Best storage option for non-production Server

[James Coleman-Powell]

I would like to add a second hard drive to a non-production server, where network storage is not an option. I only need this available to a single VM, which is running Windows Server 2008 R2.

In everyone's opinion, is it best to do the following:

1. Pass through the device using virtio. virtioX: /dev/sdb
2. Format the disk to a relevant partition structure and create a qcow image and add to the machine this way.

Which will give the best performance?

Many thanks,

James

 

[tom]

best performance: virtioX: /dev/sdb

best performance, snapshot support and best flexibility: qcow2
create a partition on /dev/sdb, (with 'gdisk'), format with your preferred filesystem (ext3/4 or xfs) and mount it via /etc/fstab somewhere and add this directory as "directory storage" via GUI and store qcow2 images there.