Does switching back and fourth between Windows/OSX have any effect on hardware?

[Lifeguy]

I addressed this in another post but I figured this topic deserves its own thread. I recently bought a 2010 Mac Pro with the intentions of using Boot camp for Windows/OSX. I generally restart my comp a few times a day in order to go back and fourth between the two operating systems. I’m wondering if doing this regularly will have any impact on the computers hardware? I’m really hoping this isn’t a problem. (Kinda assumed the computer would be able to handle this)

Also, is there any advantage to having Windows partitioned on a separate hard drive. At the moment I only have (1) 1TB HD 7200RPM and have 300GB partitioned to Windows and the rest to OSX.

 

[Intell]

There is no effect on the hardware switching between the two. The computer views it as a normal restart.

 

[reel2reel]

I really don't think this is a huge issue. I have to reboot my Mac Pro all the time just cause my RAM gets eaten up through a work session. I've had no problems with failures of hard drives or anything else. I set my hardware to never sleep, though, except for the monitor. I like to keep the drives spinning.

 

[Lifeguy]

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else some insight?

 

[m3coolpix]

Your Mac Pro won't know the difference. Should work fine.

But....there's a faster way!

I use Parallels 5.0 and You Controls Desktop to make a live switching environment between Windows XP and Mac OS 10.5.8. Have 4 'desktops' set up for Mac OS X apps, and 1 'desktop' set up for XP. Just click on one window for XP, and any of the others for OS X. Works great, just as long as it's not a huge Mac memory hog app running at the same time (like Photoshop or Illustrator for example). Running Mail, Safari, iTunes, etc. along with the Parallels (running XP) hums along very nicely.

My installation is on a lowly MBP 2.16ghz maxed out on memory, 7200 rpm drive, and a 32" 1080 monitor.

 

[Lifeguy]

Your Mac Pro won't know the difference. Should work fine.

But....there's a faster way!

I use Parallels 5.0 and You Controls Desktop to make a live switching environment between Windows XP and Mac OS 10.5.8. Have 4 'desktops' set up for Mac OS X apps, and 1 'desktop' set up for XP. Just click on one window for XP, and any of the others for OS X. Works great, just as long as it's not a huge Mac memory hog app running at the same time (like Photoshop or Illustrator for example). Running Mail, Safari, iTunes, etc. along with the Parallels (running XP) hums along very nicely.

My installation is on a lowly MBP 2.16ghz maxed out on memory, 7200 rpm drive, and a 32" 1080 monitor.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I play some pretty GPU/CPU intensive games that probably wouldn't work well with Parallels