Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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stupidmistake
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. May 2022, 15:24

Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by stupidmistake »

Here is the error displayed in the VirtualBox popup window when I try to run


Code: Select all

Could not get the storage format of the medium 'E:\FixBrokenUbuntu\broken.vdi' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

Result Code: 
VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Component: 
MediumWrap
Interface: 
IMedium {ad47ad09-787b-44ab-b343-a082a3f2dfb1}
Callee: 
IVirtualBox {d0a0163f-e254-4e5b-a1f2-011cf991c38d}
Callee RC: 
VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

This happened since I was trying to open Photoshop, though it said it couldn't open, since there's only 5GB free on my C: drive...so I decided to copy the VDI file in windows explorer to another drive since it was taking up a lot of space...I guess that didn't work though I then searched online and saw I needed to use the move option in the virtualbox GUI...I tried that, but the progress bar was percentage value were just stuck at 0% for like 15 minutes...so I then clicked the "x" arrow to stop it...it seems it didn't stop and and eventually returned saying "error" (at the time, I was just going to try again, so I didn't copy the error code or anything) said the ~70GB vdi was copied to my new drive...when I looked in my new drive, I saw the vdi had been moved there, though since I clicked on the "x" button to cancel, I assumed the original would still be on the C: drive...so I deleted the version of the D: drive...but then I checked back in my C: drive and of course that file had been deleted...

So eventually I found some file recovery software that seemed to find the file on the D: drive (though that was the version the "move" command returned "error" for...the original on the C: drive, I've not been able to get...so it makes me think this version that I've been able to 'recover' is a copy of a corrupted version...assuming the file recovery software even recovered it correctly (since I honestly thought the vdi was either 67 or 69GB...so when the recovered version was 70GB, that was strange...now, whether that's simply my bad memory or the recovery software copied extra sectors or something, I don't know)
Here is a screenshot of the start of my VDI file...it looks complete f*cked, to be honest

i.imgur. com/YLMfNud.png (remove the space between the ". com") - my account is too new to post links...)

And here are the first 200400 bytes of that same file (I just saved two versions as a .vdi and another as a .bin...not sure if that's correct? The 4MB file is too big to upload as an attatchment)

files .fm/f/7udtqku8p (<-- again...remove the space between the ". fm")

Does anyone know what might be the problem? And is there any chance of getting it working again?

Also, why does VirtualBox delete the original in the "move" command (I realise that is the definition of "move"...but wouldn't it be safer make it to simply copy the vdi to a new location first...then let the user delete the old version themselves, once they've verified the moved version is working?). Afterall, I guess I and many others are used to the default behaviour on windows...where dragging a file into a windows explorer window that's a different drive will actually copy the file...which is safer than just deleting the original, considering the copy could fail for a variety of reasons...

Afterall, even in assembly, "mov" really means "copy"...since the original isn't deleted...I will make a feature request about this, to see what others think...afterall, it's far safer...and I don't think many users mind having to manually delete the original

If anyone is able to help me out though, I'd really appreciate it...I have many 100s of hours of work on this thing...I possibly have a backup for some old stuff, though not for a few new projects :cry:
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by scottgus1 »

stupidmistake wrote:I have many 100s of hours of work on this thing...I possibly have a backup for some old stuff
To cut to the chase, a backup is the only thing that will help you now. Undelete file recovery software rarely if ever works on a super large file like a typical VDI.

You could try running the vdi through Mpack's CloneVDI, it might be able to fix the header. If it cannot, then the VDI is kaput.

I also don't like using the Move command in the Windows OS, since there is always a remote possibility that the file did not copy correctly. And the Move command in Virtualbox does not leave the copy behind, for file-checking purposes.

It is technically possible to move the VDI in Windows' File Explorer, but Virtualbox then has to be told the file is on the new place, which takes some finagling.
stupidmistake wrote:I decided to copy the VDI file in windows explorer to another drive since it was taking up a lot of space...I guess that didn't work
Though it's too late now, how do you know that the File Explorer copy didn't work?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by mpack »

If the file has been deleted from the original drive and never successfully copied to another drive then there's almost certainly no chance of recovery. CloneVDI can't do magic. You need a backup or else you need Steven Strange's time stone.
stupidmistake
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. May 2022, 15:24

Re: Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by stupidmistake »

scottgus1 wrote:You could try running the vdi through Mpack's CloneVDI, it might be able to fix the header. If it cannot, then the VDI is kaput.
Thanks, I tried...though yeah, it seems the latter is true...it's kaput
stupidmistake wrote:I decided to copy the VDI file in windows explorer to another drive since it was taking up a lot of space...I guess that didn't work
Though it's too late now, how do you know that the File Explorer copy didn't work?
To be honest, I can't exactly remember what I tried now...since I was doing multiple other things and just deleted the copied version in the spur of the moment (like I said, I tried to cancel the transfer for in the virtualbox gui...since when I ran the move command, it was just hanging at 0%, so I tried to cancel the move and several minutes later that returned "error" - so while in windows explorer it said the VDI was there, because VirtualBox returned saying the move was unsuccessful, I just deleted it without even thinking...that's why I suggested VirtualBox should leave the original file in tact and least the user manually delete it, since it's safer...I will post that in the suggestions forum sometime...and email the developers too, if I can find an email address)
stupidmistake
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. May 2022, 15:24

Re: Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by stupidmistake »

mpack wrote:If the file has been deleted from the original drive and never successfully copied to another drive then there's almost certainly no chance of recovery. CloneVDI can't do magic. You need a backup or else you need Steven Strange's time stone.
You're right. I tried, but it said the file was corrupted and can't be recovered
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Is it possible to fix "Could not get the storage format of the medium...(VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)"?)

Post by scottgus1 »

stupidmistake wrote:I will post that in the suggestions forum sometime...and email the developers too, if I can find an email address)
The Bugtracker is good for enhancement requests.
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