Can PC boot fom Mac OS X Extended Journaled?

Question

Is my PC able to boot from my external USB formatted to Mac OS X Extended Journaled?

It works fine on my Mac, but I want to boot from it on my Windows (PC).

Solution 1

Windows can't read or write HFS+J (Mac OS Extended, Journaled) natively. Neither can the Windows installer. So you won't even be able to install Windows onto an HFS+J partition.

Even if you manage to use some other tool to clone/copy a Windows installation onto an HFS+J partition without mangling it, the Windows booting code wouldn't know how to read HFS+J, so it wouldn't be able to boot from it.

There are third-party products like MacDrive that allow Windows to read and write HFS+J partitions, but products like that don't load until later in the boot process, so they don't enable booting from HFS+J.

The best you could do is take that external drive, make sure its low-level partition map format is GPT (GUID Partition Table) as opposed to MBR (Master Boot Record) or Apple Partition Map, and add a FAT or NTFS partition to it (possibly by first making room by shrinking the HFS+J partition using Mac OS X Disk Utility). Then you could install Windows on the FAT or NTFS partition so you can boot Windows from there.

Solution 2

If you are talking about booting OS X (without illegal mods):

NO WAY (sorry).

If you want to boot another OS: You need a boot manager that understands hfs+. And an operating system on that partition that is compatible with your hardware and understands hfs+. That means no Windows for you. And if you want to boot Linux you're probably better off using ext3,4 or something like that.

Not a good idea.

Why do you want to boot from that partition? Do you just need access to the data?

Comments

[CNJ]

Do you mean you want your PC to run Windows from the external drive, or you want your PC to run Mac OS X from the external drive?

[Simon Hughes]

Do you mean ...will **not** allow it...?

[Kevin M]

Why? What problems will he encounter?

[Hasaan Chop]

What problems will he encounter trying to boot from a filesystem the operating system has zero support for? Are you kidding?

[lajuette]

He did not mention, that he wants to boot windows. I think he wants to boot OS X.

[lajuette]

Putting Windows on a HFS+ filesystem won't work that easy. There's no native support for it in Windows and only a driver from Apple, that hasn't been released as standalone driver.

[Spiff]

He said he wants to "boot from it on his Windows". That's a bit ambiguous and poor English, but I think it's reasonable to think he wants to boot Windows. @lajuette

[Kevin M]

@NSD: when I added my comment, the answer was only 4 words long: "This is not possible". I was asking those questions to make a more helpful answer.

[Kevin M]

@lajuette: which is precisely why I asked my question. The asker is in for a world of pain if he tries to do so.