virtualbox.org

Could not rename old VDI - a backup file of the intended name already exists! Therefore the clone will keep its temp filename of 'Clo3.vdi'

I'm getting the above error when I'm trying to compact a vdi with "Keep old UUID", "Compact drive while copying" and having the same "Source" and "Destination" filenames. It works fine if the "Destination" is "Clone of +<source>".

VDI: Dynamic, Max size: 20GB, Actual size: 5.41GB, Filesystem: HFS+. The whole process is taking place within a Windows XP guest (locally), not via shared folders or anything like that. The whole VM folder is copied to and operated on inside the guest. There's plenty of space in the guest and the permissions are all correct (rw).

It works fine with other VDIs, but not with this specific one. It works fine with other HFS+ VMs. Actually, to be honest, it's the second one I'm getting this specific error, but I discarded the first one and since I've gone through about 15 VDIs, I don't remember which one it was. It was a windows guest for sure with NTFS.

Don?

(1) It creates a clone using a <temp> filename. If all goes well then at the end of the process it (2) renames your old VDI to "Original <name>.vdi". And it (3) renames <temp> to <name.vdi>.

The error indicates that "Original <name>.vdi" already exists and therefore it couldn't do the rename in step 2. It could also mean that the host refused to allow the rename for some other reason: CloneVDI just assumes the cause. This is non-fatal: you have to check out the problem and do the name juggling yourself.

This purely a problem of renaming files on the host. The contents of the disk are not important (including the filesystem the guest uses).

Is this under Wine on a Mac?

If clone to a new UUID does it mean XP windows guest will need reactivation if use clone to boot from?

I think not - but try it and see. You can always reinstate the original VDI.

My snapshot is in VMDK format and when i try to clone it , i get this error.

What can I add to what the error message says? Provide the complete snapshot chain in one folder, and it should work. Had you been using the standard VM folder structure then that would also have worked. Arbitrary scattering of dependant files? Not work.

But, remember to choose the snapshot as the source, not the base VMDK.

Not quite sure what I did, but somehow, I managed to make my dynamic VDI use up the entire 50GB of space. After trying some options with SDELETE and VirtualBox's tools, decided to give CloneVDI a try.

I am SOOOOOO glad I did!!

Got my 50GB back very quickly!
And, it may just be my imagination, but the VM runs faster now too.

Can't THANK YOU enough!!!

Donald44305 wrote:And, it may just be my imagination, but the VM runs faster now too.

You're welcome. And yes, while the boost could be in your imagination, it could also be real: CloneVDI defrags the block order, placing all image fragments in linear order. This can sometimes reduce seek overheads, and make host caching more effective.

mpack wrote:I think not - but try it and see. You can always reinstate the original VDI.

I guess it would not matter anyway -you should always be able to reactivate XP either online or via MS ph number they provide
I recently reactivated soon within 3 times due to various changes and backups and it was ok

As probably the dumbest person on this forum, this worked great, resized 25GB to 55GB in less time than it would have taken me to find the command prompt
this is a must have item for newbies like myself to Virtualbox that don't pay enough attention during the install to realize that the default 25GB drive offered in setup wont work if you are trying to run anything significant in a sandbox.
Great work on your part, I'd kiss you but i'm not like that , i'd let you kiss my wife, but then I would have to beat you up to prove to her that I care
Keep up the good work!!!!

You're welcome. Some VirtualBox defaults are intended to be conservative in the use of host resources, rather then optimal for the guest OS. It's only chipsets, network card type etc that should be left alone. If the VirtualBox "New VM" wizard offers you a dialog box to change something, you should consider what it asks.

To the original poster/hacker -- you're awesome, this tool is awesome, and I love you for it.

This is at least the 2nd time it's saved my life! 4 years after you published it, it still works great and is very relevant. That's usually not true of expensive commercial tools.

I hope that you're getting the due credit for this.

datasciguy wrote:This is at least the 2nd time it's saved my life! 4 years after you published it, it still works great and is very relevant.

Thanks for the compliments. I must take issue with your arithmetic though... the first post in this topic was in 2009, which (using fingers on both hands here...) means it's coming up on 6 years, not 4!

While it's always nice to be appreciated, I didn't really write this for the credit. My main goal when writing this was to show how cloning could be a preferable alternative to snapshots: in 2009 snapshots were integrated into the GUI and promoted to the user, but cloning support was minimal and hard to find. Cloning of disks was exclusively done using an obscure - and slow - and often buggy - VBoxManage command. Frankly I think I won that debate: cloning was integrated into the UI in VBox 4.x, and was conceptually expanded to include cloning of entire VMs rather than single disks. Many people have accepted the message that snapshots are too risky to use.

I also had occasional need to do other things to a disk: convert, optimize, compact, resize etc... so when it finally occurred to me that I could do all of those with a single tool, that's what finally made me write it.

These days VirtualBox itself now implements several of those functions, but - frankly - in some cases not as well (e.g. compaction using VBoxManage is a ridiculously tedious procedure). Anyway CloneVDI is still useful to have around as a fallback.

I have VHD files only. it would be nice if the tools work on my VHD file.

I needed to increase the size of my VB machine where I have win 10. I tried every way to do it I could find on the web but nothing would work. Then I happened across CloneVDI tool and after studying the instructions successfully got the job done. I wonder why Oracle hasn't including something as easy and functional as this in their program. I do not know the name of the author of the program but it certainly was a worthwhile endeavor and helped me out a lot so I just wanted to thank him/her!
Michael