Why does Parallels take double disk space?

A

AlekseyM2

Member
I have a Windows 10 Pro guest OS on MacBook Pro. The virtual disk is configured at 128Gb of which I use about 110Gb. On the Mac ssd however I can see two related files:

Windows 10 Pro.pvm
Windows 10 Pro-0.hdd.0.{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx}

Both files are more than 110Gb! This is waste of space - half of my drive is take by the virtual machine. Why does Parallels take double space?
 
Raj@Parallels said:
Please try deleting the snapshot, unwanted files and empty the trash in Windows virtual machine & keep us posted whether it resolves low disk space issue.
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I am sorry, it says "No snapshots available"

The trash and unwonted files on the guest machine are obviously not relevant here, but anyway, I keep the trash clean. There is only one unwonted file and it is on my host computer.

Anything else I can try?
 
AlekseyM2 said:
I am sorry, it says "No snapshots available"

The trash and unwonted files on the guest machine are obviously not relevant here, but anyway, I keep the trash clean. There is only one unwonted file and it is on my host computer.

Anything else I can try?
Click to expand...
Please perform Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 virtual machine.
Open run command type "%temp%" without quotes select and remove all files.
 
Raj@Parallels said:
Please perform Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 virtual machine.
Open run command type "%temp%" without quotes select and remove all files.
Click to expand...
I am sorry, how can the content of the virtual machine's HDD affect the behavior of Parallels? This may reduce the size of the guest machine's HDD a little bit, but not help changing the way Parallels stores it.
 
AlekseyM2 said:
I am sorry, how can the content of the virtual machine's HDD affect the behavior of Parallels? This may reduce the size of the guest machine's HDD a little bit, but not help changing the way Parallels stores it.
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Hi AlekseyM2, there might be a lot of different files except the virtual machine which may take up a lot of disk space of your Mac. We recommend to scan entire Mac disk to locate large files and decide whether you need them of not. Please check out this article for more information.
 
You are pulling my leg, right? I did this and found two specific files that occupy half of my disk space:

Windows 10 Pro.pvm
Windows 10 Pro-0.hdd.0.{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx}

Each of those is more than 100 Gb in size. I understand I need the first one, but how can I get rid of the second? I read that if I simply delete it, the virtual machine will stop functioning.
 
Hi!
I have exact same question what @AlekseyM2 has - is it possible to get rid of one or another of those large files?
Experiencing same issue - space used on SSD is double of what VM disk size is.
 
Hello AlekseyM2 & AndrisS,
I suggest you check the location of both the files Windows 10 Pro.pvm is a package inside that you will have a virtual hard disk with an extension .hdd the second file you have mentioned is inside that virtual hard disk. So actually pvm is a package inside that the second file is located. You can also refer this article.
 
Thanks @Ajith@Parallels!
Indeed, i have calculated total disk used size and Parallels was as much as it's hdd size. Confusion for me came from Storage Manager, where in Large Files list it was listed both pvm and hdd, so i first thought they both take space on disk.
 
AndrisS said:
Thanks @Ajith@Parallels!
Indeed, i have calculated total disk used size and Parallels was as much as it's hdd size. Confusion for me came from Storage Manager, where in Large Files list it was listed both pvm and hdd, so i first thought they both take space on disk.
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Glad to hear that! Feel free to reach us anytime for support.
 
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