Linux VMware image on USB 3.0 pendrive possible ?
 

Hi

I have a 5400 RPM HDD. So whenever i load CentOS in Virtual Machine in VMware it slows down the whole system and Disk Usage goes upto 100% many times.

So i thought, can i buy a USB 3.0 pendrive and load the vmware o.s image into it and than work through USB 3.0 ? Will it increase the overall booting speed and performance ?

I have 8GB RAM, core i7 ( 3rd generation ).

Moving the vm image to an external device will take the load off the system drive, but the performance for the vm will vary depending on the quality of the pen drive.

I intend to buy one of the fastest USB 3.0 pendrive available right now i.e Sandisk Extreme 3.0.

Read Speed is ~ 190 MB/s and Write Speed is ~140 MB/s.

Are they good enough to run the Linux Machines at very fast speed ? Because otherwise i have good processor and enough RAM.

It depends on how much I/O your vm performs, you'll have to test it.

I run a few flash drives in usb 3.0 directly and have run VM's on usb drives many times. You could see some gains if some conditions are true. I had one usb 3.0 that simply would not work in linux format any faster than a 2.x. I think it was a controller issue I never figured out.

Some slow internal drive may still be faster due to how it connects to the processor. In your case one part is being improved. That is access to the slow disk by adding a second route to the data.

You may have to watch out for swap or even format of the usb to improve speeds. Swap in the vm would cause more bottleneck in the usb pipe. In some cases you may need to test the flash drive with ext4, xfs and maybe ext2 (fat/ntfs) for your system.

oh, strange, i got a Sandisk Extreme 3.0, it's read speed in benchmarks online reaches 170-180 MB/s and write speed to 150 MB/s but in my computer ( Windows 8 ) , it reaches Read speed of only 39 MB/S. Any idea why ?

I don't know why it's causing such less speeds, i have core i7 ( 3rd gen) + 8GB RAM and 5400 RPM HDD. The USB is formatted @ NTFS. I get similar speeds in FAT32 also.

How do you test it?

first, i tried copying big files to pendrive from hdd and it gave around 35 MB/s. I was wondering, does that also depend on how much fast my HDD is, right ? Currently i have 5400 RPM HDD.

I also used other benchmark software like HD Tune etc which showed speed around 39 mb/s (read). Most benchmarks however shows it goes upto 170 mb/s read speed.

Next, i installed Ubuntu and made it LIVE USB and than tried copying files while loading Ubuntu ( Live ). At that time, files were getting copied at around 45-46 mb/s.

That test does reflect total system speed. Hard drives tend to be the weak spot.

I'd think your issue is more of a USB 3.0 issue. Try to install OpenSuse 12.3 on it. Be sure the USB 3.0 is enabled in bios and that you are connected to the blue usb port or ports.

oh, i have seen many tests online, please check the below image link

http://www.whoratesit.com/resources/...-Benchmark.png

It goes to massive 195 mb/s read speed.

I am not sure how come they get those massive read speed, is my configuration lacking somewhere, because i get 40 mb/s read !!

My config

core i7 ( 3rd generation ), 8GB RAM, 5400 RPM HDD.