This article provides the steps to change a virtual disk type from sparse to pre-allocated.
A pre-allocated virtual disk is equal in size to the size assigned to the virtual machine's hard disk. So, a virtual machine assigned a 40 GB hard disk takes up 40 GB of space on your Mac (plus the space required for any snapshots, and other virtual machine files). This space is the same as the "Total size" of the hard disk shown by the guest operating system.
A sparse virtual disk is equal in size to the total used space of the virtual machine. A virtual machine assigned a 40 GB hard disk only takes up space on your Mac that is needed by the guest operating system and any programs installed in the virtual machine and any files saved there. The space used on your Mac increases as the virtual machine is used. This space is the same as the "Used size" of the hard disk shown by the guest operating system.
To change the virtual disk type to sparse or pre-allocated:
Note: Before proceeding, ensure that you have more free disk space than the size assigned to the virtual hard disk. For example, if your virtual machine has a virtual hard disk size of 40 GB, you need an additional 40 GB of free disk space to complete this operation.
Hard Disks
window.