Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
Post Reply
FrankNicklin
Posts: 3
Joined: 17. Nov 2021, 15:05

Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by FrankNicklin »

I have migrated a Parallels VM from an M1 Mac (Not compatible) to VirtualBox. Renamed the file as an HDD VM.

The VM runs fine but I'm unable to compress it with the VBoxMange.exe modify medium disk <Path to VM> --compact.

Am I missing something or do I need to convert the VM to another format.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by mpack »

From the user manual section that describes "VBoxManage modifymedium --compact" :-
User manual section 8.22 wrote: Please note that compacting is currently only available for VDI images.
You should clone the hdd to VDI: nobody other than Parallels has much use for ".hdd" format.
FrankNicklin
Posts: 3
Joined: 17. Nov 2021, 15:05

Re: Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by FrankNicklin »

mpack wrote:From the user manual section that describes "VBoxManage modifymedium --compact" :-
User manual section 8.22 wrote: Please note that compacting is currently only available for VDI images.
You should clone the hdd to VDI: nobody other than Parallels has much use for ".hdd" format.
I've tried cloning, but the result is an HDD file again. I cannot see how to clone to a VDI
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by scottgus1 »

What command were you trying? There's a lot of available options in vboxmanage https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08. ... lonemedium
FrankNicklin
Posts: 3
Joined: 17. Nov 2021, 15:05

Re: Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by FrankNicklin »

My error, I was trying through the VirtualBox GUI. Have downloaded CloneVDI now, but thanks for the heads up on the CLI options.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Cannot compact HDD (Parallels VM)

Post by mpack »

FrankNicklin wrote:My error, I was trying through the VirtualBox GUI.
The GUI version (i.e. File|Virtual Media Manager) has options to select the output format too.
Post Reply