Tutorial to clone disk/partition directly into a VDI virtual disk file

Marinbox · Post by **Marinbox** » 13. Dec 2018, 21:05

Hi, these days I was looking for information to clone one of my discs to a VDI virtual disk and as in most cases they recommended me to make a copy with some backup tool and restore the copy inside VirtualBox. I kept looking for information, because in some cases where the disk has a lot of storage capacity it can be a task that demands a lot of time and space.

Finally after so much searching, I have managed to create this article where I explain the whole process to follow to get a successful cloning to a VDI image file and I share it with you.

To start cloning your disk/partition into a new VDI virtual disk file, you must have the latest version of VirtualBox installed. You can download it from here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

NOTE: The whole process has been tested and I can confirm that it works correctly.

IMPORTANT:

Before proceeding, you must unmount the partition to be copied to the VDI virtual disk file.
In case of being a disk, you must create a LiveCD or LiveUSB with ubuntu to follow the procedures.
In the steps to follow, I will only talk about partition but they can be applied to convert a partition or disk.
You must replace sdx1 with the letter corresponding to your unit.
In case you want to clone a bootable disk, in origin you must enter the location of the disk (this includes the MBR and all the partitions)..

Procedure:

Determine the size of the partition in bytes:
Code: Select all
```
sudo parted /dev/sdx1 unit B p
```
Take note of the number that appears in the size column, for example: 138412032B
Clone the partition to VDI virtual disk file:
Code: Select all
```
sudo dd if=/dev/sdx1 | VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin /Path_to_destination/NameImage.vdi BYTES --format VDI
```
Consider replacing the word BYTES with the number you noted in the previous step.
Done.