I am need of using software that only runs on Windows for my studies. I am trying to decide on Bootcamp vs. Parallels. I have a 20" iMac Core Duo with 2 gb RAM. The software I need Windows for are a series of interactive educational cd-roms (no real heavy animation; mainly text and pictures, most seem Java or html based). I will only be using Windows for this purpose. I will be installing Windows XP Professional SP2. 1. Does Bootcamp or Parallels provide an advantage for my purpose? 2. As a former Windows user, I am well aware of all the vulnerabilities Windows is susceptable to and how to protect from them. When running Parallels, will the Mac side of my computer be susceptible to the vulnerabilities inherent with Windows? Or will just the virtual machine be at risk? Should my virutal machine become compromised, can I merely delete the virtual machine and start fresh? Or does the partioning required of BootCamp offer better protection from the Window's problems? 3. Will my 2 gb of RAM be sufficient to operate Parallels running my cd-roms (all have the bare minimum windows 98 system requirements)? Thanks in advance...
Welcome to this forum. 1. I believe you can use either Boot Camp or Parallels to load your copy of Windows XP. Your softwares should work in either case. 2. The Mac side will not be vulnerable to the Windows vulnerabilities. Only your virtual machine is at risk. If you install Windows in a Parallels virtual machine, I suggest you immediately make a backup copy of the virtual machine (a big file) in another location. That way if your VM becomes compromised you can just delete the VM and restore from your backup copy. This is a major advantage of using a VM. 3. It will be more than enough. Assign 512MB - 1GB of memory (512MB should be enough) to your Windows XP VM and both Mac OS X and Windows XP should work fine.
Paritioning offers no security benefit, and if you NTFS format it it is harder to restore anyway. If you go the way of BootCamp, be sure to do it in FAT32. But, if I recall correctly it only supports XP and VISTA... I may be wrong though.
