What is my best course of action before installing?

Hello everyone,

After spending my whole life in the Windows PC environment I have ordered my first Mac. I will be going with the new 27" quad core 15 and will still want to have the windows option for when I have no Mac alternative. I have a few questions before I begin and I was hoping you guys could steer me in the right direction:

1. Should I set up a boot camp partition first and then link it as a VM, or install Win straight through Parallels in the Mac environment? I would only want the boot camp partition for those "just in case" scenarios like a great new PC game, etc. If ti causes more problems than a straight clean install then I wouldn't bother. Do things you do when running it as a VM reflect in the boot camp partition or do they behave separately?

2. Is there a an advantage to using Win7 vs XP? What's the better option to install?

3. Is transporter worth it or is it best to start clean. Most of the things I am moving over are just data and the machine configuration itself is not such a big deal.

4. Is the trial on the web site able to continue once I pay or does it expire and I have to start over again?


Thanks and i can't wait to get started!

Rob

 

Just my IMHO, treat it as Mac user reply, no Parallels employee one

I would indeed set up Boot Camp partition, exactly for "just in case" the reasons like latest games. This will take you a bit longer and will require you to learn Apple's Boot Camp Assistant and play around a bit learning to boot into Windows or Mac using keyboard shortcuts, but it's worth it.

Things done in VM are indeed reflected in real partition. You may think of it as of the virtual machine, that uses your Boot Camp partition as its HDD. You create a file or install an application while booted via VM, you reboot natively - and your file and application are there.

It's more like your personal preferences. But if you put them aside, here is one thing to consider:
Windows 7 supports DirectX 10 and 11. Windows XP - Direct X 9 only. So if you want most out of your great new PC game, Windows 7 is your choice.

If you are OK to start from the scratch and move your data by hands - it is the best option indeed. Your old Windows is full of software, services, hidden files and... issues. Like all operating system used for long time. All this makes your old Windows slower and less stable, and Transporter will move this Windows as is, with all its issues... You now have a great reason to get completely new shiny Windows, why not use it?

"Trial" and "Full" are the same versions of software. It is the activation key that makes it trial or full. So, go ahead and start trial. Once you are ready, just purchase the activation key and activate your trial version with it - it will become full. No need to reinstall or redo anything.

Good luck and welcome

 

Thank you so much for such an excellent and informative reply! I will follow your steps as that seems like it will give me the best of both worlds.

One last question...how large should i set the boot camp partition for Win7? Do I only get to use the VM/Boot camp space or do I have options to use my external drive and Mac internal drive folders also?

 

Tricky question, and I'm afraid there is no best answer.

Windows 7 itself will take ~15GB. Plus you need space to install applications. Plus you need space to store data. This is where the problem is - I don't know your pattern of using Windows.

Of course you will be able to store data on external HDD and access it from Windows. Generally, you will not be able to access Mac filesystem while booted natively into Boot Camp (there are applications that allow you to do it, though). You will not be able to repartition your HDD without reinstalling Windows (at least, this is not an easy task and will require lots of googling and experimenting then).

On the other hand, if you are serious about your switch, your use of Windows will become lower and lower each day.

So, in general case I would just slice around 100 GB for Windows. Since you own new 27'' iMac, your HDD is at least 1TB, so this should leave pretty much space for Mac. But again, I don't know your usage pattern. If it's professional video editing, this is probably too few. If this is just office and some games - this is probably too much.

Hope it gives you some idea to start with

 

100gb will be perfect, as I ordered a 2TB drive. Thanks so much for all of your help!

 

The first time you run your Boot Camp partition in Parallels you may have to reactivate because some hardware (especially network adapter and hard drive) may appear different to Windows. Make sure that the version of Windows you buy is OK for running in a VM. Otherwise if online reactivation fails and you have to call Microsoft, you could be out of luck.