Storing and running images from external ssd about orbstack

[kdrag0n]

Reopening for potentially better support in the future.

[kdrag0n]

Experimental CLI-only support for this has been added in v0.10.0. To use it, create or edit ~/.orbstack/vmconfig.json:

{
    "data_dir": "/Volumes/.../orbstack-data"
}

Then restart OrbStack fully:

orb shutdown && orb

Let me know if you run into any issues.

[kdrag0n]

It's not officially supported, but you should be able to delete the data directory at ~/.orbstack/data and symlink it to an external disk. Data will be initialized on the external disk next time it starts. The only requirement is that your disk must be formatted as APFS.

[kdrag0n]

Experimental CLI-only support for this has been added in v0.10.0. To use it, create or edit ~/.orbstack/vmconfig.json:

{
    "data_dir": "/Volumes/.../orbstack-data"
}

Then restart OrbStack fully:

orb shutdown && orb

Let me know if you run into any issues.

It's not working for me. I use following commands to move OrbStack data into storage folder.

cd ~/.orbstack
tar cf - data | tar -C /Volumes/Storage/OrbStack -xvf -

Then edit ~/.orbstack/vmconfig.json, add line:

"data_dir": "/Volumes/Storage/OrbStack"
or
"data_dir": "/Volumes/Storage/OrbStack/data"

Error:

ensure VM: timed out waiting for VM to start

Please attach logs (~/.orbstack/log/vmgr.log). Make sure you keep the JSON valid.

[anarchy89]

Are any of the files in the .orbstack folder written to disk a lot like the logs? Maybe I should be moving the whole directory instead to the external drive.

My external drive follows the same directory arrangement as the internal drive.

Also, the file is 8tb, how am I supposed to move it to the external drive? My internal drive is 256gb and my external is
1tb.

@kdrag0n is this the right command?

ln -s /Volumes/drivename/Users/username/.orbstack ~/.orbstack

Or should I just move the data folder?

ln -s /Volumes/drivename/Users/username/.orbstack/data ~/.orbstack/data

[kdrag0n]

The latter is fine. I wouldn't recommend linking the entire .orbstack directory.

[anarchy89]

The latter is fine. I wouldn't recommend linking the entire .orbstack directory.

How do I move the data folder since it's 8tb, after 1 minute I filled up 96gb on my external drive. It is formatted to apfs. I know it is a sparse file but the os is moving it like a normal file if I use the mv command. If I use the gui it just throws me a no space error.

[anarchy89]

@kdrag0n any update on this?

[kdrag0n]

macOS cp doesn't support sparse files so you have to use tar instead:

cd ~/.orbstack
tar cf - data | tar -C /Volumes/drivename/Users/username/.orbstack -xvf -

[anarchy89]

@kdrag0n so this is a copy command yeah? After that I can delete the old file as per normal and make a symlink ?

[kdrag0n]

Yes, as long as you make sure all your paths are correct.

[jakeslee]

Experimental CLI-only support for this has been added in v0.10.0. To use it, create or edit ~/.orbstack/vmconfig.json:

{
    "data_dir": "/Volumes/.../orbstack-data"
}

Then restart OrbStack fully:

orb shutdown && orb

Let me know if you run into any issues.

It's not working for me. I use following commands to move OrbStack data into storage folder.

cd ~/.orbstack
tar cf - data | tar -C /Volumes/Storage/OrbStack -xvf -

Then edit ~/.orbstack/vmconfig.json, add line:

"data_dir": "/Volumes/Storage/OrbStack"
or
"data_dir": "/Volumes/Storage/OrbStack/data"

Error:

ensure VM: timed out waiting for VM to start

[jakeslee]

Please attach logs (~/.orbstack/log/vmgr.log). Make sure you keep the JSON valid.

Yes! My fault! It's invalid JSON. I lost a comma.

Otherwise in this case, logs file in ~/.orbstack/log/vmgr.log is empty.

[zolthan]

This solution temporary works. But after opening the settings tab in orbstack, the settings are reset without the entry "data_dir".

[kdrag0n]

Full support added for the next version, including GUI.

Please keep in mind that in the event of a sudden disconnection or power loss, external drives may cause irreparable data corruption if they don't implement durability-related commands (barrier, flush) correctly. Use them at your own risk.

[kdrag0n]

Released in v0.13.0.