Moving Virtual Machines to start of disk.

[Presto]

So here's my problem:
I have 3 Virtual Machines on my 2TB drive, but it's close to full already and most of them are right at the end of the disk, where the drive is slowest. This doesn't make for an overly enjoyable experience when in use so, if possible, I'd like to move the VMs to the start of the drive in an effort to speed them up somewhat.

I've got Auslogics Disk Defrag Professional, which allows for system files to be moved to the start of the drive, but I can't see an option for moving files of my choosing.

Getting another drive and copying files across isn't an option either, as I don't have one to hand.

Any help?

 

[Hydranix]

You could try using a Linux LiveCD and using the program GNUParted to shrink and move your beginning partion(s) to the "right" a little bit. Then create a new partition to house your virtual machines.


It will warn you that there may be loss of data, though I formally state that I have NEVER had any such thing happen, and have always had my entire system partition intact, even after a very dramatic move.

 

[slurp812]

It is always possible something can go terribly wrong, so backup first for sure...

 

[Presto]

Hmmmmm, I don't have another 2TB drive available for backup. If I did, I may as well format that and copy the data over starting with the VMs.
Think, for now, I'll stick with my main VM on my SSD and, later on, look to getting another drive.

Cheers.

 

[Hydranix]

Backing up isn't an option, though you'll be fine.

 

[whs]

Hmmmmm, I don't have another 2TB drive available for backup. If I did, I may as well format that and copy the data over starting with the VMs.
Think, for now, I'll stick with my main VM on my SSD and, later on, look to getting another drive.

Cheers.

Yeah, SSD is the way to go. I have Windows 8 in Virtual Box on my Crucial M4 SSD and have a look how fast it boots: Start Win8 in vBox1.wmv - YouTube

 

[jimbo45]

Hmmmmm, I don't have another 2TB drive available for backup. If I did, I may as well format that and copy the data over starting with the VMs.
Think, for now, I'll stick with my main VM on my SSD and, later on, look to getting another drive.

Cheers.

I'm not sure whether "Moving the VM's" to the front of the disk would actually make an iota's bit of difference.

the main factor in VM's is having enough RAM - once the vm is loaded it shouldn't have to access the disk very much anyway.

If the VM takes a long time to load and you DO have sufficient RAM then perhaps the disk is being heavily used already.

SSD's if you can afford them are probably good for this type of stuff.

What I would do is to make the VM's I/O usage efficient is to use Networking for external disk storage i.e share disk drives with the HOST rather than defining a lot of virtual disks for the VM's themselves -- since virtual disk management can fragment virtual disk space quite often.

If you use EXTERNAL disks :

Moving the disk to a USB3 slot will also improve Disk I/O very significantly.
I think most of the newer external 2 TB drives can support USB3.

I have a few VM's including a Windows 2003 server.

Apart for the OS on the virtual machine I only ever define a small 2nd disk just for temporary storage space if I'm installing anything on the VM -- any other disks I need I just SHARE with the host.

cheers
jimbo