What are the Different Disk Modes in VMware and How to Create Them

When you create a virtual machine in VMware, one of the settings you need to configure is disk mode. VMware disk mode refers to the mode in which a virtual disk in a VMware virtual machine operates. There are three disk mode types including dependent disk, independent-persistent disk, and independent-nonpersistent disk. All three of them differentiate in the way they operate and how they interact with other virtual disks and snapshots.

If you configure one type and decide later to change it, you can do it by reconfiguring the settings of your virtual machine. In this article, we will explain the different disk modes, and their use cases and explain the process of configuring them in VMware.

Dependent disk mode (OOBE)

This is the default disk mode your virtual machine will be assigned upon creation. The dependent disk is associated with the parent disk and can’t be used independently. When you create a virtual machine snapshot, the snapshot will include this disk in it.

When you revert the virtual machine to the snapshot, the dependent disk will reflect the state of the parent disk when the snapshot was taken. Dependent disks might not be the ideal solution for environments that require high levels of I/O performance.

If you delete a snapshot, the dependent disk will be merged with the parent disk.

Read this article to know more….