virtualbox.org

Hey all,

So for my dissertation this year at University, I have been tasked to use openSource software on linux to run simulations. I managed to dual boot my laptop and it runs well .

Recently, I built a desktop PC on and I had to resort to using a virtual machine due to hardware incompatibility issues. On this virtual machine I run simulations my laptop can't handle. This generates a lot of data that I would like to have on an external hard drive to show to other people in the department more easily. However, when I go to transfer data from this virtual machine on to an external hard drive/USB it seems to corrupt it every single time and I need to format it. Just now I am having to upload it to the likes of dropbox and download it via my laptop (hardly a time efficient solution).

Does anyone have a suggested method of transferring data in this manner or has anyone encountered similar problems?

Since you don't tell us what you already tried, or what you mean by "corruption", it's hard to suggest alternatives.

For transferring data to and from a VM, USB drives can be added directly, or GA or standard shared folders can be used.

Thanks for the response

Sorry I should have said.

I have connected my hard drive and allowed the virtual machine to gain access to it. Then I just copy and paste the files over. When I disconnect and try and access the data from my laptop/windows/any machine I can't access it and have to reformat the drive.

Is their something that I am missing or could you expand how you would add USB drives directly?

I'm still finding your description somewhat vague, e.g. "connected my hard drive and allowed the virtual machine to gain access to it". Access how? Virtual machines as a rule do not have access to host drives, so depending on what you mean this could certainly be a cause of corruption.

I won't expand on the USB method since that isn't the method I'd recommend. I would recommend using a shared folder.

How did you format your external drive and what format is your linux virtual machine expecting?

rpmurray wrote:How did you format your external drive and what format is your linux virtual machine expecting?

Doesn't fit, AFAICS. If the drive was being directly connected to the guest then the OP would have to know if the guest recognized the filesystem. If he's using shared folders then the filesystem doesn't matter.