virtualbox.org

Hi,
I use a Windows 10 VM and want to delete a snapshot but it is not possible because of less space on the disk. 13 GB are free!! The System tell me What can I do?

Since this is an unusual error message (I've never seen it and I use snapshots like crazy), I'd start by giving more details: where, how, when, why. I would also like to see the "recipe" of the VM, the ".vbox" file:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Finder/Explorer/Whatever".
2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it in your response.

Hi socartis,
I think you mean the log file.

No, I really meant the .vbox file.
And you didn't even go into the details...

And I just noticed the following:

VirtualBox VM 5.1.10_Debian r112026 linux.amd64 (Nov 22 2016 17:48:42) release log

Can you please switch to the official, supported VirtualBox release? https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Oh sorry, I missunderstood. Here is the .vbox file (there are two a .vbox and a .vbox.prev) and I think the Debian derivat of virtualbox makes no difference. So it is easier for me to update. And I forgot the error code when I try to delete the snapshot:
I have three snapshots of the V'M, one from 21.04.2016, one from 02.10.2016 and the aktuell state on my linux host. Now I want to delete the old one from 21.04.2016 but it ist not possible. What other information do you need yet?

harley-peter wrote:I think the Debian derivat of virtualbox makes no difference

Yes, you'd think. But it does make a difference, otherwise I wouldn't bring it up.

harley-peter wrote:So it ist easier for me to update.

And harder for us to troubleshoot. Actually, not harder, impossible.

harley-peter wrote:And I forgot the error code when I try to delete the snapshot

So, what do you think we should do now? How do we troubleshoot the problem, since we don't know what the problem is?

I'm pretty sure that the important part of the above error message is "not enough storage". VirtualBox needs available working space on the host drive in order to merge snapshots. I'm guessing that the reason you want to merge snapshots is because you already ran out of host drive space. Try moving the VM to a partition with more space. Howto: Move a VM. I would not recommend using an external drive, I'm talking about a second internal drive with heaps more space.

So, what do you think we should do now? How do we troubleshoot the problem, since we don't know what the problem is?

The problem is that I cannot delete a snapshot as I wrote in my first post.

@mpack:
Thank's for the advise. I cannot understand that 13 GB is not enough space for merging two snapshots but I will try to move the VM to another disk. But I can only try it with an external disk.

harley-peter wrote:Thank's for the advise. I cannot understand that 13 GB is not enough space for merging two snapshots

That rather depends on the size of the snapshots doesn't it? In theory you might require free space up to the logical size of the virtual drive, but you've given no information from which anyone could draw even a rough estimate.

The error message tells you what the problem is: and VirtualBox isn't usually mistaken about such things.

O. k. the file Windows-Clone.vdi has 36.6 GB and the complete snapshot folder has 53.4 GB (see foto). If you're right 13 GB free space is less so I have to try to move the VM to another disk if there is no other solution. Thank's for the help.

Ok, now we have some numbers we can make an estimate. Assume you want to merge the last two snapshot files. The merged snapshot can be no smaller than the largest of the snapshots being merged, therefore the merged VDI will require a minimum of 32.8GB of working space, and a maximum of 32.8+17.2 = 50.0GB.

I don't have so much free space on the disk of my laptop.
I made a copy of the vbox folder on an external disk, renamed the old folder and deleted the old VM from the manager as described in the manual but if I try to create a new machine with the copy the system says always that a VM already exist with the same UUID. Where is the old UUID memorized?
Then I tried to make a clone of the old VM but I cannot select a disk where the clone shall be stored.

For the moment I don't have another idea

mpack wrote:the merged VDI will require a minimum of 32.8GB of working space, and a maximum of 32.8+17.2 = 50.0GB.

Is this a typo? Honest question... I always under the assumption that it was an in-place operation.

Hi socratis,
also for me it is not clear why so much free space on disk is necessary. I deleted a lot but not even 29 GB of free space is enough! It seems to be a very strange algorithm for merging snapshots.
However it do not solve my problem.

socratis wrote:

mpack wrote:the merged VDI will require a minimum of 32.8GB of working space, and a maximum of 32.8+17.2 = 50.0GB.

Is this a typo? Honest question... I always under the assumption that it was an in-place operation.

And I've assumed the opposite, otherwise it's a huge risk with user data. My implementation would create the merged VDI first, hence the space requirement, then write a new snapshot structure to the .vbox file (updates to which has its own protection mechanisms i.e. prev and tmp files), and the very last thing I'd do is delete the original snapshot VDI files. At no time would I allow the data to be in state where - say - a power loss could end up with the data being destroyed.