[Whonix-devel] Backup Whonix VMs – new wiki page

Sun Feb 23 14:37:21 CET 2014

Jason:
> Does Whonix have a recommendation for whether or not users should store their data (Documents, etc) inside the VM or use an external usb stick? Any opinions?

The current state of File Transfer
(https://www.whonix.org/wiki/File_Transfer)
between host and guest currently is one of Whonix's worst usability
issues. Can't speed up development, though.

>From usability perspective, keeping your data on USB, learning how to do
this before you produce data than later bothering making backup or
fixing broken virtual hdds is much better.

>From security perspective, VirtualBox USB requires downloading closed
source VirtualBox extension pack (different from guest additions) from
virtualbox.org. No signatures available. Exposes hardware serials to VM.
And QubesOS folks say, exposing the USB stack to an untrusted VM isn't a
great idea since the USB stack could be compromised.

I guess if I would be forced to make a recommendation between guest
additions shared folder and unverified closed source extensions, I'd
recommend guest additions shared folder.