Practicality of Bootcamp or Parallel

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imac davidimac david
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Hi,



I'm starting a new job shortly, and should be swinging a new MacBook pro. Due to some proprietary system, I'll have to run Windows to run this application. However, I obviously want to run OS X most of the time. I was wondering about user accounts.



If I have a user David under OS X, when I set up a user David(xp) under XP, can I set permissions so that I can see Word and Excel files under my Documents folder when running XP? I hope that's been expressed clearly! Essentially what my question is "will I be able to have one folder on the laptop for my word / excel files that I can access whether I'm in XP or OS X?"



For completeness, the same question applies if I get Parallel.



Thanks,



David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,559moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iMac David View Post


    If I have a user David under OS X, when I set up a user David(xp) under XP, can I set permissions so that I can see Word and Excel files under my Documents folder when running XP?



    You can't read OS X drives from Windows without something like the MacDrive software.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iMac David View Post


    "will I be able to have one folder on the laptop for my word / excel files that I can access whether I'm in XP or OS X?"



    This is possible though if you keep the shared documents on the Windows side and make sure the partition is FAT32. This way you can easily access the same files from both. The downside to FAT32 is that you only get a maximum 32GB partition and file sizes are limited to 4GB but usually it's not a problem and that's the format I use.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iMac David View Post


    For completeness, the same question applies if I get Parallel.



    If you are using just one non-3D application, I'd say Parallels is the better choice. It's very easy to share documents as you just set up a shared folder. I've found the shared folder to be a little flakey but mostly it's ok. Just make sure you have enough Ram, 1GB at least.



    I know you probably don't play games and I didn't either and I went with Parallels first but the possibility draws you in. After about two months of Parallels, I switched to Bootcamp and I don't even consider Parallels any more. However, I only use Windows for games now that I have Photoshop CS3 so in a working environment, I'd probably still use Parallels.



    Parallels supports booting the Bootcamp partition so you can have the best of both without having two copies of Windows.
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  • Reply 2 of 4
    imac davidimac david Posts: 286member
    Thanks for the response - exactly what I needed to know.



    Cheers,



    DAvid
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  • Reply 3 of 4
    jwink3101jwink3101 Posts: 739member
    Although i do not yet have a MacBook :-( when i get one the major issue between the two options as far as i am concerned is that you cannot resize the windows partition. That is making me go with parrells. At the same time, Parrells doesn't support USB 2.0, yet.
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  • Reply 4 of 4
    zoczoc Posts: 77member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jwink3101


    At the same time, Parrells doesn't support USB 2.0, yet.



    The latest beta (2.5 RC1 build 3120) supports most of USB 2.0 devices.
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