New to Macs - VMWare & Boot Camp Question

[JAdmiral]

Ok, let's see... VIC20, then Commodore 64, then a Mac, Then a Mac SE20 (wow, with a 20 Meg Hard drive!). Upgraded it to a 60 Meg HD, and then moved to the PC world. Been there ever since.

...until a few days ago, when I purchased a MBA-- it'll be here on Friday. I'll need to run Windows XP for various things (Haven't left the PC world.... yet). I love Boot Camp, and I love the VM option that VMWare Fusion offers.

Here's my question:

Do I have to load Windows TWICE in order to have the option to Boot Directly into Windows XP and to run Fusion? Or can I, for example, load WIndows via Boot Camp, then use that same installation in order to run a VM session of XP? In an attempt to conserve Hard Drive space, I'm sure you see the importance of the question.

As a related question, how much UNUSED HD space comes on a factory fresh MBA?

Thanks, guys!

-JAd

 

[ayeying]

you only load once if you're going to do boot camp.

I'm not sure of the unused space off the top of my head but there are posts for those. You can search for them.

 

[JAdmiral]

you only load once if you're going to do boot camp.

Yes, but what about BOTH Boot Camp and VMWare Fusion?

Thank you.

 

[eXan]

As a related question, how much UNUSED HD space comes on a factory fresh MBA?

I think its the same on all Macs, so it should be about 58 Gigs on 80 G HD

 

[UltraNEO*]

Ok, let's see... VIC20, then Commodore 64, then a Mac, Then a Mac SE20 (wow, with a 20 Meg Hard drive!). Upgraded it to a 60 Meg HD, and then moved to the PC world. Been there ever since.

...until a few days ago, when I purchased a MBA-- it'll be here on Friday. I'll need to run Windows XP for various things (Haven't left the PC world.... yet). I love Boot Camp, and I love the VM option that VMWare Fusion offers.

Here's my question:

Do I have to load Windows TWICE in order to have the option to Boot Directly into Windows XP and to run Fusion? Or can I, for example, load WIndows via Boot Camp, then use that same installation in order to run a VM session of XP? In an attempt to conserve Hard Drive space, I'm sure you see the importance of the question.

As a related question, how much UNUSED HD space comes on a factory fresh MBA?

Thanks, guys!

-JAd

Boot Camp just allows you to install Windows on a dedicated partition of your drive. I'm not sure where this "boot windows twice" bit comes from...

If you press and hold "Option" while powering up, you'll get a boot menu allowing you to select which partition. Alternatively, if you have Fusion installed, you can tell it to share your Windows partition within OSX... or you can create a separate virtual windows, perhaps use both? choice is years...

 

[JAdmiral]

Alternatively, if you have Fusion installed, you can tell it to share your Windows partition within OSX... or you can create a separate virtual windows, perhaps use both? choice is years...

I think that's the answer I was looking for. Load Windows once, and have two options: Boot Camp OR VMWare Fusion. Thanks!

 

[krye]

Yes. You can tell Fusion to use your Boot Camp partition as your Virtual Machine. But remember, you hose one, you hose both. I like to keep my Virtual Machine well, virtual. I have a clean install burned to a DVD. If I mess it up, I just copy it back over. Or, pull the whole thing back from Time Machine.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Yes. You can tell Fusion to use your Boot Camp partition as your Virtual Machine. But remember, you hose one, you hose both. I like to keep my Virtual Machine well, virtual. I have a clean install burned to a DVD. If I mess it up, I just copy it back over. Or, pull the whole thing back from Time Machine.

Hmm... Loading Windows via Fusion would be alot safer, even when your it's the Windows partition. Because, it'll be sharing your connection via the Mac's OS virtual bridge. I doubt software have direct access to the hardware, hence there's a chance of a little lag. Also, the Mac has a Firewall with optional Stealth mode, you can enable it via the Security panel in System Preferences.

If your worried, you can ofcourse backup important documents and data to the Mac partition, as OSX can read both NTFS and FAT32 (however it can't write to NTFS).

So, if you destroy your windows partition by accident or due to viruses... You can be sure the Mac will be completely safe. Windows worms, trojans and viruses does sweet FA on Mac... You can fill the Mac's HD with a complete archive of them and it'll be safe!! They simply don't execute. Period.

 

[JAdmiral]

So, if you destroy your windows partition by accident or due to viruses... You can be sure the Mac will be completely safe. Windows worms, trojans and viruses does sweet FA on Mac... You can fill the Mac's HD with a complete archive of them and it'll be safe!! They simply don't execute. Period.

I know it's just good sense to run anti-virus on a Mac. But I assume, unless I'd like to reinstall my XP software often, that I should ALSO install XP anti-virus, too, yes?

Thanks.