Specifications
CHAPTER 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
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7. The wizard creates the new virtual disk. It appears to your guest operating
system as a new, blank hard disk. Use the guest operating system’s tools to
partition and format the new drive.
Adding an Existing Virtual Disk from the Console
1. Open the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings) and click Add. The Add
Hardware Wizard guides you through the steps to create your virtual disk. Click
Next to start configuring the virtual disk.
2. Click Hard Disk, then click Next.
3. Select Use an existing virtual disk, then click Next.
4. Click Browse, then browse to the virtual disk (.vmdk) you want to use.
5. To associate the virtual disk with a specific device node, click Advanced and
select the device node in the Virtual device node list.
On the advanced settings screen, you can also specify a disk mode. This is useful
in certain special-purpose configurations in which you want to exclude disks
from the snapshot. For more information on the snapshot feature, see Taking
Snapshots on page 153. You can choose between a normal disk and an
independent disk.
Normal disks are included in snapshots. This is the default setting for a new disk.
Independent disks are not included in snapshots. If you select Independent, you
must further select one of the following modes:
• Persistent — changes are immediately and permanently written to the disk.
• Nonpersistent — changes to the disk are discarded when you power off or
revert to the snapshot.
When you have set the filename and location you want to use and have made
any selections you want to make on the advanced settings screen, click Finish.
The wizard adds the virtual disk to the virtual machine.