New HDD for VMWare Virtual Machines??

[KingLouie3]

Chaps,

I need some advice about whether or not I need to buy a new HDD.
Currently, I have 200GB of disk space for various virtual machine environments.

My current disk setup is as follows:

C: Vista x64 Business on 74GB WD Raptor
F: WD 500GB AAKS - OS isos, software, documents and virtual machines
S: WD 500GB AAKS - backups, music and media.

Options:

1. Split the F: drive into 2 partitions, one holding the virtual machines and the other for OS isos, software and documents.

2. Bin the Raptor and get a 320GB HDD, and split it for the OS and virtual machine partitions.

3. Buy a new HDD and transfer the virtual machines onto the new drive.

Thanks for the help!

[EvilMunky]

I would buy a new disk and stuff the OS isos, software, documents on a new drive as that way you dont need to mess around with the virtual machines. Although doesnt VMware have quite customisable disk management letting you specifiy where the file should be?

[arthurleung]

For optimal performance of your VM, I would say you should run in a ratio of
C:F:S
0:1:1 <-2 VMs
1:1:1 <-3 VMs
0:2:2 <-4 VMs
1:2:2 <-5 VMs

i.e. Spread it as wide as possible. If you putting them all in one harddrive, if one VM start stressing harddrive, other VMs will be slowed down significantly.

If you have 3 or more VMs, adding harddrives will definitely help.
Also make sure the VM parition is in the first part of the hard drive as that would be faster.
If you VM is like 25GB in size, make a 27GB partition for it and don't put any other file in that partition.