BOOTCAMP, Dual disks and TRIPLE Boot Extended!

MBP8,2 is a 2011 15-in model as noted in Identify your MacBook Pro - Apple Support . I suggest

• standard macOS and Windows on the internal disk using BC Assistant
• CentOS on a TB external disk

You do not need any gymnastics between the two disks, as OP had to in order to have both disks on the internal SATA connectors.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

I am concerned that if I use the Discrete GPU on Windows with high graphics applications, that it will heat up and affect my GPU. This exactly happened while I used my late 2008 and late 2011 MBP's.

You can look at Power Options -> Advanced Settings -> Processor Maximum/Minimum States and see if lower settings help reduce heat without the performance being significantly different.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

I'm gonna proceed with the layout that you suggested with Windows on one drive(Main Bay) and OSX+Linux(Optical).

Will it work if I clone my entire Disk(osx+windows) to my new SSD and then Delete the OSX partition on the old disk and use it only for Windows?

Make a TM backup of macOS, backup Windows. Use a Commercial tool like Winclone and use the main bay disk for the full Windows installation. I assume you have ample external storage to accomplish such back ups and cloning. Once you have verified the Windows in main bay works, using the entire disk, then you can proceed with the other setup.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

How to proceed with linux installation after that?or maybe you have another guide on how to make this setup?

Physically remove the Windows disk temporarily from the Mac, restore macOS from TM backup to the disk in the Optibay, partition it using Ubuntu and install it using EFI. Test and verify. Re-install the Windows disk and test all three OSes. You can use Alt/Option to choose between the three OSes during boot.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

1- Can I get my HD4000 detected on Windows? ( I am scared to run stuff on my Discrete GPU because I am a previous owner of the miserable 2008 and 2011 MBP’s )

Your 9,2 MBP is MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) - Technical Specifications . It has only an Intel HD4K. If you have two GPUs on the macOS side, please verify your Model Identifier or check About This Mac -> System Report. I have the same model. Your Mac only supports legacy BIOS. EFI and BIOS, are both supported on Late 2013 and 2014 models. 2015 and later models only support EFI.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

2- If I am planning on replacing my DVD player with an SSD, Is it recommended that I keep my HDD in its place in order for the SMS and SLI to still function accordingly and avoid damaging the HDD?

The Windows installation must stay in the primary (main bay) of the Mac. You can add a second disk, and install macOS and Ubuntu on it, but keep the Superdrive. You will need it. You can also install macOS and/or Ubuntu on an external Thunderbolt drive.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

3- I understand that I will need the optical drive if I want to resize or update windows, but will it work if I use one of these SATA TO USB adapters?

Your specific model supports installing Windows using the built-in Optical drive and/or a USB2 flash drive. USB3 is not supported till BC drivers are fully installed. It will not work with a SATA-to-USB adapter.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

4- Triple booting after installing the 2nd Drive:

I currently have OSX+WIN on the same drive as I mentioned before and I'm wondering which of the below setups is possible and feasible? How can set up the Triple boot without refit?

DISK 1 DISK 2

a-(OSX+WIN) (Linux)

b-(OSX) (WIN+linux)

Disk1 - Windows, Disk 2 - macOS + Ubuntu. This will also keep your disks as Disk1 - Hybrid MBR, and Disk2 - GPT only. Ubuntu should be installed using EFI boot (Ubuntu supports EFI 1.x).

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

5-How can I know if my GPT entries are ok before Installing Ubuntu?

See the previous suggested layout, which keeps both disks 'clean'. You do not need to manipulate the GPT.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

I am sorry I made a Typo, My MBP is the 9,1MBP Mid-2012 15'' with the Dual GPU's, I guess you mentioned in one of your posts that you had one of those as well. Is it possible to get the Integrated GPU working alongside the Discrete one on BIOS?

No. Is there a specific reason you want to use the Intel GPU?

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

If I can use a USB2 does this mean my Mac Supports EFI as well not only legacy BIOS?!

No. 2012 MBPs support EFI 1.x. UEFI (EFI 2.x) is only supported on late 2013 and later models. The Audio issues when EFI is used is because only the CSM-BIOS layer exposes some hardware correctly, not EFI. The support for EFI is partial in 2011-2012 Macs.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

Can you please illustrate on the USB3 installation you mentioned because I faced drivers problems using it?

See http://codeabitwiser.com/2014/03/how-to-install-windows-7-with-only-usb-3-0-port s/ for the updates needed to get USB3 supported during installation.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

Will the Shock Motion Sensor and Sleep Light Indicator work accordingly with my HDD while it's in the Optical Bay?

SLI is not related to the disks. SMS should work provided appropriate sensors are connected correctly. Please check iFixit for the second HDD installation.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

This explains a lot and I'm glad to hear that I won't need rEFIt or rEFId to boot, I think I can manage to do everything easily up to restoring macOS on the optibay disk.

If you don't mind can you tell me or link any guide on how to proceed from there?

You must install Windows on the disk in main bay first and it must be located there for Windows to work properly. Put this disk in place, the Optical drive in the Optibay, and install Windows using the DVD (or USB2 Flash drive). You can create the USB2 flash drive installer when booted in macOS using the Create and Download options. Or you can use Winclone to restore an existing Windows installation to the Windows disk.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

If you don't mind can you tell me or link any guide on how to proceed from there?

- Just one last question to make sure: Let's say I need to re-install windows or update or whatever--> I need to put back the optical drive?or a bootable USB2 is sufficient?

I do not have a guide. Your 2012 model supports a USB2 flash drive installer.

Thank you for this discussion. I am trying to do almost exactly this. I would like to install Mac OS X 10.13 (High Sierra) + Windows 10 + Linux (CentOS rather than Ubuntu) on a MacBookPro. Details of the current setup:

15" MBP 8.2 (early 2012 I think)

2.5 GHz i7

8 GB RAM

750 GB HDD (7200 RPM): Apple HDD, GPT (note that this is not the standard HDD)

- 209.7 MB EFI

- 749.3 GB Journaled HFS+

- 650 MB Apple_Boot (recovery)

AMD Radeon HD 6770M (PCIe)

Intel HD Graphics 3000 (internal)

My question: Is this configuration sufficiently similar to Ahmed.abdel-gawad's that I could follow the same procedure in creating a triple boot setup? I expect that using CentOS rather than Ubuntu should not make a difference. Am I correct in understanding that the only viable way to do this is to use two physical drives? One, the existing internal HDD; and two, an external Thunderbolt HDD or SSD? I prefer to keep the internal DVD drive.

One request: It would be very helpful for me and others, I'm sure, if the entire procedure could be summarized; perhaps by Ahmed.abdel-gawad.

Thanks in advance

On a MP, I usually use separate physical disks for each OS. Please post back if you run into any issues. Your 2011 Mac does not support W10, however, you install W7/W8.1 and then in-place upgrade to W10.

Install centOS last on the external TB disk, after you have backups of macOS and Windows.

My MacPro is version 5.1 with a 3.33 GHz, 6-core Xeon. I had two internal HDDs. Installed MacOSX 10.6 and Win 7 on one drive (using BootCamp), then Fedora on second drive. After installing Fedora, Win 7 would disappear. This was 4-5 years ago, so I don't remember the exact details. After several iterations, I gave up.

Your suggestion about installing Linux on the external Thunderbolt drive: does Linux recognize TB drives as bootable?

What is the reason for making backups of MacOS and Windows before installing Linux? Is this merely precautionary? Or does the act of installing Linux "damage" the MacOS and Windows installs?

Thanks for your interest and advice. Much appreciated.

If Fedora was installed using legacy BIOS, you would have two MBRs, one on each disk, and only one OS can boot. IT is better to install Linux (or variants) using EFI boot, which then has macOS and Linux as EFI, and only one OS (Windows) with an MBR. The underlying firmware cannot support two MBRs.

Ahmed.abdel-gawad wrote:

I Cloned the windows partition using winclone and restored it to the main disk(NTFS partition):

Then installed Ubuntu on (EXT4 partition)

- There is an issue while booting w10 now its so slow...

-So far I haven't been able to achieve what I really want as I am only able to boot into the 3 operating systems ONLY using rEFInd....

Windows on HDD will always be much slower. My recommendation is to put Sierra on HDD in Optibay and Windows/Ubuntu on the SSD, if possible.

Thank you Loner T. I wasn't sure if it could be as simple as this. I have tried triple boots on a Mac Pro previously. I could never get it to work.

I will try what you suggest.