I have not added much to my Win XP or Vista VMs lately yet I notice I am loosing disk space every day. Like gigs at a time. Both XP and Vista VMs are 32GB expanding. Why is this an how can I stop it? I have tried compressor but after 4+ hours it has barely moved. Any help would be appreciated. Build 5060. I'll also post in the beta forum but this happened with previous builds as well.
I now notice I seem to loose space after using Parallels but I then restart the computer after I'm done with Parallels and the space is back.
Having the same problem Hello, I'm afraid I can't offer a solution, but I'm having the same problem. I reinstalled Parallels, but it is doing the same thing. Please let me know if you have found a solution. I've only owned this software for a few weeks. I'm considering changing to VMWare Fusion. Bob
This is a very normal happening using the expanding Virtual Disk instead of a Fixed Disk Size that it increases in size over time. You need run Parallels Compressor (under Parallels "Action Menu"s in OSX) at least once a month (depending on how often/much you use the VM) to keep it under control.
Couple of questions Gegervision, Thanks for responding. I have two questions: 1) Is it normal for the disk size to increase even if I'm not saving files, installing apps or creating snapshots? All I'm using Parallels for is to run a few specific Windows apps. I have the same apps installed on another Mac using Parallels and the disk size is about 8 GB. 2) Is it normal to select "run compressor" from the Actions menu and see nothing happen except that the Actions menu then show a "cancel compressor" option? There's no dialog window or GUI wizard for compressor - just the changes in the Actions menu. I'm still puzzled. Thanks, Bob
Yes to the first. Expanding Disks will just expand. That is what is they do. If you do want this to happen the switch to a fixed disk VM. Second, yes I believe you will not see a thing unless you select "Manual Mode." I always do manual mode so I'm not sure about the steps on the automated process. It'll run through and bunch of pre steps including a defrag and also one of which is a reboot of the VM. You'll get a completed message once done. You can cancel compression at anytime which any issues. If you are using the lastest beta build 5144, which I highly recommend, the compression for me only took approx. 1 hour for my 24 GB XP Pro expanding disk VM. Older builds would take all night for my VM. This latest build is awesome!!!!
I guess I don't understand what's taking up space on the expanding disk if I'm not physically adding anything to it. Oh, well. Thanks anyway.
There are a lot of things that can add to an XP Install (I'm assuming you are using XP for you VM). One in particular is System Restore. Your system will create a restore partion every night and depending on your restore settings (default is 10GB to 20GB). If'll keep buidling the disk size. You can turn off when you do properties on "My Computer" in XP. Hope this helps.
Also system paging (virtual memory), temporary files and etc. You can think that not making changes at your file system but operating system will do it without any warnings for it purposes.
Solution Folks, After more research, I've found what I think is the solution to this problem. The bulk of the increased disk space usage was in system files at C:\\WINDOWS\CSC, which is a directory used to store offline references to networked files (CSC for "client-side caching"). This is configurable through Tools > Folder Options > Offline Files, including the ability to delete offline files. After doing so, by disk space usage is back to a reasonable level. Thanks to all for help and suggestions. Bob
