Parallel Odyssey

As I have already mentioned in this blog, I'm a fan of virtualization.  Specifically, running Windows XP on my MacBook Pro.  I've had a relatively good experience using Parallels 3.0, but I have resisted upgrading it.  I went through quite a bit of pain during the early days because the software was buggy and the company was still ironing things out.  I stuck with it, reverting to a few snapshots and re-installing once, but eventually got a stable instance of Windows XP that I use for Excel development.

The company that makes Parallels bombarded me with offers to upgrade to version 4, but I resisted.  Like my steadfast loyalty to Excel 2003, I saw no reason to upgrade for upgrade's sake - the risks are just too high.  The net was full of postings from people who suffered through bitter difficulties getting their upgraded virtual machines to boot correctly; to be stuck without a usable Windows environment means I am unable to do billable work.

Finally, with version 5.0 a mature product, and 50% discounts being thrust at me, along with promises of huge performance increases and support for Windows 7, I decided to take the plunge.  The notion of having more speed - "up to 3 times faster than previous versions" - sealed the deal.

I downloaded the installer for $30, but parked it for a couple of days, because I had some deliverables to complete and had no idea how long the machine would be out of action.  Here's what happened:

Thursday, 2:30pm - finished my work for the day, time to start backing up.  My virtual machine's directory is 109GB.  Copying this to my network drive takes the better part of 2 hours.  I watch a movie on my other computer.

4:30pm - I use the Parallels VM manager to "shrink" my Windows disc.  First I need to get rid of the snapshots I've created over the past two years.  Deleting a snapshot is not a simple matter; each one is "delta" over the ones that precede it.  I had 10 to delete, at around 10 minutes each!  What a pain.

6:30pm - Snapshots gone, I initiate the Shrink operation.  The progress bar moves at hour-hand speed, but no e.t.a. is given.

9:00pm - Kids are to bed, and the shrink operation seems to be hung-up at around 80%.  I debate interrupting it, not sure if it's frozen or what.  I put my ear to the computer and detect some faint noises coming from the hard disc, so something must be happening.  I leave it overnight.

Friday 8:00am - To my relief, I'm greeted with a "process complete" message.  I check the folder size and it has gone from 109 down to 63 GB.  That's much better, but still too big considering that the actual data on the VM's HDD is only 20 GB.  What is up with the missing space?  Better read up on what others are doing about this.

9:45am - Educated, I launch the Compress utility from within the guest OS, which removes all the chattel that builds up in a typical Windows install: temporary files, logs, etc.  It also compresses the data.  This program displays a progress bar, which also creeps.  I go for a bike ride while it grinds away.

11:30 - still not done, but it's definetly doing something - the laptop's cooling fans are at maximum and the laptop is hot!

12:10pm - Compress has completed, and to my elation the VM's folder is now a paltry 18 GB!  That's an 83% reduction.  More importantly, that frees up 30% of the space on my MacBook's hard drive, which was nearly full.  Phew!  I make a backup of the folder again, which only takes 20 minutes this time.

12:30pm - I start the Parallel's 5.0 upgrade.  I'm given a series of warnings about how it will need to update my virtual hard drive image, and once done, I won't be able to use this on older versions of Parallels, so basically it's a one-way trip.  Having fully backed up everything, I click Start.  The installation only takes a few minutes.

12:45 - Parallels 5 launches, and it actually boots my Windows XP machine!  But wait - this must now be updated.  I get the old progress bar again... slow like stalagmite.  It gets stuck at around 50% for two hours but I've come so far, I dare not intervene.

2:30 - I give up hope and start intervening.  I see a little padlock icon so I click it and am taken to manual mode - and I see that Windows is hung up on a retry-ignore-cancle dialog - I click "ignore" and the process resumes.  I thank my lucky charms.

4:18 - It's done!  Paralles 5.0 is installed, Windows XP boots up just like always.  My directory structure is intact, and Excel launches - nice and snappy!  The whole deal ate up about 6 hours of my actual time, but my development environment was down for 26 hours.  Oh well, it will all be worth it, right?

The first thing I do is load up my biggest, most complex Excel model and initiate it's comprehensive recalculation routine - a process I had previously benchmarked to take roughly 58 seconds.  It runs, but not apparently faster... I check the output and am stunned to see the result: 58.23 seconds.  WTF?

I don't know what performance increases those guys were talking about, but apparently it wasn't anything to do with typical user functions like using Microsoft Office in Windows XP!  Time will tell if I see any measurable benefits from this upgrade.  At least it wasn't slower!

One thing is for sure: when I replace my laptop, I will need this version of Parallels, because 3.0 doesn't run on the latest Mac OS, so this upgrade had to be done eventually.  But I'm still a bit disappointed - I was hoping for more of an immediate payback.  If anything, this experience reinforces one of my primary credos: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'd love to hear about any of your experiences on this topic.