VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Third Party Applications related to VirtualBox. This forum is moderated.
Post Reply
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

I have written VBoxRawdisk, a utility for macOS to help use a raw disk with VirtualBox.

This is the first release and should be considered alpha level software.

The software does nothing that you can't do manually with VBoxManage, diskutil and the command line. However - I frequently use raw disks and doing it manually got to be a pain in the butt.

I am very open to suggestions for improvements to how it is operating and welcome any feedback.

Be warned - if you don't know what you are doing it is very easy to destroy data by overwriting the wrong files or selecting the wrong drives.

VBoxRawdisk will only work with whole disks - i.e. it has no provision for using raw partitions.

Usage and limitations are described at https://www.whatroute.net/vboxrawdisk.html#usage
The link to download the utility is also on this page.

Regards
Bryan

[Mod edit: e-mail address removed]
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by socratis »

Is this a "reply" to the problem you were facing two year ago in "Raw Disk Partitions"? It seems like it. ;)
I'll give it a shot and let you know...

I removed your e-mail address from the post, just to avoid spamming.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

socratis wrote:Is this a "reply" to the problem you were facing two year ago in "Raw Disk Partitions"? It seems like it. ;)
I'll give it a shot and let you know...
Heh - I suppose it is a "reply". I finally got sick of doing it manually and figured a Swift wrapper around the necessary commands would make my life easier.

It works OK for me but with different systems/configs? Be good to find out what I need to improve.

B
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by socratis »

I will move this from "OSX Hosts" to the "Third Party Applications" forum.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

VBoxRawdisk is updated to Version 1.1.0
Download from https://www.whatroute.net/vboxrawdisk.html
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

VBoxRawdisk is updated to Version 1.2.0
It can now handle raw partitions (previously entire disk only).

Download from https://www.whatroute.net/vboxrawdisk.html
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by socratis »

It seems that the author 'granada29' has released versions 1.3.0, 1.3.1 and 1.3.2. From the VBoxRawdisk website, and based on the timestamp of the files:
  • 1.3.0 was released on 2017-09-14.
  • 1.3.1 was released on 2018-09-13.
  • 1.3.2 was released on 2018-09-27.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by socratis »

It seems that the author 'granada29' has released versions 1.3.3 and 1.3.4. From the VBoxRawdisk website, and based on the timestamp of the files:
  • 1.3.3 was released on 2019-01-09.
  • 1.3.4 was released on 2019-03-29.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

I have just released vboxrawdisk-1.3.6 on my web site at https://whatroute.net/vboxrawdisk.html

This version is compiled with Xcode 12.2 and will run on macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) through macOS 11 (Big Sur).

There will be no 'universal' build of the software as there is little point in running it on an ARM based Mac.
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

Unfortunately VirtualBox 7.0.0 still has some bugs with rawdisk vmdk files. I'll release a new version of VBoxRawdisk when these bugs have been resolved.

I have raised a VirtualBox 7.0.0 bug report at https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21125
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 687
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: VBoxRawdisk - a macOS utility to generate rawdisk VMDKs

Post by granada29 »

The problems with generating VMDK files for raw disks in VirtualBox 7 have been resolved in the current test version of VirtualBox 7.0.3

I have released VBoxRawdisk 1.3.8 for use with VirtualBox 7.0.3 or later. Download from https://whatroute.net/vboxrawdisk.html

VBoxRawdisk also supports VirtualBox 6.1.x but is now limited to macOS Sierra (10.13) or later.
Post Reply