>>(3) Don't store the data you access a lot ( dbf's and the like) on a network drive - aka as shared folders - very slow
>>(4) Instead use VMware hard discs ( config)
>
>For some files (my 200000 photos, that is) I do use a shared drive (linux host system, ntfs partition - i.e. my old Q: drive which survived everything - and it's too big to move anywhere). It is a tad slow, but for one file at a time, or maybe a dozen, that's good enough. I consider that network traffic, and it does go at the speed of the network, not on the same machine (even though physically it is).


I use Robocopy to backup/sync. It copies only files that have been modified
What I was saying is that copying a vm disk of several gigabytes is a lot faster than copying a lot of small files


>Using Oracle's VirtualBox, free version for Linux (not that I saw any paid version being mentioned).

I am using VMware Workstation - not very expensive -