I know the version is very old, and that's exactly the problem. Before upgrading, I need to back up all the data. The problem is that I'm unable to connect an external usb drive to the virtual machines.
This is what I have on the host itself (jmicron is the name of the hdd adapter/rack that I've connected to the server on the usb port):
lsusb
Bus 01 Device 16: ID 152d:9561 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.
Bus 01 Device 03: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 01 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 08 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 07 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 06 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 05 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 04 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 03 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 02 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
In the screenshot you can see the available devices that I have which I can configure for passthrough (accessed through Configuration - Advanced Settings - Configure passthrough).
I've no idea to associate what I'm seeing here in "lsusb" and what the vmware client shows me.
Any help is much appreciated.