What happens to the NTFS drive if yo delete the Vmachine to install a new one

[ewadiee]

when windows sees the Drive C. the format is NTFS is that only virtual format or an actual format?

If I make the disk Size 100GB during my new Vmcahine Win Xp Installation, am I still able to use the Mac hard disk, ie. I did not waist 100GB out of the Mac physical hard disk.

Which will drive me to ask another question: Before I deleted my previous Vmachine; due to inability to increase the size of the Disk after several trials of ETungs software throughthe beginners Guide, I created and extra 30 GB Virtual Disk #2 through the VMware or another disk in addition to the C drive Disk (the initial 20GB), then I used partition magic to format the the 30GB to be NTFS I was hoping to merge the 2 disks but Partition magic only merges partitions not disks. To make the story short and to relate it to the first question I have in the first paragraph, When I formatted this 30GB to NTFS throught the partion magic then after I deleted the Virtual machine( the windows XP) were Disk one C and disk 2 (the other 30 GB) deleted as well? and No more NTFS format?

will the MAC still be able to preserve those 30GB in a format recognized by MAC?

did I loose the Mac hard disk space?

My third question:I had to use partion magic because Win XP was not able to recognize DISK 2 at all ( the 30 GB) f I just creat Disk 2 through the VMware settings ( Note that the Vmachine was shut down) but when I used Pmagic Disk 2 was recognized on XP although it was not active( or connected)! also when I browse the Disk 2 through the VM software through the setting Bar while the WIN xp is running and also while the XP VMachine is shut down, Why the Disk 2 was not connected to the XPespecially after using partion magic to formatt Disk to into NTFS?. Again thank you

[BP9906]

You have to understand 2 things, Bootcamp vs Virtual Disk.

Obviously Bootcamp is booting from a partition on your physical hard drive.

A Virtual disk is a file called a VMDK. A VMDK can be setup a couple ways: preallocate the disk space (ie the VMDK file will be as big as your drive size inside the VM) or dynamically allocated (the VMDK only takes up space for space used on the disc and grows to the max capacity specified).

Also the VMDK can be put into 1 file, or into 2 GB split VMDK files (vmdk1, vmdk2, vmdk3, etc.) to form the size depending upon if you preallocate or dynamically allocate.

So to answer your question, you obviously cant merge partitions from 2 disks to 1 partition. Its just like the real world, if you have 2 hard drives, you cant make them form 1 partition (unless you start talking about RAID).

Now as far as drive format (NTFS, FAT32, HFS), just think of it as a language. OSX's native language is HFS but it also speaks FAT32 (a legacy format). OSX also can understand NTFS, but cant speak it (write to it). Windows obviously reads/writes in NTFS and FAT32.

So now to your question, in order for Windows to see your second disk, you'll need to format it as NTFS (which it sounds like you did with Partition Magic).

Let me know if I've answered your questions. Your explanation is a little hard for me to understand, but I hope I've helped you understand the VM vs Physical drive differences.

PS VMDK files and VMX files (the VM config file) are stored in a VM package in OSX. Usually in Home > Documents > Virtual Machines

[admin]

when windows sees the Drive C. the format is NTFS is that only virtual format or an actual format?

It is a virtual drive, which is just a file to OS X. For regular virtual machines, you do not format the actual drive. Deleting the virtual machine will cause the virtual disk to go away and the space to be freed.

If I make the disk Size 100GB during my new Vmcahine Win Xp Installation, am I still able to use the Mac hard disk, ie. I did not waist 100GB out of the Mac physical hard disk.

It depends on how much space the disk takes up. As we've said before, a 100 GB virtual disk with default settings could take anywhere from a few hundred KB to 100 GB.

When I formatted this 30GB to NTFS throught the partion magic then after I deleted the Virtual machine( the windows XP) were Disk one C and disk 2 (the other 30 GB) deleted as well? and No more NTFS format?

The first drive would be deleted (assuming you haven't changed the default location, which is part of the vmwarevm bundle), the the fate of the second depends on where you created it. You may have to delete it separately.

did I loose the Mac hard disk space?

No, and you didn't lose it either.

My third question:I had to use partion magic because Win XP was not able to recognize DISK 2 at all ( the 30 GB) f I just creat Disk 2 through the VMware settings ( Note that the Vmachine was shut down) but when I used Pmagic Disk 2 was recognized on XP although it was not active( or connected)! also when I browse the Disk 2 through the VM software through the setting Bar while the WIN xp is running and also while the XP VMachine is shut down, Why the Disk 2 was not connected to the XPespecially after using partion magic to formatt Disk to into NTFS?. Again thank you

This is probably Windows not dealing with unformatted disks.

[ewadiee]

Thank you BP: your answers really helped understand more. I have a couple of 2 more questions: the software that I have is fusion version 1.0

1) How I can prelocate the disk?

2) How I can dynamically Allocate the disk May you please explain the exact steps for both options?

It looks to me that one disk is not limited option 1 as it is as big as my MAC hard drive lets say 100GB or for option 2 it is as big as the specified VM disk space lets say teh 20GB

3) I do not understand the issue of the 2 GB split for VMDK files? what kind of advantage and or limitation that will add to me if I do this

4)What do you think have happened to mt disk 2 that had the the NTFS format that I did after I used partition magic to do the format after I deleted the VMmachine etung said it might be in a differrent place if so were is it?

5) also before I delete the Vmachine Win XP had the NTFS disk 2 not connected I tried to go to settings to connect I could not ( PS: the disk 2 was labeled Drive F that was in Blue typing not black as the case in how Drive C was written.

[ewadiee]

Thank you etung: may you please help in anwering some of the questions that I asked to BP in my reply. to avoid repeating:

1) What do you think have happened to disk 2 that had the NTFS format that I did after I used partition magic to do the format especially after I deleted the VMmachine ?

2) you said it might be in a differrent place if so were is it?

5) also before I delete the Vmachine Win XP had the NTFS disk 2 not connected I tried to go to settings to connect I could not ( PS: the disk 2 was labeled Drive F that was in Blue typing not black as the case in how Drive C was written.

I appreciate your fast reply I will definetly need it especially for the prlocation versus dynamicaly allocating disk space differrences refere to BP questions.

[admin]

1) What do you think have happened to disk 2 that had the NTFS format that I did after I used partition magic to do the format especially after I deleted the VMmachine ?

I'm not sure. To be honest, it's somewhat difficult to follow your posts because you use nonstandard terms.

2) you said it might be in a differrent place if so were is it?

It depends on wherever you saved it to, and there's no way for me to tell without looking at your computer. You could try searching it for .vmdk files.

5) also before I delete the Vmachine Win XP had the NTFS disk 2 not connected I tried to go to settings to connect I could not ( PS: the disk 2 was labeled Drive F that was in Blue typing not black as the case in how Drive C was written.

I'm not familiar enough with Windows to say what's going on here.

To answer the questions you addressed to BP9906:

1) How I can prelocate the disk?

When creating a new virtual machine, in the Virtual Hard Disk step, expand the Advanced options and select "Allocate all disk space now". I don't think there's a GUI way to do this for an additional virtual disk.

2) How I can dynamically Allocate the disk May you please explain the exact steps for both options?

This is the default, you don't have to change anything.

3) I do not understand the issue of the 2 GB split for VMDK files? what kind of advantage and or limitation that will add to me if I do this

I recommend reading .

[rcardona2k · Accepted solution]

1) What do you think have happened to disk 2 that had the NTFS format that I did after I used partition magic to do the format especially after I deleted the VMmachine ?

If you think you have lost a virtual VMDK disk that is taking space on your Mac, use the reference to DiskInventory X to find orphaned virtual disks in this thread:

[ewadiee]

Thank man I used teh progaram it worked very good it looks that I have not lost any disk space and every thing looks fine I think I do not have to worry about the Disk 2 any mor the the program you recomended does show any indiacation of its presence. Thanks