[BenjaminOz]

Hello all !

I am about to embark on the feat of splitting my wifes macbook hard drive with boot camp and then installing windows.

She has got a brand new copy of windows (at the cost of 90euros!) and now i have to do it for her so she can run a PC only pattern cutting app.

any tips/points i should watch out for?

I have the 'pre-major-software-installation-fear'

Thanx
B Oz

[voiceofra]

Have no fear. Installing Windows w/ Parallels is the easiest (in my opinion) way to do it.
If Windows gets a virus or crashes, etc etc...your Mac is unaffected. Heck, when I first installed Parallels XP, I left it unprotected (no antivirus, etc) and visited all sorts of sites w/ popups, etc just to see how bad it could get (it got bad). Beauty of it is that all I had to do was delete the XP virtual OS file and reinstall. No reboot of the Mac, no hardware issues, piece of cake.

[roller]

Just wrote a rather lengthy response to the original posting, but it was moved to this forum and would not post as a result.

While boot camp will work, it is a cumbersome approach. I recently wrote about Parallels in my iSwitched lens (see sig). It is a product I use and highly recommend. If you can afford it, go with Parallels. Much better than having to reboot each time you want to use the Mac side or the Windows side.

[BenjaminOz]

thanx, yeah sorry roller - that was my fault... i posted in the power mac area as that was my bookmark for my last 'problem'


my wife does not need to 'hot swap' between the two worlds, nor does she need to access data from either OS's

she doesn't even need internet access in the PC world, she needs only to use one programm that is PC only.

as i have already speant 90 euros on the windows opp, i really don't fancy spendng anymore money - thus bootcamp seemed like a good option, as when she need to use this programm she can boot up windows - and when she needs to work in a 'normal' OS she boots up in tiger...

does this make sense to do it this way?

[roller]

Absolutely, it makes sense. You will have no problems with that approach, other than the minor inconvenience of it. And later, if you want, you can add Parallels and it can use your Boot Camp install. Try it now and upgrade later if the need arises. Enjoy...

[Sub]

Bootcamp is also good beause it increases performance while running windows, I don't know how demanding the pattern app is, but it will run better in bootcamp, because it is not being emulated.

Using bootcamp is cheaper, just be sure to use it with some antivirus/ anti-spyware programs.

Get firefox first of all, anyone smart using windows will tell you it is blows IE away.

Download spybot:search and destroy, I use it and i have had no problems with my pcs for years with it.

You really only need these things if you browse the internet on it, otherwise just enable the windows built in firewall.

Try not to use XP while browsing the internet, it ends up saving you a lot of trouble.

Parallels is really just an app for the convenience and safety of emulating windows, so you really don't need it if you are going to be using windows for one or two things.

good luck to you!

[BenjaminOz]

great - thanks for your help


if i encounter any problems i will post back!

[Def_ears]

I had a problem with both the XP clock, and the Macs resetting everytime I would switch with boot camp.

[BenjaminOz]

well i have installed win xp, using boot camp. I gave windows the grand total of 16GB! (my wife will only use one app - no more!)

and so far so good,

wifes app is installed, and runs fine

but i'll look out for the clock resetting problem...

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Sub 

Bootcamp is also good beause it increases performance while running windows, I don't know how demanding the pattern app is, but it will run better in bootcamp, because it is not being emulated.

Parallels is NOT emulation.

And unless you're doing heavy audio or video work (or gaming), the speed gain is so minimal that it is more than offset by the annoyance gained and time lost by having to quit EVERYTHING, restart, and afterwards restart AGAIN and having to open up everything you were doing to the way it was before.

Provided, of course, you have enough RAM for this - I would go for 2 GB when using Parallels.

Another MAJOR advantage of Parallels is that you can run Windows off a "virtual" disk, rather than an actual partition on your hard drive.

Meaning that once you've set up Windows the way you want it, you can just make a backup copy of that disk image, and should anything happen to the Windows installation - spyware, virus, or just simply degradation over time - you can just blow it off the hard drive and restore the "virgin" system from the backup within *minutes* rather than the hours it would take to recover what data can be rescued, nuke the partition, and re-install *everything*.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Sub 

Parallels is really just an app for the convenience and safety of emulating windows, so you really don't need it if you are going to be using windows for one or two things.

I am of the opposite opinion. The less time you spend in Windows, the more you need Parallels. It's not worth the trouble to reboot for just one or two things.

[analogika]

^ what he said.