Few Virtual Windows questions....

[pizzle]

I have a 2008 MBP with 4 GB ram.

My plan:

1) Upgrade to snow leopard
2) Install windows 7 w/ boot camp
3) Install parallels and use the boot camp windows 7

What I plan to use each OS for:

- Mac: 90% of what I normally do on the computer
- Parallels w/ Windows 7: Microsoft excel (since the excel for mac is impossible to use... shortcuts are all different), other office programs... and that's about it....
- Bootcamp w/ Windows 7: Intensive windows-exclusive programs

My questions:
1) If I load windows 7 from bootcamp with parallels, am I still unable to access the same files (excel files, etc.) between OSX and parallels because of the bootcamp partition? I understand that through boot camp windows 7, you can't share the same files - does it matter if I use parallels to load the bootcamp windows? For example, if I'm actively working on an excel file, I would use parallels. But if I just want to glance at an excel file, I'd probably want to just load it in OSX instead of using parallels.
2) Is parallels a solid choice, compared to vmware fusion or citrix - based on my usage as described above?

THX!

 

[zKarp]

i use to do that however I do no recommend. Its buggy because it installs different drivers for parallels then if u ran windows natively. So if u run with bootcamp it can run into problems.
Otherwise it does work but have caution you might lose everything because of some error with bootcamp/parallels.

 

[ayeying]

I have a 2008 MBP with 4 GB ram.

My plan:

1) Upgrade to snow leopard
2) Install windows 7 w/ boot camp
3) Install parallels and use the boot camp windows 7

What I plan to use each OS for:

- Mac: 90% of what I normally do on the computer
- Parallels w/ Windows 7: Microsoft excel (since the excel for mac is impossible to use... shortcuts are all different), other office programs... and that's about it....
- Bootcamp w/ Windows 7: Intensive windows-exclusive programs

My questions:
1) If I load windows 7 from bootcamp with parallels, am I still unable to access the same files (excel files, etc.) between OSX and parallels because of the bootcamp partition? I understand that through boot camp windows 7, you can't share the same files - does it matter if I use parallels to load the bootcamp windows? For example, if I'm actively working on an excel file, I would use parallels. But if I just want to glance at an excel file, I'd probably want to just load it in OSX instead of using parallels.
2) Is parallels a solid choice, compared to vmware fusion or citrix - based on my usage as described above?

THX!

1) You can access the same files if you have a 3rd partition or keep the files on an external USB/Hard Drive or use something like Dropbox. Those are the simplist methods. There is a slightly more complex method but I'll leave that for you to decide if you wanna go more complex later.

2) Parallels, VMware Fusion are both good programs. They both have their Ups and Downs. I personally use both (I own both copies from Beta Testing and personal purchase through work) for my Boot Camp Partition. I personally find Parallels to be a bit faster then VMware but VMware's stability is better then Parallels. You have to choose which you want to use.

Furthermore, I'm not aware of Citrix's involvement with OSX based Virtualization products. If there is, please link me. I only know of their VT-d based product that I really want to get my hands on.

i use to do that however I do no recommend. Its buggy because it installs different drivers for parallels then if u ran windows natively. So if u run with bootcamp it can run into problems.
Otherwise it does work but have caution you might lose everything because of some error with bootcamp/parallels.

What are you talking about? I use my Windows in a Virtual Environment and in Boot Camp. These days, it's extremely hard to have any issue using Parallels or Fusion to access your Boot Camp partition.

 

[pizzle]

Thanks for the informative response.. I just looked at dropbox's website and I think I'll just use this! no need to get more complex than this- Btw, off topic - are there any websites or other sources that u use that constantly stay on top of useful websites/programs that come out, such as dropbox?

Last question... do u recommend I manually set the memory allotted to parallels, or keep at auto?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Last question... do u recommend I manually set the memory allotted to parallels, or keep at auto?

Leave it at auto. That's what I do, and it does a pretty darn good job - at least in my experience.