Really basic new user questions

[markinspain]

Hi,

I have looked in the manual and on various sites and I am not much the wiser. I run Virtualbox on Windows 7 & 8 and the VMs are Windows 7. My (hopefully) simple questions are:

1. If I have my .vdi files on a drive that is not my host OS drive, what is better to use, another internal SATA II drive, USB3 SSD or an eSATA SSD?
2. How do I get my VMs to see other drives on my host and elsewhere in my network?
3. Whenever I try and activate USB 2 or 3 I get a message about and addon pack. I thought this was the CD image that provides the video and other drivers. Is there something else.
4. Finally what is the best way to share a VM between various machines? Am I OK to store the .vdi files on a network drive?

Apologies for the basic questions - I am just starting with Virtualbox and so far I think it is great, but I am sure that there is so much more I can do with it!

Mark

[mpack]

1. If I have my .vdi files on a drive that is not my host OS drive, what is better to use, another internal SATA II drive, USB3 SSD or an eSATA SSD?

The most important thing is to NOT locate VDI files outside the VM folder. If disk space bothers you then locate the entire VM on a second drive, not just bits of it. Beyond that, with removable drives there is usually a performance issue (cache not used effectively if drive is optimized for quick removal), and/or a reliability issue - it's all too easy to unplug the drive while the VM is still running. So I'd favor a second internal drive.

2. How do I get my VMs to see other drives on my host and elsewhere in my network?

On host drives: you don't. Virtual machines have virtual drives. The drives of another PC (e.g. your host) are not relevant. You can however access any host folder as a shared folder - but avoid the temptation to make entire drives visible to the guest OS as a shared folder. Access should be very limited. At least, not unless you want to share your credit card details with wider internet.
On network folders: the guest can access these the same way your host does - just give the VM access to that network.

3. Whenever I try and activate USB 2 or 3 I get a message about and addon pack. I thought this was the CD image that provides the video and other drivers. Is there something else.

There are addons for both host and guest. USB2/3 support is part of the host plugin pack, called the extension pack. This is a separate download from the same place you downloaded VirtualBox. The extension pack extends the features of the VirtualBox host software.
The Guest Additions are a separate feature entirely. These get installed into each guest, and generally make the guest work better with the host.

4. Finally what is the best way to share a VM between various machines? Am I OK to store the .vdi files on a network drive?

Generally speaking, you don't. And for some guests you won't be allowed to (e.g. Windows activation may fail when you start it on a different CPU). Besides which: in my experience running a VDI over a network link will be both unreliable and horrifically slow.

Final tip: don't use snapshots. Search for why.

[markinspain]

Thanks for the replies - I can see that I need to do some sorting and maybe dedicate an internal drive to VMs.