Virtual HardDisk size limit with XP guest?

[ctaranto]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 64 bit with VirtualBox 2.1.4 (fresh install of VB).

I created a HardDisk in Virtual Media Manager on a volume that has 300+ GB free. I sized it at 200GB and to dynamically grow.

I created an XP (32bit) machine using the disk above. When the XP installer gets to the partitioning screen, it states that my disk is 131070 MB, and I can create a 131069 MB partition. I changed the disk to 250GB and got the same result from XP.

Is there a limit to the size of the boot disk for XP? I looked around and didn't see this stated...

Thanks,

-Craig

[TerryE]

The only effective limit is the free space on the underlying host OS disk. However, in general, my recommended best practice is to use a dynamic VDI with the disk sized to the maximum that you will likely need, but only allocate partitions what you plan to use in the immediate future, plus say 50%. So 10Gb should be adequate for straight forward XP guests. I explain why in my my tutorial All about VDIs.

[ctaranto]

Thanks for the response, Terry. I've read the All about VDIs Tutorial (printed it out and sitting next to me). Very informative, and I agree with your statements.

This VM is going to be use for Adobe Lightroom/photo editing. I'm going to be importing ~100GB of photos into the VM, and will be adding more as I take them. That's why I wanted a 200GB VM.

The volume I'm mounting it on is a 400GB SATA drive, and has ~340GB free. I don't understand why the XP installer is only reporting 131070MB for the volume.

Ubuntu and VB are 64 bit. XP install is 32 bit (not that this has anything to do with the issue).

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

-Craig

[Sasquatch]

You're using Xp without any Service Pack in it. That is limited to a drive of max 128 GB. Please intergrate a service pack. Pick a Windows computer, get the install files on your hard drive (remove the read-only flags on the files too), download SP3 and slipstream it into your Xp install files. You can use nLite to do the work for you.

[ctaranto]

Sweet. Much appreciated!

-Craig

[TerryE]

This VM is going to be use for Adobe Lightroom/photo editing. I'm going to be importing ~100GB of photos into the VM, and will be adding more as I take them. That's why I wanted a 200GB VM.

In this case Craig, I would create my XP VM with two or even three VDIs: one for the system image, one dedicated to your Adobe images and optionally one dedicated to your Documents and Settings accounts. (See http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 4036#54036 for instructions on how to do this). Separating out the types of this data just makes managing your configuration so much easier: The system image is quasi-static (once setup); it can be backed up and forgotten. Your D&S data needs to be protected by regular backup. Your Adobe volume is just that and by using my loopmount utility (search for vdfuse) you can even access it directly from your host when you VM isn't running.

[ctaranto]

Thanks for the suggestion, Terry. I ended up keeping all my images on an ext3 volume, and using a permanent shared folder to access them from the VM. Works great, and my backup script (which syncs the images with another PC) didn't need to be modified.

-Craig