New to clonedisk

Hello –

I am new to this forum – I got here via the winimage forum. It turns out that the
P2V option in winimage was not working for me and it was suggested that I try clonedisk

I ran the clonedisk exe – the I was not to sure of the settings – at first the first option
disk<->image was sort of confusing, but I realized the the <-> means(?) That you
can convert in each direction

I selected the option to just copy the used sectors and to compress the output.

On the output screen I specified a file name, but when it was created, it not add the
extension of vol.gz

after a few hours ( I have an old slow computer ) it created the file – “test” in addtion to
this is also created a file “test.cat” – what is this file.

At the end of this process, I just wanted a vmdk file, so I did that conversion and it took a few
seconds and the created file test.vmdk was a few hundred bytes containing info about the
image. – Is this test.vmdk good to go in a vm? – I did not know that vmdk can be compressed

do I first have to run

gzip –decompress test.vol.gz to get an image before running the conversion to a vmdk?

Lastly, can I rename the image file or is the name it was created with save in the image?

Thanks and thanks for the tool

Frank

My guess is that you are "mixing" different approaches.
The general idea of a RAW image is that it is an image "ready for re-use" or "conversion".
The general idea of a compressed image is that it is an image "for storage/backup" purposes, EXPECIALLY if it is a "just copy the used sectors" one.

You cannot (rather obviously) have a .vmdk for a gzipped image, and I doubt (but it may be possible) you can have a .vmdk for a "just copy the used sectors" one.

HOW big is the source?
HOW much space so you have available?
You do understand that you will need anyway some P2V conversion tool (or manually "fix") the image to be able to actually boot it in VMware?
If your computer is so slow, do you relize that running on it VMware will further sloew it down?

More generally WHAT is your final goal?

On Winimage you were talking about .vhd and NOT about .vmdk ...

Strangely enough the line in Clonedisk saying:

RAW is preferable: you will be able to use the file with plenty other software

Actually means:

RAW is preferable

Or, if you prefer :

Unless you REALLY know what you are doing ONLY use the RAW format when making an image.

Wonko

Hello —

Thanks for your reply —

My end goal is to visualize one of the partitions on my old computer to bring it to a new
(faster) computer to run as a guest os via vmware

I could not find a tool to do a physical to vmdk conversion ( without installing software like vmware’s converter) , but did find a tool to do a V2V conversion so I could convert a
vhd file to a vmdk

So, using the P2V tool in winimage was a viable solution

The size of the physical disk is 80g the partition is around 30g, but I am only using around 12g

So If I go back and create a raw image, would then clonedisk be able to convert it to a vmdk?

Thanks – sorry for the confusion

Frank

Sure , but that image will be 80 Gb in size.

You can do something a little more "evoluted".
Create a partial RAW image exact size (or only slightly larger) of your current partition + 63 hidden sectors (I am presuming that the partition you are interested in is the first one) by using a dd-like tool, this is handy:
http://www.datarescu...cue/v3/drdd.htm
Mind you it uses a slightly different from usual "naming convention", a "drive letter" in it actually means the WHOLE disk on whihc that drive resides, or if you prefer it tries to help identifying the disk on which a given drive is, but the source is anyway the "whole disk".
Also it won't allow (and you shouldn't do it anyway) copying from the "first disk" (the one you booted from, which I presume is what you tried ).

Then use the tools in Clonedisk (or a hex editor or similar tool you are more familiar with) to wipe the "other" partition entry(ies).

If you are familiar with command line , you can use dsfo/dsfi from the dsfok toolkit, but there is a possible way using only Clonedisk, as follows:

• Backup the MBR.
• Edit the MBR of the PhysicalDrive to remove the "other" partitions.
• Make a RAW image of the Physicaldrive with the "Don't backup unpartitioned space"
• Restore the MBR of the PhysicalDrive

Again, the idea of doing a clone/image of the disk/drive from which the Operating System is running is NOT a very good idea, most probably you could do it with DriveimageXML or similar software (which can backup "in use" partitions using VSS services), but it is a bit complicated, as you have to backup the MBR, then create a new RAW image, restore the MBR to it, then restore the actual drive.

I cannot say from the contents of your posts how much you are familiar with the concepts, so if you do not understand/know something, do ask BEFORE doing something you may later regret, doing this kind of things from ANOTHER booted system (like a second instance of XP or from a PE is anyway STRONGLY adviced).

The "final step" would then be that of directly convert the image to .vmdk, AFTER having added to it the necessary drivers.

WHICH "V2V" tool did you find?
Are you sure that it will work converting a .vhd that NEVER booted in Virtual PC to a bootable .VMDK?


Wonko

Maybe this is what you're looking for:
Paragon Go Virtual

Hello --

Thanks for your reply -- The v2v tool can be found at

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/

Frank

Sure , but that image will be 80 Gb in size.

You can do something a little more "evoluted".
Create a partial RAW image exact size (or only slightly larger) of your current partition + 63 hidden sectors (I am presuming that the partition you are interested in is the first one) by using a dd-like tool, this is handy:
http://www.datarescu...cue/v3/drdd.htm
Mind you it uses a slightly different from usual "naming convention", a "drive letter" in it actually means the WHOLE disk on whihc that drive resides, or if you prefer it tries to help identifying the disk on which a given drive is, but the source is anyway the "whole disk".
Also it won't allow (and you shouldn't do it anyway) copying from the "first disk" (the one you booted from, which I presume is what you tried ).

Then use the tools in Clonedisk (or a hex editor or similar tool you are more familiar with) to wipe the "other" partition entry(ies).

If you are familiar with command line , you can use dsfo/dsfi from the dsfok toolkit, but there is a possible way using only Clonedisk, as follows:

• Backup the MBR.
• Edit the MBR of the PhysicalDrive to remove the "other" partitions.
• Make a RAW image of the Physicaldrive with the "Don't backup unpartitioned space"
• Restore the MBR of the PhysicalDrive

Again, the idea of doing a clone/image of the disk/drive from which the Operating System is running is NOT a very good idea, most probably you could do it with DriveimageXML or similar software (which can backup "in use" partitions using VSS services), but it is a bit complicated, as you have to backup the MBR, then create a new RAW image, restore the MBR to it, then restore the actual drive.

I cannot say from the contents of your posts how much you are familiar with the concepts, so if you do not understand/know something, do ask BEFORE doing something you may later regret, doing this kind of things from ANOTHER booted system (like a second instance of XP or from a PE is anyway STRONGLY adviced).

The "final step" would then be that of directly convert the image to .vmdk, AFTER having added to it the necessary drivers.

WHICH "V2V" tool did you find?
Are you sure that it will work converting a .vhd that NEVER booted in Virtual PC to a bootable .VMDK?


Wonko