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greetingsEarth avatar Ubuntu

moving ubuntu + windows vmware from computer to external hard drive?

br flag
greetingsEarth

so basically ive been using ubuntu server and desktop + windows vmware on my mac for a few weeks now for school, but i've noticed that these two things have taken up a BUNCH of space on my computer. i'd like to move it to my hard drive so i can free up some space, but i'm not sure where to start. i've seen some options online on how to move them, but how do i know which is the easiest/least likely to screw me over?

i have a bunch of

thanks in advance (:

ps: i am dumb when it comes to computer stuff (very new to this whole thing!) so please make this as simple as possible lol

edit: yes, sorry for the confusion!! i am just as confused as u guys lol idk what im doing. so basically im taking a cyber security class, and we had to download MS-Edge-Win10 VMware Fusion (which is meant for mac, i think the windows one is called workspace?) + Ubuntu Server and Desktop v20.04.3, and i think? im running ubuntu in vmware. i have a 2019 macbook pro big sur 11.6. having the vm on my computer is taking up Way too much storage, so i'd like to move the virtual machine onto an external drive and run it off that!

edit 2: yes, so i wasnt able to figure it out through the way u told me, BUT i did just look up .vmdk through my files, and it's just in my downloads folder in a win10 vmware folder that also holds a .ovf and a .mf file also! additionally, i have a virtual machines folder under users that has all of the vmware + ubuntu bundles.

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Nmath avatar
ng flag
Nmath
I'm not certain what you are asking. Do you want to move your operating system to an external hard drive? That's not a very good plan unless you want your system to crawl. Generally you want your OS and software on the fastest drive. You can put everything else anywhere you want. Can you edit your question and include more details?
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ar flag
user68186
Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. You have to tell use a lot more. What OS and version is running on the Mac? How are you running Windows VMware in a Mac? Are running VMware inside Ubuntu or Ubuntu inside VMware? In which folder is Ubuntu stored by VMware? Add all these information in your question, using [edit question](https://askubuntu.com/posts/1365281/edit) option.
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ar flag
user68186
Can you find out where in your Mac VMWare stores the [virtual disks](https://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_disk_virtual.html) AKA vmdk files in your Mac? The Virtual Machine settings editor is the first place to look. Then update the question with this information.
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ar flag
user68186
The more I read it, it looks to me more like a Mac problem than an Ubuntu problem.
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Score:1
raj avatar Ubuntu
cn flag
raj

As @Nmath already said, virtual machine running off external drive will be sloooow.

But if you really want to try this (you can return to VMs stored on your internal drive without problems), then just find in your VMWare settings, where the virtual machines files are stored.

Shut down all your VMs, copy contents of the aforementioned folder to some folder on your external drive, and change the setting in VMWare pointing to the new folder. That's it. You can now try to boot your virtual machines and they should work.

If you are satisfied with the result, you can delete the original folder. If not, shut down your VMs again and point VMWare back to the original folder.

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greetingsEarth avatar
br flag
greetingsEarth
if i delete the original folder and decide that moving everything was a bad idea, i can just copy the copied folder and put it back in the original spot, right? and just repoint VMWare back to the moved folder?
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raj avatar
cn flag
raj
@bao Yes, of course you can do it. But as these files are usually large, I suggest not do delete original folder unitl you are satisfied with the result.
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