I need to put windows on my Mac, what should I do? Bootcamp, Parallels, VMware? And what all does in entail? Do I have to reformat the hard drive no matter which way I go? Suggestions, comments, tips? I think I really only need to run one or two programs on the windows side for work, so what do you all suggest? Thanks in advance.
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I'm about to do the unspeakable...looking for suggestions.
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It all depends on what you wanna do in Windows actually...
If you are going for a virtualization solution I recommend using Fusion.
If it is for gaming obviously Boot Camp...
Maybe this help you out a little.
byakuya
If you are going for a virtualization solution I recommend using Fusion.
If it is for gaming obviously Boot Camp...
Maybe this help you out a little.
byakuya
If you do not have to jump back and forth all the time, I suggest boot camp.
When I ran Parallels it seemed to slow the whole system, and I found my self re booting any way, (could just be my system)
Boot camp is free, I wish I had just gone with it from the beginning
As with most questions, the simple answer is "it depends", but to go through your issues step by step.
-You're not going to need to format your hard drive. If you use bootcamp, the assistant creates a partition from you hard drive (i.e. slices off a part of your empty HD space and creates a new "virtual disk"). Fusion (VMware) creates a virtual machine file on your disk. I've never used parallells but i assume it is the same.
-As for which to use, it comes down to how processor and graphics-heavy the apps you need to use are. The more resource-hungry, the more likely you'll want to go with Boot Camp. If you're doing any gaming, definitely do boot camp. If your running basic office applications, then Fusion or Parallels should be fine. Anything in between is an question of taste.
Personally, I went with boot camp because I simply liked the option of having full access to all my resources to run what I needed. But once I found suitable mac substitutes for the programs I was running, I've moved to mac-only.
-You're not going to need to format your hard drive. If you use bootcamp, the assistant creates a partition from you hard drive (i.e. slices off a part of your empty HD space and creates a new "virtual disk"). Fusion (VMware) creates a virtual machine file on your disk. I've never used parallells but i assume it is the same.
-As for which to use, it comes down to how processor and graphics-heavy the apps you need to use are. The more resource-hungry, the more likely you'll want to go with Boot Camp. If you're doing any gaming, definitely do boot camp. If your running basic office applications, then Fusion or Parallels should be fine. Anything in between is an question of taste.
Personally, I went with boot camp because I simply liked the option of having full access to all my resources to run what I needed. But once I found suitable mac substitutes for the programs I was running, I've moved to mac-only.
Ok, so it looks like I'll maybe be using bootcamp since I don't need to be able to switch back and forth a lot, even though it might be nice. Like I said, I'll just be using it for work. I may even be able to get by on something like parallels as I don't need to to run real fast. Just need it to function really. Besides, I'm using a Pentium D at 2.8ghz right now. I think the 2.4ghz C2D is faster, isn't it? Anyway, I'll debate this for a bit and figure it out.
Yea, both is the way I'm going to go. The option go into windows while in OSX appeals to me, and obviously having full system resources via bootcamp does as well.
Not to hijack the OPs thread, but this is something he may want to know.
After installing bootcamp, where do you install Parallels/Fusion? Is it better to install it on the Windows partition? Can you even do that (i think i read somewhere you can...)?
Bootcamp.
I installed it on my Mac as soon as I got it.
Split the drive; gave 110 GB to Windows XP.
Set it so that it boots Windows XP by default.
All the other features came along w/ Bootcamp (Ex: Brightness, Volume, Print Screen, Eject controls)
I installed it on my Mac as soon as I got it.
Split the drive; gave 110 GB to Windows XP.
Set it so that it boots Windows XP by default.
All the other features came along w/ Bootcamp (Ex: Brightness, Volume, Print Screen, Eject controls)
Can someone elaborate on this? What are you suggesting here? Sorry I not quite understanding.
Also, how much hard drive space would you recommend for the partition? I need to clean off some more junk.
Can someone elaborate on this? What are you suggesting here? Sorry I not quite understanding.
Also, how much hard drive space would you recommend for the partition? I need to clean off some more junk.
OK as per the other guy's question.... you want to install Fusion/Parallels to your OS X partition since it is an OS X app.
Depending on what you are doing, and how much free space you want to give.. that is what determines it... oh and the OS you choose. For example, you can get away with 10-15GB for XP, but Vista gets all annoyed if you try to give it less than 30GB.
See, as you may already know, you can use Bootcamp to natively install XP Pro SP2, or Vista on your Intel Mac. Bootcamp is not used to run the OS, but rather is a handy little drive partitioner, and lets you burn off driver disks for Windows. And the drivers are quite good IMO. If you install Windows via bootcamp, you will have to restart the machine any time you want to switch OSes. The advantage here is that you have full native speed in either OS.
VMWare Fusion / Parallels is an application that will let you run Windows (or really any other OS, except OS X) within OS X, while it is running, so the advantage here is that if you do not need native power (checking something out real quick, playing Netflix streaming movies, writing a document) then this is ideal since if you set the RAM settings right, you will not notice any significant slow down on either OS. Furthermore, either app will let you use your bootcamp partition as the Virtual Machine, which means you don't have to have 2 separate licenses for Windows.
Just an FYI VM Ware just released a new version with DirectX 9.0 support:
http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/
So supposedly it now works better, I downloaded it tonight and will try it out later on to see how well the Direct X support works.
But if the VM stuff keeps getting better, then it might be a good solution. BTW the Beta is free until they release the pay version
http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/
So supposedly it now works better, I downloaded it tonight and will try it out later on to see how well the Direct X support works.
But if the VM stuff keeps getting better, then it might be a good solution. BTW the Beta is free until they release the pay version
So, right now I only have about 12gb free space on my 160gb HDD. I was at about 8gb last night, but I started axing music that I never listen to. I also have a ton of video clips from a video I edited that I can trash as soon as I burn a few more copies of the DVD. I should be able to get it back up to about 30gb I'm thinking. Anyway, I might try out that Fusion beta. Thanks everyone for the tips.
Boots into XP by defualt? Ack! Why not just buy a Dell?!
BTW, can Boot Camp have a shared drive or folder on the Mac partition? (Can files be shared on both OSs?)
Boots into XP by defualt? Ack! Why not just buy a Dell?!
I had the same anxiety-ridden reaction
You can, however, have a shared storage partition (or separate drive altogether) where you keep your media, docs, etc...
Both. It is technically possible to create a third partition, in FAT32 that both operating systems have full I/O access to, but the Bootcamp software (IIRC) isn't designed to let you do this. You'd have to repartition the drive using another tool. I would defer to this board on how best to do that.
If you are not going to use it for games and have 2 gb of ram use parallels and you will be very happy with the way it works. I found windows xp is mo stable on my mackbook pro then is is on my dell desktop at work. I have to use windows for some of my apps as there is no mac software available.
With less then 2gb of ram it seems slow but with 2gb it works great. I have set up 4 macbook pro's and 2 macbooks with parallels and all work with no problems at all. YOU WILL BE HAPPY!!
With less then 2gb of ram it seems slow but with 2gb it works great. I have set up 4 macbook pro's and 2 macbooks with parallels and all work with no problems at all. YOU WILL BE HAPPY!!
Boots into XP by defualt? Ack! Why not just buy a Dell?!
BTW, can Boot Camp have a shared drive or folder on the Mac partition? (Can files be shared on both OSs?)
Yes - you can do what others have said and do a third partition, or you can use an external drive or you can go here and look at this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/351476/
I use the NTFS Beta software and it works well - no problems so far for me.
Also, another way to do it would be through Parallels\Fusion as both of them allow for drag and drop file sharing to/from a Boot Camp partition.
I have a trial of VMware running and I like that I can share a folder (have XP or OSX download files to the same directory) or I can drag and drop files back and forth. Obviously I would lose the latter option if I just went with Boot Camp alone.
Yah, but with Paragon's software you will be able to read the NTFS drive in MAC OS X natively (because it will mount the drive anyways).
Also, they have one that allows you to read/write to HFS+ drives through XP as well (I think that is in Beta also).
Get them both working and you don't have to worry about scratch partitions.
Also, they have one that allows you to read/write to HFS+ drives through XP as well (I think that is in Beta also).
Get them both working and you don't have to worry about scratch partitions.
So what you are saying is run a virtual drive inside os-x and I should be fine since I have the 2.4ghz MBP with 2gb of RAM?