VirtualBox Snapshots With Raw Disk Access

Several times I have used VirtualBox raw disk access. Raw disk access is a handy feature.

Unlike a virtual disk I did not know whether VirtualBox snapshots supported raw disk access. I never had a reason to use or test the idea.

I tested snapshots with raw disk access. I created a snapshot. I booted the VM. I created a dummy text file on the disk. I powered down the VM. I restored and deleted the snapshot. I booted. The dummy text file did not exist. That implied snapshots supported raw disk access.

More digging reveals that when a snapshot is created the VirtualBox software makes changes to the snapshot and not the original disk, whether virtual or raw disk. When a snapshot is restored the virtual or physical disk is restored to the original state. In hindsight then, there is no reason why snapshots should not support raw disk access.

Posted: May 22, 2021 Category: Usability Tagged: Virtual Machines

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