windows vista?

[diesel]

i see. will this all work if my external hd was first used with xp? meaning, can i use the external through the mac o/s directly with running xp through boot / parallel? i cant format it b/c its a got a boat load of files that i need.

i think im going to head to the local apple store soon and do some test runs.

[Dan]

not sure if they can run bootcamp at the apple store maybe they can

if the partition is NTFS whilein bootcamp everythings a GO

i am not sure if you can write to files in the /volumes/eternal share, i really have not tried but you can read them

[harrymcq]

Mac OS X can read and write FAT32 volumes natively w/o boot camp or parallels. It can also read but not write NTFS. Read/write for both would be supported under boot camp. With boot camp when you are booted into XP you are esentially running a windows machine just like you would be if you had a Dell or HP or sony or whatever, it just happens to be made by Apple and also has this cool ability to boot into OS X.

I am not sure how Parallels works with Windows formatted volumes, you should check their website or give them a call, they are really responsive and the people I talked to at MacWorld who work there seem really cool and enthusiastic about their product.

[diesel]

thanks fellas! cool, i got the WD mybook, which i believe is fat32. im still not convinced about macs, but running xp in it sure makes it hard to decide. is adding / replacing h/w as easy as PC's?

[Dan]

no, actually that was my only concern

all except the Mac Pro are considered sealed machines much like the ipod. Opening it up breaks the warranty. Memory for laptops is the only thing you can get at.

rough huh!

-dan

[harrymcq]

I crack macs all the time. I am not actually certified as a technician but am for the software. For the MacBook the HD and memory are really easy to change. Anything else is a nightmare. If you got a desktop machine like the Mac Pro or even the iMacs there would be a lot more latitude.