Make Windows Hard Drive Space Bigger?

E

elasticmedia

Member
No one answered the question before, so perhaps I can restate it better.

I want to give my windows install, in parallels v.3, a few more gigs of space. How do I do that without breaking the current install?

thanks
Jim
 
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=1481&highlight=extend (ORIGINAL LINK POST)

Moved from How Parallels "Desktop for Mac"

I successfully resized my Windows 2003 installation today using the following process.

1. Copy the HDD drive image file and rename
2. Use Image Tools to resize the original HDD file
3. Change your VM profile to boot off of the copied HDD image and add the original, resized image as a second hard disk
4. Once booted, open CMD prompt and run DISKPART
5. View volumes in DISKPART with the command list volume. Note which volume is your original, resized partition
6. Select that partition using the DISKPART command select volume # where # is the partition number.
7. Enter the command extend
8. Enter the command exit
9. Exit Windows and change the VM profile to once again boot from the original, resized image file. You can disconnect (and delete?) the copied image file from the VM profile.


I don't know if DISKPART can be used on Windows XP, etc. but I know that you can download it from Microsoft. Google diskpart windows download.

As mentioned, this worked for me though I cannot guarantee that this will work in all situations.
 
This worked for me under XP. (Thanks!) It might seem obvious to some people, but you will need to boot off of some drive other than the one you are attempting to extend. Just thought I'd throw that out there to save some n00bs the effort.
 
tedrust said:
This worked for me under XP. (Thanks!) It might seem obvious to some people, but you will need to boot off of some drive other than the one you are attempting to extend. Just thought I'd throw that out there to save some n00bs the effort.
Click to expand...


Virtual Drive not Physical Drive (Dont want to get anybody confused).
 
Well, I tried this, and it worked well until I got to the final stage. Tried to boot off the extended volume and the virtual machine said it couldn't find an operating system on that disc. WTF??

Some one give me a way round this, please? I'm getting desperate.

Dave
 
Did you try booting off your back-up, and then extending the new disk with DISKPART?

Also, can you explore your new disk with Parallels Explorer? Do the system files appear to be intact?
 
Eru Ithildur said:
Did you try booting off your back-up, and then extending the new disk with DISKPART?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did. Then I swapped back to the extended disc and everything went wrong!!

Also, can you explore your new disk with Parallels Explorer? Do the system files appear to be intact?
Click to expand...

Haven't tried that, I must confess. I'll take a look at the state of the disc.

Cheers,

Dave
 
Eru Ithildur said:
It sounds like you're on the right track, though, let us know what that investigation reveals.
Click to expand...

Well, number 1, I'm not a Windows expert, so I wouldn't really know what to look for. I was in quite deep trouble, because I need to run Windows to do some work for a client. I couldn't boot from the extended disc, so I assumed that was corrupted, and trashed it. Then I tried booting from my copy disc, only that wouldn't boot, either. Tried using gparted, as was suggested elsewhere on this forum. Again, Windows wouldn't boot. I even restored my backup winxp.hdd file. Again, Windows couldn't find a boot file. I only got Windows back when I restored the entire winxp folder under ~/Library/Parallels.

So, I'm up and running again, though I've lost a certain amount of work. And I still don't have a clue how to successfully extend the hard disc partition when I need to.

Detailed advice will be VERY welcome, please?

Frustrated,

Dave
 
Dave,

1. Select the Parallels folder in your finder.
2. Hit Apple + C.
3. Make sure that you can still boot from your original config, and then try booting from the copy you just made.
4. Expand the Original disk with Parallels Disk utility.
5. Boot into the copy with your expanded original disk as your secondary disk, wait for the auto-install of the additional HD to take place (Windows will tell you that new hardware has been detected and installed)
6. Use DISKPART to expand the partition of the drive. Use the LIST, SELECT, and EXPAND commands; it's pretty self-explanatory if you open Command Line, type in 'DISKPART', hit enter, then type in 'help' to get the command list.
7. When you have successfully expanded the disk, boot back into your original HD; all should be set.
 
That's exactly what I did.

When I came to boot off my expanded HD the virtual machine couldn't find a boot program. I reverted to my copy of the original HD, only to find that it now couldn't find a boot program there, either.

I couldn't even boot from a backup copy of my winxp.hdd. I had to revert to a backup copy of my entire winxp partition before I had a bootable virtual machine again. I'm still trying to work out exactly what I've lost in the process - and am very worried about what will happen next time I run out of disc space!

Dave
 
Eru Ithildur said:
Wait! Partition? Does that mean you are using BootCamp? If so, that is your problem.
Click to expand...

No, sorry, I'm not using BootCamp. Perhaps I should have said "my entire winxp folder". I think of it as a partition because it's something entirely different from the rest of my file system.

Once again, sorry for any confusion.

Dave
 
Ah, it's actually part of your filesystem, but let's let that sit...

Have you tried re-installing Parallels?
Un-install, Restart, Sacrifice a goat, Install, Restart.

Well, skip the goat part, we should keep the blood off the computer.
 
Y'know.. that whole quick reply thing is annoying...


Anyway . . .

Here is how I resized my Bootcamp drive under Leopard:

1) Disk Utilities
2) Partition
3) Reduced Size of Mac Drive
4) Rebooted into Bootcamp/Windows
5) Computer Management
6) Disks
7) Claim unused contiguous space
8) Resized volume
9) Reboot to Mac
10) Done.


Worked. Albeit, I was deathly worried that windows would fubar things when rewriting the MBR :\... I read that some people had problems with it doing that. What I really want to know is if there is any way to do it entirely on the mac side . . . without fubarring windows.
 
Last edited:
Thank You!

With your instructions I was finally able to expand my hard drive! I'm not a regular windows guy, but I am a longterm mac guy, having spent 10 years at apple. Your instructions were the first to provide adequate detail, along with not assuming that the reader had too much windows background.
 
corpmacguy,

Were maztec's instructions the ones that helped you out? If so, that means you are using BootCamp, correct?

Just want to keep this thread straight for future readers as it was started by someone who was not using BootCamp.
 
Sorry for any confusion - it was websyndicate's instructions that I followed and used to expand my XP drive. These were the first one's I encountered in the thread.

I do not use Bootcamp.
 
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