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I wonder if I'm reducing the life of (or harming in another way) the components of the PC? What if the PC is shared? Other than hard drive space, it should not harm any other operation of the computer, right?

I'm asking for installing a shared 64 bit Windows 7 and VirtualBox.

Thanks,

Edit:

I don't mean during the use. Of course it will share some of the memory and probably load the CPU more and fill the hard drive, but I'm wondering if I'm giving it permanent damage, like one that reduces its life, make it slower etc. even after formatting the PC?

It is kind of an ethical question for me; I will setup a virtual machine and I'm planning to do it on a shared remote computer, so I wonder if by doing so I'm making it less usable for the future users. Also if I choose my personal computer the same question remains, so I might choose to find a solution that doesn't require a VM.

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  • It depends on your definition of "Harm". If "no harm" means "I can continue to use my computer exactly as I am now + run a VM at the same time and I will see 0 performance drop in my non VM activies" then the answer is "Running a VM will harm your system because you will see a performance drop in non VM activites while the VM is running". Please elaborate by editing your question what you mean by "Harm"
    – Scott Chamberlain
    Nov 18, 2015 at 22:53
  • @ScottChamberlain: Thanks , I will edit the question accordingly. I meant in long term, like a permanent damage even after formatting the hard drive. I'm actually borrowing a computer in my school's lab, so I wonder if I'm ruining the computer (faster than usual :)) for other people in the future.
    – jeff
    Nov 18, 2015 at 23:23

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A VM application from the standpoint of the hardware is like any other application installed on the same computer. It will incrementally wear the computer's components directly proportional to its use.

A virtual machine guest operating system when it is not in use from the standpoint of the host operating system is like any other group of files stored on the same computer. It occupies disk space directly proportional to its size.

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  • Thanks. That's what I wanted to know. So as long as it is not used, and the virtual machine files are removed, there is no harm to the PC? Maybe because of creating and removing big files frequently, but I suppose that's another problem.
    – jeff
    Nov 18, 2015 at 23:20
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    Deleting a guest OS after it is no longer required has the same effect as deleting the guest OS's files (a group of large files) from the hard drive. It frees up the disk space that was occupied by those files to be reused for something else. Similarly deleting a single snapshot from a guest OS frees up the disk space that was occupied by that snapshot's file.
    – karel
    Nov 18, 2015 at 23:41

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