VM exploding in size, reports twice as large on Mac as in Windows

T

TedShwartz

Bit poster
Hello

My VM just keeps getting bigger, and I am not sure why. I do not create any files of consequence on Windows. All storage is cloud based on the Mac with Dropbox and OneDrive. No files of size are ever created in Windows, other than Outlook's insatiable demand for space. Windows reports that I have a "C" drive of approximately 65 GB, with approximately 20 GB free. My VM is about 135 GB.

I am running on Version 9 with OSX 10.9.4. My expectation is that I will be upgrading the MacOs in about a month, and would like to resolve the VM space issue before going through the Mac & Parallels upgrade cycle.

Any suggestions?

Ted
 
Hi Ted.

lets check the contents of the .pvm file first as the virtual hard drive size seems to be normal.

1) open Terminal.app (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
2) open /Documents/Parallels folder in Finder -> you should be able to see your .pvm file (virtual machine's file) OR find the .pvm file by its extension using Spotlight. We need the directory where .pvm is located.
3) type in terminal:

"du -sh *" without quotes then hit space once and then drag and drop the .pvm file from Finder window to the Terminal Window.

The command should look like that (example):

du -sh * /Users/<username>/Documents/Parallels/Windows\ 7.pvm (note the spaces)

4) Hit enter
5) Copy the output and post it here (output contains sizes of contents of .pvm file)

As a possible solution:

Please open Parallels Desktop preferences:


Right click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock -> Preferences... -> Advanced tab -> check that "Use detailed log messages" checkbox is not ticked.
 
I am having the same problem. I tried your command string and got this result...
Last login: Tue Oct 21 20:17:13 on ttys000

pauls-time-capsule:~ enertekelectric$ du -sh*/Users/enertekelectric/Documents/Parallels/Windows\ 7\ Professional.pvm

du: illegal option -- *

usage: du [-H | -L | -P] [-a | -s | -d depth] [-c] [-h | -k | -m | -g] [-x] [-I mask] [file ...]

pauls-time-capsule:~ enertekelectric$
 
again:
pauls-air:~ enertekelectric$ du -sh* /Users/enertekelectric/Documents/Parallels/Windows\ 7\ Professional.pvm

du: illegal option -- *

usage: du [-H | -L | -P] [-a | -s | -d depth] [-c] [-h | -k | -m | -g] [-x] [-I mask] [file ...]

pauls-air:~ enertekelectric$
 
I am having the same problem (I think). Since upgrading to Parallels Desktop 10 (and I'm running the latest update), on two different Macs running Yosemite, both with Windows 7 Ultimate VMs, my VM drives are exploding in size - without doing anything, they acquire 10+ GB in size very quickly. Using the command above, the size of the disk on the Mac and the Control Panel are the same. However, in the space of two hours, the Local Disk (C) has gone from 65.2 GB to 78 GB. There has been no activity on the VM to create such a massive increase in size. I'm wondering if it's picking up files from OneDrive even though I have turned off the Windows sharing of OneDrive. Hard to explain, but I can say that I've been using Parallels for years and have never experienced this probelm before. If it's not fixed soon, the only option will be a switch to VM Ware, which I'm sure will have it's own set of problems. Please help!!!

Carls-MBP-3:~ CJMMBPRD$ du -sh * /Users/CJMMBPRD/Documents/Parallels/Windows\ 7\ x64.pvm
16K ABBYY
9.2M Applications
24M Applications (Parallels)
5.7M Creative Cloud Files
33M Desktop
198G Documents
24G Downloads
12K Escort
du: Library/Saved Application State/com.adobe.flashplayer.installmanager.savedState: Permission denied
114G Library
255M Movies
101G Music
6.1G OneDrive
30G Pictures
750M Public
78G /Users/CJMMBPRD/Documents/Parallels/Windows 7 x64.pvm
 
Last edited:
Carl

I did not have any luck with the recommended commands, and restored to a VM backup from about 9 months ago. Things have been OK since. FYI, I use OneDrive, GoogleDrive and DropBox and do not seem to have any issues. My plan is to give Yosemite a month or two to settle down, and then upgrade to it.
What is the recommended upgrade path Mac OS upgrade then Parallels upgrade or visa versa?

Regards
Ted
 
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