Dual Boot plus Parallels

I plan to create a dual boot startup disk with Snow Leopard on one partition, Lion on another, and Parallels with Windoz 7.
There are some details I'd like to get some advice on before I start.
1. Do I need or should I provide a separate partition for the Windows data/folder? If so, size?
2. I believe it will be necessary to install Parallels on both partitions. Can the Windows data on one or the other of the partitions be accessed by Parallels on either partition?
3. Does the "Source" pulldown in Configure designate the location of the Windows data and can that Source be set to a folder not in the partition where Parallels is currently running?

TIA,

Jerry

 

Some clarifications:

Parallels can use an existing Boot Camp Windows partition or create a virtual hard drive (which is just a file).

Boot Camp Caveat: Considering you are already dual booting Snow Leopard and Lion, having a third OS partition is a bad idea specially considering that Lion and Win 7 have recovery partitions you will end up with at least five real partitions which might be a problem for booting Windows, so I recommend against the Boot Camp option.

So, I'll answer your questions taking in consideration it's the second option, virtual hard disk for Windows.

1. No
2. If by partitions you mean OS X versions (SL and Lion), yes, both OS X versions can access each other file systems provided: 1. They are not File Vault encrypted, 2. You have adequate permissions on the respective folder, you can probably use the Users/Shared folder for this, 3. You can move the VM files around anyway, VMs are portable, so don't worry too much about this.
3. The source indicates the locations of the virtual hard disk or bootcamp partition, it can be on any folder you have access on, but you won't need to change this setting. the VM is a container/folder that includes the virtual hard disk, the path to it is relative, so when you create this VM in one OS X version you just need to register the VM in the other OSX version by going to File>New>Add Existing Virtual Machine, you will never need to change the source.

Note: Parallels Desktop on both OSX versions SHOULD ALWAYS be the same version.

Final word, I would urge you to reconsider having two OS X installations unless you REALLY have to, please consider staying in SL if your software doesn't support Lion. If you want to try Lion you can install it to an external disk.

 

hi please find your answers -
1-its good if you provide separate folder for windos
2-yes
3-no

 

To the best of my knowledge and if the original poster wants to follow my explanation and advice these answers are incorrect relative to 1 and 3.

 

I appreciate the advice from Specimen. It got me to thinking and I changed my plans slightly.
I now have a system drive with 2 partitions, SL on one and Lion on the other. I have decided, for now, to limit Parallels to the SL OS.

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

Thanks for sharing all your information. I appreciate it all.

 

By default the Mac can read the Windows partition (but not write to it). When Parallels is running you can read and write to the Windows partition.

When you boot using BootCamp you can read and write to the Mac side, but to be honest I've had issues copying and moving larger files. I get an error "cannot write file" or something equally cryptic.

An alternative is to use Tuxera NTFS on the Mac side. Without running Parallels I can copy or move data freely to the PC side. The only downside is that Parallels won't let you suspend Windows for fear that you'll move something to/from Windows while paused which might "confuse" the Windows emulation.

I don't have a partition just for data, but I can share data between Windows and Lion.