Question regarding moving a VM to an external drive

[sciwizam]

Don't know if this goes under Software for Windows or the OS forum. Mods, please move it if you feel otherwise.

I'm running Win 7 as a VM on my laptop, using VirtualBox. I got a external drive and would like to run the VM from the external. I see an "export appliance" feature in VirtualBox. Is that enough to move it?

Also, if I change the locations of "Default Hard Disk Folder" and "Default Machine Folder" to folders on the external, any subsequent VMs I create are stored on the external, right? The one problem I forsee is if the drive letter for the external is different than the locations I specified.

Or do I have to install VirtualBox on the external to make it work?

 

[jalaram]

If you don't need to keep the snapshots, I believe that Export Appliance should work.

Here's one idea

Another idea. Check the last post.

 

[tomt4535]

I don't know if it will work with virtualbox, but with VMware workstation or player, You can just copy the folder with all the virtual machine files to the external hard drive, then re open it. It asks if you copied it or moved it, and choose "I moved it" and it will turn right on.

 

[sciwizam]

Exporting the appliance worked without a hitch. Also pointed the HardDisk folder and Machine folder to folders in the external. No problems creating new VMs.

Performance noticeably improved in both Win7 and Ubuntu VMs, probably due to less I/O contention.