I maintain a Windows application with strong I/O: It holds open a number of files (typically 10 - 30) where it repositions and reads frequently.
When running our application using VMWare Workstation 7.2.1 with Windows XP SP2/SP3 guests we encounter problems if the used files are accessed using a VMWare shared folder. Windows calls to read and open some files fail sometimes.
I googled and found these two discussions:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1487605 "...VMware shared folders are known for issues like this - do not use them if possible"
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/114164: "...use network shares (over a host-only network for example)."
Indeed the errors were not reproduceable at first trials using a UNC Network path.
My questions: Are VMWare Shares in general known as buggy or unreliable? I do not find any specific information about that.
Is VMWare Workstation in general suitable as a reliable platform for processing medium large datasets (100MB...1 GB RAM used) with heavy I/O? I see customers working with VMWorkstation in general for all applications as they find it easy to move VMs from one physical machine to another. I wonder if that is recommended.
