BootCamp/XP on MacPro Advice

[John Jordan]

Good Morning-

I have a 2008 MacPro with dual 2.8's running the latest version of 10.5 (I have been reluctent to upgrade to 10.6). I also use Apples's magic mouse.

The only reason I still use my PC is for Quicken. I have tried trials of Mac replacements but they just didn't cut it for me and Essentials has had disappointing reviews. So I have a full copy of XP Pro, SP2 coming.

I was going to do a small partition of 20 or 30 gigs and install XP and Quicken using Boot Camp.

Any advice/comments form those with Mac/Windows experience?
My Mac is hard wired to my Airport so wireless internet is not an issue and I may not even activate internet for the windows partition. No need for Mac to PC file sharing either.

Will the Blue Tooth mouse work?
I have read SP3 can cause problems so stay with sp2?
Might it be better to have a HD just for windows?

Thank you for your help!

Best,

John

 

[TheMythTheMan]

On win7 you need to install bootcamp and drivers on the windows side to have all your devices (trackpad, bluetooth etc) work properly. you need a 10.6 disc because thats the only way to get the drivers (maybe a torrent but i didnt try).

I was reluctant to get snow leopard too, but the speed increases are noticeable on the mac side and the bootcamp stuff is worth it.

As far as hard drive space, i'd do 30 will surely be enough for quicken and id keep it on one of you internal drives.

 

[DFTU101]

If all you are doing is using Windows for Quicken (I have a MacPro also & use Windows solely for Quicken), it's faster and more convenient to use Parallels or VM Fusion to access Quicken for Windows. You don't have to shut down the Mac OS to boot into Windows. Also, if you use Time Machine, everything is backed up. I am not sure if Time Machine backs up the Bootcamp partition. I have used both Windows XP & Windows 7 (currently use Windows 7) for Quicken access and both are fast. If you do any online banking thru Quicken, you will need to get an internet security suite (Norton, McAfee, etc) for Windows. If you use it solely for bookkeeping, you can choose to turn off the internet access (on Parallels/Fusion). I'd probably go with Windows 7 Home since it's more secure and just as fast.