bootcamp and parallels, recommended partitions

[travistrain]

Im thinking of buying a mac, i've always used a windows pc though. Im gonna see what happends tommorow at the mac event but I want a Mac Book Pro.
I want to dualboot mac os and windows 7 using bootcamp, parrallels, and refit. I've been doing some research on it and I would like some expert opinions on recommended settings to partition the disk. should I do 50/50 split or what? I'll either get a 320 or 500gb hard drive.
I also see that some people split it three ways and have a 3rd partition for shared files, such as music, documents, ect. is this recommended or is this not really needed to share files between the 2 OS's?
I'll probably be using windows OS more often or atleast use parallels alot until i get the hang of mac os.
I also want to be able to sync itunes on both the windows and mac os, so it doesnt madder which operating system im on if i want to listen, download or sync my ipod, is there a way to do this?
And lastly, I use outlook to download my comcast email via pop3. Is there a way to sync outlook in windows and outlook for mac between the partitions? I can not find any answers to this question online.

Any opinions, recommendations, or thoughts about these subjects or buying my first mac in general is welcome!

 

[mac8867]

I want to dualboot mac os and windows 7 using bootcamp, parrallels, and refit. I've been doing some research on it and I would like some expert opinions on recommended settings to partition the disk. should I do 50/50 split or what? I'll either get a 320 or 500gb hard drive.

If I recall, you don't have that much flexibility when setting up a bootcamp partition. You basically have two choices for partition size, small (don't remember size) and 40 GB.

I also see that some people split it three ways and have a 3rd partition for shared files, such as music, documents, ect. is this recommended or is this not really needed to share files between the 2 OS's?

Not required with Parallels (Or VMWare fusion). You can share your MacOs drives with the virtual Machine via "File Shares" --- really easy stuff.

OK, so here is my two cents on the whole thing. I like you, when I decided to go Mac in my professional life (MBP), I knew I would be constrained to a Windows environment for some of my work. When I bought the Mac, I added a boot camp partition and it was fine (running Windows XP Pro 32 bit). However, I also purchased VMWare Fusion (Parallels is basically the same functionally) and fell in love with it.

What I found is, I NEVER booted to Windows. So I got rid of the bootcamp partition and reclaimed the space. I have since connected all my email, contacts and calendar to the MacOS applications and they run spectacularly. There is a feature set in MacOS called "Spaces" which effectively lets you have multiple desktops on your screen. I start up a Windows partition in a specific space every morning... and that's it.

 

[lickitysplit]

First I'd like to say congrats on your decision to get a Mac, you won't regret it

Even though it's a Mac related event tomorrow it is unlikely that the MBP will be updated, but it is a good idea that you at least wait till tomorrow just incase. However, an update is going to happen "for sure" by April at the latest next year so just keep that in mind if you don't need the laptop immediately.

As far as the partition size goes, it will ultimiately be up to you based on how much space you will need. I opted for the 15" i7 which means that I got the 500GB HD in the standard configuration. I decided to do a 150GB partition for windows because I primarily use it for games and thats all the space I could possibly use.

If you want to sync your iPod on both partitions your going to have to make sure that your libraries are identicle because if they arent, your ipod will sync to the most recent library and thats the information that will be stored on your iPod. I would suggest just using iTunes on your OSX partition.

I'm not sure about the Outlook question since I don't use it, but I'm sure someone here will shed some light on the issue for you.

 

[travistrain]

What I found is, I NEVER booted to Windows. So I got rid of the bootcamp partition and reclaimed the space. I have since connected all my email, contacts and calendar to the MacOS applications and they run spectacularly. There is a feature set in MacOS called "Spaces" which effectively lets you have multiple desktops on your screen. I start up a Windows partition in a specific space every morning... and that's it.

So does parrallels and/or vmware not need a seperate partition for windows or do they?

 

[travistrain]

First I'd like to say congrats on your decision to get a Mac, you won't regret it

Even though it's a Mac related event tomorrow it is unlikely that the MBP will be updated, but it is a good idea that you at least wait till tomorrow just incase. However, an update is going to happen "for sure" by April at the latest next year so just keep that in mind if you don't need the laptop immediately.

Is waiting for this update in april worth it? what are the advantages? will it be a visual diffrence, like will i actually see and feel a diffrence or is it just gonna be statistcally its faster and more powerful?

 

[lickitysplit]

So does parrallels and/or vmware not need a seperate partition for windows or do they?

No, they are virtual machines that will run inside OSX.

Basically if you need the computer now, buy it, if you don't, wait. At this point no one knows exactly what is going to change in the laptop performance wise. THere is speculation that the Sandy Brindge processors will be in the new ones which will be a slight bump in cpu speeds.

 

[tjb1]

No, you can use the bootcamp created partition in parallels but beware parallels will screw up any licensed products because it thinks it is on another computer. My advice is stay away from parallels and vmware, I have parallels 6 and it sucks and now its basically all over my mac and I cant seem to get rid of it. Bootcamp allows you to pick whatever size you want for the partition, just make sure you format the "bootcamp" partition when installing windows and not to format any other partition.

 

[mac8867]

So does parrallels and/or vmware not need a seperate partition for windows or do they?

Nope, both Parallels and VMWare Fusion create a single file on your Mac hard drive. That file gets "mounted" as the hard drive for the hosted operating system in the Virtual Machine...

The HUGE advantage here is, you can build a base install of lets say, Windows 7, copy it, and mount 2 of them. Of have 2 for different purposes. For example, I work with Oracle Applications, and some of my clients are on older versions. I have an XP install with the older toolsets installed, and another with the newer toolsets installed.

 

[mac8867]

beware parallels will screw up any licensed products because it thinks it is on another computer.

Must be a Parallels thing, because I have never had that problem with VMWare Fusion. I must have 20 or so images I work with, many are copied from base installs I set up for myself.

 

[travistrain]

well lets not get off topic, I will be a new mac user and thats the thing to remember. is it recommened to use bootcamp with parrallels or just do strictly parrallels?

When you use parrallels fullscreen mode, is it noticible that its only a virtual machine and not an actual partitioned operating system.

What the advantages / disatvantages of a virtual fullscreen windows 7 vs. bootcamped windows 7 running natively at restart?

 

[tjb1]

well lets not get off topic, I will be a new mac user and thats the thing to remember. is it recommened to use bootcamp with parrallels or just do strictly parrallels?

When you use parrallels fullscreen mode, is it noticible that its only a virtual machine and not an actual partitioned operating system.

What the advantages / disatvantages of a virtual fullscreen windows 7 vs. bootcamped windows 7 running natively at restart?

Full Screen will give you the windows look, coherance will give you the mac look. Parallels sucks and bootcamp is 100x better.

 

[JodyK]

I run my business on a Windows (DOS based) software. The company has ZERO plans to write a Mac version and so there is no getting away from Windows for me I actually traded around for my first Mac and sold it because I thought that carrying 2 computers around would be crazy. The guy that bought it from me ... after he heard my reason for selling it and paid me and then said "it's mine and you can't take it back right?" He then told me that I could run Windows on the Mac. I did all the research and for me the virtual machine was the way to go.

I went with VMware and could not be any happier. You can open any Mac program and click right into Windows to do a task and then go back instantly to the Mac. With Bootcamp you have to decide which one you want to use and basically reboot to switch back. It is like have a web browser type interface for Windows. You can tweak how much system resources to dedicate to VMware and you can allow it to control how much HDD space it uses. Very nice you won't regret going this route.