VHD File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
Format Type Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)
Developed By Connectix / Microsoft
File Extension .vhd
MIME Type application/vnd.ms-vhd
Maximum Size 2 TB for dynamic and differencing disks; Virtually unlimited for fixed disks
Disk Types Fixed, Dynamic, Differencing
Allocation Lazy on demand (for dynamic and differencing disks)
Block Size Configurable, default is 2 MB for dynamic disks
Sector Size 512 bytes (traditional), 4096 bytes (advanced format)
Snapshot Support Yes, through differencing disks
Encryption Not natively supported; relies on host OS features
Partition Style MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Compression Not natively supported
Compatibility Windows Virtual PC, Hyper-V, VMware, VirtualBox
File System Supported Any (NTFS, FAT32, etc. depending on guest OS)
Usage Virtualization, Backup, Disk Conversion
Clone Yes (can be cloned to create an identical copy)
Resize Yes (with appropriate tools/software)
Performance Overhead Depends on disk type; fixed disks offer better performance than dynamic or differencing disks
File Location Anywhere accessible by the host OS
Native Boot Yes, Windows 7 and later versions support booting from a VHD