imac & Parallels - Win XP vs Win Vista

My last Apple was a II E - with 2 - 360 floppies. After many years of Windows machines and now have an iMac to be delivered on the 2nd of Jan it's time to switch again. Well almost switch. Too many Windows only programs I still need/want to use.

I'm still using XP on my present (old) computer but all others in the family are on new machines using Vista. MS support for XP is probably short lived but Vista is not loved by all/many.

What is the experience/recommendation on using Parallels with Windows XP Home vs Vista? Any Parallels/iMac issues with either platform that should direct my decision or is it the quirkiness's of Vista that I have to look at?

 

Xp is the best choice.

Runs fast on parallels and is stable.

 

UseTransportor to migrate syst vs New OS Disk

My present 5 year old Xp home system (with all updates) gives me the blue screen of death a couple times a week. My XP install disk is 5 years old. What's the best course to follow:
1. Use Parallels Transporter because my hardware driver problems wont matter when I move to the iMac?
2. Buy a new Win XP Home install disk for a clean beginning?
If I do option 2, do I have to install every Win Application separately, or is using Parallels Transporter still an option?

What else should I have asked? My iMac should be delivered tomorrow. My copy of Parallels arrived yesterday.

 

If i where you i would install a new installation of winxp.

 

Thanks for the help

Any other words of wisdom before I start the process? From a quick look at your manual, things look pretty straight forward

Dave

 

XP.

If you have a retail edition, there typically aren't any real hitches in getting the basics set-up.

 

Problems with Parallels install

1. Parallels did not go to the web to check for updates??

2. Can't get Parallels install disk out so I can put my XP disk in and proceed, even though Parallels as asked for it

I've been able to get several other CD's out, but not this one

What simple thing am I missing

 

I've been able to proceed and complet the install of Parallels.

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR ASSTTANCE

 

Expanding D: Drive-My windows drive Size

I've installed several windows programs and all is well. Next I will be transferring large data files (thousands of photos) and a bunch of MS office files -about 200 gigs total

Question on disk space size available to me in the windows mode. Does the virtual drive automatically expand to fit what space I need for Windows applications and data files, or must I increase the drive size manually? If I must expand the drive manually - how do I do that?

 

It usually auto-expands just fine. In the case it doesn't there are many threads on expanding your virtual disk.
(Hint, search terms are the last two and fourth to last words)

 

Most Pgms Installed - Ready to move data files to the iMac

Tried & Failed - I copied some of my data files (MS Office type) to an external HD (WD My Book) using USB connection on my XP machine, but when I plugged it in to a imac USB port the drive was not recognized. What did I do wrong/didn't do right? I have over a hundred gigs of photos to move so I need to get this right

Thanks for all your help!
Dave

 

Is it formatted in NTFS?

 

My Book Format

Eru

It's FAT 32. What format should I use for My Book to make the transfer work?

Dave

 

My Book Format 2

Eru

Just found a troubleshooting guide as a result of your comment. I'm off to reformat My Book to NTFS.

Many Thanks

Dave

 

Eru

Now I'm really confused. Here is what WD has on their website:

How to use a WD external hard drive on both a PC and a Mac.
Question
Can I use a Western Digital external hard drive on both a PC and a Mac?
Answer
It is possible to use a Western Digital external hard drive on both a PC and a Mac. There are a few things to keep in mind if you want to do this.

The external drive comes preformatted with one large FAT32 partition. Windows 98SE and later should not have a problem accessing this partition.

Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier may only recognize FAT32 partitions that are smaller than 128-gigabytes. Multiple FAT32 partitions smaller than 128-gigabytes will need to be created in order for Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier to recognize the partitions. You will need to use a Windows based computer to create FAT32 partitions, as Macintosh does not have the ability to create them.

Macintosh Operating System 10.4.x or later can recognize FAT32 partitions over 128-gigabytes.

If you will be using multiple partitions, create the partitions while the drive is connected to the PC. If you are planning to transfer files larger than 4GB to the drive, there will be a 4GB file size limit on both the PC and Mac if the partition is FAT 32 . This is a file system limitation and there is no way around it.

If you use a PC running Windows 2000 or XP to partition and format the external drive, keep in mind that both of those versions of Windows can only create FAT32 partitions that are 32-gigabytes or smaller. This is an operating system limitation. To delete the existing FAT32 partition on the drive and create multiple, smaller FAT32 partitions, use Disk Management in Windows 2000 or XP.

You can download and use our FAT32 Formatting utility located in our Download Library to partition and format the external hard drive as FAT32.

Please Note: The Western Digital FAT32 Formatting utility can only create a single FAT32 partition the entire size of the external hard drive.

What format should MY Book use to make it compatable with both systems? FAT 32 or ??

DAVE

 

FYI The My Book is currently a single FAT 32 - as it came from the factory

 

As what you found says, you must use FAT32. The reason I brought the question up, is because some people have their drives formatted in NTFS, which requires a plug-in to edit from OS X.

Have you tried following the instructions on the WD site?

 

FAT32 vs NTFS fro My Book External HD

I understand there is a volume limit using FAT 32 format on my back up HD, but not in NTFS.
From your comments it seems I should use FAT32 on MY BOOK back up file drive for iMac compatibility.

My problem would then be I'd have to make several back ups and transfers with the Fat 32 limit to transfer many files from my Xp machine.. No too big a problem if I was only using My Book for user files. But I also want to be able to use My Book for a full system back up - something like 350 gigs once the iMac is fully set up and running. Sounds like FAT 32 would be impossible and NTFS should be my choice for My Book.

So how do I get the iMac to work with My Book using NTFS? From your last response it sounds like this is possible

Dave

 

Running Photoshop Under Parallels/Windows vs iMac

Enu

I have thousands of photos on my XP machine. Many photo files are quite large. It looks like I have serious problems moving the large number of photo files from my windows machine to my new iMac if I was to transfer them using FAT 32 and running PS under Parallel/windows. As I understand it I have a 4 gig limit for any file or bunch of files for transfer under FAT 32.

Should I consider running Photoshop CS3 under iMac opn system? Does this get me around the file transfer limit of FAT32?

I want to do my printing under windows XP as I use Qimage exclusively for all photo printing - no Mac version available.

Any issues moving/reading an iMac photo to Windows XP under Parallels for printing with Qimage?

Is there another option around this issue?

Dave

 

Sorry I lost track of the thread there.

The only stable way you can r/w from an NTFS partition, in a user-friendly manner, on OS X is with Paragon's NTFS writer. http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

It sounds like with your use, you probably want to use NTFS, so I would pay the $80 and get a good, stable NTFS writer.

I think the limit for FAT32 is a 4GB limit for a single file, fwiw.

You will probably find greater performance with CS3 under OS X than with the Windows side, although it does run virtualized.

No issues moving the files, I would actually set-up a Parallels shared folder to the location in which you store the folders on your OS X side, then you will not have to move them at all.

Last option to explore is formatting the drive in HFS+ and then setting up a Parallels Shared Folder that points to it on the Virtualized windows side when it is connected to the OS X side.