VMWare - Operation on file "dev/rdiskOs3" failed

VMWare Fusion 3 appears to age poorly. After 18 months of use the nasty drop-down 'Operation on file "/dev/rdiskOs3" failed' appears. Repeatedly. Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6.6 seems to react adversely at the same time with loss of mouse functionality, etc. Even have difficulty closing the Mac. Power off is sometimes only option. Allowed everything to rest quietly overnight. Mac OS booted well but had several iterations of the 'Operation on file "/dev/rdiskOs3" failed' in VMWare. "Continue" selected twice and Windows XP Pro finally opened but with initial sluggish cursor performance. If memory serves, I had a similar problem with Parallels. Appears to be related to length of time computer and virtualization is allowed to be running.

I am not alone with this problem. VMWare or Mac OS, or both?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The length of time running the VM has nothing to do with it getting corrupted which is probably what happened to yours. The important question is did you make a backup of your VM using the Fusion snapshot option or do you have a good backup with Time Machine?

If restoring from backup won't help, you'll have to erase the VM and start over.

Thanks for your rapid response. I do indeed have Time Machine operating. I will try.