Quick follow my post about running a virtual copy of Windows Media Center;

  • I don’t think the high CPU percentages were related to disk access. One of my early concerns was disk performance which I tested with Disk Throughput Tester (Disk TT) and I didn’t notice any CPU problems
  • I think it’s more likely the CPU usage is just a case of VM performance not being that good with the setup of VMware/Motherboard/CPU. I’m not familiar with the intricacies, but I know my other PC has an option for hardware virtualization in the BIOS that isn’t present on the box I was testing with.
  • The reference to "somewhat successfully" running Home Server under VM was a mistake, for some reason I recalled the post I linked to making mention of connector and performance problems which isn’t the case. I would still be extremely leery of this setup though, if the Media Center drive fails then any recovery is going to be painful.
  • I definitely think this setup has potential, but only if you’re willing to invest in better hardware (high-end Core 2 Duo / Quad Core) with better virtualization support. That requires a bigger box and my aim was to try and get both systems running in the you-have-to-see-it-to-appreciate-it Media Smart Server box.

At this point I’m going to explore plan B – an ultra-small Windows Media Center computer that uses Windows Home Server shares for storage.

I’m thinking of a Dell Studio Hybrid, perhaps a Mac Mini, or even a self-build machine based around an Atom processor. As it’ll be used in conjunction with external storage, tuners, and extenders, it doesn’t need to roar – just to be very very small :)