Dual Boot on Partition of Second SSD?

[mceykes]

Hey guys, I have enjoyed this configuration as a super stabile machine since September 2019. I have 2x 1 TB SSD drives in the XPS and just installed MacOS on my main NVMe drive. The Other SATA SSD, I use for storage and for music sample libraries.

I want to keep it that way but since my libraries are not exceeding 200gbs right now, and there is the Quarantine with the coronavirus right now, I was thinking of making a Second Partition on the SATA Drive and install Windows to play some games. Do you think this would cause any issues, since Windows is on the same drive that I also access under MacOS? The systems would be on different drives. I read that sometimes Windows Updates can cause the boot loader to crash or even damage it.

My questions:

1. Do you think doing it that way would be a good/bad idea?

2. Would the clover boot loader, which is on the main SSD, handle both systems (although windows is on the other drive)

3. I also thought about disabling the Main SSD in Bios every time I start Windows, so Windows cannot harm my MacOS. But then the Bootloader is still on the Main SSD. Is it possible to have a boot loader installed on the second drive as well, and is this advisable?

Thanks ! cheers

[Alex2804]

Hi mceykes,

1. I Have Windows, macOS and multiple Linux Distros on my NVME drive (i don't have an extra SATA SSD in my XPS) and it is great to have all Systems on one machine!

2. Clover should recognize Windows and should be able to boot it even though it is on the other drive (I couldn't test this because I have no second drive but I don't know any reason why it shouldn't work and Clover recognizes all of my Linux live usb-sticks and is able to start them so therefore I think it works).

3. The Bootloader is installed in the EFI partition of the drive. You can create an EFI partition on both drives and can install multiple Bootloaders into both of them (I have installed the Veracrypt, Grub and Clover Bootloader in my single EFI partition). It's not necessary to disable the main drive because Windows touches only its own Bootloader. After some Windows updates (I think the "bigger" one), the ordering of the Bootloaders in the BIOS changes but you can reorder them in the BIOS and set Clover to the top as the "default" Bootloader.
   I don't Know where Windows installs the Bootloader (if it installs it in the existing EFI partition at the main drive or creates a new EFI partition on the SATA drive if it doesn't exist).

Maybe you should consider to Install Windows and macOS both on the main Drive and have your Data and Game Library on the SATA SSD (if you don't need 1TB for macOS).

I hope this was helpful, I have not forgotten anything and my englisch was not to bad :).

[mceykes]

hey Alex, thank you - your English was perfect :). cleared it up for me. thanks!