Fusion install and boot time?

[bishop666]

Hello:

I am new to this forum, although, I am not new to Macs. I have not previously encountered the need to run Windows software since my MacPros are all tasked for animation but I am about to purchase a new MacBook 13" 2.4 Ghz laptop and will now require the use of several Windows only software packages. I understand from this site that VMware Fusion is the most effective means of running both Windows and Mac software and I have several questions in this regard:
1. Since the MacBook will only have one HD, it is my understanding that the drive will have to be partitioned for the installation of Bootcamp (I understand that its installation is not necessary but desirable) and I assume that Fusion and Windows will be installed to that partition ... is that correct?
If the answer is YES, then how large should the partition be?
2. If one boots up with the Mac OS and then chooses to initiate Fusion, is there a significant boot time before Windows comes on line?
Thank you in advance,

 

[Guiyon]

1. Since the MacBook will only have one HD, it is my understanding that the drive will have to be partitioned for the installation of Bootcamp (I understand that its installation is not necessary but desirable) and I assume that Fusion and Windows will be installed to that partition ... is that correct?

If you are going to be using Bootcamp, yes, you will need to partition. If you just want to use Fusion then no. VMWare Fusion is just an application and, since the system is virtualized, it just creates a drive container (read: big file/disk image) and then loads from that.

2. If one boots up with the Mac OS and then chooses to initiate Fusion, is there a significant boot time before Windows comes on line?

Since Fusion is just an application there is no need to select "at boot time". all you need to do is launch the app once Mac OS X boots and select which VM you want to launch. This also allows you to have several VMs setup and run one or more at the same time (RAM/HD/Processor permitting).

 

[bishop666]

If you are going to be using Bootcamp, yes, you will need to partition. If you just want to use Fusion then no. VMWare Fusion is just an application and, since the system is virtualized, it just creates a drive container (read: big file/disk image) and then loads from that.



Since Fusion is just an application there is no need to select "at boot time". all you need to do is launch the app once Mac OS X boots and select which VM you want to launch. This also allows you to have several VMs setup and run one or more at the same time (RAM/HD/Processor permitting).

Thank you for your reply.
With respect to the Bootcamp partition, must I predetermine the size of the partition and if so, how large should it be?
In addition, should Fusion and Windows be installed to that same partition?

Sorry if these appear to be silly questions but as I previously stated, I have no experience with the virtualization application (Fusion).

 

[sgtbob]

Another feature I like about Fusion is that you can drag and drop files between Windows and Mac

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Thank you for your reply.
With respect to the Bootcamp partition, must I predetermine the size of the partition and if so, how large should it be?
In addition, should Fusion and Windows be installed to that same partition?

Sorry if these appear to be silly questions but as I previously stated, I have no experience with the virtualization application (Fusion).

Boot Camp enables you to boot Windows. Fusion allows you to run Windows in a window in Mac OS X. For Boot Camp, run the Boot Camp Assistant in the Utilities folder. You have to choose a partition size.

Fusion should be installed in Mac OS X, and you should point to the Boot Camp partition.

 

[boast]

With respect to the Bootcamp partition, must I predetermine the size of the partition and if so, how large should it be?

Yes. I suggest the minimum to be 4gb. But you should try to calculate how much space you will be needing, based on the size of the applications you will install and the size of the work you'll be saving.

Be sure on how much you will partition (or the disk size if you won't use boot camp), because if you run up short and want to make the size bigger later on, it will be a pain.

 

[bishop666]

Boot Camp-fusion

Thank you all for your helpful comments.
Just picked up the Macbook 2.4 Ghz with 4 GiG Ram and 250 GB HD. I purchased Fusion along with the lot but just read an article comparing the speed of operation between Fusion and Parallels and now I am confused! Apparently, Parallels is considerably faster than Fusion (with either Vista or XP), at least, with benchmark tests and it seems that Version 4 of Parallels may have resolved the stability issue that users reported with Ver 3. Any thoughts before I undo the shrink-wrap?