The disclosure provides an approach for mounting a virtual disk to a virtual computing instance (VCI). The method comprises obtaining a set of required applications for each VCI in a set of VCIs. The method comprises obtaining constraints of each VCI in the set of VCIs. The method further comprises determining pair-wise application overlap between each pair of VCIs of the set of VCI, wherein the overlap complies with constraints of the two VCIs for which the overlap is determined. The method also comprises placing applications of at least one of the application overlaps into a virtual disk file, associating the virtual disk with the virtual disk file, and mounting the virtual disk to a first VCI of the set of VCIs.