Chapter 5. Storing Data in VirtualBox

By now you've probably figured out that everything on VirtualBox has to include the 'virtual' word, right? And storage media isn't the exception, no siree! In this chapter, I'm going to teach you some useful information about using virtual disk images and three of the most popular formats used with virtualization software like VirtualBox.

In this chapter you shall:

• Learn how VirtualBox uses 'virtual' hard disks so virtual machines can see them as if they were real

• Learn how VirtualBox uses the VDI format for all the new virtual machines created and how it can read the VMDK format used by other virtualization products (like VMware) and the VHD format used by Microsoft

• Learn how to clone hard disks using the Virtual Media Manager

• See the difference between using fixed and dynamically expanding hard drive images when creating a virtual machine

• Learn what hard disk controller to choose when creating a virtual machine, depending on the guest operating system...