Parallels For Mac Change Partition Size

 

The user guide states the following 'The current version of Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X does not include Parallel Image Tool.' Well that sucks because i just realized that i need an extra 4 Gigs to my VM partition.

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  1. Change disk size. Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by dhjdhj, Apr 7, 2006.
  2. Parallels Desktop is a virtualization application for Mac OS X. A virtualization program allows you to run another operating system, other than the one on your Mac, at the same time. A virtualization program allows you to run another operating system, other than the one on your Mac, at the same time.
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edit: Solved! Thanks to everyone who offered advice.

I have a 2014 MPBr with 500GB storage. I have about 120GB left. A few weeks ago, I installed Windows 10 using bootcamp to play a few PC-only games (I always said I would never do it, but I finally gave in). I allocated 40GB, but I didn't realize that the OS would take up so much of that. I installed one game (Skyrim, 6GB) and I'm already out of room for almost anything else.
How can I add more space to the windows partition? I'm really hoping there's a way to do it without deleting and redownloading everything. It doesn't seem like bootcamp has a built-in feature that can help me, and I've deleted all of the junk windows files that I can. Advice?

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Change Partition Size Windows 7

Command-line enthusiasts know that if you can do something in the regular Mac interface, you can usually do it faster using Terminal. But as of Mac OS X 10.4.6, Terminal also lets you perform a feat that previously required add-on software. Using a hidden command, you can resize disk partitions on-the-fly, without losing data.

This command lets you change the size of an Intel Mac’s partitions, or of external disks connected to that Mac, while the data remains untouched—a job that used to require software such as Coriolis Systems’ $45 iPartition. The addition of this feature is a boon to anyone who has ever split up a disk, realized that one partition was too small, and then suffered through backing up, repartitioning, and copying data back to the drive once again. (For more information about partitioning, see Multiply Your Drive.) Of course, you should always back up data before messing with your disk, but if all works as planned, your backup will now just be a safety net.

What’s the magic command? It’s a function of the command called . It’s so secret that it doesn’t even display in the appropriate page. However, by typing in Terminal (/Applications/Utilities), you’ll get an overview of the command and its syntax.

Parallels For Mac Change Partition Size Bootcamp

Note that this command works only on Intel Macs with hard disks formatted using the GPT (GUID Partition Table) format with a journaled Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+) file system. This is the default for Intel Macs’ hard disks, but you can also format an external drive in this manner through Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities).

Gather info

To use the command, you need to get some information: you must be able to specify which partition you want to resize. You also need to know the partition’s size limitations, since it must be big enough to hold data already on the disk.

To find the partition’s name, type in Terminal. Press return and you’ll see a list of all the disks on your Mac (see “Particular Partitions”). The one labeled /dev/disk0 is your boot disk. If you have other disks, they’re named disk1, disk2, and so on. Look under the Identifier header for the names of the disk’s partitions; for example, disk2s2. (Ignore any partitions labeled GUID_partition_scheme or EFI.)

Now you need to find out what size your new partition can be. Run this command: , replacing disk_identifier with your partition’s identifier. This will return the current size of the partition, as well as the minimum and maximum sizes you can use. For example:

Compose your command

Now that you know the disk’s name and size limits, prepare your command. It should follow this basic model:

The first part of the command is, of course, the command itself: . Follow that with the identifier and size of the partition you’d like to split. Type in the size you want this partition to be, not what it currently is. So, for example, if you want the first partition to be 100GB, specify . (Notice that you drop the B from the abbreviation for gigabyte ; you’d do the same for megabyte ). Finally, specify the format, name of your choosing, and size for the partition you want to create. Want more than two partitions? Just add additional arguments to your command.

Although you can resize the first partition, you can’t change its format—that’s why you don’t need to specify one for it. For each additional partition you wish to create, you must specify the format you want it to adopt. For example, type for journaled HFS+, for unjournaled HFS+, for FAT32, for Unix File System, and so on. You must specify the size for each partition. For example, to create a 100GB partition in journaled HFS+, you’d type .

You cannot create a bootable partition for Boot Camp using this command. The command will resize your disk, partition it, and format it to use MS-DOS, but it can’t install an MBR (Master Boot Record) on the disk. To make a bootable partition for Windows, you must use the Boot Camp Assistant or partition your disk with the command, which will destroy all data on it. (Type in Terminal for more information on this command.)

The command in action

Here’s an example of a slightly more complicated command at work:

This command splits a single partition in two. It specifies a size of 100GB for the first partition. Then it creates a new, second partition, named Part2, using the journaled HFS+ format, with a minimum size of 100GB. If there’s more empty space in the partition, the command will use it all. So if you split a 232GB partition, the above command would give you a first partition of 100GB and a second partition of 132GB.

Partition Magic

Two Disks, Two Formats You can also use this command to make partitions with different formats if you need more disk space for Boot Camp. Using the previous example of a 232GB hard disk, here’s how you’d redo the partitions to create one partition for Mac OS X and another for Windows:

Free Partition Magic

You now have a 132GB journaled HFS+ partition (for Mac OS X), and a new 100GB FAT32 partition named Windows. Here’s something to keep in mind: Windows ScanDisk, the Windows disk-checking and -repair utility, requires that you make the FAT32 partition no larger than 124.55GB. If you don’t plan to use ScanDisk, don’t worry about this limit.

Reassess Before You Resize If you want to split your Mac partition again, run to make sure you know which identifier to use—the partition numbers have probably changed. To split the Mac partition from the previous example in two again, for example, you could run this command:

You now have two Mac partitions and one FAT32 partition. You cannot resize FAT32 partitions with the command.

Mac Os Resize Partition

The Last Word

The command occasionally fails. If it encounters any disk problems, it will stop, and you’ll need to run Disk Utility or another disk-maintenance program. If you have any system or special metadata files—which can’t be moved—in the section of your partition that you wish to reallocate, the command will also fail. Unfortunately, the error messages won’t go into any detail.

This new command is a work in progress and will probably see changes when OS X 10.5 arrives. In the meantime, with this tool at your disposal you can resize partitions on-the-fly, rather than having to copy data back and forth to an external drive. And you don’t have to spend a dime to do it.

Tip

Size

Increase Partition Size Mac

Before using this technique to resize the partitions on your drive, make sure you’ve backed up everything. It’s all too easy to make a typo, and you can’t undo the command line! (For backup tips, see Better Mac Backups.)

[ Kirk McElhearn is the author of many books, including The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix under the Hood (Sybex, 2004). ]

Parallels For Mac Change Partition Size Without Losing Quality

Particular Partitions: Before you can resize your partitions, you need to know their proper names. Use the diskutil list command to discover those names. Its output shows you the partition identifiers (A).