was wondering about imported VM -- can I eliminate boot camp partition; moving files

Can anyone tell me where the files (say documents that you work on) are stored on the Mac when you import a boot comp partition (if I've worded that correctly)? I noticed that when I change a document in an imported boot camp, the change isn't there when I run parallels from my boot camp partition, so I understand, I think, that everything is copied from the boot camp partition into OS X. I made a change to a document that I have in my import, and when I opened up the boot camp partition in Parallels, the change wasn't there in the document (it was a test case). But when I look in the finder for the files for the import, I cant' find them (specifically, I was looking for that altered document)

Also - -if I understand correctly what's going on, could I get rid of the boot camp partition and still keep windows and run it from the import? It seems to be a waste of space, especially since, if I understand things correctly, I have essentially two copies of windows on my hard drive.

additionally, how can I move/copy any documents from the boot camp partition to the imported one, should I decide to get rid of the boot camp partition?

 

Hi Straitsfan,

There are two ways Parallels Desktop (PD) can work with BootCamp (BC).

1. You can created a Virtual Machine (VM) which is based on BC partition. All the changes you do on BC side will be reflected in the VM and vise verse.

2. You can migrate your BC to PD VM, in this case the changes you do on one side will not appear on the other side.

Method 2 is usually used by people who want to get rid of their BC and use their Windows in a VM only.

You can read more information on page 34 of our User Guide: http://www.parallels.com/fileadmin/...port/pd8fm/Parallels_Desktop_User_s_Guide.pdf

 

Is there any difference in performance if Parallels is running Windows off of Boot camp vs. running it off of a virtual machine on the Mac partition? I want to upgrade to a larger hard drive, and I would be happy to just have 1 Mac partition if there is no advantage to keeping a boot camp partition.

 

@TheodoreV There shouldn't be any difference in performance. I prefer keeping my VM on the Mac HD (w/o BootCamp) at least because it's easier to back it up (copy/paste your PVM file located at Home/Domuments/Parallels to any safe location)