HOST free space vs. size of VMDK file- doesn't add up- hidden files?

[Flicka]

VMware WK6

HOST- XP Pro sp2 with 107gb usable on HD

GUEST- XP Pro sp2 with a total subdirectory size of about 38gb, which includes the VMDK and several snaps

PROBLEM- when I manually add up all the used space in various directories on the C:\ drive, I come up about 30gb short. In other words, I have about 24gb free when I should have about 55gb.

QUESTION- is it safe to assume that WK6 isn't grabbing extra space to be used for such things as deleting snaps, reverting snaps, defraging etc. and not telling me, or is that, in fact, what might be happening? I have already checked the recycle bin, deleted all but the last system restore, etc. The GUEST disks are fixed, not growable; the GUEST was converted from an older physical laptop.

I would like to put more VMs on this PC, but won't be able to if this kind of hidden space grabbing is going on. I can always run them off of an external USB for demo and testing, but that's a pain.

[KevinG]

You most likely have snapshots that are using the additional disk space of the host.

You may want to post the list of files in the vitual machine directory and include their file sizes.

Keep in mind that once you take a sanpshot(s), the base .vmdk is no longer being written to and the snapshot disk contains the delta changes

[Flicka]

KevinG and VMware staff- man[/b] you guys are fast. This is the best support forum I've ever used, bar none[/u]! ..

08/30/2007 02:38 PM 536,870,912[/b] 564d3b05-52df-53b6-1c0d-e90fbac23469.vmem

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

564d3b05-52df-53b6-1c0d-e90fbac23469.vmem.lck

08/23/2007 10:26 AM 737,542,144[/b] FlickaVM-000001.vmdk

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

FlickaVM-000001.vmdk.lck

08/30/2007 02:39 PM 3,366,125,568[/b] FlickaVM-000002.vmdk

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

FlickaVM-000002.vmdk.lck

08/22/2007 08:37 PM 19,010[/b] FlickaVM-Snapshot1.vmsn

08/23/2007 10:29 AM 536,870,912[/b] FlickaVM-Snapshot2.vmem

08/23/2007 10:29 AM 19,052,545[/b] FlickaVM-Snapshot2.vmsn

08/22/2007 08:35 PM 35,581,001,728[/b] FlickaVM.vmdk

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

FlickaVM.vmdk.lck
08/23/2007 10:27 AM 990 FlickaVM.vmsd
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 2,087 FlickaVM.vmx
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

FlickaVM.vmx.lck
08/21/2007 01:36 PM 484 FlickaVM.vmxf
08/30/2007 02:04 PM 8,684 nvram
08/20/2007 09:28 PM

scripts
08/30/2007 02:04 PM 106,261 vmware-0.log
08/29/2007 05:27 PM 45,789 vmware-1.log
08/29/2007 05:25 PM 36,810 vmware-2.log
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 44,437 vmware.log
15 File(s) 40,777,728,361 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\564d3b05-52df-53b6-1c0d-e90fbac23469.vmem.lck

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

.
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

..
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 512 M58087.lck
1 File(s) 512 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\FlickaVM-000001.vmdk.lck

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

.
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

..
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 512 M36252.lck
1 File(s) 512 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\FlickaVM-000002.vmdk.lck

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

.
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

..
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 512 M25101.lck
1 File(s) 512 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\FlickaVM.vmdk.lck

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

.
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

..
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 512 M34504.lck
1 File(s) 512 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\FlickaVM.vmx.lck

08/30/2007 02:38 PM

.
08/30/2007 02:38 PM

..
08/30/2007 02:38 PM 512 M51272.lck
1 File(s) 512 bytes

Directory of C:\VMs\FlickaVM\scripts

08/20/2007 09:28 PM

.
08/20/2007 09:28 PM

..
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
20 File(s) 40,777,730,921 bytes
20 Dir(s) 26,066,763,776 bytes free

C:\VMs\FlickaVM>

As you can see, I've got about 24gb free, when I should have over 50gb if I add everything else up. The big stuff is in bold[/b] to make it easier to read.

Thanks for your help...

[continuum]

>>> The GUEST disks are fixed, not growable;

Wrong - you use growable disks.

To reduce the used diskspace of this VM delete snapshots and then shrink the disks.

[Flicka]

As I suspected, the problem was actually a backup program hiding directories even from Windows. Once I configured it correctly (to not back up .vmdk files on the local drive), everything made sense. Your answers confirmed that there wasn't something unusual going on with WS6 and pre-allocation of space for future VMDK expansion.

[Flicka]

WS6 doesn't pre-allocate space for future VMDK expansion in a way that the HOST OS can't track.