Comments on: Disk Performance Tips for VMware Workstation

By: Disk Performance Tips for VMware Workstation « Snip IT Blog

Disk Performance Tips for VMware Workstation « Snip IT Blog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:47:56 +0000

[...] Posted on November 16, 2009. Filed under: VMWare | Tags: VMWare Workstation | http://www.desktop-virtualization.com/2008/01/21/disk-performance-tips-for-vmware-workstation/ [...]

By: Javidoo

Javidoo — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:47:06 +0000

Excelent tips!! Certainly could be considered bests practices.

By: daleallenc

daleallenc — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:35:32 +0000

MartyNZ,

I'd recommend downloading and installing VMware Converter (formerly P2V). The free version requires you to shut down the VMs. You don't really need to convert your virtual hard disks because they're already in the format you need them, but by running them through the utility you 1) will automatically defragment them, 2) can re-size the disks, 3) can pre-allocate the disk size, and 4) can chunk the disks up in 2GB pieces (which makes it easier to defrag later because you'll need less space on the host)

By: MartyNZ

MartyNZ — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:13:15 +0000

I am running 3 development environments on VM Workstation 6.0. I have done as mentioned above but have this problem on all 3 machines.
I pre-allocated space for each VM when they were created, and installed all the tools I required. Checking the space left available I had about 25% disk space spare. Now after using the VM's for a couple of weeks I'm getting 'low disk space' messages, and when I check, the drives for each VM are all full (0% free) and badly defragmented. Of course they fail the defrag because of lack of space. This is all without installing any more software, and all my working files are kept on the host system. Can you give me any idea what might be happening and how can I fix it?

By: admin

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:55:56 +0000

Thanks for pointing this out!

Absolutely, .vmem files are also important enough to be excluded. Performance-wise, it's probably best to have them disabled altogether.

By: JSBertram

JSBertram — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:32:18 +0000

Once you think about it, it seems obvious to exclude the real-world VM files from AV monitoring on the Host.

It should also be obvious to install the Anti-Virus software within VMs themselves.

Shouldn't you also exclude the .VMEM files too?

JSB