Hard Disk Options

The current version of the Parallels Workstation allows Virtual Machines to only use hard disk images in .hdd format. Read Hard Disk Images topic to get acquainted with disk format and other its options.

Up to four IDE devices (hard disks and CD/DVD-ROM drives) can be connected to a Virtual Machine currently. This means, that there can be no more than four hard drives plus CD/DVD-ROM drives, i.e., it doesn't matter how many of IDE devices will be hard drives and how many will be CD/DVD-ROMs.

Device status:

To temporary disable operations with this hard drive without deleting it from configuration, deselect Enabled checkbox.

Emulation:

If you want to change hard drive connected to your Virtual Machine, you may choose another .hdd file in the Image File field.

Recreate button deletes an old hard disk and creates a new one. Use this opportunity if you want to create a disk from the scratch. If you want to replace current hard disk with a new one do the following:

1. Click Recreate button.
2. Create HDD window appears. You can specify Disk size and whether the disk should be expanding one or plain one. Select Expanding disk checkbox if you want the hard disk to be expanding.

   

3. Click Create.
4. You are asked to confirm that you are going to create a new disk instead of the old one. Click Yes. A new empty disk is connected to your Virtual Machine.

Note: If while using a hard disk you discover that its size is insufficient, you may increase disk capacity using the Parallels Image Tool.

Advanced

Device Geometry:

Fields Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors in this group show geometry of a virtual HDD. Note that the geometry concerns virtual disk, not a real one where virtual disk is stored.

Disk format label indicates virtual hard disk format. See the Format of The Virtual Disk in Hard Disk Images topic.

Attachment Options:

Choose IDE slot to connect to the HDD image in the Connect to field. If you want the HDD to be startup one select IDE 0:0.

Note that if you set two startup drives at once - hard disk (IDE 0:0) and CD/DVD-ROM (IDE 0:1) - guest OS will try to boot according to sequence set on the Booting Options tab under the General Options.

Optimization:

If the selected disk is an expanding-type disk, Compact button starts the process of compacting of the disk. See the Compacting Virtual Disk topic for information on this feature.

Compact button is disabled for plain virtual disks.