Potential Mac Switcher -advice?

[marliz]

I switched to a Mac Pro three years ago and with Tiger it was Great, with Leopard it slowly gums up with crud and I have to keep doing a reinstall from scratch. I tried Snow Leopard upgrade but the same "permission" problem is still there. Will have to do a completely formatted new install of the system -- again. Lots of users are having problems with Snow Leopard, by the way.

That was basically why I switched from Windows. It sounds as though Win7 might have improved things? I have an old laptop with XP2 that I use on rare occasions, but am pretty much out of touch.

I am ready to buy a new machine and am seriously considering going back to Windows. Actually I started with Dos -- really dating myself.

When I switched to the Mac there was a forum to help; Is there any forum aimed specifically for those who switch to Windows?

Maybe you can help me with some answers:

1. The Mac Pro interiors are clean and easy to swap out drives, add ram and cards. No tangle of cords. I don't suppose the Windows PCs have improved that way?

2. I read that only with Win 7 Pro, can you get older XP programs to run. But does that mean limiting some of the function or power of Win 7?

3. The restore feature never seemed to work. The old Roxio "Go Back" was a lot more helpful for me. Is the new restore better? I used Acronis and was able to restore my drive with that, but wonder if the OS restore has improved.

4. On the Mac I had all four hard drive slots filled (interior) and always had an interior clone in case I had a problem. Could boot up into the clone and work on the original from there. (I couldn't get into it at all after an update on my original system drive, which is why I took it to the Genius Bar. Don't know why they did an archive reinstall of my clone. That messed it up and was about the last straw.
Sort of dual boot, but the second boot drive is the clone. It just works faster than restoring and allowed me to finish what I was working on before taking care of the problem on the original. My question here is if that is something possible in Win 7?

5. Speaking of hard drives, I have a dozen of varying sizes. Four inside the computer. I keep my data off the boot drive. I don't use raid, but work with files on one data drive and then sync to the other. Several are exterior drives and several more are bare drives in exterior cases. I work with thousands of photos and since losing a years worth of work to a bad zip drive and two corrupted backups, I am paranoid and keep several backups on site and off site and the one inside the computer.
Now finally to the question: They are all formatted with the Mac guid system. It seems to me that once I tried to reformat for Windows and neither the Mac nor the old XP laptop would do it. I bought a program to use in Windows to read the Mac disks, but would hate to rely on that as a permanent solution. Has anyone been able to reformat a Mac drive for Windows? Is there any third party software that will do that?

6. Last question: are there many programs that won't run in the 64 bit mode? Is a reboot necessary to switch from 64 to 36 bits?

Sorry this has been long winded. Hope you can help with some of the questions anyhow. I've just started looking into it and have a feeling more questions will come up. (which is why a forum for switchers to Windows would be great!)

Thanks!

 

[mitchell65]

Hi marliz and a warm welcome to the Forum,
I have no experience of Macs so cannot really help on most of your questions but I don't like to see a post that gets no response at all.
I can answer one point though, It is No1 above . "The Mac Pro interiors are clean and easy to swap out drives, add ram and cards. No tangle of cords. I don't suppose the Windows PCs have improved that way?"

That depends entirely what make you intend buying. Why not build your own or go to a company that will build for you to your exact specifications. You can then specify exactly how you want the interior to look so far as cable tidies etc are concerned. There is a Tidy Cable enthusiast on this Forum. Perhaps he will read this and comment. Meantime I will try to find him as his signature showed his passion for tidy insides. Plenty of screenshots too if I recall!

 

[Petey7]

I can help with a couple questions.

2) With Windows 7 Pro, what you get is an option to download and install what is called "XP Mode". Basically, you have a fully functional and licensed version of Windows XP that runs in a virtual environment. It looks like a normal window, and can have other windows open inside of it. You can use fullscreen mode, where it looks like you just have XP installed. I believe their is also a way to have XP minimized while the other windows stay on the screen, to give the appearance of running the programs natively is 7.

6) This question was asked kind of oddly. Since you mentioned modes, I will clarify that you can only have 32-bit or 64-bit installed on one partition. Most programs made within the last 10 years will work fine in 64-bit. If you have some random 16-bit application or game, then that will not work. It works like this, 32-bit Windows can run 16-bit and 32-bit software, but not 64-bit software. 64-bit Windows can run 32-bit and 64-bit software, but not 16-bit software. 16-bit software is pretty hard to find now-a-days, but sometimes you will find the random 8 year old program that was a hybrid 32-bit and 16-bit application.

 

[whs]

ad#3) the windows restore and Win7 imaging does work if you know how to deal with it (which is not obvious for imaging). I think you will be better off to stay with Acronis. Many people recommend that. I myself prefer free Macrium because it is so easy to use - but if you are used to Acronis, this may not be an argument.

ad#5) I would copy the files to a NTFS formatted drive(s) - with Mac you should be able to do that. Else I would try a live Linux distro.

 

[marliz]

mitchell thanks for the response. I hate to see unanswered questions too, on forums where I frequent, and now you've given me an idea I should have thought of, just a welcome is a plus. It leaves a person feeling empty and a bit stupid when there are no responses.

Petey7, thank you. It sounds as though a reboot isn't necessary for xp, if it's a virtual window. I had a few utitlities and programs in Windows that I missed.

Sorry I made question 6 unclear, but if I understand, and 16 and 32 bit software (couldn't remember the 32 bit so took a stab and plucked 36 (?) out of the air) are each on a separate partition, that would mean a reboot to change, correct? On the Mac, Photoshop users (like me) use 32 bit for plug ins, just waiting for them to come out in 64 bit.

Thanks again!

 

[marliz]

whs, I think part of my problem with the early restore was I didn't get it as well as I did Roxio's Go Back. Acronis was a sanity saver. I did like to try different software and got myself in trouble a few times.

Unfortunately if I copy the files to another drive, it doesn't make the drive I'm copying from usuable. That's one of my biggest concerns. Four of the drives are 2 TB and others are 1TB. The 500 GB drives I don't care as much about. But I have a fair amount of money invested and don't want to use the drive for doorstops. It seems there must be a way to reformat those Mac formatted drives to NTSF. I'll have to try another search.

Though the savings from switching and not needing to buy a new $5000 plus Mac Pro, makes the loss look a bit less painful. Just a bit.

 

[Petey7]

Petey7, thank you. It sounds as though a reboot isn't necessary for xp, if it's a virtual window. I had a few utitlities and programs in Windows that I missed.

Sorry I made question 6 unclear, but if I understand, and 16 and 32 bit software (couldn't remember the 32 bit so took a stab and plucked 36 (?) out of the air) are each on a separate partition, that would mean a reboot to change, correct? On the Mac, Photoshop users (like me) use 32 bit for plug ins, just waiting for them to come out in 64 bit.

Thanks again!

Indeed, no reboot is needed to use XP Mode. You just start it up or close is like a normal program.

With Windows 64-bit, all software is stored on the same partition. 32-bit programs are stored in a different Program Files folder, to keep them organized better. I'm not sure what the Mac equivalent of a Program Files folder is called, but I think the name for it in Windows is self explanatory. In 32-bit Windows you just have a folder called Program Files. In 64-bit Windows you have Program Files for 64-bit programs, and Program Files (x86) for 32-bit programs. Since you bring up Photoshop specifically, I will confirm that 32-bit Photoshop runs in 64-bit Windows just fine and the plugins work as well.

 

[marliz]

Maybe it's just on the Mac that some plugins aren't working yet on 64 bit.

The Mac equivelant to Windows Explorer is the Finder which has fewer features, but was ok after I learned to use it. The Program files are under "Applications."

I think you mean that if you are in the 64 bit partition, you can run 32 bit programs from there. That sounds doable if most work.

Thanks again!

 

[Petey7]

Unless you set it up a certain way, there will only be one partition. One.

Maybe Macs are different. 32-bit programs can run natively in 64-bit Windows without a problem. If you use 64-bit version of a program, 32-bit plugins won't work with that program, but if you have 32-bit program, it will run in the 64-bit OS, and 32-bit plugins will work with it.

 

[mitchell65]

So it looks like you will be joining us with Windows 7. Hope so, you experie nce looks as if you will be able to offer much help to others here! (time permitting, of course, you sound like a very busy person)

 

[Darician]

In regard to the interiors, depending on what brand you buy or you build it yourself, an interior of a PC can be very clean and tangle-free. Alienware does a really good job of this. Additionally, if you build it yourself, you can buy modular power supplies along with cases that offer compartments to keep everything nice and clean and easy for upgrades.

 

[whs]

Just make sure you do not buy a Dell box. As nice as they look outside, they are a real mess inside. HPs are a lot neater. But if you plan any sort of upgrade, you probably have to switch the PSU. Then you can rewire the box to your own specifications. The rest of the wires are usually not such a big deal. And if you buy locally (e.g. BestBuy), I would have them open their display model and see for myself.

 

[marliz]

Thanks mitchell. It's going to take awhile because I am planning on looking for a local place or person to put together a turnkey pc. It would be so nice to start out for a change not having to try and add peripherals, cards, etc. and get it all working together smoothly. I'm semi handicapped now so it's much more difficult to do what I used to do.

And then, after it's finally built, I'll have to retrain myself on Windows. Keeps the brain young, right!


Petey, my Mac is too old to have the 64 bit feature and I don't know much about it. If I'm switching I may as well spend the energy learning about how it works with Win 7.

Thanks for your help. I'm searching now for a way to reformat my drives. One possibility I found mentioned was to use Paragon. No direct mention of that feature on their website so I'll have to ask. Another place mentioned MacDrive 8. I have 7 but that website doesn't mention formatting a Mac drive to NTFS either. If it will, I will cost less to upgrade to 8. I'll still be using my little Macbook. Hopefully. It still runs Tiger which has been much kinder to me.

 

[Barman58]

marliz,

don't worry about formatting drives to NTFS as long as you have enough space to move the data off the drive, before the format. You can simply right click a drive and format from within Win7, but this is of course a destructive process so all data is over-written.

you may find an application that purports to convert partitions between formats without data loss but even then I would advise that you back up data before you try them so the simple backup-format-restore is just as good, and normally quicker too

 

[marliz]

Barman, I'm the backup paranoia queen. I must at least two interior drives, three for photos, and at least a half dozen others. I keep the largest ones sycnced everytime I do any work (it will be so good to get this Mac back in working condition so I can work until I get a new PC) And I swap them out every week or so with an off site backup at my daughter's home. It's so bad I take the lastest backup with me when we go somewhere in case the house burns down! I've got years of work on those drives!

When I tried to reformat a Mac formatted drive to NTFS with my windows laptop, Windows XP2 didn't see the drive at all. Maybe it would be different for Win 7?

 

[Barman58]

The disk management application in windows will see the partutions even if it does not recognise them - you often see this type of thing where OS1 cannot recognise a format that is developed after it is released - windows does tend to get updated through service packs to correct this (With mac i believe this is more of a OS revision though the same principle applies).

If the OS itself does not see the partition there are many 3rd part applications (free and commercial), that will.

One I use all the time is Partition Magic - free for personal use - that has it's own boot CD version which is totally independent of the OS, and is therefore a good choice for OS work.

Magic Server Partition Manager Software - Resize partition for Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2000.

 

[marliz]

That is really helpful. I used Partition Magic often with my PCs. Had to pay for it back then. I recently purchased a highly recommended Mac program, iPartition, but is was a bit limited in formatting choices and not as flexible as I remember Partition Magic.
Thank you!

 

[Barman58]

The original Partition Magic is still on sale - but it did have a lot of issues during the early days of windows 7 so I would not advise using it although they may have now corrected the issues.

The partition wizard software I linked to is fully win7 compatible, (you can find some good tutorials on its use in our tutorial section)

 

[pparks1]

Just make sure you do not buy a Dell box. As nice as they look outside, they are a real mess inside.

I've dealt mostly with the Dell Optiplex business line, but I haven't found them to be messy inside.

 

[Petey7]

A lot of the home Dell desktops I've worked on were all pretty messy on the inside. Dell definitely puts in an extra effort on the business line though.