Is it worth it to use a VM

Until now I had been using an old laptop to play private servers, but for various reasons I'd like to switch to my main rig. Of course I don't want to endanger it, so I was thinking of using a unique VM just for private servers. Does this actually solve the security issues inherent to private servers? For example, could they still somehow access the data on connected hard drives? I understand that things can never ever 100% safe, I am thinking about realistic attacks and exploits that are actually feasible for private server people.