Last night I decided to try something new. I downloaded the Parallels Transporter Agent, and cloned my laptop onto my Macbook Pro. Now this might not sound as complex as it is, but I wanted to address how simple, and how powerful this really is.
The concept is simple. You install the transporter agent on the source computer, connect them via a FireWire cable or network connection, open the transporter tool on the second computer and let it rip. You can also create an image to a local file and copy it to the target later. I chose the FireWire method.
Once it has finished creating the image, the source computer will boot in a virtual machine on the target computer. The entire contents of the source disk, it’s Windows installation, all software, security settings and policies, the works. The source computer I chose was my work laptop. This included a Windows XP SP2 installation, connected to our domain at work, Cisco VPN software, Microsoft Office, etc. The network creates a bridge to the local network connection on the Mac. This is especially useful because before, had I VPN’d into work on my work laptop, I lost my local Internet connection which is nowhere near as restrictive as work.
Now I can surf the web to my heart’s content on the Mac/OS X while the Virtual version of my laptop is in secure blissful VPN. Yet another handy feature.
The real benefit is simple. Now I only have to carry one laptop around. I don’t need my work laptop at home. It’s great at the office for taking to meetings or offsite for any kind of prolonged work, but when I am chilling at home and want to check my email, chat up a co-worker or just do some work late in the evening, I can spin up my Virtual Machine, log in and get to work with no noticeable performance loss. Now that is powerful.
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