Virtual Hard Disk Host Attachment via Emulated Controller Driver
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual hard drives in virtual machine environments are not directly accessible to the host operating system without running the guest operating system, limiting data access and management capabilities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a specialized disk controller driver for the host operating system that emulates a virtual hard disk, allowing direct access and manipulation of back-end files, thereby attaching and recognizing the virtual disk to the host system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a virtual hard drive is attached to a virtual machine, then the guest operating system can access and manage the virtual files, but the host operating system cannot directly access or manage the virtual files without running the virtual machine
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a host operating system driver as an intermediary component that enables direct access to virtual hard drive files without requiring the virtual machine or guest operating system to be running. This driver acts as a mediator between the host file system and the virtual hard drive backend files, allowing file operations to be performed directly on the virtual disk images.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the virtual hard drive functionality from the virtual machine environment and makes it directly accessible to the host operating system. By separating the virtual hard drive file access from the guest operating system dependency, the system allows host-level access to virtual files while maintaining the virtual machine's ability to use these files when needed.
2Productivity
If the virtual machine and guest operating system must be running to access virtual files, then data security and integrity are maintained, but data access speed and management efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions by allowing the host operating system to perform file operations on virtual hard drive images before the virtual machine is activated. This enables pre-configuration, validation, and preparation of virtual disk files, improving workflow efficiency while maintaining data integrity through controlled access mechanisms.
3Ease of manufacture
If virtual hard drives are managed only through the virtual machine interface, then system stability is maintained, but maintenance and creation operations become more time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The host operating system driver serves as an intermediary that provides direct file system access to virtual hard drive images, enabling creation, modification, and maintenance operations to be performed using standard host file management tools. This eliminates the need to boot the virtual machine for routine maintenance tasks, significantly reducing the time required for these operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for “attaching” a virtual hard drive to the physical computer hardware by implementing a specialized disk controller driver for the host operating system that is recognized by the host operating system as a disk controller driver but which in fact also emulates the virtual hard disk it is “attached” to. When the host operating system sends requests to read and write sectors from the virtual hard drive, the specialized driver (the “virtual hard drive controller driver”) directly accesses and manipulates the back-end file mentioned above. Thus the virtual disk is “attached” and recognizable by the host operating system and can be manipulated thereby (and applications executing thereon).