What would be better for me?

[acfusion29]

Hey MR,

I'm just wondering, what would be better for me. Parallels or Boot Camp?

I need Windows to take my videos off my Video Camera and put them on my external, and thats about it.

Questions:

1. If my external is connected to my MacBook, can I still access it in Parallels? If not, can I save my files to my HDD, and access them from my Mac?

2. If I go ahead and install XP through Boot Camp, can I merge the two partitions back together when I don't need it anymore?

Oh, and BTW, I certainly cannot access my videos from my video camera on my mac for some reason. It's fairly old, Hitachi DZ-MV550A.

 

[webgoat]

Hey MR,

I'm just wondering, what would be better for me. Parallels or Boot Camp?

I need Windows to take my videos off my Video Camera and put them on my external, and thats about it.

Questions:

1. If my external is connected to my MacBook, can I still access it in Parallels? If not, can I save my files to my HDD, and access them from my Mac?

2. If I go ahead and install XP through Boot Camp, can I merge the two partitions back together when I don't need it anymore?

Oh, and BTW, I certainly cannot access my videos from my video camera on my mac for some reason. It's fairly old, Hitachi DZ-MV550A.

well if you don't want to spend any money then go boot camp... if you don't mind spending money and don't want to have to restart every time to boot into windows or partition your internal hard drive go with parallels (personally i would suggest fusion)... both parallels and fusion offer a trial so try it and make sure you can get done what you need done before buying a license for either....

1. I believe so if it's in a readable format for the OS. Yes you can save files from external to internal and then access them with parallels/fusion.

2. Yes, it's extremely simple with the Boot Camp Assistant utility

 

[Neil321]

Hey MR,

I'm just wondering, what would be better for me. Parallels or Boot Camp?

I need Windows to take my videos off my Video Camera and put them on my external, and thats about it.

Questions:

1. If my external is connected to my MacBook, can I still access it in Parallels? If not, can I save my files to my HDD, and access them from my Mac?

2. If I go ahead and install XP through Boot Camp, can I merge the two partitions back together when I don't need it anymore?

Oh, and BTW, I certainly cannot access my videos from my video camera on my mac for some reason. It's fairly old, Hitachi DZ-MV550A.

1 yes and depends what format the drive is

2 yes once you have a bootcamp installed the same button creates or removes the partition

Anything to do with video work id say bootcamp was the way to go as it runs windows at native speed

You could always give fusion a try see if works,if not get rid of it,you can
still run it of your bootcamp partition so you have a choice

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?eval=vdi

edit: webgoat snuck in there before me

 

[acfusion29]

Thanks guys.

My friend gave me a copy of Parallels, and Boot Camp is obviously free.

Umm, I think I'll go ahead and install it using Boot Camp then.