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This chapter provides basic information on the types of virtual hard disks used in Parallels virtual machines.
Expanding Disks
An expanding disk is small initially and grows as you add applications and data to the virtual hard disk in the guest OS. The size specified when the disk was created is the maximum size of the disk. Using disks in this format saves space on the hard disk of your Mac.
Note: When the data occupies all space available on your expanding virtual hard disk, you can reduce the disks size or increase this disk's capacity using Parallels Image Tool. For more information, refer to Using Parallels Image Tool .
Plain Disks
The file that stores an image of a plain virtual disk resides in the primary operating system, and has constant size from the moment it is created. You can create a plain disk when creating a virtual machine in the custom mode.
Split disks
Both plain and expanding virtual hard disks can be single-piece disks or split disks. A split disk is cut into 2 GB pieces, but is stored as a single HDD file. Split disks allow you to transfer the data stored on a split disk piece by piece using a USB drive or other media that has limited space and cannot store a large image file.
Disks in the Old Format
Disks in the old format are created and used in other Parallels virtualization products.
Disks in the New Format
Disks in the new format are created and used in Parallels Desktop.
