| 1 | <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
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| 3 | <topic xml:lang="en-us" id="create-vm-wizard-virtual-hard-disk">
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| 4 | <title>Specify a Virtual Hard Disk</title>
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| 5 |
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| 6 | <body>
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| 7 | <p>There are many ways in which <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> can
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| 8 | provide hard disk space to a VM, see <xref href="storage.dita#storage"/>. </p>
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| 9 | <p>The most common way is to use a virtual hard disk. This is a large image file on your
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| 10 | physical hard disk, whose contents <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
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| 11 | presents to your VM as if it were a complete hard disk. You can copy this file to another
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| 12 | host, and use it with another <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> VM. </p>
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| 13 | <p>To prevent your physical hard disk on the host OS from filling up, <ph
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| 14 | conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> limits the size of the image file. But the
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| 15 | image file must be large enough to hold the contents of the guest OS and the applications you
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| 16 | want to install. For a Windows or Linux guest, you will probably need several gigabytes for
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| 17 | any serious use. The size limit of the image file can be changed later, see <xref
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| 18 | href="vboxmanage-modifymedium.dita"/>. </p>
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| 19 | <p>
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| 20 | <note id="note_vc4_gjs_pbc">
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| 21 | <p>If you choose <b outputclass="bold">Do Not Add a Virtual Hard Disk</b> at this stage you
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| 22 | will need to attach a hard disk using VirtualBox Manager or VBoxManage commands before you
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| 23 | can install a guest operating system. </p>
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| 24 | </note>
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| 25 | </p>
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| 26 | <section id="section_wql_21r_pbc">
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| 27 | <title>Create a Virtual Hard Disk</title>
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| 28 | </section>
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| 29 | <p>Follow these steps to create a virtual hard disk to use with this VM. To prevent your
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| 30 | physical hard disk on the host OS from filling up, <ph
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| 31 | conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> limits the size of the image file. But the
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| 32 | image file must be large enough to hold the contents of the guest OS and the applications you
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| 33 | want to install. For a Windows or Linux guest, you will probably need several gigabytes for
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| 34 | any serious use. The limit of the image file size can be changed later, see <xref
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| 35 | href="vboxmanage-modifymedium.dita"/>. <ol id="ol_z2h_q5q_pbc">
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| 36 | <li>
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| 37 | <p>Select <b outputclass="bold">Create a Virtual Hard Disk Now</b>. This creates a new
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| 38 | empty virtual hard disk image, located in the VM's machine folder. </p>
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| 39 | </li>
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| 40 | <li>
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| 41 | <p> Enter the following settings: </p>
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| 42 | <ul id="ul_i3n_y1r_pbc">
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| 43 | <li>
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| 44 | <p><b outputclass="bold">Disk Size</b>. Use the slider to select a maximum size for
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| 45 | the hard disk in the new VM. </p>
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| 46 | </li>
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| 47 | <li>
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| 48 | <p><b outputclass="bold">Pre-Allocate Full Size.</b> This setting determines the type
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| 49 | of image file used for the disk image. Select this setting to use a <i>fixed-size
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| 50 | file</i> for the disk image. Otherwise, <ph
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| 51 | conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> will use a <i>dynamically
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| 52 | allocated file</i> for the disk image. </p>
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| 53 | <p>The different types of image file behave as follows: </p>
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| 54 | <ul id="ul_j3n_y1r_pbc">
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| 55 | <li>
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| 56 | <p><b outputclass="bold">Dynamically allocated file.</b> This type of image file
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| 57 | only grows in size when the guest actually stores data on its virtual hard disk.
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| 58 | Therefore, this file is small initially. As the drive is filled with data, the
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| 59 | file grows to the specified size. </p>
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| 60 | </li>
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| 61 | <li>
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| 62 | <p><b outputclass="bold">Fixed-size file.</b> This type of image file immediately
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| 63 | occupies the file specified, even if only a fraction of that virtual hard disk
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| 64 | space is actually in use. While occupying much more space, a fixed-size file
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| 65 | incurs less overhead and is therefore slightly faster than a dynamically
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| 66 | allocated file. </p>
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| 67 | </li>
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| 68 | </ul>
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| 69 | <p> For more details about the differences, see <xref
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| 70 | href="vdidetails.dita#vdidetails"/>. </p>
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| 71 | </li>
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| 72 | </ul>
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| 73 | </li>
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| 74 | </ol></p>
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| 75 | <section id="section_bdq_h1r_pbc">
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| 76 | <title>Use an Existing Virtual Hard Disk</title>
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| 77 | </section>
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| 78 | <p>Follow these steps to use a virtual hard disk that already exists on the host. Ensure the
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| 79 | image file is in a suitable location (usually the machine folder) and not in use by other
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| 80 | VMs.<ol id="ol_txk_str_pbc">
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| 81 | <li>
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| 82 | <p>Select <b outputclass="bold">Use an Existing Virtual Hard Disk File</b>
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| 83 | </p>
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| 84 | </li>
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| 85 | <li>
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| 86 | <p>Select the image file to use with the new VM, and then click <b outputclass="bold"
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| 87 | >Add</b>. </p>
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| 88 | </li>
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| 89 | </ol></p>
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| 90 | <p> </p>
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| 91 | </body>
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| 92 |
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| 93 | </topic>
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