Can Vbox run an already-installed OS from an external HD?

[LearningToMac]

Hi.
I'm brand new here. First- I HAVE searched for answers in the user guide, installation instructions, and posts on here, but either my question is so simple that most people already understand this answer and don't have to ask it, or my tech-savviness is so lacking that I don't understand the terminology as I search for answers in the above places. SO I do apologize in advance if I'm asking a really dumb, obvious question, but I don't know how else to find the answer at this point.
Question: I have a new Mac Mini with OS X 10.6.4. I previously had a 6-yr-old PC running Windows XP Home Edition, already installed when I bought the PC. I have the PC Hard Drive (which is an IDE HD) set up as an external hard drive connected via USB to my Mac, and it has not been altered from when it was my primary computer. A) Can I use VBox to access the Windows XP OS from the external hard drive, as-is, without re-installing it on my Mac's hard drive? If so, can someone direct me to the instructions for doing this? B) If I do have to re-install it onto my Mac's HD, can I somehow "move it over" from the external hard drive? I do not have the Windows installation disc, as it was already loaded when I bought the PC- it only came with system restore discs.

Thanks so much in advance for any help with this! and I do apologize again for my ignorance. I feel like this is a simple-enough question, yet I don't know how to find the answer.
~Sarah~

[pgh]

I believe what you are looking for is called RAW. See Chapter 9.7. Advanced storage configuration in the users manual and see if this will work for you.

[LearningToMac]

You're right! That is what I was looking for.
Unfortunately, there is a warning, stating, "Raw hard disk access is for expert users only. Incorrect use or use of an outdated configuration can lead to total loss of data on the physical disk." I'm definitely not an expert user, and I don't think I'm confident enough using programming commands to attempt it.

It also says, "Most importantly, do not attempt to boot the partition with the currently running host operating system in a guest. This will lead to severe data corruption." I don't know if I completely understand this last statement. Does that only apply if the host system is on the same hard disk?

I think perhaps virtualbox is not for me. I probly need a program that's more beginner-friendly.

Thanks for the help
~Sarah~

[BillG]

I do not know of any virtualization software which will "easily" allow you to do what you want. Creating a new vm and installing an OS is easy. Running a vm from a pre-installed OS is not.

[mpack]

LearningToMac, re-reading your original message, it seems to me that you are simply asking about how to do a physical to virtual migration, called a P2V for short. If you use Google (not the internal forum search, which is almost entirely useless), search for "P2V" with "site: forums.virtualbox.org" then you should find plenty of advice on that subject.

Unfortunately, P2V would have been much easier if you had prepared the source XP system for migration first, e.g. by running MergeIDE which would have made the installed XP driver set more tolerant of IDE controller changes. For the copying step, by far the easiest way to P2V an existing windows disk image is to use the SysInternals Disk2VHD tool, then (optional but very recommended) use CloneVDI to convert the result VHD to VDI format. Disk2VHD must be run on a Windows host, but it makes the process so much easier that it's worthwhile to borrow a Windows host for this one job.

Since you did not prepare the XP image ahead of time, be prepared for a battle with BSODs while trying to get the thing to boot. If you have the original XP Home setup cd then you can try making an ISO image of this, mount the ISO as a virtual CD, then boot off it and select "Repair installation".

It is very likely that reactivation of the XP installation will be required after the P2V is complete.