Windows XP pvm file far larger than expected

Greetings,

I'm posting this query with regards a client of mine who is running Parallels 8 with a Windows XP virtual machine. Unfortunately this means I don't currently have access to his machine to try, & report back quickly, any suggested solutions.

The basic query is: What is using up extra space within the hds file?

The virtual XP machine is configured with an expanding drive and a maximum set at 980GB and is currently using 409GB as reported by OS X. (The 980 figure would seem to have originated from when the VM was installed on a different Mac, because the current one only has a 500GB drive).

Configuration within Parallels of the expanding drive shows that it thinks it has allocated around 830GB and cannot be adjusted downwards.

Within Windows XP there are two "partitions" reported by Disk management - C drive NTFS, and a free partition which was the D drive but which I have now removed. Total space used is around 155GB.

So we have:
Windows reports: 155GB
OS X reports: 409GB
Parallels reports: 830GB

As intimated above I have drilled into the pvm package and there is only 1 hds file (409GB).
There are no snapshots and no snapshot xml file.
Running the Parallels Compress feature returns no disk space.

My current thoughts are one of:
a) C drive needs defragging so that Parallels Compress actually recognizes the max space being used
b) Partition that was D drive needs to be merged into C drive NTFS triggering Parallels to see the correct upper boundary.

When I next see my client I'll attempt to take a full copy of his pvm file so that I can experiment on it, but until then I'm interested in hearing the thoughts of Parallels experts.

Graham

 

Hi Graham,

You could perform the below steps:

1. Run a disk clean up on the Local Disk C of Windows XP Virtual Machine.
2. Reclaim disk space if found by following: http://kb.parallels.com/114654

Thanks,
Looran

 

Cheers Looran - that ties with in my option a) - but with thought and other discussions the amount of missing space is making me tend towards option b). My client has gone away for a couple of weeks but I'll report back here when/if I find the answer.

Graham