VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

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Adding Existing Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine

Virtual disks are stored as files on the host computer or on a network file server, so it does not matter whether the disk that holds the files is IDE or SCSI. A virtual IDE drive can be stored on an IDE drive or on a SCSI drive. So can a virtual SCSI drive.

Use the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor) to add an existing virtual disk to your virtual machine. The virtual machine should be powered off before you begin. If it is not, shut down the guest operating system normally, then click Power Off on the console toolbar.

Windows Host

Note: If you have a Windows NT 4.0 guest with a SCSI virtual disk, you cannot add both an additional SCSI disk and an IDE disk to the configuration.

With the virtual machine powered off, open the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor) and click Add. The Add Hardware Wizard guides you through the steps to create your virtual disk.
Click Hard Disk, then click Next.
Select Use an Existing Virtual Disk, then click Next.
In the Existing disk file field, type the path to the virtual disk, or click Browse and navigate to the directory containing the disk you want to use. Click Next.
Choose the disk mode. Select Persistent, Undoable or Nonpersistent, then click Next.
If you selected a SCSI disk, click Advanced and be sure the virtual device node is set to an available SCSI node.
Note: To use SCSI disks in a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP virtual machine, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP.
When you have set the filename and location you want to use and made any selections you want to make on the Select a Device Node screen, click Finish.
If the virtual disk files are stored on a network file server, you can improve performance of the virtual disk in undoable mode by setting its redo log to a location on the host computer. You can make this setting on the Options tab of the Configuration Editor.

Linux Host

With the virtual machine powered off, open the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor). If you want to add a SCSI virtual disk, click the + sign beside SCSI Devices. If you want to add an IDE virtual disk, click the + sign beside IDE Drives.
Note: All virtual machines can use IDE virtual disks. SCSI virtual disks can be used with guest operating systems that have drivers for the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter used in the virtual machine. To use SCSI disks in a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 virtual machine, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at
www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
Click a device that is shown as Not Installed.
Use the default device type of Virtual Disk.
Keep the default mode of Persistent or use the drop-down list to change the setting to Undoable or Nonpersistent.
Click Choose to navigate to the directory containing the disk you want to use.
If you want to disable write caching on this disk, select Disable write caching.
When write caching is enabled, there is a delay between the time a program saves data and the time that data is actually written to disk. This improves performance. But the delay in writing data to disk adds some risk of data loss. Thus if data integrity is more important than performance, you may want to disable write caching.
Click Install to add the virtual disk to your virtual machine.
Click OK to save the configuration and close the Configuration Editor.
If the virtual disk files are stored on a network file server, you can improve performance of the virtual disk by setting the redo log directory to a location on the host computer. You can make this setting in the Misc panel of the Configuration Editor.

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