Questions re Parallels, Vista & Bootcamp...

[r-gordon-7]

My Black Macbook (my first Mac) finally came last night. I already have a copy of Vista Ultimate (and don't have a suitable copy of XP) and I also already have the latest version of Parallels.

My question... If I first install BootCamp and then Vista, will I need to install a second installation of Vista for use with Parallels, or will Parallels recognize the Vista installation I install for Bootcamp?

Reverse question... If I first install Parallels and Vista, should I later install BootCamp, would I need a second installation of Vista for BootCamp, or would the initial installation of Vista for Parallels work with BootCamp as well?

Finally (and maybe this should've been the first question...) I understand that even though Parallels doesn't require a partition to divide the hard drive, BootCamp does. How would you recommend I partition the drive for use with Bootcamp & Vista? (My Macbok has 4GB RAM & a 250GB hard drive.) Does the partition for each OS need to be big enough for the respecive OS, the respective OS-specific applications AND the data for those applicaitons, or can the data (and applications?) for a particular OS reside on "the other side" of the respective OS's partition?

BTW, I have lots of data for Windows-specific applicaitons which I will continue to need to use on my Macbook. I suspect my Macboook useage (excluding web-surfing which can be in either OS) will be at least 50% Windows dependent...

Thanks,
r-gordon-7

 

[overanalyzer]

You can use your BootCamp installation in Parallels as well. No need to install twice.

There is no easy way I know of to convert a Parallels VM into a BootCamp partition. So you should start with BootCamp if you want to use both.

Since you're going to be 50% dependent on Windows, you'll probably want a sizeable partition. You can share data from the OS X side while using Parallels, but not while using BootCamp. So you'll want the Windows partition to be large enough to accomodate the Windows OS, Windows apps and your data. If you keep the partition FAT32 (this is what BootCamp will do on its own) you can read and write to that partition from both Windows and OS X.

BTW, I encourage you NOT to browse the web in Windows whenever possible. Far more spyware and viruses are targeted at Windows and Windows browsers so you're better off using the OS X side when you can.

 

[Neil321]

Dont forget if you choose FAT32 for your bootcamp partition you wont be able
to transfer files that are larger than 4GB

 

[skyrider007]

Dont forget if you choose FAT32 for your bootcamp partition you wont be able
to transfer files that are larger than 4GB

Is FAT32 the best file format?

 

[overanalyzer]

Is FAT32 the best file format?

No, NTFS has a lot more benefits, but OS X can only natively write to FAT32 for Windows, not NTFS.

 

[skyrider007]

No, NTFS has a lot more benefits, but OS X can only natively write to FAT32 for Windows, not NTFS.

So if I plan to use VMware Fusion which file format should I choose?

 

[Block]

Use NTFS. There are ways to write to it now using MacFUSE from Google.

 

[Flowero4ka]

No, NTFS has a lot more benefits, but OS X can only natively write to FAT32 for Windows, not NTFS.

Sorry, could you explain me more detailed what does it mean FAT32 and NTFS? Thank you in advance

 

[Neil321]

Sorry, could you explain me more detailed what does it mean FAT32 and NTFS? Thank you in advance

Both NTFS & FAT32 are file systems used by windows

When you set up bootcamp you have to make the choice FAT32 or NTFS

If you choose FAT32 your limited to being able to tranfer files no larger than 4GB but you can both read/write to the windows partition

If you choose NTFS you will only be able to read unless you have a third party program such as macfuse or paragon

 

[skyrider007]

Both NTFS & FAT32 are file systems used by windows

When you set up bootcamp you have to make the choice FAT32 or NTFS

If you choose FAT32 your limited to being able to tranfer files no larger than 4GB but you can both read/write to the windows partition

So if I only work with files smaller than 4GB and would like to run Vista on VM Fusion, is FAT32 my best solution?

 

[Neil321]

So if I only work with files smaller than 4GB and would like to run Vista on VM Fusion, is FAT32 my best solution?

i THINK your'll find vista is NTFS only but dont quote me on it,try googling it

 

[Flowero4ka]

Both NTFS & FAT32 are file systems used by windows

When you set up bootcamp you have to make the choice FAT32 or NTFS

If you choose FAT32 your limited to being able to tranfer files no larger than 4GB but you can both read/write to the windows partition

If you choose NTFS you will only be able to read unless you have a third party program such as macfuse or paragon

Does that mean that NTFS is unlimited? Or no larger then how much GB? What do you mean "read unless you have a third party program such as macfuse or paragon". Now on my PC I have NTFS (I saw in options of my computer). Does that mean I should load else any additional prog?

 

[Neil321]

Does that mean that NTFS is unlimited? Or no larger then how much GB? What do you mean "read unless you have a third party program such as macfuse or paragon". Now on my PC I have NTFS (I saw in options of my computer). Does that mean I should load else any additional prog?

Im not 100% sure is unlimited but your can certainly transfer files larger than than 4GB. What i meant by read is if your format your bootcamp partition NTFS your limited to being only able to
read from it within os x .Im not 100% sure i know what you mean by my PC has NTFS but if you
want to be able to both read/write to your bootcamp partition from within os x you will need a third
party program such as macfuse or paragon

 

[overanalyzer]

i THINK your'll find vista is NTFS only but dont quote me on it,try googling it

Does that mean that NTFS is unlimited? Or no larger then how much GB? What do you mean "read unless you have a third party program such as macfuse or paragon". Now on my PC I have NTFS (I saw in options of my computer). Does that mean I should load else any additional prog?

Im not 100% sure is unlimited but your can certainly transfer files larger than than 4GB. What i meant by read is if your format your bootcamp partition NTFS your limited to being only able to
read from it within os x .Im not 100% sure i know what you mean by my PC has NTFS but if you
want to be able to both read/write to your bootcamp partition from within os x you will need a third
party program such as macfuse or paragon

I believe NTFS is limited to file sizes of 16EiB (exbibytes) minus 1KB which is approximately 1,153 petabytes. So in practice, it's unlimited for the moment considering you'd be hard pressed to build a storage array anywhere near that size, let alone find some reason to store that much data in a single file.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exbibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte

Vista supports FAT32 and NTFS drives, but is only supposed to run on NTFS as far as I can tell, though apparently people have gotten around that (see link below). Microsoft also recommends NTFS (and has for previous versions of Windows) for use no matter what. If you want file/directory user privileges in Windows, you have to use NTFS as FAT32 doesn't support them. Before you write off caring, you should know that even not running as administrator, in FAT32 any malware can still read/write/delete any files it wants because of the lack of file permissions support. But if you have the (bad) habit of running as an administrator account all the time in Windows especially while browsing the web it's the same difference.

See:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=10184
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...0433-4ba1-a2f4-9338915fdb4b1033.mspx?mfr=true

While there are third-party programs to write NTFS from OS X (it can already natively read it), I've heard mixed results based on forum posts as to the reliability. If you need to do this for any critical data, make sure to backup frequently in case you run into issues.

FYI, there have been numerous debates in the forums and elsewhere about NTFS vs. FAT32 for use on Macs, and there's plenty of information on Wikipedia, Microsoft's site and elsewhere on the differences and pros/cons. So I'd suggest Googling for info too like neil321 suggested...that's how I got most of this info

 

[Neil321]

I believe NTFS is limited to file sizes of 16EiB (exbibytes) minus 1KB which is approximately 1,153 petabytes. So in practice, it's unlimited for the moment considering you'd be hard pressed to build a storage array anywhere near that size, let alone find some reason to store that much data in a single file.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exbibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte

Vista supports FAT32 and NTFS drives, but is only supposed to run on NTFS as far as I can tell, though apparently people have gotten around that (see link below). Microsoft also recommends NTFS (and has for previous versions of Windows) for use no matter what. If you want file/directory user privileges in Windows, you have to use NTFS as FAT32 doesn't support them. Before you write off caring, you should know that even not running as administrator, in FAT32 any malware can still read/write/delete any files it wants because of the lack of file permissions support. But if you have the (bad) habit of running as an administrator account all the time in Windows especially while browsing the web it's the same difference.

See:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=10184
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...0433-4ba1-a2f4-9338915fdb4b1033.mspx?mfr=true

While there are third-party programs to write NTFS from OS X (it can already natively read it), I've heard mixed results based on forum posts as to the reliability. If you need to do this for any critical data, make sure to backup frequently in case you run into issues.

FYI, there have been numerous debates in the forums and elsewhere about NTFS vs. FAT32 for use on Macs, and there's plenty of information on Wikipedia, Microsoft's site and elsewhere on the differences and pros/cons. So I'd suggest Googling for info too like neil321 suggested...that's how I got all this info

Many thanks im off to do some reading up

 

[julianbc]

I installed Vista w/ boot camp, but when I am trying to run Vista from my boot camp partition, I am getting errors. Any ideas?

 

[JNB]

You'll have to be more specific. What errors, at what point in the process, did the install complete, etc.

 

[NorthX08]

Im in the same boat as the OP
Ill be getting a Blackbook (newly Updated one) with VMWare, Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Questions were:
- Ill be using Ares (Music) and Azureus (Programs/other media) and heard these work best when downloaded to Windows instead of Mac. So my question goes is this true? 25gig partisan should be enough for mostly music?
- Will my Windows and Mac share files? So if i torrent an album on Windows can i add it to iTunes on Mac?
-Microsoft Office Mac or Windows? (based of personal exp.). I was leaning towards Mac version b/c less reliance on my VMWare-ing Word

 

[sindaar]

256 Colours

I am running 10.5 with the latest version of Parallels and Windows XP, I tried to run a PC-ROM and it didn't work as it asked me to switch to 256 colours. This was not available from the Display section within Control Panel. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get the PC-ROM working. Thanks

 

[nikopolidis]

I am running 10.5 with the latest version of Parallels and Windows XP, I tried to run a PC-ROM and it didn't work as it asked me to switch to 256 colours.

What is PC-ROM? Maybe CD-ROM? I'll try to answer your question if you explain what is this...

 

[sindaar]

What is PC-ROM? Maybe CD-ROM? I'll try to answer your question if you explain what is this...

Yes - I meant a CD-ROM