Installing to Boot Camp Partition - Difference in file storage?

D

danieltharris

Member
Hi,

Quick question. I have setup Windows 7 VM in Parallels. I have not installed this to a bootcamp partition, so I can only use the VM from within Mac OS X.

One thing I like is that I can keep all my files in the Mac folders for Documents, Music etc. So if I ever to need to wipe my VM or create a fresh one, I don't have to worry about backing up files within the Windows VM itself, as the 'My Documents', 'My Music' etc is just a network link to my Mac.

I am going to be installing Windows 8 tomorrow when it's released to developers via MSDN, and i'd like the ability to boot right into natively when needed, so that means installing to a bootcamp partition.

If I install to a bootcamp partition, will there be a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) created, and will all of my files be stored there, rather than going into the MAC Documents, Music folder etc...

I am assuming that they will be stored in a seperate VHD somewhere, or be on a seperate partition on the drive, so mapping to the Mac folder locations won't take place?

I wanted to check first, as I like that the My Documents etc maps to the Mac equivillent at the moment. Does installing to Boot Camp definitely prevent this from happening?

If so i'll make a decision on what is more important to me. I don't really NEED to boot in natively most of the time, as I pretty much just do development and no gaming, but Parallels 7 on the Retina MBP means Windows looks very rough with the scaling down then back up.

I'm running Mountain Lion and Parallels 7
 
No. If you use Boot Camp, which is completely separate from Parallels on its own, you're creating a separate partition on your hard disk for installing the OS. When you boot natively into that OS (Win 8 in this case), it would be up to you to add links from Windows to your Mac OS X partition (which can't be seen in native Windows unless you install a product like MacDrive).

However, if you stay in Mac OS and create a Parallels VM that uses the Boot Camp partition as the drive, no virtual hard drive is created and you'll have access to all Mac and Windows files. However, you lose some features of Parallels, such as snapshots and VM suspending. Search PD help for details.

Steve
 
Thanks Steve,

I went to create a new VM last night, and thought at some point it might ask me if I wanted to use Boot Camp.

Do I need to use the Boot Camp assistant and set it up there first, then import into Parallels, or can Parallels guide me through the whole process?

If I use Parallels to create the VM that uses the Boot Camp partition as the drive, will I be able to access files on the Mac filesystem when booting directly into Windows (I'm assuming not), but that I will be able to access those files when running it as a VM using the Boot Camp Partition.

Is the following correct?

I will get the ability to either boot into Windows natively (losing access to the Mac files), or run the VM up whilst in Mac OS (And still have access to the Mac files).

If running the VM using the Boot Camp partition, I guess you lose the ability to map the documents folder, music folder etc. And any files in Windows will need to be backed up seperately to the Mac files?

Will I lose these benefits?

The biggest advantage for me of Parallels VM is that when in Windows I can save to 'My Documents' etc as I usually would, but if I decided to delete the VM and create a new one, I won't actually have to worry about backing up those Windows files seperately, as they are actually on a partition of the Mac HDD, so are included in usual Time Machine backups anyway.

If I use Parallels with Boot Camp and save files to 'My Documents' in windows, i'll need to backup these Windows files somewhere, say using the backup tools in Windows
 
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You have to set up Boot Camp first using Boot Camp Assistant before you can do anything with Parallels. Parallels doesn't create the Boot Camp partition or install Windows on it. Boot natively into Windows and make sure it works correctly before creating the VM in Parallels.

All your other statements after "Is the following correct?" are correct.

See the Parallels built-in help for more detail on using a Boot Camp partition with Parallels.

Steve
 
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