Using a Virtual Machine to Make Myself Crash Proof

radderfire · 1 Oct 2014 at 13:23

Hi Guys

I am a web developer and use all the usually stuff, Dreamweaver, graphic design programmes, photo editing, Office, e-mail etc. Is there software good enough to create a virtual machine and run all of these stuff inside it, with the same (or pretty near the same) performance levels as if I was just using the OS normally. I want to make my work environment crash proof and easy to transfer to a new computer. If I could use a virtual machine, this would be ideal, because I could then just save everything in it and if necessary port my whole software setup to a new machine instantly.

If it is possible:
- What software should I use.

- What hardware do I need to make sure everything will run smoothly and I have enough space to save everything.

- Can I use a multi-monitor setup with a virtual machine too?

Thanks for any help, however brief.

TheVoice · 1 Oct 2014 at 13:41

How is this crash-proof? A VM OS/application can still crash.

This won't work the way you want it to; it sounds like you need a proper back-up solution for your work as opposed to inventing an elaborate method of working just in case something goes wrong.

Varsh · 1 Oct 2014 at 14:08

TheVoice said:
it sounds like you need a proper back-up solution for your work.

Exactly. I used to think much like needing a virtual machine to keep things "safe" when I was quite a bit younger but not long after realised what a silly mistake that would have been. You best solution is to grab yourself a NAS which is what I have done. NAS's might cost you the earth but it has been the one saving grace I have had on multiple occasions.

Do your work on your PC and either save it directly on your NAS or run a CRON job to have you NAS sync your PC files to your NAS at a certain time each day.

Trust me when I say this but once you try a NAS you will never not want to have one.

Trifid · 1 Oct 2014 at 14:46

I essentially do this to sandbox applications and ensure a lightweight OS.

I use VMware Workstation
For best performance have the VM saved to your SSD and not a mechanical drive. I have 48GB of RAM installed to ensure I never get close to running out but just add up all the VMs you need to run and the amount of RAM assigned to them. Don't forget your host OS.

I use Unity mode which has the applications in their own window. I can also pin these applications to the start bar and clicking them will automatically launch the VM.

radderfire · 1 Oct 2014 at 15:23

Trifid:

Can I get as good performance operating within a VM as without?

Can I use a multiple display setup along with operating in a VM?

How much hard drive space would I need to save a VM? Is it worth using multiple hard drives?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Stelly · 1 Oct 2014 at 15:45

radderfire said:
Trifid:

Can I get as good performance operating within a VM as without?

Can I use a multiple display setup along with operating in a VM?

How much hard drive space would I need to save a VM? Is it worth using multiple hard drives?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

You can get good performance using a VM.

Yes I use HyperV with an internal network card to use RDP and then get RDP to use both screens.

Yes I would have multiple hard drives and use Macrium Reflect to backup your VMs.

Stelly

radderfire · 1 Oct 2014 at 16:41

Thanks for your reply Stelly.

So, you're saying I can set up a virtual work environment, in which I could have my OS and all my Office and Web Design stuff, maybe even video editing, and it would all work to a high performance?

I want to do this so that the day my laptop gives up the ghost or I get some kind of software issue, I can just effortlessly recreate my environment, so you're saying that should be possible?

If I was buying a laptop to do this, what hardware features should I go for? How many drives and what size?

Does it get really complicated and am I going to have trouble configuring multiple displays?

If yes to the above, would I be better off just looking at a cloud type setup instead, where I do a lot of my work on cloud services? (Which would make it easy to keep going if my laptop developed a hardware fault as I could just swap to a new one?)

Many thanks

Confused · 1 Oct 2014 at 16:53

We use VMs for our development environment - after installing Delphi and a number of 3rd party components that we use - having it all in a VM makes it so much easier to work with.

It can be shared between the team (ensuring we all have the exact same versions of components installed, and each user then just needs to set it up with their individual licence keys), backed up and easily restored should there be an issue (say when updating a component), as well as ensuring the exact same environment is available on any computer you may need to run it on.

Of course - you still need to ensure that you have a suitable solution set up for actually backing up your work - but there are plenty of solutions, including a number of version control systems, for example.

Trifid · 1 Oct 2014 at 19:47

radderfire said:
Trifid:

Can I get as good performance operating within a VM as without?
Yes, I sometimes do photo editing in a VM
Can I use a multiple display setup along with operating in a VM?
Yes, can appear completely transparent, like so: http://i.imgur.com/TzlmivO.jpg
How much hard drive space would I need to save a VM? Is it worth using multiple hard drives?
I over subscribe my storage space and have windows 7+ VMs on a single 256GB SSD
Thanks for all the replies so far.

Also, snapshot is the most awesome feature ever.

radderfire · 1 Oct 2014 at 22:01

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.

TheVoice · 2 Oct 2014 at 01:31

radderfire said:
If yes to the above, would I be better off just looking at a cloud type setup instead, where I do a lot of my work on cloud services? (Which would make it easy to keep going if my laptop developed a hardware fault as I could just swap to a new one?)

Many thanks

This is going to be the easier and cheaper (i.e. probably free) solution really. It doesn't sound like you're doing anything hugely demanding (in terms of hardware or software) or mission-critical really so it seems like total overkill going down the VM route when you could just as easily be up and working after a system crash/hardware failure by using internet-based services and some lightweight apps.

Stelly · 2 Oct 2014 at 08:32

radderfire said:
Thanks for your reply Stelly.

So, you're saying I can set up a virtual work environment, in which I could have my OS and all my Office and Web Design stuff, maybe even video editing, and it would all work to a high performance?

I want to do this so that the day my laptop gives up the ghost or I get some kind of software issue, I can just effortlessly recreate my environment, so you're saying that should be possible?

If I was buying a laptop to do this, what hardware features should I go for? How many drives and what size?

Does it get really complicated and am I going to have trouble configuring multiple displays?

If yes to the above, would I be better off just looking at a cloud type setup instead, where I do a lot of my work on cloud services? (Which would make it easy to keep going if my laptop developed a hardware fault as I could just swap to a new one?)

Many thanks

Yes basically I have a virtual network which is accessible only on the laptop (internal network in HyperV) then I use RDP between the host and the VM to work and use snapshots if I want to do anything like install stuff at least then I can rollback if needed.

I have an XPS15 which I have, erm, changed it now has a bigger mSATA and a 1Tb HDD in it. I have all of the data on the HDD and the VM OS and host OS on the mSATA with an external backup.

With regards to multiple display all I did was tell the RDP connector to use multiple monitors without any issues.

Stelly