Installing to partition instead of image

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dynek

Bit poster
Hello guys,

I was not able to find if it is possible to use a partition to install a system instead of a file/image.
Got a MacBook Pro with only 128Gb SSD and wanted to use iSCSI as target to install the system (not create a file into the iSCSI target but use it as a partition if you see what I mean).

Anyone knows how I can do it ?

Thank you for your time
 
AFAIK, you can't do that with parallels. you may be able to create a bootcamp partition, install windows there and then use a tool like superduper or similar ghosting tool to copy the installation to the external drive - note that it won't work with bootcamp anymore - and possibly point parallels to that, but in general no. your options are to install your VM in a file or on your startup disk as a bootcamp partition.

just a Q: why do you want to install to a physical partition instead of using a file?
 
Thank you for your answer.

I think I want to use a partition because I got used to. Also I tend to think performance is better when writing files directly to a partition instead of a file. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'll try to use an image.
 
dynek said:
I think I want to use a partition because I got used to.
Click to expand...

worst reason ever... just kidding. you won't notice a big difference in usability going from a partition to a file - windows still sees a physical drive, you'll be able to back up the entire machine by copying a single file as opposed to using backup tools, etc.

dynek said:
Also I tend to think performance is better when writing files directly to a partition instead of a file. Maybe I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

your system can send information to the HDD faster than the HDD can write to the platters. you won't notice any appreciable decrease in speed based on writing to the disk image vs writing directly to the hdd unless you're running benchmark tests.

in my experience it's just a pain to run windows from a partition (bootcamp) and things are a lot easier to deal with when running from a disk image. perhaps boot times are a little slower vs. running natively but once the VM is up and running i honestly have never felt like it was slow and wish i were running natively. just an FYI, i don't play games or do much in windows beyond visual studio and sql server. allocate 1 CPU and 1GB of ram to the VM and it seems responsive enough for my needs. currently running VMs with Windows 7 and Windows 2003 / 2008.
 
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