>
> "Melelina" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out of
>>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I should
>>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a
>>second virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the
>>current one?
>
>
>
>
>
> I'd use the dynamic expanding option
> and simply set the size for the maximum you think you may eventually need.
> No harm in making your estimate on the high side...as it will only expand
> to what is actually needed.
>

>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out of
>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I should
>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a
>second virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the
>current one?

>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out of
>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I should
>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a second
>virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the current one?
>

>
>"philo" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>news:(email address - cut out)...
>>
>> "Melelina" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out of
>>>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I should
>>>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a
>>>second virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the
>>>current one?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd use the dynamic expanding option
>> and simply set the size for the maximum you think you may eventually need.
>> No harm in making your estimate on the high side...as it will only expand
>> to what is actually needed.
>>
>The Help file is sort of confusing on this:
>
>Hmmm....I can't copy/past from the help file. I wonder why? Anyhow, the
>help file says that before converting to an expanding disk, I need to use a
>third party disk utility to zero out the blank spaces. I don't know what
>that means. Then it says that after I do this, I need to compact the disk.
>This is while it is still a fixed size disk.
>
>Then the Help file appears to contradict itself when I look at the Compact a
>virtual Hard Disk section. There it says that the compaction option is
>available ONLY for expanding disks. Huh? Earlier it says under Create a
>Dynamically Expanding Disk from a Fixed Size disk that I am supposed to
>compact the disk after using a third party software to zero out the blank
>spaces and it says I am supposed to compact the disk while it is still a
>fixed disk BEFORE converting it.
>
>That is all very confusing. Plus, I don't know what zeroing out blank spaces
>means.
>

> On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:40:50 -1000, "Melelina" <(email address - cut out)>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"philo" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>
>>> "Melelina" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out
>>>>of
>>>>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I
>>>>should
>>>>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a
>>>>second virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the
>>>>current one?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd use the dynamic expanding option
>>> and simply set the size for the maximum you think you may eventually
>>> need.
>>> No harm in making your estimate on the high side...as it will only
>>> expand
>>> to what is actually needed.
>>>
>>The Help file is sort of confusing on this:
>>
>>Hmmm....I can't copy/past from the help file. I wonder why? Anyhow, the
>>help file says that before converting to an expanding disk, I need to use
>>a
>>third party disk utility to zero out the blank spaces. I don't know what
>>that means. Then it says that after I do this, I need to compact the disk.
>>This is while it is still a fixed size disk.
>>
>>Then the Help file appears to contradict itself when I look at the Compact
>>a
>>virtual Hard Disk section. There it says that the compaction option is
>>available ONLY for expanding disks. Huh? Earlier it says under Create a
>>Dynamically Expanding Disk from a Fixed Size disk that I am supposed to
>>compact the disk after using a third party software to zero out the blank
>>spaces and it says I am supposed to compact the disk while it is still a
>>fixed disk BEFORE converting it.
>>
>>That is all very confusing. Plus, I don't know what zeroing out blank
>>spaces
>>means.
>>
>
> In your case I'd do one of two things:
>
> 1) Use VHDResizer to move your old vhd disk data into a new fresh
> dynamically expanding disk set to a really large size.
> At the end you need to expand the new VHD partition (because it will
> be a same-sized partition plus lots of unused space). You can do this
> according to a description in this link:
> http://kb.dutchalps.com/microsoftvirtualpc.htm
>
> 2) Create a new empty virtual disk using the virtual disk wizard.
> Then attach this to the guest you want to expand the disk of.
> Then boot up the guest and use whatever disk imaging software you have
> access to to copy your boot disk image to the now available new and
> empty disk. I have done this using both Norton Ghost 2003 and Acronis
> Workstation products. Ghost 2003 works well for operating systems
> below Vista, but has trouble with Vista. Acronis handles Vista too
> just fine.
> These products will allow expanding the data into the full disk sized
> partition at imaging time so after you are done, just shut down the
> guest and in the guest settings change the virtual disks (disable disk
> #2 and set the new disk as disk #1)
> DONE
>
> --
>
> Bo Berglund (Sweden)

> On Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:24:20 -1000, "Melelina" <(email address - cut out)>
> wrote:
>
>>I have Vista Ultimate on VPC and one fixed virtual hard drive. I am out of
>>space on that drive. I would appreciate pros and cons on whether I should
>>convert the fixed drive to an dynamic expanding one or should I add a
>>second
>>virtual disk and if I do that does it need to be fixed like the current
>>one?
>>
>
> Simply converting to a dynamically expanding drive isn't going to
> help. You've already set the maximum size of the disk. A dynamically
> expanding disk only expands to it's maximum size.
> Example: if your fixed disk is 20GB, converting it to a dyn disk will
> simply make it a dyn disk with a 20GB expansion limit.
>
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
> http://vpc.essjae.com/

> I didn't realize that. Why does VPC use an expanding disk by default then?