Windows Keeps Disappearing

[aristoworks]

Greetings.

I'm on a brand new Mac Mini 1.5G Intel Core (1) w/ 512 MB using Parallels Desktop Build 1848.

For some reason I keep having to install windows.

I love my Mac but am needing to access windows every monday afternoon to retrieve information from a Windows only App.

I'm on my 4th install of Windows (this time using a Standard FAT partition) and for some reason each time I go to use Parallels the previously setup VM will not launch - giving either NO SIGN of a previous windows install OR a "No Boot Device.." type error.

Any ideas as per what I might check out / do to fix the problem?

Sorry for the vague information but I haven't been keeping a detailed "error log" up to this point let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks
jw

 

[joem]

I can't imagine trying to run a Windows guest on a machine with only half a gig of RAM. One gig is the minimum, and two is a LOT better. NTFS is a better choice than FAT for Win2k and XP in almost all cases, and I can't imagine that NTFS vs FAT has anything to do with your problem.

It sounds as if something is getting corrupted between the time you use the guest and the next time you start it, but with only half a gig, I'd believe almost anything, from VM corruption to OSX corruption.

You might open up Console and check your system log for clues.