Playing with Boot Camp on Macs and EFI limitations workarounds.

As you may know, Macs use a GPT (GUID Partition Table) unlike Windows, that usually uses the old MBR (Master Boot Record). On top of that, there is just a BIOS emulation on top of the EFI on Apple machines. As usual, Macs are a step ahead but that creates some side effects:

• Inability to boot from exotic CDs like UBCD, Manufacturers HDD diagnostics and so on...
• Inability to clone Windows partitions using standard tools like Ghost or Acronis.

Hopefully, there are workarounds. First of all, if you have HDD issues, you can move the drive to another computer (PC) to perform extensive testing, especially at the logical and mechanical level. You don't need to actually boot on the HDD - that would be impossible anyway - to analyze it. Moving a drive is not hard and doesn't void the warranty if done properly.

Cloning is now fairly easy, there is an awesome tool called WinClone from TwoCanoes that allows you to backup and restore a functional Boot Camp partition. You can even shrink your Windows partition. They also claim that you can deploy Windows using ARD.

I also would like to share a few reminders:

• Windows is not like Mac OS. You can't have a generic Windows image just by cloning it as every model of Mac is different and requires different drivers and settings (especially on the ACPI side) unless you use a third-party tool.
• Macs doesn't support PXE for obvious reasons. You can use NetBoot though.
• If you don't absolutely need to boot natively into windows, consider using a VM as they are less platform dependant.
• Use Time Machine!

Namaste.

Posted in: Boot Camp,Ghost,GUID,Image,Mac,MBR,Windows