SSD config for new Dell T20 running VMs

easyrider · 11 Dec 2016 at 13:58

I'll install windows 10 on the T20 on a 256gb Samsung evo...This will have my DAW installed etc...

I'll use this as a Desktop PC in my studio...

I then want to create 2 x VM using Hyper V....one as a Plex server and the other as a download machine...

Is it better to install the VMs on a separate SSD than the OS ? Or shall I just use a single a 500gb SSD for host OS and VMs?

Server will have 20gb ram.

GDL · 11 Dec 2016 at 16:00

I'd use an SSD for the host.
SSD for VM OS disks
Mechanical for extra drives that the VM's need.

That way, if you ever need to rebuild the host, you can without faffing with the VMs.

easyrider · 11 Dec 2016 at 16:32

GDL said:
I'd use an SSD for the host.
SSD for VM OS disks
Mechanical for extra drives that the VM's need.

That way, if you ever need to rebuild the host, you can without faffing with the VMs.

Cheers...I take it I can't use USB 3 drives for storage for the download VM ?

GDL · 11 Dec 2016 at 17:23

easyrider said:
Cheers...I take it I can't use USB 3 drives for storage for the download VM ?

Don't see why not. Never done it myself thou.

Mujja · 12 Dec 2016 at 11:21

easyrider said:
Cheers...I take it I can't use USB 3 drives for storage for the download VM ?

USB HDD is OK, you need to offline the disk before you can add it to a VM in Hyper-V.

In Diskpart select the disk and "offline disk"

A USB stick won't work as Diskpart gives a "removable media" error and won't let you offline it.

easyrider · 12 Dec 2016 at 13:14

Mujja said:
USB HDD is OK, you need to offline the disk before you can add it to a VM in Hyper-V.

In Diskpart select the disk and "offline disk"

A USB stick won't work as Diskpart gives a "removable media" error and won't let you offline it.

Cheers for this...

I am a VM noob

Mujja · 12 Dec 2016 at 13:57

easyrider said:
Cheers for this...

I am a VM noob

No worries, post here if you need any advice. I use Hyper-V on home servers for exactly what you want to do.

I would keep the Plex server on the main host, might give you better performance for transcoding. If I was sharing the Plex server with remote users I might move it to a VM.

I run a couple of VMs for downloading and sharing with the downloading and extracting done in shared folders on the VM host. The VMs only need enough virtual disk space for the OS.

easyrider · 12 Dec 2016 at 14:17

I have created a VHDX file from my windows 10 download box....Is it a question of copying this to the sdd and pointing hyper v to it when I build my VM?

Mujja · 12 Dec 2016 at 14:23

Create a new VM and when asked to create a new disk browse to the VHD.

Mujja · 12 Dec 2016 at 14:25

Open a CMD prompt and type diskpart

Disk 4 is my USB HDD

Add a new HDD to the VM

Select the physical HDD as below. If the HDD isn't offline the option below will be greyed out.

D3K · 12 Dec 2016 at 14:27

An entire VM for plex? How many people are you serving/transcoding for?

easyrider · 12 Dec 2016 at 14:59

D3K said:
An entire VM for plex? How many people are you serving/transcoding for?

5

easyrider · 12 Dec 2016 at 16:53

Great post

Mujja said:
Open a CMD prompt and type diskpart

Disk 4 is my USB HDD

Add a new HDD to the VM

Select the physical HDD as below. If the HDD isn't offline the option below will be greyed out.

Thanks for your time for the great instructions mate

easyrider · 13 Dec 2016 at 21:28

Question.

Is there anyway I can use the internal SATA bus to copy a video file from the download box SSD VM to the Host drivepool disks ?

Mujja · 13 Dec 2016 at 22:12

Map a share from the host to the VM and copy the files from inside the VM to the mapped drive. I think this is what you mean.

easyrider · 13 Dec 2016 at 22:54

Mujja said:
Map a share from the host to the VM and copy the files from inside the VM to the mapped drive. I think this is what you mean.

Will this use SATA? Or will it use the virtual nic?

D3K · 13 Dec 2016 at 23:18

IT's the same situation as with the USB advice.

Hosts and VMs will not share disks.
If the SATA drive you've plugged in is online in the host, it cant be accessed by the VM. And vice versa.

However, as Mujja said, you can the map the folder containing the video to the VM. Then you dont have to muck around with onlining and offlining disks (which is a pita when you are bouncing between vms).

I (we) assume this is what you're asking, but you make it very difficult to understand with your excessive use of nouns to describe components.

easyrider · 14 Dec 2016 at 00:11

Yeah I mapped my drive from drivepool to the download box using to physical machines
So my transfer speeds were dependant on the lan.

What I am asking is if I map the drives from the host to the VM will the transfer speeds be lan or sata 3 ssd speeds as the Vm ssd is using the same sata controller as the host.

Or doesn't it work this way ?

D3K · 14 Dec 2016 at 00:21

I would imagine it's based off the max throughput of the whatever the physical connection is. Just because it's a virtual switch doesn't mean you need a virtual limit on bandwidth.

Mujja · 14 Dec 2016 at 10:05

So I tried what easyrider asked.

VM with VHD on Disk 1 connected to \\VMhost\share on Disk 2
Copied a 10GB WIM - average transfer speed over the virtual NIC 130MB/s

VM with VHD on Disk 1 + Disk 2 connected to VM as a physical HDD (offline on host)
Copied a 10GB WIM - average transfer speed over the virtual SCSCI controller 200MB/s

There is a speed improvement but is it enough to dedicate a whole disk to a VM?

* Disk 1 and Disk 2 are SSDs