Ubuntu, VirtualBox, and sharing files

A while back I wrote an article called “Installing and Running Ubuntu Linux” in which I went through all the different ways to install and run Ubuntu Linux and other distros of Linux as the steps apply to each flavor. That was quite a while though, and since then I have reinstalled my operating system a couple times. Each time I reinstalled though, I did not install VirtualBox in order to run Ubuntu inside of Windows, rather, I dual-booted Ubuntu and Windows side-by-side-another topic I covered in “Installing and Running Ubuntu Linux”. This was great and all-I didn’t need to worry about installing guest additions anymore, nor did I have to share folders via the VirtualBox console and then mount folders and drives manually. The only problem with this was that I had to reboot my computer each time I wanted to do anything in Ubuntu, and therefore anything involving Ubuntu became a major process rather than a quick job. So now I’m back to VirtualBox. I do, however, still have Ubuntu dual-booted with Windows though, and I use that installation of Ubuntu whenever given the chance.

Anyone who has used a VirtualBox installation of Ubuntu-and this problem is most likely not one particular to Ubuntu-before knows that getting access to files on your main hard drive from the installed operating system running in VirtualBox is difficult at best. And on top of that, it is impossible to access the files stored on the operating system running in VirtualBox. To compound the problem, you cannot store the files on your main hard drive, mount the drive to the virtual machine, and then access the files because Ubuntu and Windows just don’t work well together. Oh, my, gosh-It’s like trying to get Apple to work with Microsoft-impossible! So what is the solution? Dropbox, plain and simple.

Many of you have heard of Dropbox before, and if, like me, you heard of the 2GB limit on bandwidth and tossed the idea of Dropbox aside as impossible to use, think again. Or rather, think about it. What sorts of files are you going to primarily work with on a VirtualBox installation of Ubuntu? Virtual machines are notoriously underpowered since they are running inside a parent operating system, so it is unlikely that you will be doing media editing; whether it be video, music, or image editing, it is too cumbersome to do this sort of work in a virtual machine. That pretty much rules out all large files. The only thing left is text files of various sorts: documents and programs. I suppose some may use VirtualBox to run Ubuntu in order to gain access to the OpenOffice.org suite, but since you could just download OpenOffice and install it natively in Windows, what would be the point? Before continuing, let me run over some possible uses for a virtual machine that I could see being useful:

• Running platform-specific programs.
• Extreme browsing privacy.
• Security.
• Quick-ditch operating system.

The first, running platform-specific programs, is easy. No matter what you run, there will always be a program that is not available for your operating system, and having the ability to simulate that operating system in order to run that program is definitely a plus.

Extreme browsing privacy and security pretty much go together. When browsing the internet in a virtual machine that does not have any external drives mounted to it, there is little chance of being infected by a virus or some other form of malicious software.

A quick-ditch operating system is something, depending on what sort of work or hobbies you are in to, that could be invaluable. Do what you need to do on this VirtualBox installation of an operating system, shut it down, and delete it. Run a quick wipe of your “free” space to remove the traces of the deleted files and voila, total security.

Besides those three somewhat questionable motives for running a virtual machine, there is the reason I have Ubuntu installed as both a virtual machine and dual-booted with Windows: to program. Ubuntu does a great job of making programming in pretty much any language easy and as painless as programming (in C) can be.

So now that we have defined some possible uses for a virtual machine, what about accessing the files there? Suppose I created a bunch of C programs, some Shell scripts, and a couple Python files for a project I am hypothetically working on. Leaving those files on the virtual hard drive, which is what the files belonging to the virtual machine are stored on, would be cumbersome and inconvenient, and emailing them is, while a viable solution, so lame. Dropbox is a great alternative. I installed Dropbox on my Windows computer and my installation of Ubuntu in VirtualBox, and now all I have to do to transfer files between the two operating systems is to save them to the Dropbox folder. And once I get around to booting in my native installation of Ubuntu again I’m going to install Dropbox there too. This way no matter what operating system I am in, I can easily access files that need to be worked on in Ubuntu for simplicities sake, save the changes, and sync those changes across all my installations of Ubuntu, as well as saving a copy in Windows should I need to open them in Windows.

And the space? Sure, 2GB is not a small number, but since I am very much a multi-media guy I think in terms of media, not KB, MB, and GB. When I look at a drive I think “Could I put __ show on here and have enough room for the next season?” or “Could I store a backup of all my movies on this drive?” I don’t think in conventional terms storage anymore. But disregarding that, 2GB is still not a small amount-and that’s just the beginning. For completing the “Getting started” guide, you receive an extra 250MB of space. For each person you invite to Dropbox that accepts the invitation, creates an account, and installs Dropbox, you will receive an extra 250MB, up to 8GB of additional space. And don’t worry if you don’t have anyone to invite: for each installation of Dropbox on your various computers, installed operating systems, and VirtualBox installations that you wish to sync across, there is nothing saying that you cannot first send an invitation to one of your extra email addresses, accept the invitation and create an account, and then first install Dropbox from the invited account on your second computer, and then once you have received the extra 250MB of space on the parent Dropbox, deactivate the bogus Dropbox account and reactivate it with your parent account. This all seems a little much, so if it was at all confusing re-read that last bit. The point it, though, that you could potentially get up to 8GB of available space to transfer your files across operating systems via Dropbox with-enough to even do some multi-media work.

And thus I have solved the problem of sharing files between operating systems in such a way that is better than anything that existed before then-whether that solution was to mount the drives, reformat your hard drive to EXT2, or some other solution.