Can't resize my vdi

[williepabon]

Hi:
Using the command VBoxManage modifyhd to increase the size of my disk, I get the following:

Code: Select all

Williams-Mac-mini:Ubuntu Linux 12.04 williampabon$ VBoxManage modifyhd "Ubuntu Linux 12.04 HD1.vdi" --resize 51200
0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_NOT_SUPPORTED
VBoxManage: error: Resize hard disk operation for this format is not implemented yet!

My VBox version is 4.2.18.
Is there a way to solve this? Thanks.

[Perryg]

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=50661

[williepabon]

Parryg:

Thanks for the information. I'm newbie in dealing with these commands and maybe, my next question is silly. The post you referred to me says that the command will not work if I have snapshots. In the VBox Manager screen I only show one snapshot. That's the only thing it shows. If I remove it, will I still be able to run my Ubuntu OS as if there were no snapshots? When I created the snapshot I expected to see the original Ubuntu disk and then, the snapshot (two icons). Thanks for your help.
wp

[Perryg]

Under the snapshot tab you would have just the snapshot and another entry called current state.
Be careful to handle the snapshot correctly or you will loose all information that was in the snapshot.

Also when deleting the snapshot you might be presented with an option to take another snapshot. Since you can not resize with snapshots don't allow it to be created.

[williepabon]

Perryg:

Thanks for answering fast. Sorry I didn't understand well your last post. You said:

Under the snapshot tab you would have just the snapshot and another entry called current state.
Be careful to handle the snapshot correctly or you will loose all information that was in the snapshot.

Yes, I see what you said. My question is, if I remove the snapshot (I only have one initial dated 3/13/13 when I created the virtual disk), will I lose any data from the disk? Is the snapshot data not included on the current state of the disk? Please, excuse my little understanding of the operation of snapshots. I'm using Linux on VBox a lot, and need to increase the size of the disk, but don't want to lose any data. Thanks for your patience.
wp

[Perryg]

It's a standard warning as no one knows what will happen. I avoid snapshots like the plague because I lost a guest a long time ago by using them.

Anyway just be careful. The delete snapshot (as they call it now) actually merges the snapshot with the base and makes it one file again instead of a differencing disk. Just read everything and you should be OK. Of course if you could backup the folder that has the base and snapshots that would be a good idea as well.

[socratis]

I avoid snapshots like the plague because I lost a guest a long time ago by using them.

Honestly to $(Deity), I've seen this warning from a lot of seasoned users. No clue why. I'm using VBox for more that 3 years and I've never had any issues with a snapshot for any or my 15 VMs. I take one at least once every month, so (3years)*(12months)*(15VMs) = 540 snapshots (at a minimum). Not once have I had a problem! Am I simply lucky?

[mpack]

Honestly to $(Deity), I've seen this warning from a lot of seasoned users.

Any engineer will take one glance at the lack of redundancy in the snapshot structure and understand that the structure is fragile. The fact that you haven't had a failure yet is neither here nor there.

I suggest you Google "snapshot problem site:forums.virtualbox.org".

[williepabon]

Perryg:

Thanks for the help you have given. With the information you supplied, I was able to delete the snapshot that I had, but still I'm getting this:

Code: Select all

Williams-Mac-mini:Ubuntu Linux 12.04 williampabon$ VBoxManage modifyhd "Ubuntu Linux 12.04 HD1.vdi" --resize 51200
0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_NOT_SUPPORTED
VBoxManage: error: Resize hard disk operation for this format is not implemented yet!

What else I should be looking for? Thanks.
wp

[Perryg]

Run the following in terminal

Code: Select all

VBoxManage showhdinfo       absolute path <uuid|filename>

Post the results

[williepabon]

Perryg:

Here's the result of the command:

Code: Select all

Williams-Mac-mini:~ williampabon$ VBoxManage showhdinfo /Users/williampabon/"VirtualBox VMs"/"Ubuntu Linux 12.04"/"Ubuntu Linux 12.04 HD1.vdi"
UUID:                 7cce798b-8f63-4883-9640-9bcefe6c7590
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         40960 MBytes
Current size on disk: 40960 MBytes
Type:                 normal (base)
Storage format:       VDI
Format variant:       fixed default
In use by VMs:        Ubuntu Linux 12.04 (UUID: 3ba21961-0b0e-4acd-9466-b42d69aaa6d7)
Location:             /Users/williampabon/VirtualBox VMs/Ubuntu Linux 12.04/Ubuntu Linux 12.04 HD1.vdi

Thanks.
wp

[Perryg]

Format variant: fixed default
You can not resize a fixed drive. See the section on how to deal with Fixed drives in the following link:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=50661