[X4U] Parallels vs. Boot Camp: Might disk Defrag help?

[Matthew Barr]

Try doing the compress under parallels-  you can probably use that  
tool to make life a bit better, by writing a single file all at once...

It basically shuts down the machine, and optimizes the virtual  
image.  I definitely noticed a speed improvement..

Matthew Barr
Managing Partner
Datalyte Consulting, LLC
Apple Authorized Reseller
mailto:mbarr at datalyte.com
cell: (646) 765-6878



On Nov 25, 2006, at 8:04 AM, Jim Robertson wrote:

> A week or so ago I asked for some real-world reports on the user  
> experience
> of Parallels, because my only exposure to it was mousing around on  
> an Intel
> iMac (the one with the biggest screen; I forgot to check its RAM  
> and its
> processor clockspeed) at my local Apple Store. I was surprised that it
> stuttered simply dragging an icon across the Windows desktop (within a
> window on the Mac Desktop; I forgot to see if things would be any  
> different
> in full screen mode).
>
> Yesterday on Macintouch, Stephen DeNagy suggested a possible  
> explanation.
> Here it is:
>
>> I have noted the slow-down of Parallels as well. My MBP has been  
>> tight with
>> Hard Disk space. When iDefrag was finally brought up to speed, I  
>> was aalled to
>> see that the Parallels virtual disk was fragmented to something  
>> like 80 to
>> 100,000 fragments (all over the disk!). I know UNIX is supposed to  
>> have
>> obviated this as a problem, but I think there has to be a hit when  
>> using a
>> virtual machine fragmenting itself on a host which is fragmenting  
>> on the disk!
>> So...I cleaned up, threw out and used iDefrag to do a total  
>> defrag. There has
>> been an impressive improvement in performance since then. We  
>> really do need
>> quite a bit of consistently open HD space for Parallels to perform  
>> at its best
>
> Most of the Mac lists I read have visited the defrag/don't defrag  
> debate
> many times. This one user's experience certainly sounds convincing,  
> but
> before I drop $30 on something that will tie up my machine for several
> hours, I'm  curious what those more technically savvy than I would  
> say about
> this. Ideally, I'd guess that some revision of Parallels that  
> permits it to
> USE the Windows OS installed on a partition created by Boot Camp  
> might be
> the best solution to this, but I've only heard well-placed rumors  
> about that
> happening...
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> Jim Robertson
> -- 
>
>
>
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