Hypothetical question involving formatting with MBR

supanatral

Registered
I had an issue with my mac half a week ago after I installed linux to my second drive which crapped out my mac install and I got a flashing question mark when I tried to boot. I was told to recreate the partition (instead of formatting the drive) which worked but when I did this, I saw a few options which made me curious.

When you create a partition using disk utility in the os x install disk, it gives you three different types of partitions you can create. I can't remember the second one but the first one is GUID and the last one is MBR. Does this mean that I could install windows as the only OS (without bootcamp) on my MBP?

PS-I would like to state that I'm just curious but have no intention of doing this. 1-because its windows 2-because apple doesn't make the best windows drivers.
 
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There are three different partition schemes:

APM (Apple Partition Map) -- this is used to boot both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs
GUID (GPT, or GUID partition table) -- this is used to boot Intel-based Macs
MBR (Master Boot Record) -- this is used to boot Windows and/or x86-based computers (no Macs)

The easiest way to remember this is to use the following:

APM -- use all the time on PowerPC-based Macs
GUID -- use all the time on Intel-based Macs
MBR -- don't use on Macs, period

There are some niggling little "special" cases, as well -- while an APM-partitioned drive can boot both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs, you won't be able to actually install OS X onto an APM-partitioned drive from an Intel-based Mac. Rumor has it that software updates (incremental point updates, like 10.5.6, 10.5.7, etc.) also will not install onto an APM-partitioned drive used to boot an Intel-based Mac.

Be aware that any of the partition schemes can be used on a disk connected to a Mac, and that disk can be used to store data. It's only when it comes to booting from a drive that the partition map scheme becomes important. As a side-note, I wouldn't recommend using an MBR partition scheme on any Mac-centric disk.

Does this mean that I could install windows as the only OS (without bootcamp) on my MBP?
No, at least not easily. BootCamp is the only way currently to get Windows to boot on a Mac. While it may be possible to use BootCamp to install Windows, then remove the Mac OS X partition leaving only the Windows partition, I think you'll find it difficult (if not impossible) to install Windows on your Mac natively without the help of OS X and BootCamp.
 
oh ok, that makes sense. What's the purpose behind adding the MBR feature then? I mean, there's got to be a reason even if it is only for special purposes.

What about if I wanted to install Windows 2008 Datacenter which supports EFI? Apple doesn't give us the drivers to do so but, would it in theory work?
 
What's the purpose behind adding the MBR feature then?
Probably so Mac OS X can format MS-DOS disks for cross-platform use.

What about if I wanted to install Windows 2008 Datacenter which supports EFI? Apple doesn't give us the drivers to do so but, would it in theory work?
In theory, yes, it should work -- a Mac is no different from a Windows PC... it's all just standard, off-the-shelf computer "guts." Apple throws in a custom, proprietary whatzit or a thingamajig every once in a while, and they custom-fabricate their motherboards, but for the large part, there's no difference in terms of hardware.

If Windows Server 2008 is compatible with the EFI architecture, then yes, in theory, it should work. In theory. I can't say what will happen actually, in real life... but in my head, yes, it should work.
 
Thats great! that answers all my questions. Don't worry, I still think of you as a pro even if you haven't desided to spend thousands of dollars on server 2008 datacenter just to try it out :P
 
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