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My host computer, running Windows 8.1, has an SSD drive.

I want to install Windows XP in a VMware machine, is it safe to place the machine files on the SSD? I have the fear that XP might not handle the underlying SSD correctly and does too many writes or other "abuses".

If yes, should I use special options when creating the VM to prevent this (connection type, reserve full size for the HDD (no dynamic expansion of the disk), etc.)?

I've heard XP does not have direct access to the HDD; more over a VMware driver which then handles the SSD correctly, but my source was not very trustworthy.

Does the same apply for a virtual Windows Vista machine since Vista also doesn't support TRIM out of the box?

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  • XP might not handle the underlying SSD correctly and does too many writes or other "abuses" - What does that mean? What is an abuse? The underlying hardware is completely obfuscated from the VM.
    – joeqwerty
    Mar 31, 2014 at 11:18
  • Typical abuse would be automatic defragmentation, or search indexing.
    – Ray
    Mar 31, 2014 at 14:49
  • How is that abuse exactly?
    – joeqwerty
    Mar 31, 2014 at 16:05
  • It is useless on SSDs and wears them out because of unrequired writing actions.
    – Ray
    Mar 31, 2014 at 17:36

1 Answer 1

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I'm now using XP since a longer time on my host with an SSD. As said in the comments above, VMware wraps the HDD access and lets it run over the hosts drivers as it seems, so the typical bookkeeping and optimization routines of your SSD are run.

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