Multiple OS - options

LandyMan

LandyMan

Honorary Master
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
13,356
Reaction score
3,181
Location
Centurion
Morning all,

Firstly, very good news. I have managed to overturn the company's Notebook policy, meaning that I will be using my MBP full on for work purposes from January!! Yay! (Using a Dell D620 now, not bad - flying with 2Gb of RAM, so a stick for my MBP will be on my x-mas wishlist) :D

Ok, so to the actual reason for the post. Working in a MS environment, I will have to run WinXP one way or the other on my MBP. I want to use Parallels VM, as I would retain all the great features of MAC OS X, while still being able to work in the MS environment, as apposed to dual boot with bootcamp.

Now, I don't really want to sacrifice my MBP's HDD for a big WinXP VM, so I was thinking of running the VM off my external (USB) 100Gb drive. My only concern there might be the speed. Will it be better to get a FireWire drive (for speed improvement - I think I've seen some on Apple's site)? With Firewire drives, do you need an additional power source (my USB one is powered from the Notebook) as I don't really want another power supply to lug around?

Also, anyone know about a good/decent/great notebook bag for a 17" machine? It was fine in my backpack, but seeing that I don't travel in dodgy areas anymore, I want to go back to a normal notebook carry bag.

I am sure I am going to get alot of excellent feedback in this thread :D
 
I dont think bootcamp supports external drives for booting but you could minimise your xp partition on your hard drive and install everything else on the external. With parallels it's your call afaik.

Firewire is faster than usb2 when it comes to extended use rather than just in bursts. Pity they didnt include an 800 port on your model but the 400 is more than adequate. You do get bus powered externals just like with usb.

I never use a laptop bag, they're too easy a target, so no advice there.
 
bwana v.20 said:
Firewire is faster than usb2 when it comes to extended use rather than just in bursts. Pity they didnt include an 800 port on your model but the 400 is more than adequate. You do get bus powered externals just like with usb.

I never use a laptop bag, they're too easy a target, so no advice there.
Click to expand...

The 17" has a 400 and 800 port (check the old specs on ZA Store).
I reckon what I am going to do is move the VM file to the external, and run WinXP to see how it handles. I will switch the performance from MAC OSX to the VM, as I will mostly be using that. And upping the allocated ram from 256Mb to say 512MB should be fine with XP running off the external.

Will try and make some time before the weekend to test it.

Cheers
 
As far I know a firewire 800 drive is just as fast as the internal - a 7200 external drive might provide better performance than the the 5400 onboard.
 
LandyMan said:
The 17" has a 400 and 800 port (check the old specs on ZA Store).
I reckon what I am going to do is move the VM file to the external, and run WinXP to see how it handles. I will switch the performance from MAC OSX to the VM, as I will mostly be using that. And upping the allocated ram from 256Mb to say 512MB should be fine with XP running off the external.

Will try and make some time before the weekend to test it.

Cheers
Click to expand...
In that case youre sorted - get an 800 (start looking now;)) and you wont even notice that its on an external.
 
The other thing about keepin WinXP (and all associated files on external) is to unplug, give to IT, and say: "Backup all" :D
 
LandyMan said:
The other thing about keepin WinXP (and all associated files on external) is to unplug, give to IT, and say: "Backup all" :D
Click to expand...
Another good thing is if leave the external at work when someone snatches the girly laptop case over your shoulder you wont have to worry about it :p

Get a big enough hdd, partition it and sync your mac hdd on it too.
 
bwana v.20 said:
Another good thing is if leave the external at work when someone snatches the girly laptop case over your shoulder you wont have to worry about it :p

Get a big enough hdd, partition it and sync your mac hdd on it too.
Click to expand...

LOL @ girly laptop case :p

I have a 3.5" 100Gb, which cost me quite a bit, so I would like to use it still, maybe just in a FireWire encasing, instead of the NexStar USB one ...
 
Crap - speaking of hard drives looks like the one in my Ti Powerbook just died :( Thats my entertainment hub computer atm while I wait for dhl to deliver my mini.

The rugrat is gonna have a fit as all of her movies and shows are on it.
 
LandyMan said:
Erm, good luck with that one! :p
Click to expand...
No worries - started it in target disk mode - hooked it up to another mac and repaired it. Took a little while but still, gotta love firewire. :)

I've still got the original cds tucked away anyway - just a pain ripping and encoding them all.

UPDATE: Ok - working 100% now but after I set up the new mini I'll replace the hdd and relegate the old headless Ti Powerbook to Unison duty. :)
 
Last edited:
How did you get your company to let you use your Mac.... was there any complication with authtication to the domain and Virus update and stuff.

Cheers

Gun
 
gunslinger said:
How did you get your company to let you use your Mac.... was there any complication with authtication to the domain and Virus update and stuff.

Cheers

Gun
Click to expand...
Virus update?
 
gunslinger said:
How did you get your company to let you use your Mac.... was there any complication with authtication to the domain and Virus update and stuff.

Cheers

Gun
Click to expand...

HEHEHE, that was quite easy. Either they pay the R33k to get out of the lease, or I use it at work.

Domain authentication is very easy in OSX, basically the same as in WinXP.
Virus: I run the normal company virus software on my WinXP VM, no need on on OSX. Funny thing actually, got a filename.jpg .exe e-mail the other day ... they make the spaces just long enough so you won't easily see it (the .exe extension) in the window, but with the 17" widescreen, it was there for everyone to see :D
 
I think I will try this with my company as soon as I get the hang of the OS. Its still abit to get use to. I thought I was quick with the mouse and multi tasking but now I am behind again. haha

Gun
 
LandyMan said:
HEHEHE, that was quite easy. Either they pay the R33k to get out of the lease, or I use it at work.

Domain authentication is very easy in OSX, basically the same as in WinXP.
Virus: I run the normal company virus software on my WinXP VM, no need on on OSX. Funny thing actually, got a filename.jpg .exe e-mail the other day ... they make the spaces just long enough so you won't easily see it (the .exe extension) in the window, but with the 17" widescreen, it was there for everyone to see :D
Click to expand...
holy :eek:
33k???
WTF!!!
Is that how much your laptop cost? :sick:
 
lilDeath said:
holy :eek:
33k???
WTF!!!
Is that how much your laptop cost? :sick:
Click to expand...

hehehe, well not really. Laptop and software was about R28k. The company leases it, and like with a car, if you want to cancel the lease, you are still responsible for the interest on the lease, hence the R33k
 
I'm no expert, but wouldn't WinXP work fine in VirtualPC? It sure runs more than fast enough (faster than on some of my colleagues desktops, actually) inside VMware on a single core Turion64 - I'm sure the Core Duo should run it even faster. If you can do that, you can put your disc image where ever you like. Preferably on the company's file server :-)

As for FireWire - there is no 7200rpm disc out there that will push FireWire 400 to its limits. If you can find out where to get a good Firewire enclosure that has a metal casing, decent ventilation and solid connectors (http://www.snt.com.tw/proimages/2316B2cooling(Silver)-1b.jpg for example), please let me know.
 
koffiejunkie said:
I'm no expert, but wouldn't WinXP work fine in VirtualPC? It sure runs more than fast enough (faster than on some of my colleagues desktops, actually) inside VMware on a single core Turion64 - I'm sure the Core Duo should run it even faster. If you can do that, you can put your disc image where ever you like. Preferably on the company's file server :-)

As for FireWire - there is no 7200rpm disc out there that will push FireWire 400 to its limits. If you can find out where to get a good Firewire enclosure that has a metal casing, decent ventilation and solid connectors (http://www.snt.com.tw/proimages/2316B2cooling(Silver)-1b.jpg for example), please let me know.
Click to expand...
Are you sure? Firewire 400 has a max speed of 400 Mbit/s where as the Maxtor 6Y200M0 200GB claims up to 150 MBps. The Western Digital WD2500JB that Toms Hardware used to test their Firewire 800 enclosure has a max of 100MBps - which is ideal for FW800.

AFAIK Virtual PC is only supported on powerpc. Parallels is a much better solution as it takes advantage of the intel cpu. There was a great series on virtualisation on security now if you're interested in that sort of thing.
 
Last edited:
The fact that the controller can handle 150MByte/s doesn't mean the platter can. At most you'll have the benifit of writing to the disc cache, which will save you a fraction of a second, but then you'll have to wait for the cache to be flushed to disc in any way.

I'm not sure if you can do this in OSX, but if you mount an external disc with sync on, you'll find that few discs acutally manage to do more than around 17-20 MByte/s sustained write.

I would be interested in the article - where can I find it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X