# Getting started

On the main window you will see all the virtual disks that have been detected listed. For virtual disks that VMOptimizer is able to optimize, it will display a picture of the virtual disk.

Each band of color represents a file within the file system of the virtual disk and its location on the disk that the virtual disk is stored on, so it should give you an idea of all three levels of fragmentation. Red is used to indicate files that are fragmented whilst green is used for files that aren’t. The white space indicates the gaps between the files. The image above illustrates a virtual disk that doesn’t have a lot of fragmentation but the white shows that there are significant gaps between the files. After optimizing the virtual disk will look something like this:

Note that the two images shown above are not using the same scale; VMOptimizer zooms in on the virtual disk to give you as much detail as it can, so in the example above, the picture of the virtual disk after optimization is shown at a considerably higher zoom level than before.

## To optimize your virtual disk:

1. We recommend that you check the virtual disk’s file system for errors. To do this in Windows, open up the Properties for the disk, and select “Check Now…” on the Tools tab. VMOptimizer will perform a check of the file system but it is not a thorough check.
2. Make sure that the virtual disk is properly closed down; suspending is not sufficient. VMOptimizer will warn you if it detects a file system that has not been closed properly.
3. Close all other applications that might be using the virtual disk. VMOptimizer should warn you if it thinks that hasn’t been done.
4. When you’re ready, click the Optimize button and VMOptimizer will begin working. It can take some time for VMOptimizer to complete. The time taken depends on how big the virtual disk is, and to a lesser extent, the size of the disk that the virtual disk is on. If the disk that the virtual disk is on is heavily fragmented then VMOptimizer can take much longer as it will have to move a lot of other files.
5. You can abort the optimization process at any stage with no risk of any damage to your existing virtual disk. Only at the very end of the process is the new virtual disk swapped out for the old one.
6. After the optimization has finished, to recover disk space used by the old virtual disk, empty your Trash.

NOTE: As a precaution, VMOptimizer marks the file system within the new virtual disk as needing verification so you might find that a check is performed when you use the virtual disk for the first time. Obviously, no errors should be detected but in the unlikely event that you do see some, please let us know.

### Related Topics

Solving problems