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Running Forensics Software in Bootcamp on Mac

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(@rhickman)
Posts: 20
Eminent Member
Topic starter
 

I'm looking into getting a new laptop for the lab, and am wondering if any of you have had any experience running any general forensics software in bootcamp on a mac. I'd like to save the money of buying two, and having the Macbook sit there waiting for the occasional Mac we do with Blacklight, and just have the one. But I hate using Mac normally, and I need windows for things like Imager and EnCase while onsite. Any good or bad experiences with functionality/compatibility would be great.

Thanks

 
Posted : 01/08/2014 1:41 am
Bulldawg
(@bulldawg)
Posts: 190
Estimable Member
 

We have a retina MacBook Pro we use for this purpose. For on site imaging it's fine. I wouldn't want to process a case on it in the lab.

Some issues…
Windows doesn't handle the retina display gracefully like OSX does. It's usable, but you'll probably just be best off dialing the resolution down to something sane rather than trying to have Windows manage scaling the UI.

There are not enough ports. Plan on adding a USB3 hub to your kit, which just adds more wires and mess when on site.

Thunderbolt was a great idea, but using it is a pain and with USB 3.1 I don't see thunderbolt surviving any better than firewire did. We use some Seagate Thunderbolt external drive bays. They're meant to take a special Seagate drive, but the connectors on the bay are standard SATA power and data. Windows in Boot Camp will not hot-swap thunderbolt, so you have to have all your thunderbolt peripherals connected before you power on.

Otherwise, it works well, and the build quality compared to most PCs is impressive.

 
Posted : 13/08/2014 4:49 pm
(@rhickman)
Posts: 20
Eminent Member
Topic starter
 

Thank you for the information. Thunderbolt not being hot swap is annoying. This is really good information though. Thank you very much.

 
Posted : 14/08/2014 8:52 pm
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