Types of Virtual Hard Disks:
Three types of VHD files can be created using the disk management tools:
• Fixed hard-disk image - A fixed hard-disk image is a file that is allocated to the size of the virtual disk. For example, if you create a virtual hard disk that is 2 gigabytes (GB) in size, the system will create a host file approximately 2 GB in size. Fixed hard-disk images are used for production servers and working with customer data.
• Dynamic hard-disk image - A dynamic hard-disk image is a file that is as large as the actual data written to it. As more data is written, the file dynamically increases in size. For example, the size of a file backing a virtual 2 GB hard disk is initially around 2 megabytes (MB) on the host file system. As data is written to this image, it grows with a maximum size of 2 GB. Dynamic hard-disk images are beneficial for development and testing environments. Dynamic VHD files are smaller, easier to copy, and expand after mounting.
• Differencing hard-disk image - A differencing hard-disk image describes a modification of a parent image. This type of hard-disk image is not independent, and it depends on another hard-disk image to be fully functional. The parent hard-disk image can be any of the above mentioned hard-disk image types, including another differencing hard-disk image.
Three types of VHD files can be created using the disk management tools:
• Fixed hard-disk image - A fixed hard-disk image is a file that is allocated to the size of the virtual disk. For example, if you create a virtual hard disk that is 2 gigabytes (GB) in size, the system will create a host file approximately 2 GB in size. Fixed hard-disk images are used for production servers and working with customer data.
• Dynamic hard-disk image - A dynamic hard-disk image is a file that is as large as the actual data written to it. As more data is written, the file dynamically increases in size. For example, the size of a file backing a virtual 2 GB hard disk is initially around 2 megabytes (MB) on the host file system. As data is written to this image, it grows with a maximum size of 2 GB. Dynamic hard-disk images are beneficial for development and testing environments. Dynamic VHD files are smaller, easier to copy, and expand after mounting.
• Differencing hard-disk image - A differencing hard-disk image describes a modification of a parent image. This type of hard-disk image is not independent, and it depends on another hard-disk image to be fully functional. The parent hard-disk image can be any of the above mentioned hard-disk image types, including another differencing hard-disk image.
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