Mac Pro, Windows XP SP2, Partition Create/Restore

[Baldenario]

Regarding the time it takes to do restore an image, if it takes longer, this can be OK . . .

One of the "beige box" test machines I am using has a 50GB image, so that probably is a typical size, and however much time it takes to do the restore either (a) internally from one hard drive to another or (b) externally via a Firewire 800 connection to a very fast external drive is fine, so long as it happens pretty much at the average sustained throughput of the hardware . . .

If it takes 30 minutes to an hour, then no problems . . .

However, for the 8-core Mac Pro scenario with 16GB of memory (four matched 4GB memory modules to optimize memory efficiency) and four very fast 1TB hard drives, taking 30 minutes to an hour to restore a 50GB partition on one of the hard drives becomes very practical if I can continue working on other stuff on at least one of the instances, which could be OS X, since there is stuff I can do in OS X, as well . . .

Also, since I need to support Windows 2000 Professional SP4, I can be doing stuff on those computers (which will have to be DELL or equivalent computers, due to Boot Camp only supporting Window XP SP2 or Windows Vista), which is fine . . .

Overall, intuitively I think that an 8-core Mac Pro with 16GB of memory and four very fast 1TB drives should be faster than greased lightning in terms of I/O throughput, even when it is interfacing via Firewire 800 to a very fast external hard drive, so whatever is a reasonable and typical time for doing the image restore (50GB to 75GB) will be the reality, and if that is one hour, then it is OK . . .

I bill by the hour, so it the image restore takes one hour, then I bill for one hour, which is fabulous . . .

The reality is that doing Windows installation developing and testing annoys me greatly, so I bill for the annoyance, which makes it tolerable and also makes it possible for me to get more guitar stuff, since above all else I am an entertainer who just happens to know how to do very specialized Windows stuff . . .

I want an 8-core Mac Pro so that I can run 8 to 16 instances of IK Multimedia Amplitube 2 and Wave Arts Panorama 5 in Digital Performer 5 . . .

If being able to do the Windows developing and testing stuff on the same 8-core Mac Pro makes this happen, then fabulous . . .

I get an 8-core Mac Pro, and I can deal with being highly annoyed by taking a break every so often and playing electric guitar through Amplitube 2 for a while until I vent all the angst . . .

Thanks!