I don't understand the purpose of VM Compactor as a separate program? Doesn't the Workstation for Mac OS X (and the other versions) already have the ability to compact a drive? D
1. VM Compactor gives some advatage in both flexibility and compacting ratio. 2. VM Compactor supports all popular virtual platforms - VMware, Microsoft and Parallels. BTW - It was renamed to VM Compressor.
Still trying to figure out if I should get Compressor. Do you recommend it? Will I notice a major difference? How does it differ from what's built into Workstation for OSX?
I agree. I've pre-ordered Parallels Workstation for Mac and before the official release I'm asked to download a beta of compactor (now fc) which presumably will cost more money to 'fix' something that may go wrong with the original product. I don't care that it compacts disk images from other systems. Do I, will I need it for Parallels Workstation for Mac? Thank you for the continued development of Parallels Workstation for Mac, beta 5 seems to be an improvement (although I haven't spent a lot of time with it).
Nothing is wrong with original product. You don't need VM Compressor for normal VM operations. You even have built-in compacting tool and you could use it to maintain your expanding virtual disk in good shape. But if you work with multiple virtual images which consumes too much disk space and you need significant disk usage reduction you may consider usage of VM Compressor. VM Compressor will give you flexibility and outstanding compacting ratio for virtual disks maintanence.
Thank you for that answer. I don't see myself spending much time in the Windows (or Fedora) arena but VM is a great facility for occasional use of the 'foreign' operating systems. I'm pleased to see that VM includes some compacting capability. Good job. I could probably read the 'manual' but is the built-in compacting tool automatic? I seem to remember something along those lines when I first saw VM Mac.
I found the built-in compactor. VM > Edit > Hard drive and there is a button to compact. It didn't do very much but probably not needed (yet ;-)
You should start built-in compactor form guest OS in Parallels Tools Center. The GUI button you found is intended to use for manual compacting of non-Windows guests.
Well, I don't care about other virtual platforms. Are you saying however that it can compress the "drive" on Mac VM significantly more than the built-in tool in Workstation? How much more? D
It highly depends on your particular disk and history of its usage. I think you better try and compare: 1. Backup your image. 2. Run built-in compacting tool - check size. 3. Restore image from backup. 4. Run VM Compressor - check size.
