VirtualBox, a couple questions for those using it

[TableSyrup]

Can you use a bootcamp partition with it???
Further, since I've never done this and don't know, can I install windows on a separate drive, either, via bootcamp, or via Virtual Box?
This would be nice so I can keep my OS drive clean and not partitioned.

Is 4.2.1 stable with OS 10.6.8 ?

Does it allow use of Optical Drives?

Does Audio work properly?

Sill it allow me to access all 6 of my Hard Drives ???

Thank you !!!!

 

[r0k]

Can you use a bootcamp partition with it???
Further, since I've never done this and don't know, can I install windows on a separate drive, either, via bootcamp, or via Virtual Box?
This would be nice so I can keep my OS drive clean and not partitioned.

Is 4.2.1 stable with OS 10.6.8 ?

Does it allow use of Optical Drives?

Does Audio work properly?

Sill it allow me to access all 6 of my Hard Drives ???

Thank you !!!!

I don't know if it allows a bootcamp partition. I would think if you can "see" the bootcamp partition from your Mac alongside Macintosh HD, then Virtualbox can see it as well. But wait. My virtualboxes all have their own "drives" which are simply files in my documents folder. They grow and shrink as required and windows cannot see or mess up my real Macintosh HD.

Stable? I know it is stable with Lion and ML but that's all I have on hand to try it with.

Yes it allows use of optical drives.

Yes audio works properly if you consider the awful sounds windows makes to be proper.

Yes it would allow you to access all your drives... wait a sec. A virtualbox is a virtual machine. All its resources "live" in a folder somewhere on your mac. It can "map" other drives such as dmg files for installing windows without having to bother with a cd or dvd. I imagine it can see any drive... as long as windows knows what to do with it. Windows doesn't know what to make of HFS+ so don't expect the virtual machine to be able to read and write all 6 of your drive. Thank God for this as you won't have to worry about windows running roughshod over your Mac. What I plan to do to move files back and forth between windows and osx is to use network shares.

 

[marzer]

Can you use a bootcamp partition with it???
Further, since I've never done this and don't know, can I install windows on a separate drive, either, via bootcamp, or via Virtual Box?
This would be nice so I can keep my OS drive clean and not partitioned.

Is 4.2.1 stable with OS 10.6.8 ?

Does it allow use of Optical Drives?

Does Audio work properly?

Sill it allow me to access all 6 of my Hard Drives ???

Thank you !!!!

I've used VB for years and as far as I'm aware it does not boot a Boot Camp partition, or boot Windows from a separate drive. Drive images only.

It allows use of optical drives and, at least on my machine, audio through Virtualbox VM's work fine; Windows and Linux.

You will have device access to any hard drive connected to your computer through Virtualbox. Direct file access will come down to filesystem compatibility with the guest OS. But there is an option that lets you mount host machine folders as though it were a network share.

 

[blouis79]

Can you use a bootcamp partition with it???

Is 4.2.1 stable with OS 10.6.8 ?

Does it allow use of Optical Drives?

Does Audio work properly?

Sill it allow me to access all 6 of my Hard Drives ???

Yes you can use bootcamp partition.
http://luckyviplav.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/windows-7-on-mac-os-x-through-virtual.html
http://phaq.phunsites.net/2011/03/05/sharing-windows-7-between-boot-camp-and-virtualbox/

I'm running VB4.2.2 on OS10.6.8 server Win7, MBP early 2011. Only just set it up, some hassles getting there. Seems to do everything except the BootCampControlPanel. Needed BootCamp 3.3 for keyboard and trackpad support, which wasn't downloaded by BootCampAssistant.

Audio works.

Shared drives work.

BootCamp is definitely better, in terms of functionality, compatibility, performance. VB/BootCamp partition is usable. The good part is you only need one Windows install. More testing to do....

 

[Wardenski]

I find using VB when I give a VM more than one core it performs significantly worse with Windows 7, Xp and Ubuntu. Not sure if its true only for OSX version.