Macbook and Boot Camp for Work

[sparkomatic]

I've got a MBP 15" that I use for my everyday personal computer. When I'm at work, I usually have the MBP on my desk and use it throughout the day.

I got a small PC netbook to take to client sites cause I need to use Windows for work. But, I'm really not digging the size of the netbook and keyboard like I thought I would. So, I've decided to replace it with a bigger laptop.

I've been looking at a bunch of PC's and can't find one I like. Now my attention has turned to the thought of getting a 13" MBP and running boot camp for Windows.

Okay, so my question for you all is... would you run boot camp or do Parallels/Fusion? Since this is going to be for work, I'm thinking I should just run boot camp. Also, what would be the minimum amount of space I should keep for the Mac OS you think?

If I occasionally boot into OSX, can I run time machine and backup the Windows side too?

Thanks for the help!

 

[MacDawg]

My suggestion is to use Boot Camp and then have Parallels or Fusion read your Boot Camp partition. That gives you the option to boot natively if you want to.

I gave my BC Partition about 30 GB with Vista, but you wouldn't need that much. It depends on what programs and files you intend to load.

No, Time Machine will not back up your Boot Camp partition, but you can use WinClone. It works great and it is free.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[sparkomatic]

Thanks for the advice.

So, just to be clear... run boot camp and install Vista. Then, run Parallels/Fusion and it will see that I'm using boot camp? I'm using Fusion now on my MBP but just installed Windows from Fusion...didn't use boot camp.

Most programs won't take up much space. The biggest would probably be Office.

 

[MacDawg]

Yes, install your Windows in Boot Camp first, then run Fusion and it will recognize the Boot Camp partition.

You will need to activate Windows in Boot Camp, then run Fusion, install the VMware Tools (impt) and then activate Windows again in Fusion. After that, you should be good to go on both sides.

This gives you the option to boot natively if you need the added performance.
Just make sure you follow the Boot Camp directions and have a backup of your OSX partition before you start

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[J&JPolangin]

Yes, install your Windows in Boot Camp first, then run Fusion and it will recognize the Boot Camp partition.

You will need to activate Windows in Boot Camp, then run Fusion, install the VMware Tools (impt) and then activate Windows again in Fusion. After that, you should be good to go on both sides.

This gives you the option to boot natively if you need the added performance.
Just make sure you follow the Boot Camp directions and have a backup of your OSX partition before you start

Woof, Woof - Dawg

...thanks for the info, I need to do this on my iMac...

 

[BayouBengal]

If I occasionally boot into OSX, can I run time machine and backup the Windows side too?

Thanks for the help!

If you ran a virtual environment like Fusion or Parallels, then yes TimeMachine should pick up the virtual machine file. Now it would be the virtual machine file as a whole and not individual files like you see in Time Machine for all your OSX files. But if you go Bootcamp, Time Machine knows nothing of it.