Virtual disk to disk image issue

[Samuel Yun]

Hello,

My goal is to convert my current virtual machine into a disk image so that I can use this on a physical machine.

I can convert the virtual disk file into a raw image disk file using the VboxManage command: VBoxManage clonehd fullpath/myvm.vdi myvm.img --format raw. However, this causes a issue where the raw image disk file ends up being over 100GB (Because the vm machine has a disk capacity set to 100GB).

Is there a way to compress this image file or convert it so that the end result of the raw image is not so large?

[mpack]

Run your favorite disk imaging backup app inside the VM. Good imaging apps will only backup sectors used by files, and skip page files etc. Restore the backup onto a physical PC in the normal way.

It's a pity you didn't mention the guest OS. For Windows I would choose Macrium Reflect Free Edition.

[Samuel Yun]

Hi mpack,

Thank you for the response I will look for disk imaging backup for my guest OS. My guest OS is Ubuntu 14.04 Server.

[mpack]

Actually, I just checked and Macrium claims to be able to back up Linux partitions (EXTx) too. Obviously I have never used this feature, but it's good software so I'm confident it will work. Since I believe the app is Windows only I assume you would have to boot the VM from the Macrium CD in order to make the backup.

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

I have no connection to Macrium btw, it's just what I've been successfully using for the last couple of years after my previous favorite increasingly turned to bloatware in my opinion.

[wheats1971]

I can confirm that Macrium does back up (and more importantly, correctly restores) Linux partitions. At least on a dual-boot (Win 10 Pro / Debian Stretch) setup. Used it both P2V and V2P