So, I decided to try out Parallels, and I'm now very glad that I haven't purchased yet. I had a perfectly working Windows XP install in Boot Camp, but I wanted to be able to quickly use a few minor apps while in OS X, so I decided to try parallels. It said it had an option to use an exisiting Boot Camp install, so I did that. Then, when it tried to start Windows, windows wouldn't boot and it said it was corrupt, and now my Windows Partition has completely disappeared along with everything that was on it. Needless to say, this will be the last time I ever use this product. It's utterly ridiculous that it doesn't give you any kind of warning about that during the setup, and Now I've got a good days work ahead of me to rebuild everything this program just destroyed. Thanks, I appreciate that.
The version of Parallels that supports using the bootcamp partition is beta, not a released version, so it has some bugs. The released version is pretty solid but doesn't support using the bootcamp partition. Nevertheless, many folks are using the beta to run the bootcamp partition in a VM, so your experience is uncommon. I don't doubt your bootcamp partition was damaged, but disappeared due to Parallels seems unlikely, so it's probably that something else happened while you were attempting to set it up. If you're just complaining, you're wasting the time of a bunch of people who have nothing to do with development of the product. If you'd like help getting it to work, that is probably available here if you ask. Be sure to specify your Mac model, RAM, Parallels build number, and anything else you think may help the volunteers to understand your unique situation.
