Running MySQL in virtualbox with data dir on shared folder sometimes results in data corruption
When the production box crashes, and you find that the MyISAM tables are corrupted there, and you find how how many hours (or days) it takes to REPAIR them, you may rethink whether moving to InnoDB is justified.

At some point your 'suspend' + corruption may make the MyISAM tables so messed up that dev is impacted.

OK, lecture over; back to your questions.

How big is the VM?  If you are 50/50 InnoDB/MyISAM on that box, then use these settings if the VM is at least 4GB:

key_buffer_size = 10% of the VM size
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 35%


If less than 4GB, lower those percentages some.  The goal is to avoid ever swapping.