Do I Dare Delete Windows?
Posted on 19 March 2008, at 3:40 pm, by Jenneth Orantia
I can totally relate to Jerry’s post about the iPhone being a gateway drug. I also bought an iPhone recently, only rather than it inspiring me to buy an Apple notebook (I’ve had a black MacBook since last year), it’s encouraged me to switch to using Mac OS 10.5 exclusively, as I’ve been mainly using it with Windows Vista.
I’ve been running Leopard as my main computing environment for the last week, and I don’t miss Windows Vista one iota. And now I’m looking at that 80GB Windows partition on my MacBook and thinking “Hmmmmnnnnn…” Do I dare delete it completely? The Vista install itself is a huge, plus there are all the files I have in the Windows partition that I should migrate over to the main Mac partition.
My only hesitation is that I may ‘need’ to use Vista for something, and I’ll regret not having it available on that other partition. (Although, that being said, I do have my Asus R2Hv that runs Vista in case I absolutely need to use Windows.) What do you guys think? Am I being prudent, or should I stop being a little old lady and throw caution to the wind? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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March 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’d keep it if for no other reason than most of the stuff Microsoft pushes out requires Internet Explorer (so much for open internet standards).
Plus for $99 as a student - you can grab most of the relevant Microsoft software for it….
http://www.geardiary.com/2008/.....cret-code/
My vote is keep it — as soon as you delete, you know you’ll need.
Just my .02
March 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
That’s exactly how much I allotted for my MBP Windows install, but I did XP Pro instead of Vista. I think the 80GB was a small price to pay for the freedom of knowing I can run anything, one way or another.
Unless you have a really small hard drive, I think you should leave it as is.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Keep it
March 19th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
You could convert the Vista partition to a virtual image and store that on an external drive, and when you need it, fire it up with either VMware Fusion or Parallels.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I say shrink the partition, but keep it. You never know.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Wow - I wasn’t expecting everyone to vote that I keep it! But there you go.. I guess I’ll hold onto it then!
Great idea re shrinking the partition. The virtual image idea also sounds interesting - is it complicated?
March 19th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
If you plan on using VMware Fusion, then you can download VMware Converter (free) from vmware.com. It’s an app that you run from Windows and it should convert it into a VMware image. I found some info about this at: http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/vmware.html . If you plan on using Parallels, it sounds like Parallels comes with Parallels Transporter that can do the same thing.
I’ve used VMware Converter to convert an existing XP install to a VM that I now run from an Ubuntu linux box at work, so I know it works with XP at least. I haven’t tried the Parallels offering yet.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Well, let me be the one to say “let it go.”
I use a Dell machine at work, but our house is exclusively Mac OS. I bought a new iMac this past Christmas and I could install Windows, but I haven’t thought of a single reason to do it so far, nor have I missed it in the past few years we’ve used Apple at home.
And my in-laws write textbooks for MS Office!
Mac OS does everything I need it to do. But I am probably not a “power user” whatever that means.
But, if you’re reviewing business causes you to need access to Windows, I’d recommend keeping it too.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Only reason I have a Windows partition (and an XP Pro one at that :P) is for running games, other than that I use Parallels.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I’m with Mitchell. Go with Parallels for the few Windows apps you use. You still have access to everything, and no rebooting required.
Either that, or ditch Windows on the Macbook and hang onto the R2Hv for the occassional time you need Windows.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I’m having the same quandry but will be keeping the partition. I have to run MS Outlook with specific VPN software so have to keep it. My real quandry is do I go ahead and SELL my Lenovo Thinkpad T61! Can I really do it all on Parallels? I’m pretty sure I can, but do I dare..