Can I unplug external SSD where the vm image is in after I pause the VM?

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by mdz, Jun 18, 2018.

  1. mdz

    mdz Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    My vm size is growing, eating up all my mac storage(256GB). Now I'm planning to get a external SSD specially for my VM, so my MAC will have a relief...
    Currently I use the 'pause' function quite a lot so that I can quickly start using and stop using my windows. Why don't just leave it? My windows is running a few CPU intensive long running service, I don't want to slow down my mac while i'm not on windows.
    So now the question comes... What if I pause the vm unplug the external SSD, close the lip and move to another location and when I want to work on win, I plug in external SSD again and resume the VM, will this work? or it will cause the VM to crash?
    Thanks for any advices.
     
  2. Hi mdz. Its highly recommended that you shut down the virtual machine properly by selecting Actions (from the Mac menu bar) -> Shut down before disconnecting the external hard disk in which the virtual machine is stored. If it is not shut down properly, there is a high chance for the operating system files to get corrupt.
     
  3. mdz

    mdz Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    How about suspend? Shut down and restart is a big effort since there are quite some development tools i need to open and configure everytime i boot win. Thanks.
     
  4. Dmitry@Parallels

    Dmitry@Parallels Parallels Team

    Messages:
    702
    @Sathiya@Parallels is being very precautious, I would say that there is a chance to lose Windows boot state but not so high. You can use Suspend option but make sure to wait until it will be suspended (until we save Windows RAM to file within virtual machine bundle) and quit Parallels Desktop before ejecting the drive. Depending on the disk performance and the amount of used RAM in Windows, suspending/resuming the VM might take some time.
     
    mdz likes this.
  5. mdz

    mdz Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Thanks for the info, I've already purchased the external SSD, it works well and I don't feel noticeable performance lost. Thanks!
     
  6. Nice to know that. And you are welcome! Please post again for any additional queries.
     
  7. TirthankarB

    TirthankarB Junior Member

    Messages:
    17
    its suggested to shut down the VM before unplugging your SSD.
    As there are chances of file corruption
     
  8. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    1,127
    Agreed. And what Dmitry@Parallels has suggested above could be a viable alternative.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2018
  9. mdz

    mdz Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    @TirthankarB @Hemnath@Parallels
    I'm not sure about the complete mechanism behind parallels but my guess is if I put VM into sleep(suspend), the guest OS(my case win) will go sleep. I think win's sleep is to shut down everything except ram which keeps all the running processes' states, so now parallels comes in and save all data in ram into a file and save it into the VM bundle on host machine. Now everything is set for the VM, nothing is actually "running" we can safely remove the storage media.

    Just my very own understanding of how parallels works, please correct me if I missed any important detail :)
     
  10. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    1,127
    Yes, that pretty much sums it up. Just remember to wait till the VM fully finishes suspending before doing anything else.
     
  11. mdz

    mdz Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
  12. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    1,127

Share This Page