Bootloader vs Virtual Machine

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by nweissma, Oct 22, 2007.

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  1. nweissma

    nweissma Registered Member

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    consider these circumstances: c:\250GB holds 32-Vista. I lately integrated d:\500GB, on which i want to install unix and ubuntu. dual booting seems risky -- i want to avoid reinstalling vista, and i want to avoid winding up with a $1200 paperweight.

    acronis has suggested that i use disk director suite 10.0.

    what is the relation between virtual machine and a bootloader? do the 2 concepts synergize? does one render the other a redundancy?
     
  2. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Acronis OS Selector (OSS) is a Boot Manager that will allow you to install and boot into multiple OS's installed on the same computer. You can only boot into one OS at a time.

    If you run a Virtual Machine (VM), then you can run one or more OS's inside Vista (or whatever the Host OS is), limited only by your RAM and CPU requirements.

    For example: You want to run Vista and Ubuntu. You install VM software in Vista and then install Ubuntu into the VM. You can then run Vista and Ubuntu and switch between them just as any standard Windows program.

    If you use OSS (or another boot manager) then if you're running Vista and you want to run Ubuntu, you'll have to reboot and select Ubuntu and boot into it. Then when you want Vista again you'll have to reboot and select Vista.

    There are pros and cons to each. VM's make testing OS's and software quick and easy and you can have many different ones installed on the same computer. However, most lack good USB support (or have no USB support) and don't have access to the computer's "real" hardware.

    If you really want to use Ubuntu (or any other OS) then it will usually run better being installed on the computer instead of being run in a VM. For example, if you wanted to run Beryl or Compiz in Ubuntu.

    I have OSS on on one of my computers booting Vista, 2 XP's and 3 (soon to be 4) Linux installations.

    On another computer, I have have Vista, XP Pro, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Windows 98 and Windows 3.11 installed in Virtual Machines.
     
  3. nweissma

    nweissma Registered Member

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    Firstly -- forgive my flush of whimsy! and i swear, i do not use drugs or alcohol -- can you tell me why you chose [MOVE][GLOW="red"][SHADOW="green"]MudCrab[/SHADOW][/GLOW][/MOVE] as your moniker?

    academic question: vm technology claims that it will render obsolete the very concept of os and yet, in the same breath, says that vm needs an os to run on; isn't this an oxymoron?
    it was my understanding that ms is known to be hostile to other os's, and ms will hose your machine as punishment if it detects another os; therefore, isn't this technique dangerous? what if, instead, i used Acronis Suite 10.0, or dual-booted Unix and Ubuntu onto my vacant d:\500GB, and then installed VM on top of the Unix or Linux?

    i interpret this to mean that OSS and vm are necessarily mutually exclusive - that they cannot be used simultaneously.
     
  4. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The name comes from quite a while back when trying to come up with a good name to use when playing Quake 4. I went through quite a few before getting to this. The orginal name was "Muddy Crabby MudCrab", but it was too long and Quake would cut off the last "b" and make it look like "crat" so I shortened it to Crabby MudCrab and then to just MudCrab. I just liked the name so I use it on the the forums I post to. I use it for Call of Duty 2 also.

    I later found a nice picture of a MudCrab and animated the claws to use as my avatar.

    One of my brothers calls my time spent on this forum MudCrabbing.

    My advice is always to backup your computer first before making any of these types of changes. That way you can restore and try again if it goes wrong.

    There are many different VM's you can run, some free, some not. Most have versions that will run under Windows or Linux. Try them out and find what you like.

    Not a problem. You can use Linux or Unix as the Host OS and run other OS's in VM's on it.

    This is not correct. OSS is a Boot Manager. You can use it to boot into multiple OS's. It has nothing to do with using VM's.

    For example: You could setup OSS to boot into Vista and Ubuntu.
    In Vista you could install Virtual PC 2007 and install openSUSE into a VM.
    In Ubuntu you could install VMWare's Player and install Windows XP into a VM.
    You can also install OSS into a VM and then use it to boot into different OS's in the same VM.

    The possibilities are pretty endless.
     
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