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sawyerjoe
Contributor
Contributor

Non-stop hard drive activity - even when guest shut down

Problem first, information after.

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Host: Suse 10.2 / 2.6.18.8-0.5-default

Guest: XP Pro, allotted 75GB disk, not pre-allocated.

VMWare version: 5.5.4 build-44386

i'm having trouble with excessive disk activity. i've read some other threads about this, but none really match my issue. After letting Guest run for a while, hard drive starts going nuts. i've defragged the VM disk file and the guest OS. Nothing fixes it.

Odd part: even after shutting down the Guest and leaving VMWare running, disk activity does not stop. Shutting down VMWare does finally stop the disk activity, but once I restart the Guest, it starts all over again (after an undetermined delay, of course).

Using a single-SATA hard drive, P4 and 1GB memory. Doesn't seem particular to the version of either VMWare or the kernel, so I've tried different RAM & HDD settings for the Guest config to no avail (settings reflected in the vmx file below are just the most recent attempt). Not typically running a lot of disk-intensive programs, either (host or guest).

Any ideas?

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Log available, but not sure what would apply to keep this help request concise.

VMX file:

\----


#!/usr/bin/vmware

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

memsize = "256"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional-000002.vmdk"

ide0:0.writeThrough = "TRUE"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.fileName = "/dev/hda"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"

floppy0.fileName = "/dev/fd0"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

usb.present = "TRUE"

sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

displayName = "Windows XP Professional"

guestOS = "winxppro"

nvram = "Windows XP Professional.nvram"

floppy0.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:0.present = "FALSE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional-0.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "rawDisk"

ide0:0.redo = ""

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

uuid.location = "56 4d 9c 87 4f 5f 75 37-70 47 f8 2b f7 03 cc 61"

uuid.bios = "56 4d 9c 87 4f 5f 75 37-70 47 f8 2b f7 03 cc 61"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:03:cc:61"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

tools.syncTime = "TRUE"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.enabled = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.writeAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder0.hostPath = "/home/joe/vmwaredocs"

sharedFolder0.guestName = "Documents"

sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"

sharedFolder.maxNum = "1"

sharedFolder1.present = "FALSE"

sharedFolder1.enabled = "TRUE"

sharedFolder1.readAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder1.writeAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder1.hostPath = "/home/joe/docs"

sharedFolder1.guestName = "Docs"

sharedFolder1.expiration = "never"

usb.generic.autoconnect = "TRUE"

fileSearchPath = "/home/joe/vmware/Windows XP Professional;."

gui.exitAtPowerOff = "TRUE"

gui.powerOnAtStartup = "TRUE"

powerType.powerOff = "soft"

powerType.reset = "soft"

usb.autoConnect.device0 = "path:3/1 autoclean:1"

usb.autoConnect.device1 = "path:2/1 autoclean:1"

usb.autoConnect.device2 = ""

sound.startConnected = "FALSE"

gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "FALSE"

tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"

disable_acceleration = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "0"

snapshot.disabled = "TRUE"

monitor_control.log_vmsample = "FALSE"

ide0:0.mode = "independent-persistent"

\----


End VMX file

Guest OS Directory listing:

\----


-rw------- 1 joe users 1176240128 2007-09-04 10:06 Windows XP Professional-000002.vmdk.dfgshkgrw-tmp

-rw------- 1 joe root 47223930880 2007-09-04 10:04 Windows XP Professional.vmdk

-rw------- 1 joe root 5060755456 2007-09-04 10:04 Windows XP Professional-000001.vmdk

-rw------- 1 joe root 37673172992 2007-09-04 10:04 Windows XP Professional-000002.vmdk

-rrr-- 1 joe users 11 2007-09-04 10:04 Windows XP Professional-000002.vmdk.WRITELOCK

-rrr-- 1 joe users 11 2007-09-04 10:04 Windows XP Professional.vmsd.READLOCK

-rrr-- 1 joe users 11 2007-09-04 09:59 Windows XP Professional.vmx.WRITELOCK

-rw------- 1 joe root 2205 2007-09-04 09:28 Windows XP Professional.vmx

-rw-rr 1 joe users 42818 2007-09-04 09:25 vmware.log

-rw------- 1 joe root 8664 2007-09-04 09:25 Windows XP Professional.nvram

-rw-rr 1 joe users 31378 2007-08-30 08:02 vmware-0.log

-rw-rr 1 joe users 30235 2007-08-27 11:12 vmware-1.log

-rw-rr 1 joe users 31520 2007-08-24 11:01 vmware-2.log

-rw------- 1 joe root 1438 2007-06-22 09:30 Windows XP Professional.vmsd

-rw------- 1 joe root 64512 2006-07-26 17:09 Windows XP Professional-0-pt.vmdk

-rw------- 1 joe root 619 2006-07-26 17:09 Windows XP Professional-0.vmdk

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4 Replies
continuum
Immortal
Immortal

The defrag call still seems to be active

-rw------- 1 joe users 1176240128 2007-09-04 10:06 Windows XP Professional-000002.vmdk.dfgshkgrw-tmp

This would explain the high disk-activity


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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sawyerjoe
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry about the confusion, but i was defragging while i created this request. The problem i've described happens any time i run VMWare after the guest OS has been running a while (we're talking a couple hours of typical use, nothing heavy-duty).

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Liz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Are you using the ability to decide wether or not to roll back your disks with redo logs? it looks like it, this would explain the heavy activity, even after shutdown, as it tidies up after itself.

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sawyerjoe
Contributor
Contributor

i'm not aware of using any feature like that. Is that related to snapshots? Where/How would i change that to see if that's the problem?

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