VM - run on SSD or Spinner?

Hello,

Have a laptop with both SSD and HDD and will be running at least a couple of VMs simultaneously most of the time.

Was wondering if for optimal performance - SSD life + Performance of VMs - should it matter if I run these VMs on SSD? or should I run them in Spinner with OS and VMWare running on SSD?

Thanks,

swarfega said:

While it might load quicker, once its running, the guest OS will see a generic storage device. So if you decide to run older versions of Windows, you will be constrained by its methods of handling hardware rather than the Host OS. So the further back you go with older versions of Windows, the less and less optimised for modern hardware they become.

Thanks for your response.

Host - Win-10 Pro
VMs - mix of Win-10 Pro and Win-7 Pro

So, did I understand correctly that Win-10 Pro VMs to be on SSD and Win-7 Pro VMs to be on HDD?

Cliff S said:

Here are a couple of videos I posted here in the forums already, on having VM's on an SSD.
I'm my case I have my VM's on another SSD than my C: drive, but you'll still get the idea.
First video is with my system seriously overclocked, the second, is using RAPID Mode(Samsung SSDs), so this might help your question of performance:.......

I have only ONE SSD and one HDD in the system.

With a Win-10 Pro Host and Win-7 Pro VMs and Win-10 Pro VMs, what would be recommended drive for VMs.

Thanks

The laptop I use to run a VM is using VirtualBox on a spinner... and it can be pretty slow at times, so I often find myself wishing that machine had an SSD.
I can't remember if VirtualBox has a configuration setting to tell the guest it's on a solid-state drive - I think it may do?

Cliff S said:

How can I put this....
Do you use your VM's more than your Host?
If yes, place them on the SSD, as they will boot faster and feel much snappier.
With Virtual Machines, a lot more is running in memory(RAM), then on a real PC, so if your VMs are on the SSD, you will also have a lot less latency, when it needs to read or write to, your VHD.

Yes, I use my VMs more than I use the host.

SSD - I have a 1TB SSD and 750GB HDD (I know, I know, many people have pulled my leg on this one since most people have larger HDDs and smaller SSDs :):)). But my 750GB HDD came from my old Win-7 laptop.

Thinking of which one to use - I have VMWare Workstation VMs and with Win-10 Pro having Hyper-V, was wondering if I should continue using VMWare or switch to Hyper-V for my existing VMs.
New VMs - which one should I use VMWare or Hyper-V?

Thanks for your response.

DavidY said:

The laptop I use to run a VM is using VirtualBox on a spinner... and it can be pretty slow at times, so I often find myself wishing that machine had an SSD.
I can't remember if VirtualBox has a configuration setting to tell the guest it's on a solid-state drive - I think it may do?

I always had performance issues with VB. Hence had moved to VMWare (of course free vs paid).

Does VMWare have a setting that can tell the guest that it is on a SSD?

Thanks,