04-20-2011, 01:06 PM

Warning: this thread is going to be long...


So im sick and tired of my MBW running like a snail. It's a 2007mid white model i believe. I've upgraded to 4gb ram and still the speed is about the same as a 512mb celeron m. Running 10.4.11, 2.0ghz, stock 80gb crappy hdd, with only 3gb usable ram.

Now i bought a new 500gb hdd thinking of putting SL on it and triple booting win7 + xubuntu. Since i dont have a dvd burner (never mind a dl dvd burner), no usb/ext to spare, heres what i have to get it started...

1. 2.5 usb docking station
2. SL dmg

Here are the questions that i throw out in advance:

1. will SL take advantage of 4gb ram? since the model that i have only supports up to 3gb. (some googling say the model can support 4gb, not sure)
2. is it possible to have a partition shared between 3 os?

Heres are the steps that a dummy (me) come up with and need some confirmation on whether it works or not:

1. plug the new hdd (NEWDRIVE) onto 2.5 usb docking station
2. plug the usb
3. open up disk utility (a reminder that it's 10.4.11, gui is different)
4. select NEWDRIVE (not the partition)
5. select "Erase" tab
6. Volume Format = Mac OS Exteneded (Journaled)
7. Name = abc
8. UNCHECK "Install Mac OS 9 Disk Driver"
9. click ERASE --> click ERASE again for confirmation

so now i have a bootable hdd sitting in the docking station
[still in disk utility]

10. select NEWDRIVE --> "Partition" tab
11. Volume Scheme = 6 partitions, designated as follows (name, format, size)
- MAC_SL, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), 50
- WIN7, MS-DOS File System, 50
- LINUX, MS-DOS File System, 50
- LINUX_SWAP, MS-DOS File System, 50
- shared_space, Free space, [whatever the remaining space is]
- Install_partition, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), 10 (--> this is a bootable installation partition for SL)
12. click PARTITION

now the hdd has 6 partitions
[still in disk utility]

13. drag the SL dmg to the left hand side of disk utility
14. select "Restore" tab
15. Source: drag the SL dmg from the left
16. Destination: drag "Instal_partition" from the left
17. CHECK "Erase Destination"
18. click RESTORE

now theres a bootable SL installation disk on the hdd sitting in 2.5 docking station

19. shut down mac, replace hdd
20. boot up, press ALT, select Install_partition
21. off u go..... i'll take care of the rest


So this is the general steps that i come up with. The only concern that i have is how to make the "shared_space" accessible from 3 os? Do u format the partition as NTFS and have ntfs-3g installed on xubuntu and SL?

Thanks for any inputs.

04-20-2011, 02:42 PM

Some things to think about. You can only get over the 3.xx gigabyte ram limit by using 64 bit mode. Initially Snow Leopard will start in 32 bit mode. You change it to 64 bit by. Oh well, that is on down the road after the install is finished. Uh, not at all sure about whether your MB in white can be changed to 64 bit mode, but to use the 64 bit mode on some older Mac Book whites one must update the firmware. You did not show the full specs on the computer. So I am not sure if the firmware update can apply to yours.


EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs

In truth the Mac Book upgrade I thought was much later than this EFI. I will let you search it out.

Where did you get the RAM upgrade?


By rumor, what one would do is to put the entire new partition in to Mac OS X journaled, extended, Using the Disk Utility I in the current Snow Leopard DVD, one would make sure during the partition that one would use the "options" button and use a GUID partition Table. After installing snow, one would use Boot camp and thereby go on to create the partitions for the others. Not sure how the hard drive would have booting at start up -else. Last time I tried, the free versions of NTFS would not write to my external hard drive that had NTFS. I suspect that it was the 64 bit mode I had the Mac Book Pro in. Whatever. I did not try to solve the issue. I created a FAT-32 partition which Apple and Windows both work with.

You might attack your speed issues in another way as well. Which if you have not done, then you need to do anyway. Repair disk Permissions. I have used Onyx, which is one of the free programs to do the repair. And I have used my Snow Install DVD to repair permissions.

I tried to use a DVD image on one hard to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive, Uh, would not work for me. Let me know if your method of installing from an image on the same hard drive works.

Yes I heard that you do not have an optical drive. Uh, can you borrow an external optical drive from a friend? Well, it is just that my only experience doing the install to an external hard drive was from the optical drive.

But then I was also thinking of doing a repair permissions before starting, which I do not know how it is accomplished in the version of OS you have.

I observe, used to be, in a multi-boot on a PC, Windows insisted on being in the first partition. I dunno about Windows now, or Apple boot schemes.

You might be concerned about having enough free space left on either the drive you have, which might slow it down, or fragmentation. I am not knowledgeable enough to suggest how much Snow Leopard space one would prefer to have. I know there can be an odd issue in using Time Machine later if one does not have enough space. I am told that fragmentation is not usually the issue with the Apple Journaled file system, just that it might be for some who do a lot of video editing. and it is my hunch, after the same hard drive has been used for a number of years.

However, I guess fragmentation is not likely to be an issue on a new install. and bringing your data over should get rid of the fragmentation.

Problem with using a defrag program is that it costs money. Else it is re-install and copy personal data over. or so I am told.

With your fresh install, it should not matter. But keep it in mind for later.

I know it is possible to boot an external hard drive to my MBP, while not fast, it is a way to verify that the drive has the OS working before you open the Mac to physically put it in.

NTFS-3g is a program that one uses under SL to write to a NTFS drive. Snow will read a NTFS formatted drive, that has no issues. Like I said, the free version of writing to NTFS from SL 64 bit mode, did not work for me, as of several months ago. I think there is a paid version to write to NTFS which probably works. ???? I think you can use FAT-32 and all the OS's are happy to read and write to it. Just keep the FAT32 partition size down so Windows can defrag it or repair it. That is slightly less space than the max of FAT 32. I do not recall the max for doing a FAT 32 defrag is or whatever the program that does CHK-DSK for FAT 32. I seem to recall not much more than 110 GB partition.

04-20-2011, 05:17 PM

mine is macbook2,1; i will take a look at the EFI firmware update.

As for the ram, i bought a pair and upgraded it myself, no issue there. Permission repair and all that stuff seem to be useless in my situation because it is really slow no matter what. So thats why i got a faster hdd to see if the speed improves.

I will wait until tomorrow to see if theres any input about my method.

*a friendly bump*

04-20-2011, 07:11 PM

RAM question because, at least for the MBP one can find RAM which seems to work but does not work as fast as it might be because it needs to be in pairs to allow for interleaving. I am not sure if that is an issue for your machine. But it might have been interesting to know where you got the RAM. Some shop might give you a great price on something that seems to work, but. not nearly as fast as the correct RAM.

If you have never done a disk permissions fix, then you might be very surprised at how much it can help speed up the computer response.

I fully approve you your just going ahead and trying what you have laid out. It might work and we could all learn something from your pioneering.

Good luck.

04-21-2011, 03:16 PM

Another reason why i regret getting a mac... piece of junk

Today i discover that you cant drag anything in disk utility... so now how am i suppose to put the installation disk onto the new hdd?

zzz

what crap-ple provided doesnt really solve the problem at all.

04-21-2011, 05:42 PM

What happened to the internal Superdrive? Failed and never bothered top get it fixed?

04-21-2011, 05:57 PM

uh the crappy model that i got doesnt come with dvd burner (if thats what you are asking)

so thats why im asking if my method would work or not... (apparently not at the moment)

04-21-2011, 06:03 PM

All MacBooks 2006-2009, including the 2007 White, came with drives of some description. The White had either a 24 X Combo or an 8 X Superdrive.

04-21-2011, 06:09 PM

well from what my understanding is that superdrive is basically a dvd burner, which it doesnt come with for my mac.

so if this 'superdrive' can solve my problem, please enlighten me.

04-21-2011, 07:09 PM

There's no reason that I'm aware of that requires a DVD burner to install Snow Leopard. You simply insert your SL disc into the combo (DVD player / CD recorder) drive that came stock on your machine and install it.

If where you're coming from is attempting to install an illegal downloaded copy, then you'll not get help for that here.

If your combo drive is not functioning, you have the option of getting it replaced or simply purchase an external drive.

If you don't have the Snow Leopard disc, it's cheap enough at $25-$29 everywhere it's available.

Same as my MBP, you will not be able to use 4GB of RAM on that machine. Doesn't matter what OS, firmware update, 32bit, 64bit, etc. I'm not positive, but am pretty sure that machine, like mine, will not boot into 64 bit mode. It is hardware limited to only being able to access 3GB the same as my '06 model MBP. Using 4GB of RAM in the machine as you have (so have I), does maintain it's dual channel capability.

I'd suggest inserting your SL disc in the drive and install SL.

Then head here, get/install Refit, and pretty decent directions to get your machine triple booting.