Latest Bootcamp and iMac - HATE 'EM

[Dieter3]

It must simply be my ignorance of how things work now, but I am having nothing but problems with a brand new iMac and the latest version of Bootcamp.

iMac 14,3; .1GHz Core i7, 16GB, 1TB FUSION drive (this was probably the mistake), Bootcamp 5.1.2

Running Bootcamp for the cost time, it wants to REMOVE the Windows partition and restore the hard drive to original condition - interesting given there ISN'T a Windows partition - I'm guessing this has something to do with the fusion drive and needing to defuse some portion of it. Running Bootcamp again allows to repartition, set size, requires one to now download drivers onto a USB device, possibly create an recovery disc, whatever, promise your first born child to it, and so on. Not like the early, simpler days of Bootcamp.

So, after umping through the hoops, I can finally install Windows 7 from an actual disc. Great, get that installed, updated, fine.

Now, make a system image and allow Windows to make it's recovery disk, all with the external DVD drive, not a flash drive. (Maybe I need a flash drive?) - all goes well.

I need to place this image on another computer - so I do what I have done so many times in the past - run Bootcamp on the second computer - MINUS making the disk and downloading the drivers since they are irrelevant given I have a complete disk image from the first machine, and the recovery disk from Windows 7, the ORIGINAL Windows 7 disk, and the image on a LaCie d2 USB drive, as well as the original boot disk yet another USB drive that Bootcamp wanted to create.

So with the Windows Install drive that Bootcamp made from the first computer, the install on the second computer begins - I select the RESTORE option, and absolute NOTHING works. It wants to Create yet another recovery disk at this point, but refuses to see the apple USB dvd drive to make one, it thinks the ACTUAL recovery disk I made with Windows 7 is unbeatable, and if use the actual Windows 7 disk to boot, the USB drivers do not load for the mouse/keyboard and I can't actual do anything with the computer.

Previous (to me) version of Bootcamp in SnowLeopard - NO PROBLEM - had to reaplce a few hard drives on machines that dies and restore them with OSX images and then run Bootcamp and simply slap the Windows DVD or Windows Repair DVD into the built-in (novel concept) DVD drive - it boots, gives me a restore option, immediately finds the image on the LaCie drive, and installs. BOOM. Done. GRANTED - not fusion drives, just 500GB rotational drives.

So - what in the name of HADES am I doing wrong, don't understand, or otherwise need to do to make these **** things work? HELP! Shooting me is also an option.

Hopefully I've explained this well enough, but probably not.

 

[chscag]

I don't have any experience with installing Windows when a fusion drive was present so I can't be much help there. When I purchased my new iMac (same as yours) I purposely stayed away from buying one with a fusion drive.

Since the new iMacs (from 2012 on) do not have an optical drive, Windows is installed from an image and drivers need to be downloaded from Apple and subsequently transferred to a flash drive. (I believe you can also use an external optical drive.) The installation is straight forward when following the new Boot Camp instructions.

BTW, I just googled "How to install Windows on a new iMac" and got plenty of hits including some YouTube videos. Answers provided showed how to install 7, 8, and 8.1 including 64 bit. So don't give up.

 

[Dieter3]

Installing Windows is easy - that works just fine.

Making a system image/recovery disk from that works just fine too.

That image/disk set should be usable on any subsequent machine (identical config, etc.) to restore - rather than having to run a new Windows install on every machine or restoring that same machine should it crash.

This is what is NOT doable, at least I can't figure it out. I can't do fresh installs of Windows 7 every time I need to restore a disk.

This has always worked on previous Mac Bootcamp partitions I've used, as well as actual Windows PCs.

My guess is it all has to do with the fusion drive - big mistake getting one, or so it would seem!

 

[chscag]

OK, I may have misunderstood what you were having a problem with. Have you thought about using something like WinClone for recovery?

 

[harryb2448]

Have a read of this regarding BootCamp and Fusion drives. Also Google has stacks of feedback:-


Fusion Drive and Boot Camp - MacRumors Forums

 

[johnodd4]

There is something that reminds me of this.

Let me explain:

How to properly remove bootcamp

in order to safely remove windows and the bootcamp partition i recommend formatting and restarting the computer.

why you ask because even if you just get rid of the windows partition and then resize it back to macintosh using Disk Utility it will make it so bootcamp will never create a partition again for any o.s it's a bad bug that has always been there ever since leopard snow and mountain lion even the beta on mac os x tiger had this issue

 

[chas_m]

I've cleverly avoided this problem for over two decades by using the OS the machine was designed for, and tossing Windows entirely. Makes life a lot easier in most cases.

 

[johnodd4]

isn't that true i have no windows on my mac because i have crossover games and wineskin to run my windows programs on my mac there is no need for windows

 

[harryb2448]

Very clever chas m and I have followed suit, even having been daring enough to sell my Dell Latitude!

 

[Dieter3]

Unfortunately, this is in a computer lab that needs to be more straight forward for less technical folks - so it's a simple set up that allows brain-dead switching between the OS's. Believe me, I'd run OS X solely if I could, but I can't. Some of this is user-based - diehard Windows users that are only just tolerant of using a device with an Apple logo on it.

These machines are FUBAR for what I need to do. Totally my fault. I should have much more thoroughly investigated the details of "fusion" and the hardware that Apple has incorporated to accomplish this. Had I really known what I was getting into, would not have touched these with a 10-meter pole, nor will them upon my worst enemy.

That said, running JUST OS X? They are fine, quite fast really. If you want that SSD speed with a bit more storage without using an external device, these ain't bad at all.

BOOTCAMP? Terrible. These machines are actually quite slow running Win7. Their predecessors running Core i3s with 4GB RAM were far stronger performers and I don't know why. Bootcamp must create an awful lot of overhead with the fusion system. Any insight?