How to access a harddrive on the host?

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
Post Reply
lowspeed
Posts: 6
Joined: 2. May 2011, 20:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by lowspeed »

I'm trying to load an acronis image on a fresh virtual machine and i can't figure out how to access the acronis .tib file from an existing (non system) hard drive on the host machine. I'm able to get it to read it off a USB external drive, but it's too slow, i'm getting like 4mB/sec transfer (at 60gb to restore it will take a long long time)


Would appreciate suggestions.


Thanks!
Martin
Volunteer
Posts: 2562
Joined: 30. May 2007, 18:05
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: XP, Win7, Win10, Linux, OS/2

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by Martin »

Create a network share on the host for the tib file and connect there from the guest.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by mpack »

lowspeed
Posts: 6
Joined: 2. May 2011, 20:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by lowspeed »

boy unless you have 1gbit network a share could be too slow too.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by mpack »

lowspeed wrote:boy unless you have 1gbit network a share could be too slow too.
The share uses a virtual network connection between host and guest. Virtual NICs have no meaningful bandwidth limitations.
lowspeed
Posts: 6
Joined: 2. May 2011, 20:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by lowspeed »

mpack wrote:
lowspeed wrote:boy unless you have 1gbit network a share could be too slow too.
The share uses a virtual network connection between host and guest. Virtual NICs have no meaningful bandwidth limitations.
Ah ! good to know! I'll test it out!
lowspeed
Posts: 6
Joined: 2. May 2011, 20:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by lowspeed »

I gave it a try and the speeds i'm getting hover around the 5.5 MB/Sec. Slow slow slow. :-\

Why so slow?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by mpack »

Make sure you are using a proper network share, not VirtualBox shared folders. The latter are not built for speed.

If your have the .tib on an internal hard drive, and that drive's performance is typical then you should get way more than 5MB/s. However 60GB is a big file and you'll just have to get used to the fact that it's gonna take a while... I must admit however that I'm astonished that an Acronis disk image is that size. You did mean that the .tib file is that size didn't you? You didn't just mean that it's an image of a 60GB drive. Typically (though you can override it) Acronis images include only the used parts of the disk, and the remainder is compressed to reduce the tib file size.
lowspeed
Posts: 6
Joined: 2. May 2011, 20:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

Re: How to access a harddrive on the host?

Post by lowspeed »

This gives me even slower speeds:

Image


Am i using the wrong network adapter settings?
Post Reply