Almost there...

Long-time windows user ever so close to getting my Macbook Pro for university. I just have a few questions I was hoping the friendly people here - or at least, those of you with Macs - would answer before I make the purchase (none of these are deal breakers - more like things that would be nice to have). Here goes:

1) Once I have my Macbook, I'll be moving my old desktop to my basement. When I first started notebook shopping, I expected to get a Vista unit and use the old machine as a file server. However, now I'm wondering - can a notebook running OSX read folders being shared over a network by a Windows machine? Or is there no communication between the two?

2) Bootcamp, Parallels, and VMWare... first a question for all three: Is there ANY performance hit from any as opposed to running Windows XP (Or Vista) on an independant machine? I assume no fot bootcamp, but I'm not sure about the other two.

3) Bootcamp/Parallels/VMware part two: What's the best option for the occasional gaming? Can I rely on Parallels or VMWare to deliver 3D performance or should I just Bootcamp into Vista?

4) Part Three: Can an OS installed under Parallels ALSO be loaded through Bootcamp or vice versa? Or do I have to rely solely on one solution?

*edit* 5) Would you recommend upgrading the RAM if I want to run both OSs in parallels? If so, what should I go to? I'm thinking 3GB, but I'm not sure if that will cut it.

Oh, and I'm typing this from the newly released Windows version of Safari Buh-bye Firefox, you're not the prettiest girl on the block anymore...

 

1) yes it can
2) Obviously there will be. You're running 2 Operating systems in parallel - they will be sharing every resource. There will be a hit.
3) I don't recommend parallels for gaming, because a number of games don't work yet. But if they do happen to work, you will still get a performance hit unless it's some old game.
4) An OS installed in Boot Camp can be loaded into Parallels, not vice versa. So, install your boot camp windows first, then parallels access it.
5) If you're going to run Vista, 3GB will be fine. If XP, 2GB.

 

Thanks much. That number one answer is so great. Getting my MBP this week I think Excited...

 

Im with you Thefil just waitin to graduate so i can get mine : )

 

1) yes you can read them but the files cant be edited by the mac, that is if your windows hdd is formatted NTFS which is likely.
2) there will be a performance hit, parallels is apparently 10-20% hit, apparently windows runs very well, but this will never be a windows machine there are physical differences that cant be changed.
3) xp would be the best platform for gaming at the moment.

 

Yeah I'm gonna bootcamp xp anyway, I don't have vista.

XP for gaming only, mac for everything else

 

i'm running vista on 2gb ram and its working fine, 512 is the minimum for vista, 1gb is recommended, i guess the more the better but idk if upgrading the ram is really a necessity for running vista and gaming (atleast in my opinion)

 

it doesnt matter what your windows drive is formatted as if your accessing it on the network..you will be able to edit and write to it just fine..

 

In relation to Q1 from the original poster ... what format are Mac drives? Since Mac can't read NTFS, can it read FAT, FAT16, FAT32? If so, how flexible is this?

By flexible, I mean .. let's suppose that Mac can read FAT32 .. can it also write to that drive too? And should it be able to do so, would other Windows computers be able to read these files too? Or, would it become "locked" to one OS?

 

mac os x can read NTSF, it just cant write. It can read/write to FAT32 afaik.

 

mac drives are typicaly HFS+....with a program called MacDrive windows machines can read and write this format...FAT32 is the only format i'm aware of that both machines can read and write and no, it doesn't become "locked"..you can exchange files just fine with this format...the biggest problem is the file size is limited to 4gb...

 

this might help

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bonjour/

apparently it supports windows now. not sure how in depth the file sharing support is tho.

 

yeah you can definitely read files over a network on your mac from a vista machine. ntfs or fat32.

as stated above- writing is restricted to fat32.

also of importance- as far as i know- you can ONLY run your bootcamp'ed xp partition in parallels if you format it in fat32.

fat32 has some disadvantages- slowdown as the hard drive fills up, no files larger than (3?) gigs - but those might be necessary evils for you to have effective access.

bootcamp is perfect for gaming. there is no disadvantage to gaming in bootcamp'ed xp on a macbookpro to any other xp installation. the only emulation that takes place is during the boot itself. not important once the os is up. parallels and vmware are getting there, but they arent there yet. they are both perfectly good for casual apps though.

 

So if you Bootcamp Windows and make it a NTFS, You would only be able to drag files from Windows to OSX, but you can't drag files from OSX to Windows? But if your Logged into Windows, you can easily drag OSX files into Windows, and Windows files into OSX?

Would it be smarter to make a Storage Partition for both to share? Being that I refuse to go back to FAT32

 

not quite.

ok there are 4 things here: windows, osx, a mac hard drive, and a windows hard drive.

mac hard drives use the hfs+ file format. windows hard drives use either ntfs or fat32. ntfs is a better file system than fat32. however, fat32 has wider compatibility.

in osx, you are exactly right. assuming your windows hard drive is partitioned in the ntfs format- you can read the windows hard drive and you can read/write the mac hard drive. that means you could copy files from your windows hard drive to your mac hard drive while in osx.

in osx, if your windows hard drive is partitioned in fat32, you can read and write to both your windows hard drive and your mac hard drive.

in windows operating systems (xp or vista), regardless of how you have partitioned your windows hard drive (ntfs or fat32) - you wont even be able to see that the mac hard drive exists. windows cannot read or write to hfs+. you will obviously be able to both read and write to the windows hard drive within windows. there is software that can open up hfs+ to windows, so if you are interested in being able to read and write to your mac hard drive from within windows- it is possible to set up.

i hope that clears up everything

 

i've been looking into this alot.

i reckon your best bet is to get macdrive for the windows partition and the new version of parallels for the os x partition. this way, regardless of what os you are using you can drag, drop, read, write, delete, and mangle your heart out with any file that exists anywhere on your hard drive.

macfuse also provides full ntfs compatibility for the os x side, but considering how cheap parallels is, and the functionality it provides, i don't see why you wouldn't get it.

 

Excellent clarification from all of you .. thank you.

The next question that begs to be asked ... what are the advantages & disadvantages of NTFS, FAT32, and HFS+?

 

FAT32 is compatible with os x without 3rd party programs. but, you are limited to a windows partition of 32 gb under bootcamp i believe, a max individual file size of 4 gb, and some claim it is slower than ntfs. under normal use this is debatable, but as the partition gets bigger this seems to be more accurate.

NTFS is supposedly more secure than FAT32, although I can't remember why at the moment, it can handle any file size and the window partition can be bigger than 32 gb.

Don't know squat about HSF+

 

diver dan,

That's great to know, about the limitation in file and partition size under FAT32. Thanks.

 

Sorry folks, as I have so many questions that I would like to get answers to.

Next one .. how reliable and stable are the applications that allow OS X to read NTFS, and the other application that allows Windows (XP / Vista) to read HSF+?

 

I just thought of another thing... I currently use my PC as a wireless bridge via Internet Connection Sharing to connect my Xbox 360 to the internet. Is there a similar/equivalent feature in OSX?

And this one is kind of silly, but... when at home, I'd like to use my MAcbook to power my entire setup - but have it sit to the side like a secondary monitor. If I keep my Bluetooth mouse and my USB keyboard handy to plug in when I set down my Mac, can I switch control over to those?