Hi everyone,
how can i rebuild a virtualbox machine with original vdi and cloned machine snapshots.
i only have the original machine and by mistake deleted cloned machine, but i have snapshots from cloned machine
thank you for your help
VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 39134
- Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Mostly XP
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
If you already have a clone VM then you had better just use that, because that's the best you can do.
1. You cannot easily use the snapshots from your clone in a different VM.
2. If you could, you'd have a copy of your clone, not the original VM.
Snapshots are later states of the VM, they are not backups. If you want to be able to restore a VM after a disaster, then make backups.
1. You cannot easily use the snapshots from your clone in a different VM.
2. If you could, you'd have a copy of your clone, not the original VM.
Snapshots are later states of the VM, they are not backups. If you want to be able to restore a VM after a disaster, then make backups.
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 20945
- Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Windows, Linux
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
If I gather the problem correctly, you had an original VM and a cloned VM with some snapshots. Then you 'deleted the cloned VM' but you still have the clone's snapshot disk files.
If 'delete the cloned VM' means you only removed it from Virtualbox but you still have the cloned VM's folder with all the files in it, including the cloned VM's .vbox file, then you should be able to re-register the cloned VM using the main Virtualbox window's Machine menu Add command.
If 'delete the cloned VM' means you deleted the cloned VM's base disk, which was an exact copy of the original VM's base disk, then a bit of Frankensteining might get you something.
Please explain exactly what you have done and what files you still possess.
If 'delete the cloned VM' means you only removed it from Virtualbox but you still have the cloned VM's folder with all the files in it, including the cloned VM's .vbox file, then you should be able to re-register the cloned VM using the main Virtualbox window's Machine menu Add command.
If 'delete the cloned VM' means you deleted the cloned VM's base disk, which was an exact copy of the original VM's base disk, then a bit of Frankensteining might get you something.
Please explain exactly what you have done and what files you still possess.
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
thanks for your reply,
i have cloned a VM Machine to another hard drive, then i deleted the original disk of 250Gb but after 2 months i realized that the drive i deleted was the important one, never happned to me, its firts time in 30 years.
now what i have in virtual box?
basically i have a :
1 - Cloned VM with a snapshots 100Gb (2020) and no VM HD
2 - Original VM (2014) with complete VM HD(120Gb) and folder, working fine
ther is anyway to merge Original HD with Cloned VM ?
Thanks
i have cloned a VM Machine to another hard drive, then i deleted the original disk of 250Gb but after 2 months i realized that the drive i deleted was the important one, never happned to me, its firts time in 30 years.
now what i have in virtual box?
basically i have a :
1 - Cloned VM with a snapshots 100Gb (2020) and no VM HD
2 - Original VM (2014) with complete VM HD(120Gb) and folder, working fine
ther is anyway to merge Original HD with Cloned VM ?
Thanks
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
I also have a 2014 .vbox file and this file in jpeg attached
- Attachments
-
- Capturar.JPG (36.09 KiB) Viewed 3775 times
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 20945
- Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Windows, Linux
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
OK, thanks for the info. If your usage of these VMs followed this procession:
If your usage of these VMs followed this procession:
If on the other hand you did any of these:
FWIW the difference in size between the original disk and the clone disk shows the prospect to not be good.
Can you please describe whether any of these scenarios fits your usage of these VMs?
- You had an original VM.
- You made a full clone of the original VM.
- You have never run the original VM since making the full clone.
- You immediately made a snapshot in the cloned VM before running it the first time after making the clone.
If your usage of these VMs followed this procession:
- You had an original VM.
- You made a linked clone of the original VM.
If on the other hand you did any of these:
- ran the original after making the full clone
- ran the full clone without making any snapshots
FWIW the difference in size between the original disk and the clone disk shows the prospect to not be good.
Can you please describe whether any of these scenarios fits your usage of these VMs?
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
thanks for your reply
after the full clone i never run the original VM and didnt made a shot after run clone for first time, but i have snapshots of clone machine too
after the full clone i never run the original VM and didnt made a shot after run clone for first time, but i have snapshots of clone machine too
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 20945
- Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Windows, Linux
Re: VBox Recovery from cloned snapshots
A full clone is completely independent of the original and allows for the clone's base disk to change.jlamelas wrote:after the full clone
If I read this correctly, you ran the clone before making a snapshot for the first time. This would mean the clone's base disk has changed and was no longer an identical copy of the original base disk.jlamelas wrote:didnt made a shot after run clone for first time
Because of how snapshot disks work, being a list of changed sectors, the snapshots no longer exactly match the original base disk. Therefore, any attempt to connect the original base disk to the clone snapshot chain may on a very slim chance work, might on a good chance have corrupted data, and on a reasonable chance not work at all. The disk size differences do not hold out much hope.
That said, if you want to try, you'd need to make a copy of the original base disk, set the copy's UUID(*) to be the parent UUID of the first disk in the snapshot, then use Mpack's CloneVDI to clone the snapshot chain. Then make a new VM with the existing clone's hardware settings and use the CloneVDI single output disk as the new VM's disk.
* there is a command to set a disk file's UUID, but I don't remember what it is. It's in the manual; if I run across it I'll post it. Finding the first snapshot disk's parent UUID can be done with the command:
vboxmanage showmediuminfo "drive:\path\to\firstsnapshotdisk.ext"
This can all be a moot point if you happen to have backups of your host PC that might have the cloned VM's base disk in them.