After 26 years as a PC guy I finally switched to a MacBook Pro 15". I have 1,000 questions, but I'll start with one....I installed a Hybrid SSD and now have the stock drive as an external for back ups. I have years of business PC software and data and after trying several Mac friendly replacements for the software, have decided to partition the external and load PC stuff on part of it. Questions....After I partition the external how can I carbon copy the PC just to the one side of the partition...or do I have to do a new install of windows on the partition and then transfer software and data? Great forum and I look forward to helping out here after I learn something!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Switching from PC to Mac
- Thread starter ggale56
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have trouble following you, maybe my reading comprehension isn't up to snuff, come again?
Yeah..not real clear because I don't know what I'm doing. I will partition the external drive so that I can have Windows HP on one side of the partition and Mac OS X Lion on the other...can I do that? If I can do that will I be able to boot to the Windows side? If so will the drive connect to my PC and could I then carbon copy my PC to the Windows side? I don't wan't to use boot camp or a VM program on my internal SSD if at all possible....hope this is clearer...like I said I've never done this before and don't have any friends with Macs. The closest Apple store is 160 miles away...hope you can help. Thx
I'd recommend clean installing Windows via Bootcamp utility in Mac OS X; the reason being that Bootcamp will need to install proper drivers for the Windows partition.
Agreed. If you don't use bootcamp; there's a very good chance that the drivers will not match or work.
Maybe he can use windows restore to get his files back on there after doing this? I don't remember if restore does just files or changes the system stuffs too...
Thanks....I've thought this through better and I'll do a Boot Camp partition on the external then a clean Windows install on the appropriate side.....I will then manually install all of the Windows based software and transfer data via a thumb drive.....thanks for the quick responses!!!
Why not use a virtualization software and run Windows side by side with OS X? That way you can have quick and hassle-free access to your Windows-side programs and applications.
If it's not CPU/especially GPU intensive, virtual machines are a great/better way to go about it.
virtualization is the way to go, ESPECIALLY if your window apps are NOT CPU intensive, as has been mentioned.
i ran windows via bootcamp for 8 months - all i used win7 for was to run quickbooks. It was such a hassle rebooting all the time. I finally got VMWare Fusion and life has been GREAT!
It's worth a look. It's just another reason macs ROCK!
i ran windows via bootcamp for 8 months - all i used win7 for was to run quickbooks. It was such a hassle rebooting all the time. I finally got VMWare Fusion and life has been GREAT!
It's worth a look. It's just another reason macs ROCK!
I have guides every day that help new users. I'd appreciate if you subscribe to my blog. Link below.