Bootcamp or not bootcamp !!???

I have been tracking orchestras on-location for over two years now running Sonar under Bootcamp with focusrite and presonus interfaces - no problems

-D

bootcamp running fine here

"Not supported" just means that they don't provide customer service for issues arising from that configuration.

Once you're running Windows, you are running a PC.

Tell that to MOTU. I was having an issue with my 2408 under Win7 on a MacPro. When I finally got through to MOTU support (1 hour on hold) I started explaining the problem. When it came out that I had a Mac running Windows, the support guy basically shut down with "we don't support bootcamp." End of story. No attempt to help. Even though I had a crash dump that Cakewalk had already analyzed and it pointed to the MOTU driver.

I will never, ever, ever buy MOTU again, and my history with them goes back to Performer (pre. digital audio) and Composer (notation.)

On the other hand, I'm just getting back from the AES convention and I talked to both Lynx and RME and they said they'd still offer support for their products even if I'm running them under Windows on a Mac. So now the choice is: Lynx or RME? Decisions, decisions.

There have been hardware driver side issues on the latest versions of Bootcamp. You can get into trouble pretty quickly. If you have a system that is working you will be ok but others are not so lucky and it seems to be low on the priority list at Apple.

That's why it is not "officially" supported. It was great for a while then it got dicey.

Robin

FWIW, If you stick with the default drivers and config, you most likely would experience poor performance.  Been that way from the get-go...  
 
ie:  The default Broadcom WiFi driver with bootcamp is crap (causes high DPC latency), but you can can chase down a better driver.  The keyboard management service (MacBook Pros) also kills performance... but it can be shut down (if you can live without illuminated keys). 
 
 

Jim Roseberry


FWIW, If you stick with the default drivers and config, you most likely would experience poor performance.  Been that way from the get-go...  
 
ie:  The default Broadcom WiFi driver with bootcamp is crap (causes high DPC latency), but you can can chase down a better driver.  The keyboard management service (MacBook Pros) also kills performance... but it can be shut down (if you can live without illuminated keys). 
 
 

Jim:

Interesting comments:

I use two MBP's / Bootcamp / XP32 and Win7 32 to run Sonar on location.  My Win7 MBP is running the newest Snow Leopard.  I did not load the Bootcamp drivers for a long time to avoid dpc issues and other irregularities.  So, two weeks ago I made a WinClone image of my Win7 install - and did install the Bootcamp drivers for BlueTooth, Wifi, Mini Display Port, Backlit keys, etc .... I did an 8 channel 24/48 2 solid hour orchestral recording into Sonar 8.5.3 - ran perfectly on my 13" MBP with 4GB of Ram.  I never saw the CPU go over 5%.  Maybe something's changed since I had the same concerns you spoke about.

-D

don M could you post some dpc latency tests ?

Thks Tarsier ..any tweaks ?

any comparison with windows seven ?

can expect the same on a 2010 ish one ?

what is actually the bootcamp version ? if it's not like yours is it suggested to use yours (3.1)

thks ....
for the windows 7 xp comparison , i was just wondering dpc latency , not overwhole perf ....

2week old MBP i7 windows 7 straight out of the box.

Hi Jim:
I have a PC that you spec'd for me a while back (just before the release of VISTA SP2) that has 2 X 250 GIG partitions. Initially i setup WIN XP Pro and VISTA Ultimate SP 2 (x64). never ended up using XP Pro as VISTA runs super stable.

i7 920, !2 gig 1066 ddr3 ram, Gigaabyte UD5 MOBO (13j BIOS). nVidia Quadra 3800 graphics, 1 X 500 GIG HDD for OS 1 X TB drive for Projects 1 X TB drive for Samples and sound sets.

I have just now installed WIN 7 Ultimate (x64) over the XP partition. Interesting figures.

VISTA DPC 40 and under ull install of complete audio programs and Win office and Adobe CS5 Master edition
XP PRO SP3 DPC 20 and under as above
WIN 7 (x64) DPC 120 and under only the OS installed.

What can I do if anything to make Win 7 DPC lower?

Zo
can i ,for exemple if i choose the 128 ssd (samsung) option , alocate 28 for osx and 100 for windows ?

The bootcamp setup app will let you do this.

what format is read and write for both ? ntfs , fat32 ....

OSX will read/write ntfs and fat32. When you install the bootcamp driver pack, Windows will read HFS. I use MacDrive for read/write HFS under Windows.

Is there a disk utility in osx that do trim or at least on regular disks , defrag ?

I don't know about trim, I think not. Defrag, I haven't really worried about. Does that make me a bad DAW user?

tarsier

Zo
can i ,for exemple if i choose the 128 ssd (samsung) option , alocate 28 for osx and 100 for windows ?

The bootcamp setup app will let you do this.

what format is read and write for both ? ntfs , fat32 ....

OSX will read/write ntfs and fat32. When you install the bootcamp driver pack, Windows will read HFS. I use MacDrive for read/write HFS under Windows.

Is there a disk utility in osx that do trim or at least on regular disks , defrag ?

I don't know about trim, I think not. Defrag, I haven't really worried about. Does that make me a bad DAW user?

ntfs aren't read and write on my test hackintoshh laptop , i mean i can read but not write.....
For the drfrag , this is a must especially the more you're feeding your drive .....to go basic , your drive always try to write data near physically the next data that have to be used in conjonction with the previous BUT the more your drive is full the less space is availlable near ...so it will write this data where it can .....so reading and writting just become a real heavy logical and mechanical work !! you so increase the access time , risk of disk failure time wise,read and write process...this is some you immediatly see in you hd jauge in sonar also, if even with small or not alot of data you see the level goes high this mean that the driver isn't fast enough because of this !!

To perfect Print : i don't know if it's the last harwdare version , or win7 or both but the result is kinda scare me !!

eratu


I had a lot of problems with bootcamp and driver performance with a macbook pro earlier this year, so much so that I returned it and took the restocking fee hit, then bought an ADK laptop. Your mileage may vary, but bootcamp is not a magic pill that will work for everyone, with all hardware and drivers. I believe and trust those who have had success, but it was not usable for me. You may want to verify specific hardware configurations with someone who has those exact models working before you take the plunge.

I bought a MacBook Pro (well 2 of them actually) for various reasons and thinking that I would SO try that Bootcamp thing. The next day after playing with the MB, I started to wonder why even bother and ended up opting not to. Reading this thread I'm just glad I spared myself the trouble. I'm sure it CAN work fine, but I really don't need the hassle of trying...