CloneVDI tool - Discussion & Support

[mpack]

Yes, I think a separate discussion about activation issues would be a good idea. I'll certainly participate. Perhaps it may even turn into another sticky.

[SergioTorresC]

Don,

Sorry, I got the same error message.

Please see attached images showing my VHD file properties (It is not a split disk) and CloneDVI error message when I try to read it.

Yesterday I tried to use Virtual PC ("Convert to a fixed-size virtual hard disk" option) to create a smaller VHD file. After 3 or 4 hours it got stucked showing an advance of about 50%, so I canceled it.

I opened the VM inside Virtual PC 2007 and ran a File System check and repair. Then I deleted non needed files, ran disk defragmenter and sdelete -c (to zero empty space).

I tried again both procedures (create a new fixed-size disk and clonedvi), to no avail.

I tried clonedvi and modifyhd with my VHD file registered and not registered with Virtual Box.

I registered the file with Virtual Box and created a new VM. It seemed to work (I began receiving all those messages about activation and new hardware found, so I just turned it off).

My host OS is Vista Ultimate 64 bits. If you need any other info about my host or setup,just let me know.

[Teofast]

I've spent a whole day cloning a lot of VDI and in the evening have found your tool . It's great and much faster (more then twice) for my 2.5 Gb images then native clonehd. Thanks a lot for this grate tool.

I think it on the top of mind of everyone and even in you RN, that it would be nice to have ability of cloning the whole machine at least to avoid "first boot alert". Is it something you might implement if feature?

Nice utility, thanks.

[mpack]

Sorry, I got the same error message.

Ok, I got the idea to use VBoxManage to clone my biggest VDI (17GB) to a VHD, giving me a big VHD I can use for testing. That seemed to take forever! However, it was worth it because I can confirm that I do get the same message as you. I also confirmed that VirtualBox loads the VHD ok, which means there's nothing wrong with it. Bug confirmed, watch this space!

[SergioTorresC]

Thank you Don,

Just a thought: Since vboxmanage clonehd does not work either in my PC, could it be something to do with the 64 bits OS? I tried running clonehd from a console opened as administrator, so it is not a permission thing.

Sergio

[mpack]

it would be nice to have ability of cloning the whole machine at least to avoid "first boot alert". Is it something you might implement if feature?

Sorry, I don't think I would want to implement that feature: I don't think my software should be messing with VirtualBox's private settings files. Any changes Sun makes to the layout would either break my tool, or I might break VirtualBox.

[mpack]

Just a thought: Since vboxmanage clonehd does not work either in my PC, could it be something to do with the 64 bits OS?

I have to admit that VBoxManage has always worked for me, though I've never tried to compact a VHD as you did originally. VBoxManage is slow, and it doesn't do a lot of things I might want, but for me it does work.

It can't be a 64bits thing since my host, and the guest I cloned, are both 32bit.

[mpack]

Ok Sergio: I think I found the bug, and I have just successfully converted a 17GB VHD file to a VDI file, and the resulting VDI works fine in VirtualBox.

CloneVDI v1.22 is now available in the root message. Would you like to try again (third time lucky? )

[SergioTorresC]

Don,

The trial was a success:
Your program converted my vhd into a vdi.
Compacted it from 52.2 GB to 14.0 GB.
Took 33 minutes to do it.

I am having to tune up some things (like NIC configuration), but it is not your program fault. I guess the problem is that I did not uninstall the Guest Additions before cloning the file.

Great job! Thank you!

I'll let you know if any problem arises.

[mpack]

The trial was a success

Excellent, thanks for letting me know.

[wmeyer]

Now that you have added VHD read support, I will give it a try here. I have a 60GB VHD file I'd like to convert, and subsequently compact. Should be interesting, though I may have to do it in my home environment, where I have more drive space. I'll get back to you with the results.

[mpack]

Now that you have added VHD read support, I will give it a try here. I have a 60GB VHD file I'd like to convert, and subsequently compact.

There's no need to do the convert and compact as separate steps; doing it in one step will be faster and use less disk space. It also doesn't entail extra risk since you will always have the original VHD to go back to (at least until some way down the road when you decide to delete it).

[wmeyer]

There's no need to do the convert and compact as separate steps; doing it in one step will be faster and use less disk space. It also doesn't entail extra risk since you will always have the original VHD to go back to (at least until some way down the road when you decide to delete it).

Excellent! Thanks for pointing that out.

[mpack]

Do remember to provide some feedback, let us know how you got on. Did it work? Did the tool work at an acceptable speed? Was the compaction effective? Answers to those questions will give confidence to other users.

[nardrish]

I have been using VirtualBox for sometime now (upgraded to 3.0.6 PEUL). But the part I dislike most is when I need to increase disk space. I would formerly ghost the partition, delete the .vdi, create a new vdi with a bigger partition and then restore the ghost image. A pretty time consuming task. I had to do it again and I refused this time, sat down and started surfing Google and WHOA! I came across this tool (CloneVDI) and tried it out and man I can say, this is a real time saver and FAST!! I was working on some project and needed to try out in a test environment and was working on Windows 2003 Standard Server (downloaded the 180days free trial s/w from Microsoft's website along with SQL). This tool is GREAT stuff!!

What I'd like to see if VirtualBox can take it to the next few levels up to just increase the disk space without having to clone to get the increase, like in VMWare Server free edition where we can just increase the disk space. I'm ok with using GParted Live CD to expand partition after the increase in the disk space. Beats having to go through all the manual trouble with ghost.

Thanks MPack! I love the speed!

Ezra...