[Maflynn]

Ok, here's a dumb question, is there any benefit to choosing one over the other.

I understand the benefits of running windows under bootcamp but what if I just want to run windows under Fusion. Is there any real benefit to using a bootcamp partition instead of a Fusion disk image?

[Cold Warrior]

Under boot camp you get full CPU, GPU, and RAM resources dedicated to Windows and applications. Fusion runs as an application within OS X and while performance is good, it will always be better under boot camp.

[Maflynn]

You misunderstood my question.
I understand that running windows via boot camp I'll have full access to the hardware.
My question is rather directed to fusion (or parallels for that matter). What advantage if any is there in using the bootcamp partition under fusion as opposed to fusions disk image. Will I see a slight (or tiny) performance boots to using the proprietary disk image format as opposed the boot camp partition. Fusion has to do something to that partition to make it work so that I don't have to reactivate it. I'm wondering if its better to use fusion with the disk image instead of the partition since I'll hardly ever (never) boot into windows via boot camp

[ibook_steve]

I think the OP is trying to understand the advantages specifically of using a Fusion disk image vs. a BC partition for virtualization. In both Parallels and Fusion, you get extra features such as system snapshots to preserve system states even if Windows crashes. You don't get this if you use a BC partition. There are some other advantages of using images instead of the BC partition, but I don't really know them because I always use the BC partition. Why install Windows twice for BC and virtualization when you can do both with a single BC partition?

[Maflynn]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was asking

I created a BC partition and loaded windows thinking that because I'm getting a performance boost and direct access to the hardware (as direct as windows will let you), I'll use that but truth be told so far its just been sitting there.

I also wondered if I noticed a slight performance hit from pointing Fusion to the partition as opposed to the disk image - this though could be my imagination.

[mduell]

Having a fixed partition gives you the advantage of being able to boot Windows if you need the performance or some hardware compatibility.

Having a filesystem in a file gives you more flexibility to move it and/or save some disk space.

[cgc]

Other benefits of the Fusion image is that it doesn't have to shutdown Windows, it can suspend Windows when you're done so you can pop in and out of Windows much quicker than with BC partition. Also, to unmount the BootCamp partition (needed when you run BC under Fusion), you'll have to type in the Admin password which is a slight annoyance (KeyChain can't remember it).

[Maflynn]

So the benefits for the disk image, are a more flexible FS, that I can easily transport/backup, plus the use of snapshots. Where as the BC partition provides the opportunity to boot into windows and thus realize some performance increases of the need arises.

Thanks guys
Mike