Do I need all my .vmdk and .vmem files?

[ColdPressed]

I just did a search of my mac for all files over 200 MB because I need to free up some space.  I discovered over 40 files, most are .vmdk files, some are .vmem, that are each over 2 GB.  I am not highly knowledgeable about Fusion as I rarely have the occasion to do more than boot it up and go straight to AutoCAD, thus I don't really know what these files are, but from a search through the site I see that the .vmdk is the virtual disk file.  Does this mean that each file is essentially a copy of the entire virtual machine? 

Almost all the files are from one of two dates, created at the same time.

Can I delete some or most of them?  There are over 20 files of the most recent date created in the same minute.  The names differ only by a numerical suffix (eg."Windows 7 x64-s018.vmdk", -s007, -s002).  There are only two .vmem files, one for each of the dates of the .vmdk files.  If I can delete some of these files, which ones?

One last thing, I have two VM's, the first is XP Professional, which I've stopped using, and the second is Windows 7 (64 bit).  As might make sense to you, about the half of the files that are created on the earlier date are named with "XP" and the other half on the second date are "Windows 7."

Thanks!

Macbook Pro

Snow Leopard 10.6.6

Fusion 3.1.1

[bilalhashmi]

vmdk files are your VMs hard disk.. if u delete them, u will basially have no disk for ur VM... dont delete them orelse you VM will be effected...

The reason why u see these VMDK files with the names of ur VMs along with them is because these files are probably the harddisks of these two VMs

For the vmem files please see here http://communities.vmware.com/thread/46122

Follow me @ Cloud-Buddy.com

[WoodyZ]

One last thing, I have two VM's, the first is XP Professional, which I've stopped using, and the second is Windows 7 (64 bit).  As might make sense to you, about the half of the files that are created on the earlier date are named with "XP" and the other half on the second date are "Windows 7."

To help figure out what is what the best way to provide comprehensive diagnostic information is to use the "Collect Support Information" command from the VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > Collect Support Information and then attach the .tgz file it created on your Desktop.

[ColdPressed]

I am attaching the .tgz file.  I hope this is helpful. 

The first response to my post says that the .vmdk files are the "hard drive" for my VM.  Obviously, I don't want to delete the hard drive, but do all of the .vmdk files collectively make up the hard drive, or is each file a backup of some kind (i.e. can I get rid of some of them?)?

As I mentioned, the files which names begin with "Windows 7" together are about 40 GB.  It surprises me that my VM hard drive would be this big.  I only have AutoCAD, Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, and Acrobat reader installed, and I save almost all documents in my OSX.

If the answer is that I cannot delete any of the .vmdk files, then at least I could uninstall the previous VM (Windows XP), which I don't use anymore.  I've just kept it as a back up in case something should go wrong with Windows 7.

Thank you for your input.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

The Windows 7 x64 and Windows XP Professional Virtual Machines are separate and apart and not dependent on each other so you can get rid of the Windows XP Professional Virtual Machine if you no longer want it.  Obviously make sure you have all User Data backed up off of the Virtual Machine before deleting it.

After that you can use VMware Tools from within Windows 7 x64 and shrink the virtual hard disk to free up any unused space on the Host's Filesystem.

Just a word of advice...  Do not go into the Virtual Machine Document Package and arbitrarily start deleting anything as you can kill the Virtual Machine if you do not know what you're doing.  Most maintenance can be done through the VMware Fusion UI and VMware Tools and unless there is a very specific issue like the VM is not resuming from a suspended state then most everything else in the package is needed and what isn't is only going to amount to a few MB.

[ColdPressed]

Ok, I will delete the Windows XP VM. Regarding your warning about deleting things, Is this something that I should do via the Fusion UI or VMWare Tools, or can I simply delete the file from the Virtual Machines folder on my OSX?

Also, just so I know, the numerous .vmdk files, which showed up on a search of the Mac for large files, make up the hard drive of both the Windows XP and Windows 7 VM's, and they function as such collectively. In other words, these files are not snapshots, or backups, of the same hard drive file, they are different components of the hard drive that work together, correct?

Thanks!

[WoodyZ]

The warning was about specifically about going into the Virtual Machine Package and deleting individual files that are inside the package as the only file of any size that would typically get manually deleted is the .vmss file as in as case when the Virtual Machine will not properly resume from a suspended state.  The majority of files in the package are needed and required as a whole and as I already said "and what isn't is only going to amount to a few MB."  What I've just said is by no means a complete picture of what can be manually deleted and why one might want to or need to preform actions on individual files and folders within the Virtual Machine Package and I'm just trying to stress a point so you don't do something you'll regret by deleting needed and required files.  If you what to gain a better understanding of what the files in the package are then in the Help file look at Contents of the Virtual Machine Package however a better source of information containing more details is the Files That Make Up a Virtual Machine section in the VMware Workstation 7 Documentation and that isn't even complete.

As far as deleting the Virtual Machine Package itself you can do that directly in VMware Fusion from the Virtual Machine Library by ctrl-click > Delete or you can do it from Finder.