CD Rom access in Parallels & Mac simultaneously

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by igrover, Jul 25, 2006.

  1. igrover

    igrover Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    Hello - new to Parallels, thinking of purchasing. I create a cdrom product for companies that runs cross-platform. I will be attending a trade show next month and will be running a demo of the cdrom live in my trade show booth. Instead of having two computers, one Mac and one Windows, I was thinking about installing Parallels and just switching back and forth.

    The question I have is: is it possible to have a cdrom inserted in the Mac and be able to access the information on it simultaneously by the Mac and Parallels? Or would I have to start up Parallels, then insert the cdrom and run it in Windows, then shut down Parallels and start the process all over again on the Mac side?

    Thanks for your help.
     
    igrover, Jul 25, 2006
    #1
  2. joem

    joem Forum Maven

    Messages:
    1,247
    You can connect and disconnect the CD drive from the Parallels toolbar or menu, but you can't access a CD from both at the same time.
     
    joem, Jul 25, 2006
    #2
  3. alkalifly

    alkalifly Hunter

    Messages:
    139
    You could mount the CD on the Mac and then set it up as a shared folder in Parallels or share it using samba, but then your VM would see it as a network drive rather than a physical CD which may or may not screw things up for you.
     
    alkalifly, Jul 25, 2006
    #3
  4. unused_user_name

    unused_user_name Pro

    Messages:
    495
    You could also make an ISO of the disc, set up parallels to use the ISO, and use the real disc from the Mac.

    ( If you are doing a demo it might actually behoove you to use ISO's from both the Mac and parallels as a hard drive is an order of magnitude faster on seek then a hard drive. It may speed things up a bit... ;) )

    EDIT: barring copy-protections of course...
     
    unused_user_name, Jul 25, 2006
    #4
  5. dcohen@allfloridapool.com

    dcohen@allfloridapool.com Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    CD ROM To exchange files bettween MAC & XP???

    Can I move files from the XP in Parallels to my MAC for back up & Print??????????????:confused:
     
    dcohen@allfloridapool.com, Jul 25, 2006
    #5
  6. ccparallels

    ccparallels Member

    Messages:
    94
    If I understand your question dcohen, yes, at least two ways:
    1) Establish a shared folder, as can normally be done between many OSes
    2) Make a copy of the .hdd file that gets used (OS X won't be able to use it directly, but it'll still be a backup image of the whole "XP drive").
     
    ccparallels, Jul 25, 2006
    #6
  7. alkalifly

    alkalifly Hunter

    Messages:
    139

    oooh, I like that idea, very clever.

    The other thing you could do is make an iso, mount it on the mac, and then set up the mounted disc as a share, thus eliminating the need for the physical CD altogether
     
    alkalifly, Jul 25, 2006
    #7

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