OS X and Windows on separate disks

[bidwin]

I've put off mucking with Windows on my Late 2011 MBP, 8GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 500GD HD (original HD in place of optical drive), but now that I have 2 HDDs installed I assumed (yes, I know) running Windows would be easier. Now to my dismay I just learned W10 is not supported in Boot Camp for my MBP. I guess I could run one of the VM options, but I'd like to know, since I have 2 separate HDDs, one dedicated to OS X and one to W10, can I run without Boot Camp and without VM software? If so, how to I select OS X or Windows when I boot up? Or is OS selection one of the main benefits of Boot Camp or VM software?
Thanks,
Charlie

 

[chscag]

Windows will not boot or run from the optical drive position without a hack and lots of work moving drives. However, have you thought about installing Windows 7 first and then upgrading that to Windows 10? That's how a lot of folks are getting around the boot camp support problem. Or you could always run Windows 10 in a VM.

 

[bidwin]

Thanks for the response, chscag. So even though my second disk is installed inside my MBP it's considered as an external drive because it's connected to the optical port? If I run bootcamp would I have to dedicate the minimum (20GB?) partition on my SSD to Windows then use the HD for data?

If I run VM would I have the same limitation, or could I use the HD for Windows and the SSD for OS X?

 

[chscag]

Unfortunately, Windows "sees" the drive installed in the optical slot as an external drive and will not (without a hack) install to it. Whichever drive you have installed in the normal SATA position is where Windows will install to. That can be your SSD or your HHD. How much space you dedicate to the Boot Camp partition is up to you. It's too much of a hassel to install Windows on the SATA drive and then use the optical position drive for its data. Best to keep everything on one drive.

When running a VM, you can place Windows where ever you wish and there are no restrictions since the VM software takes care of it for you. Of course it depends on what you want to run in Windows since VMs do not handle graphics the same way as Boot Camp does. Which means if you're running Windows games that are graphic intensive (Flight Simulator is a good example) you're better off with Boot Camp.

 

[bidwin]

Hopefully these are my last questions on this topic. I've searched here and on macrumors for more info on bootcamp vs VM and found a post or two that stated with an MBP of my vintage - late 2011, 8,1 - I could swap my SSD and old HD so the HD will be in the SATA position and the SSD in the optical position, install Windows <10 on the HD, then swap the drives again, and my MBP would boot windows from the HD in the optical position. Or did I get that wrong? I guess I could swap drives and leave them in position, but I don't know how that will affect OS X performance, which improved greatly after installing the SSD and more memory.

Now, if I go with bootcamp I'll have to start with Win 7 or 8 then upgrade to Win 10 since my MBP won't support Win 10 newly installed. So do I start with bootcamp 5, install old Windows, then go to bootcamp 6, then upgrade to Win 10? I've read quite a bit about what goes with what, but I'm not clear about the entire process.

Of course I could forget the flight sim I want to run and just go with VM.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[chscag]

The info from Macrumors is correct. You can certainly do it that way if you choose. I didn't suggest it because it's a lot of work and it can lead to problems whenever you start swapping drives around. However, if you're careful and make a backup of both OS X and Windows you can always start over if something does go wrong.

If you first install Windows 7 or 8 and then upgrade to 10, you'll need to download updated drivers and boot camp support from Apple. Chances are, everything will work OK but some folks have complained about the graphics driver not working correctly and other minor glitches. There are numerous threads over at Macrumors that you can glean through to get some idea what others have done to overcome those glitches.