What's the difference between image formats?
What's the difference between image formats?
Could someone please explain to me the differences between VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD. I've been using the hdd format but honestly I don't know why. I just want to make sure I'm using the best possible one. Thanks in advance.
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michaln
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Re: What's the difference between image formats?
I'd say you already listed the formats in order of preference.
For regular use, the format should make little difference. However, things like resizing or asynchronous I/O are not supported on all formats. I won't give a detailed list because it changes all the time.
For regular use, the format should make little difference. However, things like resizing or asynchronous I/O are not supported on all formats. I won't give a detailed list because it changes all the time.
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mpack
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Re: What's the difference between image formats?
VDI is the VirtualBox native format. Anything you can do with VirtualBox, you can do it with VDI.
The other formats are the native formats of competing VM platforms, they are included to make it easier for you to switch allegiance to the VirtualBox camp.
I have to disagree with Michaln on one point: IMHO VHD is the least trustworthy format and in fact should not be used. VHD has an inherent design flaw which means that any any VBox crash, or things like running out of host disk space, can lose you the entire contents of the drive. It has a number of other bad design decisions which will cause reduced performance.
The other formats are the native formats of competing VM platforms, they are included to make it easier for you to switch allegiance to the VirtualBox camp.
I have to disagree with Michaln on one point: IMHO VHD is the least trustworthy format and in fact should not be used. VHD has an inherent design flaw which means that any any VBox crash, or things like running out of host disk space, can lose you the entire contents of the drive. It has a number of other bad design decisions which will cause reduced performance.