> I'm setting up a VPC (4.0) running XP SP2. I have a choice of either
> having all of the OS, etc. and my project files all on one very large VHD,
> or having the VPC set up so that the OS and program files are on one VHD
> and the project files are on another. I know that different people
> advocate different ways of doing things, but what I'm interested in is the
> performance aspect. If I'm running automated builds on this VPC, will the
> system be more likely to run faster with everything on one VHD, or if the
> project files are on a separate, second VHD? Is the difference (in favor
> of either one or two VHDs) likely to be significant or trivial?
>

> Colin,
>
> In the good old days we would install a ram vdrive to gain speed.
> Assuming
> that you had enough ram, will this work here?
>
> --
> Wesley
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> Just making a second vhd in not enough. As in a real computer hard
>> drives
>> need to be on separate spindles on separate controllers to run
>> asychroniously. If you put the vhd files on host drives that read/write
>> asynchroniously you will achieve the effect.
>>
>> "Mickey Ferguson" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> > I'm setting up a VPC (4.0) running XP SP2. I have a choice of either
>> > having all of the OS, etc. and my project files all on one very large
>> > VHD,
>> > or having the VPC set up so that the OS and program files are on one
>> > VHD
>> > and the project files are on another. I know that different people
>> > advocate different ways of doing things, but what I'm interested in is
>> > the
>> > performance aspect. If I'm running automated builds on this VPC, will
>> > the
>> > system be more likely to run faster with everything on one VHD, or if
>> > the
>> > project files are on a separate, second VHD? Is the difference (in
>> > favor
>> > of either one or two VHDs) likely to be significant or trivial?
>> >
>>

>Well, my *.vhd is about 512 mb and I have 2 gb of ram on the host. Am I
>missing something obvious?

>The contents of the ram vdrive are backed to the physical drive from time to
>time and prior to shut down. When the system is turned on, the vhd is
>restored to the ram vdrive.
>
>I stopped doing this when the drives speeds increased and hardware caches
>came into use. My VPC OS is Win98 on a 1/2GB vhd, I wonder how long it would
>take to backup and restore? Of course, all this effort may not be worth it as
>the cost of a external CMOS ram drive may be cost effective.

> The simplest and cheapest way to do it is to get an external USB or
> Firewire hard drive and run your VMs from there.
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
> http://vpc.essjae.com/
> I do not work for Microsoft.