Can Parallels help with migrating Bootcamp from Tiger to Leopard?

[Philip Brandes]

I have a Bootcamp partition running under Tiger--well, running under Parallels 3.x under Tiger, since I can no longer boot into the unsupported Bootcamp partition. I have held off upgrading to Leopard for a number of reasons, but wanted to make the change now (I've also purchased the Parallels 4.0 upgrade which I plan to install after the Leopard migration). My current 3.0 Parallels includes the Acronis utilities extra package.

I would really like to avoid having to recreate my entire Windows partition after i do the Leopard migration--is there any way that Parallels can help retain all the data, including OS and apps? Can it make a disk image or a VM copy or something of that nature? Or is there any other way I can clone the Windows partition and then copy it back into the Bootcamp partition I'll create in Leopard?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Philip Brandes

 

[modronmarch]

Hello Philip - please specify whether you are simply concerned about upgrading to Parallels Desktop 4 because you are uncertain how that will impact your Virtual Machine or are you actually experiencing problems booting into Boot Camp natively? If the former is the case, you are good to go - just run your Parallels Desktop 3 VM one last time and axe the Parallels Tools (and removing any antivirus/security software will be a smart move too actually). You can even go to Edit => Virtual Machine, open the Hard Disk 1 tab and click the 'Clear' button to make absolutely sure no trace of Parallels software remains on the Boot Camp partition. Then upgrade to Parallels Desktop 4, create a new Boot Camp-based Virtual Machine and enjoy the ride!

 

[Philip Brandes]

Hi, I actually have 2 concerns.

Number one is with upgrading Tiger to Leopard...my understanding is that will erase my current Bootcamp Windows XP partition (since Tiger bootcamps are no longer "supported" by Apple OS), and that I'll have to recreate it from scratch. I would very much like to avoid that, so I'm wondering if there is anything way that I can clone the info on the Tiger Bootcamp partition and copy it back into the new Bootcamp partition I'll have to create under Leopard.

So question number two is whether there's anything in Parallels 3 or 4 that would help with that kind of clone/restore process? For example, the Acronis utilities I got with the extended Parallels 3 version I purchased from you? Or in the new Parallels 4 (which I have already purchased but not yet installed)? Or can I use Parallels to create a VM copy from my Bootcamp partition and store it on my Mac OS partition or a separate hard drive, that I would then be able to access (and ideally copy back onto a new Bootcamp partition I'd create under Leopard?

Any suggestions as to upgrade timing (e.g., Leopard or Parallels 4 first) would also be appreciated...

Thanks,
Philip

 

[JNieves]

Hi, I actually have 2 concerns.

Number one is with upgrading Tiger to Leopard...my understanding is that will erase my current Bootcamp Windows XP partition (since Tiger bootcamps are no longer "supported" by Apple OS), and that I'll have to recreate it from scratch.

No, your BootCamp partition will survive the upgrade, you can't create new BootCamp partitions from Tiger but existing ones work fine with Leopard. The Leopard install DVD does install new drivers when it's run under Windows (it's the new BootCamp driver disk).