supported for Macs with RAID arrays...