Parallels Desktop final release

[LandyMan]

Hi all,

The final release for Parallels Desktop for Mac as released yesterday. Oficial build 3186 (up from RC3 build 3170).

I see a few issues with USB on the support forum. Will check it out and see whats up ... will hopefully try connecting my 6680 to parallels

[adsl3g]

Hi all,

The final release for Parallels Desktop for Mac as released yesterday. Oficial build 3186 (up from RC3 build 3170).

I see a few issues with USB on the support forum. Will check it out and see whats up ... will hopefully try connecting my 6680 to parallels

Thanks for the heads up. :)

[bwana]

Still doesnt look like there is full USB2 support. :mad:

[adsl3g]

F#$%#$ing downloading at 6KB/sec - .. will take the rest of the night. :mad:
F774K TELKOM

[adsl3g]

F#$%#$ing downloading at 6KB/sec - .. will take the rest of the night. :mad:
F774K TELKOM

Killed it at 9:00... not even half way but downloaded it this morning from work at a constant 67KB/sec... thank goodness for work internet. :)

[adsl3g]

There is a new version out build 3188. I installed it and it seems as if it is using less memory than the previous release version.
Anyone else like to confirm this??

Edit: LOL - unless its the new version of iStat Pro thats now reporting memory usage correctly.

[LandyMan]

Hmm, my Parallels updater reckons me I am on the latest release ... is 3188 a beta build?

[bwana]

Hmm, my Parallels updater reckons me I am on the latest release ... is 3188 a beta build?Not from what I can tell at http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/

[LandyMan]

Hmmm, interesting

[icyrus]

There is a new version out build 3188. I installed it and it seems as if it is using less memory than the previous release version.
Anyone else like to confirm this??

Edit: LOL - unless its the new version of iStat Pro thats now reporting memory usage correctly.

Ah, from iStat's page:
"Inactive memory is no longer shown as "used" in graphs"
http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=7

[adsl3g]

Ah, from iStat's page:
"Inactive memory is no longer shown as "used" in graphs"
http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=7

Yes saw that later after running the new version - so don't know what has changed in Parallels with the updated version over the previous 3186 ver.

[LandyMan]

For those interested, and of course bwana and a couple others will remember my trials and tribulations regarding VMs on an external hdd :D

It would appear that the Parallels issues running a VM on an external HDD via Firewire have been resolved. My XP and Vista VMs are running smoothly, and of course much faster than USB.

Time to invest in that FW800 cable now :D

[adsl3g]

For those interested, and of course bwana and a couple others will remember my trials and tribulations regarding VMs on an external hdd :D

It would appear that the Parallels issues running a VM on an external HDD via Firewire have been resolved. My XP and Vista VMs are running smoothly, and of course much faster than USB.

Time to invest in that FW800 cable now :D


Now I never thought of that - how will it perform on a USB2 drive? surely not that much slower than directly off the HardDrive? (WinXP)

Is there a way one can 'move' it from the HD to the external drive without having to redo everything (I don't think my XP key will survive another install)

[LandyMan]

Now I never thought of that - how will it perform on a USB2 drive? surely not that much slower than directly off the HardDrive? (WinXP)

Is there a way one can 'move' it from the HD to the external drive without having to redo everything (I don't think my XP key will survive another install)

USB2 is ok ... little slower than on the native HDD, but very much usable (my XP starts up in about 15 secs running off USB2), but I got a 4 second improvement on Firewire 400 :D Can't wait for my FW800 cable :p

In your Library -> Parallels folder you will find all the stuff you need to move. I have a symlink from Library -> Parallels straight to my external HDD ... works like a charm

[adsl3g]

USB2 is ok ... little slower than on the native HDD, but very much usable (my XP starts up in about 15 secs running off USB2), but I got a 4 second improvement on Firewire 400 :D Can't wait for my FW800 cable :p

In your Library -> Parallels folder you will find all the stuff you need to move. I have a symlink from Library -> Parallels straight to my external HDD ... works like a charm

Thanks, will give it a go this evening - I don't use XP much on the Macbook and would prefer it on an external drive so that it does not take up too much space. Am considering getting another 80gb external mini drive just for movies/photos/music(and XP) for the macbook.

You got any idea what a 160GB replacement drive for the Macbook will cost? (probably millions) I see its quite easy to replace according to an Apple DIY instruction sheet.

[adsl3g]

Thanks, will give it a go this evening - I don't use XP much on the Macbook and would prefer it on an external drive so that it does not take up too much space. Am considering getting another 80gb external mini drive just for movies/photos/music(and XP) for the

Can't seem to use transporter to move the installation to the USB drive - it runs for a while - well about half way - and then errors. Have installed a fresh copy on the USB drive...

[bwana]

I would have just copied it over to the USB drive then symlinked it back to the original directory.

[adsl3g]

I would have just copied it over to the USB drive then symlinked it back to the original directory.

Obviously, I am not familiar with the symlink thingie. Will read up about it though. However, it does not work properly - takes a month of Sundays to load - once loaded it runs fine but not happy with it. Will a firewire drive work better?

Strangely though, I tried a normal copy and it errors every time on the virtual HD copy at around 95%.

[LandyMan]

AFAIK transporter is only used to convert other VM images to usable Parallels images ... I might be wrong though, but this is how I understood it.

bwana is correct, it should work without a glitch by just copying the files over to the external, making sure that Parallels knows where to pick up the files.

Firewire definitely makes a difference, without a doubt. I should be getting my FW800 cable tomorrow or Friday, so I'll let you guys know what the improvement is over the FW400

[bwana]

Obviously, I am not familiar with the symlink thingie. Will read up about it though. However, it does not work properly - takes a month of Sundays to load - once loaded it runs fine but not happy with it. Will a firewire drive work better?

Strangely though, I tried a normal copy and it errors every time on the virtual HD copy at around 95%.Undoubtedly. Even fw400 which on paper might seem slower is designed for sustained r/w. IIRC the MB only has a 400 but its still an improvement.

[adsl3g]

AFAIK transporter is only used to convert other VM images to usable Parallels images ... I might be wrong though, but this is how I understood it.

The advanced option setting in parallels does allow you to copy local parallels VM to a different location. Alternatively in parallels under 'edit' there is a 'clone' option which can also be used to clone the VM to a different location and put a icon on the desktop. However, this option also errors when copying the virtual HD (which is 4.6 gig) - it only copies up to 4gig and then says 'file too large' :confused: . I have tried a normal copy, parallels transporter and parallels clone and in all instances it only copies 4 gig of the virtual HD.
WAIT A MINUTE: (where's the light bulb smiley) Is there not something about FAT32 and 4 gig (My external is formatted to FAT32) - Ahhh found the problem.....!!! :cool: :cool: (* adsl3g you idiot!! for missing that*)
Now what can I format the external to so that it works in Win and OSX but no 4 gig limit???


Undoubtedly. Even fw400 which on paper might seem slower is designed for sustained r/w. IIRC the MB only has a 400 but its still an improvement.

Correct, the macbook only has FW400 support. Saw a nice 500gig Seagate external with firewire and USB at Makro yesterday. Pricey at R2300 odd.

[bwana]

Now what can I format the external to so that it works in Win and OSX but no 4 gig limit???You're running Windows in a virtual environment from a disk image - surely OsX format (Mac OS Extended) would be best? If in doubt partition it but I'd keep the majority in OsX unless you're moving it between a physical Windows machine and your MP.
Correct, the macbook only has FW400 support. Saw a nice 500gig Seagate external with firewire and USB at Makro yesterday. Pricey at R2300 odd.I've got two of them and as external storage for my mini they're perfect. Only problem is they put themselves to sleep after a couple minutes of inactivity and there's little you can do about it. Maybe not the best idea to run an Os from?

[LandyMan]

oe oe, I know ... is your external HDD a FAT32 partition? FAT32 can only handle up to 4Gb

EDIT: I started typing when I saw 4Gb, didn't read that you also realised it :D

I have a 100Gb external ... 60Gb HFS and 40Gb FAT32 (to be able to save files from WinXP and OSX)

[adsl3g]

Felt like an idiot that I never realised it. Thought there was something radically wrong.
@Bwana - I have a LAN drive that also goes to 'sleep' and it is a pain. Must be one of the worst pieces of hardware brought out by Fujitsu-Siemens. Extremely noisy and slow as hell (max transfer rate is around 5mb/sec) so I want to upgrade the external drive but will not use it for parallels - not worth it as the XP VM is small and is not used to such an extent - will keep it on the Mac drive.
I would want to move my iTunes library and my photo/movies library to the external and possibly get the Apple TV :rolleyes: for iTunes and movies...

[bwana]

Felt like an idiot that I never realised it. Thought there was something radically wrong.
@Bwana - I have a LAN drive that also goes to 'sleep' and it is a pain. Must be one of the worst pieces of hardware brought out by Fujitsu-Siemens. Extremely noisy and slow as hell (max transfer rate is around 5mb/sec) so I want to upgrade the external drive but will not use it for parallels - not worth it as the XP VM is small and is not used to such an extent - will keep it on the Mac drive.
I would want to move my iTunes library and my photo/movies library to the external and possibly get the Apple TV :rolleyes: for iTunes and movies...Well the 500gb seagate is a good drive - thats why I got two of em :D

You can keep the drive alive with a simple cron job if you want. Its almost totally silent (no fans?) so perhaps letting it sleep isnt a bad thing after all.

Easiest way to move your itunes over is just to copy the directory then hold down the ⌥ key when you start it - same goes for iPhoto.

[LandyMan]

I should be getting my FW800 cable tomorrow or Friday, so I'll let you guys know what the improvement is over the FW400

Ok, so the results are in:

Running Parallels Desktop off external drive, time to boot:

USB2: 15 secs
FW400: 11 secs
FW800: 8 secs :D :D

The actual HDD seems to take a bit of strain though, can't keep up with all the low flying 0's and 1's :p

[bwana]

Ok, so the results are in:

Running Parallels Desktop off external drive, time to boot:

USB2: 15 secs
FW400: 11 secs
FW800: 8 secs :D :D

The actual HDD seems to take a bit of strain though, can't keep up with all the low flying 0's and 1's :pLOL -any smoke coming off the drive :)

I take it you like the 800 then? :D

[PeterCH]

Someone wanted a MacBook drive upgrade:
This store has em.
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT
It also has the first BD drive for the Mac :) how sweet is that and at $699 (you can remove $50 by excluding Toast 8).
Other place to buy Mac HDs: www.transintl.com

[adsl3g]

Someone wanted a MacBook drive upgrade:
This store has em.
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT
It also has the first BD drive for the Mac :) how sweet is that and at $699 (you can remove $50 by excluding Toast 8).
Other place to buy Mac HDs: www.transintl.com

Thanks - that was me... Looking around at the moment. Did not realise its so easy to upgrade the drive - but it is pricey.

[bwana]

What other OS's have people installed?

I'm loading up ubuntu atm - figured I might as well get some use out of ||s.

[adsl3g]

What other OS's have people installed?

I'm loading up ubuntu atm - figured I might as well get some use out of ||s.

Have not bothered with Ubuntu on the Mac. Did load it on Virtual PC 2007 on my desktop under XP to see how it works - sound does not work, mouse scroll wheel does not work. Actually I have no use for it.

[bwana]

Have not bothered with Ubuntu on the Mac. Did load it on Virtual PC 2007 on my desktop under XP to see how it works - sound does not work, mouse scroll wheel does not work. Actually I have no use for it.Seems to have full driver support so far on my MBP. Loaded up surprising well come to think of it.

Might keep it, might not.

[LandyMan]

I used to run Ubuntu dual boot on my HP ... very nice linux distro. Even got my M$ mouse to function as if in Windows. I have no real need for anything in linux anymore, so for now my ||s will be reserved for M$ products

[bwana]

I know but the best thing about running ubuntu under ||s is that when the novelty of non-productivity wears off I just delete the disk image or copy it to a dvd for a later day.