Out of space? Do I have any options?!

I am sorry, but I can't help but be surprised at how unhelpful Parallels support has been here ...and they've missed a feature of their own product that'll do just what the OP wants! Wow...

Here's what you do to get your disk to fit the actual size used and not the total unformatted size...

1) Goto Macintosh HD>Applications>Parallels>Parallels Image Tool
2) Click Continue
3) Click Browse button and locate your disk image, then click Continue
4) Click the circle by Manage Disk Properties and click Continue
5) Put a check by Convert to Expanding and click Start
6) Once this process finishes, top it off by compacting the image
7) You should now have a image that matches the disk space used, not the total unformatted capacity

I cannot believe that support missed this and instead repeatedly told you to try compacting again...I hope this helps....

P.S. If you do not see these options then you need to upgrade your copy of Parallels, you can do this by opening Parallels and then on the toolbar going to Help>Check for Updates and just follow the prompts, you may need to do this more then once to obtain the latest copy (and once you have the latest version you should also install the latest version of parallels tools in your Windows VM which is done simply by clicking (Toolbar)Actions>Prepare Parallels Tools Upgrade when you have the VM config open but the VM is not started, then when the VM starts the tools upgrade process will start automatically once you login)
 
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Hi, John Musbach -
I followed your instructions, but when I get to the Parallels Image Tool, I don't have a "Convert to Expanding" option - only a "Convert to Plain". I checked and I have the latest version of 3.0. So mine must already be expanding?

So I still have no options? I can't believe there is no workaround for this situation.. Creating a 2nd smaller .hdd, and moving the data from one to the other, or something?
Mark
 
Ok, so let us clarify.
1. You are running Compact - not Compressing from Windows side.
2. VM is turned off
3. And you do not receiving warning , not enough space to compact before stating Compact operation
4. No Snapshots.xml and Snapshots folder
5. In DiskDescriptor.xml no Snapshot section
 
Well this is very strange.

While I was double-checking your list above, I noticed that now, in fact, the .hdd file is only 7g. I know that I checked it after every compact operation completed and there was no change. I am a bit baffled. One thing I did after John Ms comments was to look at the user guide again, and instructions I found there had me run the compress from the Parallel menu with the VM running. But I checked after that also, and it was the same. So I don't know what happened between then and now.

Anyway, it is much smaller now. Smaller than I planned, actually, but I assume it gets bigger if needed...

Thanks!
Mark
 
I have the same problem. Total size of Win XP files (Doc & Settings, Windows and Programs 0 is 7.2GB. Size of C Drive is 15.66 GB. Size of Winxp.hdd is 14.51. I allocated 16GB to PD and it's bee creeping up from 10GB to the current levels.

I have no snapshots, I've run Compresser & run Hard Disk Compactor.

What do I do?
 
Hi -

What worked for me was running the compressor from from the Parallel menu bar while Windows XP was running.

That's all I know! Hope that works for you!

Mark
 
montsemark said:
Hi -

What worked for me was running the compressor from from the Parallel menu bar while Windows XP was running.

That's all I know! Hope that works for you!

Mark
Click to expand...

For anyone else reading this, I too was pulling my hair out wondering why running compressor through Parallels Image Tool would not compress my VM hard drive. Running compressor from the Parallels menu bar while Windows XP was running compressed my VM from 11.69GB down to 512GB...yaaaaay!!
 
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