An Architect's View

48 responses so far ↓

• 1 Peter // Jun 9, 2006 at 5:48 PM

  How is the performance with all three OS running side-by-side?

• 2 Jacob Munson // Jun 9, 2006 at 6:11 PM

  Man, you make me jealous! :) What resolution do you have the WinXP instance set to in that screen shot? It looks pretty high, but it's hard to tell.

• 3 dave // Jun 9, 2006 at 6:37 PM

  everytime when i use parallels and add the tools it screws up my install, grrrr
  
  So i am being ultra evil right now and downloading *puke* vista beta to see just how bad they are trying to rip off os x and to see if it runs on parallels

• 4 Sean Corfield // Jun 9, 2006 at 6:53 PM

  Peter, pretty darn good. Since, in general, activities are only happening in one O/S at a time you don't notice much of a slow down. When both guest O/S are running, Parallels is using around 20-30% CPU when both are "idle" (despite the fact that 'top' claims they are using that much each!).
  
  Jacob, the screenshot is a cheat: I used Grab and Timed Capture and then hit F9 (Exposé) to show all my windows at once. I actually have the OS X screen at 1440x900, Red Hat at 1024x768 and Windows XP at 1280x800.
  
  Dave, sorry to hear about your woes with Parallels Tools. It worked like a champ for me (running it only after Windows XP SP2 was fully setup and logged in and updated).
  
  I have my OS X home directory and Eclipse workspace shared (as network drives under Windows XP) which works wonderfully.

• 5 Stacy Young // Jun 10, 2006 at 8:36 AM

  This might be the nail in the Windows coffin for me since I could run my Flex tools until the MAC version is ready. :)

• 6 Sean Corfield // Jun 10, 2006 at 8:41 AM

  Stacy, yes, I am just starting to play with Flex Builder 2 for the first time now that I have a Windows system to run it on... It's very nice :)

• 7 Sean Corfield // Jun 10, 2006 at 9:14 AM

  I just realized that the output of 'top' is a bit confusing (to me) since this is essentially a dual CPU machine. That only came home to me when I (re-)installed MenuMeters (from Raging Menace) and it shows two CPU graphs!

• 8 Steve House // Jun 10, 2006 at 9:33 AM

  Sean,
  
  How did you set up your networking for parallels? I installed Windows 2003 server and put CF on it, but I can't seem to figure out how to get at it from OSX. When I use Bridged Network, Windows gets its own IP address from DHCP and if I look up what it is then I can use that, but that only works when I have a DHCP server available. If I use Host Only Networking, then it never seems to get any IP address and I don't know how to talk to it.
  
  What setting did you use for Red Hat so you can access it via localhost from Windows XP like it appears you are doing in your screen shot?
  
  Thanks.

• 9 Dave Carabetta // Jun 12, 2006 at 2:43 PM

  Just a heads up that if you're planning to buy Parrallel's, then now is a good time to do it. They're raising the final version of Desktop for Mac to $80 rather than $50 because they added server compression technology. However, they do still have the "pre-release" pricing for $40 if you get it now. That's a 50% savings that's well worth it!
  
  Also, as a complete new guy to Macs, I notice that everything is on one huge partition. Do you guys set up your machines to have multiple partitions? It "feels wrong" to have everything dumped into one partition but it's a whole new way of thinking for me and I'm still messing around.

• 10 Sean Corfield // Jun 12, 2006 at 5:18 PM

  What is the benefit of multiple partitions? I thought Windows only did that because in earlier releases you couldn't have a single disk of more than a certain size?
  
  Why would I not want my entire disk as one partition?

• 11 Stacy Young // Jun 12, 2006 at 5:20 PM

  I always partition ...and keep all my files off the smaller system partition. That way if I need to blow away the OS I don't need to worry about files all over the place.

• 12 Dave Carabetta // Jun 12, 2006 at 5:56 PM

  As Stacy is alluding to, partitioning gives you the ability to separate your data from your applications. This way, if something becomes corrupt (i.e., the Windows registry is corrupted), a re-format of the application partition doesn't touch your data files and it's relatively clean. I think you'll find that this is a common practice in the Windows world.
  
  Even in our Solaris and Linux deployments, we logically partition our data files from the applications. So /opt/ tends to be where JRun itself would be installed, but a user-created partition called /data/ is where the web root resides.
  
  Again, I realize that OS X has no concept of a registry, but there are other reasons why a re-install of the oS might occur, i.e., an upgrade from 10.4.x to 10.5.x goes awry. For that reason, I was curious as to what experience Mac users do to separate their applications from their data, if anything.

• 13 Sean Corfield // Jun 12, 2006 at 6:56 PM

  Stacy, Dave - yes, I guess I can see the benefit with Windows since stability is an issue.
  
  I don't know anyone who partitions their Mac tho'. I've never needed (nor used) partitioning on any Mac I've owned over the last fifteen years. I've done countless O/S upgrades on Macs over the years as well...

• 14 dave // Jun 12, 2006 at 10:24 PM

  personally since my mbp only has a 100gb harddrive I keep all my big photo files, itunes and alias my webroot to an external drive but thats mostly to save space. The thing new mac converts have to remember is that its pretty rare that the system will crash and you can't get back into it, it's NOT windows (tg). If you are worried about "what if" then you can clone a good osx install and put it on an external drive or small usb drive incase you need something to start it with to be able to go in and get your valuable info out without loosing it.

• 15 Dave Carabetta // Jun 13, 2006 at 7:04 AM

  Dave, I definitely agree about the Mac stability, considering all the things I've heard. However, my question is necessarily about outright system crashes so much as the ability to take clean backups of certain folders. I don't really care about the applications themselves, as I have the re-install disks for them. However, most programs tend to store their associated data files in a sub-directory of the application itself. That's what I was curious about as far as separating data from the apps. I'd like to take advantage of the online data backup offerings such as Carbonite (Mac support doesn't exist yet, but services like this is my point), and I don't want to backup iTunes itself -- just my music library.

• 16 Sean Corfield // Jun 13, 2006 at 10:41 AM

  Dave, Mac applications tend to store their data under your home directory, not under the application directory.
  
  /Applications contains the apps.
  
  /Users/{username}/Library contains the data (mostly - some apps store it elsewhere under your home directory).
  
  ~/Library/Application Support
  ~/Library/Preferences
  etc

• 17 Dave Carabetta // Jun 13, 2006 at 11:05 AM

  Ahhhh, OK. So Apple used common sense then? ;)
  
  That makes a lot more sense now. I've been searching Mac's help and OS X web sites, and that was a key bit of info that I hadn't stumbled upon yet. Thanks Sean.

• 18 dave // Jun 13, 2006 at 12:08 PM

  well Dave I wrote out a big long post about back ups. The main thing is that a mac is NOT a pc and you dont have tons of hidden files and folders everywhere. If you want a good way to find all the parts of an installed program you can of course use spotlight to find them or I use a program called appzapper, really it's make to uninstall programs but I use it to find the paths to the programs folders.
  
  Here it is as an example for finding the folders for a dw install: jamwerx.com/appzapper.png

• 19 Dave Carabetta // Jun 13, 2006 at 12:20 PM

  Dave, thanks for the appzapper heads up. I'm looking into it...

• 20 Brien Tomassetti // Jul 3, 2006 at 10:35 AM

  Hey Dave... nice work here. I also have Parallels up and running on my MBP and it is successfully operating WinXP Pro SP2 with only ONE issue. I cannot, no matter what I do, get Windoze to see an external drive (I have tried FireWire and USB with both Windows Formatting and Mac formatting).
  
  What can I do to fix this issue? Any ideas?

• 21 Sean Corfield // Jul 3, 2006 at 10:55 AM

  Brien, I haven't specifically tried a USB hard drive but on my system Windows XP recognizes most every USB device its been shown so far. I don't think Parallels supports FireWire.

• 22 Brien Tomassetti // Jul 3, 2006 at 3:37 PM

  Thanks Sean. Yeah, I figured the FireWire recognition was a moot point. Still trying to figure out how to get it to recognize the USB drive though... arghh.

• 23 Brien Tomassetti // Jul 3, 2006 at 4:12 PM

  Hmmm... seems like Windows sees the drive when I plug it into the USB port after Windows is launched in Parallels. However, I get the message that it will operate better if I plugged it into a 2.0 USB Port... gee, that's what I thought this MBP had (it does). Evidently, Parallels cannot define the USB ports as High Speed 2.0 ports.
  
  So, after I get the message, nothing happens, Windows does not show the drive anywhere. I even installed MacDrive... nothing.
  
  Any ideas?

• 24 Sean Corfield // Jul 3, 2006 at 4:57 PM

  If a 2.0 device won't run in 1.x mode, you're out of luck I think...

• 25 reirand // Jul 11, 2006 at 9:11 PM

  Try this. Plug in your USB drive after Parallels' Windows session boots. Get the message saying it will operate better if plugged into a 2.0 port. Right click on the USB icon on the lower right of the screen and toggle External Hard drive on and off. Windows should begin to recognize the drive. I had the same problem on my USB drive and my 1.0 compatible drive worked. As mentioned, it will recognize the drive and say it's installed and ready to use, but you will not see a drive letter on a 2.0 USB drive. something to write to Parallels about...

• 26 Damerau // Aug 18, 2006 at 4:21 AM

  Does anyone know if and when Parallels will support firewire? Is there an update comming?
  Really need it working...

• 27 justin // Aug 19, 2006 at 1:14 PM

  I am still having trouble transfering files between OSX and XP running in Parallels emulator. There is Parallels Shared Folder, but I am not able to drag and drop or copy files to the XP environment. Any tips? Thanks.

• 28 Sean Corfield // Aug 19, 2006 at 1:32 PM

  @justin, contact Parallels support and/or read through their forums.
  
  I have the PSF set up to mount my OS X home directory and my Eclipse workspace directory onto XP. Inside XP I can explore those two directories by opening PSF from the desktop and then drag'n'drop files between OS X / XP.
  
  Note that OS X can't see the guest O/S file system.

• 29 robert Nelson // Sep 8, 2006 at 7:49 PM

  I have a MacBook Pro laptop with a 800 firewire external drive.
  But the drive won't show up in windows-xp. What can I do to use the drive in windows.
  
  Thanks Bob Nelson

• 30 benny // Sep 11, 2006 at 3:42 AM

  Who can tell me how to fix this?
  After I install Parallels Desktop for Mac, then try to open that, but doesnt work at all.

• 31 Sean Corfield // Sep 11, 2006 at 8:41 AM

  @Bob and @benny - I suggested you contact Parallels support: I've found them to be very helpful.

• 32 benny // Sep 12, 2006 at 7:48 PM

  Sean, I have try already, but not help. Still the same.

• 33 Shane // Oct 7, 2006 at 10:45 PM

  I've just gotten a new MacBook and am planning on purchasing Parallels. Could anyone recommend a good place to pick it up? Also, is it possible to simply click and drag files (or cut and paste) from one OS to another? Finally, can I use Parallels in addition to Bootcamp? If so, am I using up more system resources?
  
  Thanks in advance,
  Shane

• 34 Sean Corfield // Oct 8, 2006 at 10:47 AM

  Shane, the Parallels website is a good place to buy it - http://parallels.com
  
  Parallels lets you install a Windows package that lets you share OS X folders into Windows as network mounted folders - you can drag'n'drop files between Windows and the network mounted OS X folders.
  
  You do not need Bootcamp if you have Parallels installed. Bootcamp lets you select between O/Ss at startup, with Parallels, you boot up into OS X and then start Windows - and they run at the same time. Having said that, you will not get quite the same performance from Windows running under Parallels because it is relying on the chip's virtualization (whereas Bootcamp is running Windows fully native).
  
  Your choice depends on whether you want both O/Ss running at the same time and want to switch between them "live" (use Parallels) or whether you only ever want one O/S running (use Bootcamp).
  
  Hope that helps?

• 35 Shane // Oct 9, 2006 at 12:30 AM

  Thank you sir, much appreciated!

• 36 akbar // Oct 13, 2006 at 7:15 PM

  I am a bit of a novice to this but have a MacBook and have installed Win XP and Parallels.
  
  I thought after installing Parallels Tools I would be able to drag files directly off one desktop (Mac) to Windows or vice versa.
  
  Was I right or do I have to go the Shared Folders route?
  
  Many thanks!
  
  Akbar

• 37 Sean Corfield // Oct 13, 2006 at 9:03 PM

  Akbar, you have to used the Shared Folders. Parallels uses a virtual hard drive so OS X can't actually see it. Windows XP on Parallels can see just the Windows drives - which includes the folders mounted via the Shared Folders configuration.

• 38 Akbar // Oct 14, 2006 at 9:41 AM

  Many thanks Sean. Will go ahead as you suggest.
  
  Akbar

• 39 steve // Oct 14, 2006 at 4:52 PM

  My dell laptop video card died, made switch to macbook pro. Can I use the hard drive from my dell w/ windows xp on it already and run it with parallels so I don't have to have it on my mac ( I have it in a drive enclosure, making it essentially an external hard drive)?
  Thanks.....I'm a total mac rookie

• 40 Sean Corfield // Oct 14, 2006 at 5:19 PM

  I very much doubt it Steve. As I said, Parallels uses *virtual* hard drives which are files on OS X that are internally formatted by Parallels.
  
  Perhaps all you folks with questions should just go download the trial of Parallels are try it out for yourselves?

• 41 scot // Dec 3, 2006 at 3:15 PM

  Hello all,
  
  I love Parallels for running Windows XP on my MacBook Pro - but I have one issue.
  
  Is there anyway to remove the shared folder icon from the desktop?
  
  Every time I either rename it, or delete it, it always comes back after a while. This is very annoying.
  
  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
  
  Thanks.

• 42 spoon // Jan 14, 2007 at 8:28 AM

  scot:
  
  to remove the shared folders icon goto the Parallels Tools Center (system tray in XP) > Shared Folders > uncheck "Place shortcut on desktop"

• 43 Raoul // Apr 23, 2007 at 1:58 PM

  Hi,
  
  My wife is an Architect and I am looking to buy her a macbook pro. She needs to use Autocad adn 3d studio max.
  
  Please can you tell me if Prallel or any other windows simulation system will allow her to work as if using a native pc (yuck!)?
  
  thanks so much.
  
  Raoul

• 44 Sean Corfield // Apr 23, 2007 at 2:39 PM

  @Raoul, Parallels will let you install any version of Windows as a "guest" operating system on a Mac. You can then run both the host Mac OS and the guest operating system at the same time. With "coherence" mode, you can have the Windows applications running just like regular Mac applications, launched from the Mac dock with no Windows taskbar or desktop. Very nice. You will need to buy a copy of Windows (as well as Parallels) so you have a legal license.

• 45 Bill // Sep 25, 2007 at 12:33 PM

  I have been using Macs for years and I recently upgraded to the MacBook Pro using Parallels and Windows XP.
  
  I am frustrated with how slow my system operates trying to use my Mac and Windows at the same time.
  
  Does anyone have any suggestions?

• 46 Sean Corfield // Sep 25, 2007 at 3:17 PM

  You need a lot of RAM to run both operating systems at once. I have 3Gb in mine. The new MacBook Pro lets you have 4Gb which I highly recommend.

• 47 John Friedman // Dec 6, 2007 at 8:45 AM

  Parallels 3.0 running on Macbook 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM performs exceptionally well for me. I'm real excited with this software. I just switched from a Windows PC to a Mac and I love the Mac but I lost the ability to use my Pocket PC and Dell All-in-One Printer, but with Parallels installed and XP Pro as the guest OS my old hardware is back in action! I love it so far.

• 48 Max // Jan 21, 2010 at 6:59 AM

  Is there a way to partition the virtual drive? A friend wants to install Quick Books and use a partition (say D) for her data instead of the Windows C system drive.
  Someone said you can't use Partition Magic on the Windows side?

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