Split disk not working for XP

[hitechjanitor]

I am running VMWare Fusion v1.1.3 on MAC OS X v10.5.3. When I am building my MS XP environment

I select the Split disks into 2GB option - but the VMware Fusion still only uses one file.......file size is

now 6GB+...... Thinking I had forgotten to select it - I rebuilt it again making sure I had selected the

split option ..... still - uses a single file..... is this a known problem or is there still something I am forgetting to do?

J.

[WoodyZ]

I don't have an answer as to why however if you what to split the monolithic disk you can use "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager" to do it or use vdiskmanager GUI.

[camner]

I am running into exactly the same issue. I specify "split disk into 2GB files" when I set up the new VM, but only one file is created.

BUT, I've noticed that this really isn't a "file" but a package. If I control-click (right click) on the VM file and "open package contents," the contents contain a bunch of split disks!

So, I'm wondering if this is a bug in which Fusion incorrectly combines the split files into a single package. It seems to me that by doing so, it defeats one of the purposes of splitting the disk into 2GB files, which is to simplify backups.

[WoodyZ]

{quote] So, I'm wondering if this is a bug in which Fusion incorrectly combines the split files into a single package. It seems to me that by doing so, it defeats one of the purposes of splitting the disk into 2GB files, which is to simplify backups.

Fusion default is to create Virtual Machine's in a Bundle Package. Have a look at . Also have a look at "Files That Make Up a Virtual Machine" in Workstation User's Manual.

[admin]

This is not a bug, it is intended behavior. Regardless of whether you select 2 GB split or not, Fusion creates a bundle to keep the contents of the virtual machine together. The 2 GB split option controls whether the .vmdk file (inside the bundle) is a single large file, or split into files that is each a maximum of 2 GB.

The purpose of having a split disk option is to enable you to store the virtual machine on a filesystem that doesn't support large files (such as FAT or some network protocols). It has nothing to do with backups.

If you don't like the bundle idea, you can change it to a normal folder by removing the .vmwarevm extension. From a filesystem perspective, there isn't a difference because a bundle is just a folder that OS X pretends is a single file.

[hitechjanitor]

Thanks - I'll give it a try!

[hitechjanitor]

So... when I get back to the office tomorrow and start backing

this 6BG+ "bundle" to a FAT32 USB drive - MAC will know it is

really separate files and split them apart and complete the backup?

If this is intended behavior - it seems that a little more information

right in the option window would be big help.

[camner]

Well, here's why I think it might be relevant for backups. I use Time Machine for backups, which of course only backs up changed files. If one uses a single file for a VM disk, then any time even a little bit changes on the virtual disk, the entire multi-gigabyte file gets backed up, because it has changed. If one has separate files, presumably not all of the separate files will have changed when one accesses the VM, and Time Machine will only back up some of the files, rather than all.

Am I misunderstanding something here?

[admin]

So... when I get back to the office tomorrow and start backing

this 6BG+ "bundle" to a FAT32 USB drive - MAC will know it is

really separate files and split them apart and complete the backup?

"split them apart" isn't the right way to think about it, since it's already split. Think about it this way: Suppose you had a folder with 10 1-GB files in it. If you pasted on a document icon, it wouldn't change the contents of the folder, right? You could still copy the document to a FAT32 drive safely, because it only looks like a document in OS X, but in reality it's still a folder. Well, that's essentially what a bundle is - a folder that's displayed differently. If you looked at a bundle from Windows, Linux or really anything except OS X, it'd just be a folder.

Well, here's why I think it might be relevant for backups. I use Time Machine for backups, which of course only backs up changed files. If one uses a single file for a VM disk, then any time even a little bit changes on the virtual disk, the entire multi-gigabyte file gets backed up, because it has changed. If one has separate files, presumably not all of the separate files will have changed when one accesses the VM, and Time Machine will only back up some of the files, rather than all.

True in theory, but I'm not so convinced about in practice - how many of the split disk files actually get touched? How smart is Time Machine about bundles - does it look at the contents individually or as a whole? And do you really want to be using Time Machine with virtual machines in the first place? Virtual machines are pretty big, even if you're able to save some space by using a split disk.

[Technogeezer]

You're assuming that Fusion itself doesn't touch modify any housekeeping information) on each chunk of the virtual disk as it operates on it. I don't know if that's an accurate assumption. All of my vmdk files for virtual disks that I've created with 2GB (max) chunks all have the same modified date. This looks to me like Time Machine would back all of them up since they've been marked as changed by the OS. Perhaps someone from the Fusion team can comment...

But, not all the files are 2GB - in that case backing up multiple files would not move as much data as one large file.

[hitechjanitor]

etung,

Thanks for your patience in answering all these questions.