Laptops + Virtual Servers

[Sysman]

Do any VM hosts allow you to use RAM as a virtual disk?

First hit on Google (search phrase "pc disk in ram" - plain "ramdisk" might get you further)

A free trial is available. I might give that a whirl myself.

[MrRobin]

Hmmm, if disk performance is a bottleneck, try slapping one of these babys in yer rig:

HEXUS.net - News :: LSI announces astoundingly fast PCIe SSD : Page - 1/1

[Spacecadet]

Right, I've got the hard drive in optical bay enclosure ordered, it should be here before christmas.
If I remember I'll reply and let you know how I got on!

[Sysman]

First hit on Google (search phrase "pc disk in ram" - plain "ramdisk" might get you further)

A free trial is available. I might give that a whirl myself.

Update: I got that working and plonked a VirtualBox disk with Ubuntu Server on it. Once you've got it set up as you like You can indeed change it so that it doesn't write changes back to the disk image.

It will also nip in at system startup, grab the memory it requires and load the contents into the RAM disk. Hmm yes - where has my memory gone?

I did find a free version out there, but the only sites I found offering it looked dodgy, so I didn't pursue that.

[DS23]

Right, I've got the hard drive in optical bay enclosure ordered, it should be here before christmas.
If I remember I'll reply and let you know how I got on!

any news on how this went spacecadet?

[Sysman]

Be careful if you use your laptop on battery much - then you need to consider whether the Quad core processor is going to reduce battery life.

A former colleague has just spotted someone with an 8 core laptop in the office. Apparently the power brick for "this behemoth" is "huge". It probably weights a ton.

[Spacecadet]

any news on how this went spacecadet?

Unfortunately between starting Uni and work I've not had a huge amount of time.

What I've found so far is that it still needs a bit of tweaking - there appears to be a rather bad conflict between the VM setup (Windows Server 2003) and my graphics card. End result, the display locks up
Although I only seem to have seen this when trying to remote desktop on to the VM rather than just using the VMware console session.

At the moment I'm running the windows updates, only 69 of them! My laptop is still usable and the VM is just chugging its way through the install process

I've still got to get SQL Server installed and tested a job for this weekend maybe!

[DS23]

thanks sc good luck.

i should be able to answer your initial question soon. a maxed out macpro is due to land shortly. <rubs hands with glee>

[css_jay99]

thanks sc good luck.

i should be able to answer your initial question soon. a maxed out macpro is due to land shortly. <rubs hands with glee>

wait for sandybridge (.... well after the fix.....).

[DS23]

wait for sandybridge (.... well after the fix.....).

nope. too late. it arrives today. i can't be waiting for the next gen (there's always another next gen) i need the best available power now.