What's the best way to save files from WinXP

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by fo-tik, May 1, 2007.

  1. fo-tik

    fo-tik Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Hi there,

    I have a MBP and an external 1TB drive. I successfully used Disk Utilities to set the ext. dr. to MBR with three separate partitions. The first is 100GB MS-DOS fat32 for Solaris 10 on x86. The second is 500GB for a Mac Journaled File System. The third is the remainder of the ext. dr. set to MS_DOS fat32. Then I used Parallels to set up a Solaris 100000MB install. The Mac JFS was left as is. Next, I used Parallels to create three 128000MB hdd's and installed WinXP in the first hdd. By the way, I used an upgrade WinXP SP2 cd and during the install process, it asked me to supply proof of any of the Windows versions they listed, so I ejected the XP cd and put in my Windows 2000 cd. The install process read it and then asked me to put the XP cd back in. I did and the installation completed. The installation reformated the first hdd from MS_DOS fat32 to NTFS as it installed WinXP. I mounted and formatted the other 2 virtual hdd's using Windows Disk Manager. I ended up with 3 x 128GB virtual HDD's with WinXP on the first one. Everything works: external Mac mouse and keyboard, cd/dvd-rom drive, sound... everything. All well and good.

    I proceeded to load my Photoshop CS2 cd into the WinXP OS and that worked fine. I went back to the OSX desktop and used System Preferences to set up Sharing of the Mac machine. Back in Windows, I mapped a network drive to the OSX desktop and now I can see all the folders I have on my Mac desktop.

    And now the thing I can't get to work.... I setup the Mac JFS in order to keep all my photographs (I'm a photographer,) on one drive so that I can access them with Mac software and also to access them from Windows when I use Photoshop. That was my INTENT! I can see everything on my Mac desktop in my mapped network share folder within windows... EXCEPT the Parallels partitions. On the Mac desktop, I can see all three orange icons for the partitions I made. How can I make it so Windows can see the Mac JFS partition in order to read and write files there? I thought about linking a folder on the Mac desktop to another one within the Mac JFS partition, but I don't know how to do that. I did manage to set up an alias of a folder on my Mac Desktop and then copy the alias to the Mac JFS and that worked! The problem is, every file I put into the folder on the desktop shows up in both the Mac JFS AND they stay in the desktop folder too.... that defeats the purpose of having the storage on the ext. dr. It won't take anytime at all to fill up the folder on the Mac desktop with large photograph files, as the MBP only has a 120GB drive.

    Any ideas as to how I can elegantly accomplish the task of working on files in Photoshop within WinXP and then be able to save them to a folder within the MAC JFS partition, without having to go through middle steps of saving to the Mac desktop first?

    Wow... I should write a book! Maybe I just did!!
     
  2. David5000

    David5000 Pro

    Messages:
    312
    Just curious to know why you are working in Photoshop for Windows instead of Mac?

    David
     
  3. dkp

    dkp Forum Maven

    Messages:
    1,367
    Get rid of all the partitions. OS X can provide NFS mounts to Solaris and SMB shares to Windows. No need to go through all the machinations. Store all your data in OS X file space, use an OS X backup tool to save data off to tape or DVD. This way if you lose a VM you don't also lose all your data. You also don't have to have all those specialty file systems burning up your disk space and complicating your data archival.
     
  4. Platinum Samples

    Platinum Samples Member

    Messages:
    82
    Well I use Adobe CS2 Premium on XP via Parallels with my data on HFS+ formatted drives.. so here goes:

    In Parallels - Edit the VM and set up the HFS+ drive(s) as a shared drive in the Shared Folders option.

    In XP running under Parallels - Open Windows Explorer and in the Tools menu select Network Drive and assign an unused drive letter and Browse to select the HFS+ drive (It'll be under "Parallels Shared Folders"). Select "Reconnect at logon" if you want these drives to always be connected when you logon to XP.

    Now the drive will appear in Windows Explorer and in the Common File Dialogs in all your XP apps.

    BTW, the reason why I use Adobe CS2 under XP rather than switch to OS X is because preexisting InDesign files and fonts don't seem to be happy to load up in the OS X version.

    Rail
     
  5. fo-tik

    fo-tik Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Thanks for answering my question!
     
  6. fo-tik

    fo-tik Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Hi Platinum Samples

    "In Parallels - Edit the VM and set up the HFS+ drive(s) as a shared drive in the Shared Folders option."

    I keep looking in Parallels, but I can't find the Shared Folders option. What am I doing wrong?
     
  7. Platinum Samples

    Platinum Samples Member

    Messages:
    82
    Start Parallels and select the VM but don't run it.. in the Edit menu select "Edit VM..." (or whatever it's called). On the left side will be an option "Shared Folders".

    Rail
     
  8. fo-tik

    fo-tik Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    So, can you tell I've owned a Mac for one whole week now?! You're talking about looking in the menu items at the top of the screen. I've been clicking on the VM icon on my desktop, then clicking on Configuration in the screen that opens before the VM loads. I didn't think to look up in that bar. That's one of those things from being used to using Windows... in Windows, the menu bar is attached to the window that opens for every program. I associate menu bars at the top and bottom of the screen as being system menus and not program menus. Something else to get used to.
     
  9. fo-tik

    fo-tik Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Not sure if you're aware of this or not, but I've only owned a Mac product for 1 week. This last week, to be exact. I have no idea how to do all the stuff you said. Instead of just saying do this and do that... would you mind fleshing this out with some details as to HOW to do the things you mention above?

    Thanks.
     
  10. Platinum Samples

    Platinum Samples Member

    Messages:
    82
    Hold down the Apple key and double click on your parallels icon on the desktop. Parallels should open without starting XP. In the Edit menu at the top of the screen select "Edit VM..." On the left click on "Shared Folders". Enable the shared folders and click the + button and add the drives you want to share. Once all the drives are assigned, start the VM and follow the rest of my instructions above.

    Rail
     

Share This Page