Virtual Disk Image

What Does Virtual Disk Image Mean?

A virtual disk image (VDI) is the image of a virtual hard disk or the logical disk associated with a virtual machine.

Techopedia Explains Virtual Disk Image

VDI is primarily a method to create a copy/image/replica of a virtual machine’s hard disk to be later used for disk backup, restoration or copying to a new virtual machine. The VDI captures and stores all information on the primary disk, typically excluding the operating system files and the virtual machine itself.

In addition to being a disk image of a virtual hard disk, a virtual disk image can also refer to the disk image of a CD, DVD or any other optical disk.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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