VM'd a SQL server, having trouble with external HDDs First I am not a SQL DB. I inherited an old system and am trying to keep the wheels from falling off.
We have an MS SQL 2000 server (running server Win Server 2000) that we performed a P2V migration on. I did not realize that there are temp files running on an external USB HDD (that was connected to the old physical server) necessary for SQL operations.
Its looking like we can not connect the USB HDDs to the VM (due to age of the OS, and the HDD being a 3.0, doesnt look like VMWare supports 3.0 passthrough to Win Server2000).
So, is it possible to set those external HDDs up as a shared drive on another machine and run those temp SQL operations from the VM? As it is now the DB looks for a physical drive volume. We are considering swapping out the HDDs to USB 2.0, but this seems more time efficient. Thanks for any input
In general, you can put TempDB anywhere you want. It could be an existing drive on the VM (not great, but OK as a stopgap measure), or a new virtual drive, or a non-local drive (again, not a great idea).
There are a lot of references on the Internet for how to relocate TempDB. And for how to start SQL if the current TempDB is not accessible. Here are some good ones:

How to Move TempDB to Another Drive &amp; Folder
Start SQL Server without tempdb

Also, run (don't walk) to your boss and let them know that both SQL 2000 and Windows 2000 are out of support, and have been for a long time. You are open to security vulnerabilities, performance risks, and reliability concerns. Do whatever you need to to make your boss realize that you can't provide good business value on unsupported software.