How to access a raw disk partition without booting from it?

[richw42]

How do I access a raw disk partition without booting from it?
If I go through the instructions to create a .vmdk file that
references an existing hard drive partition, and then add it to my
existing virtual machine using the GUI, the virtual machine then
tries (unsuccessfully) to boot from the hard drive partition instead
of the .vdi virtual disk. I see no way to boot from the .vdi when
the .vmdk is present. Is there a way to override this behavior?
4.0.10, Windows 7 host, Linux guest.

[Sasquatch]

Ever thought about adding the VMDK as secondary hard drive instead?

[richw42]

Ever thought about adding the VMDK as secondary hard drive instead?

You mean like making it an "IDE Secondary Slave"?
It still boots from it.
If you mean something else, please elaborate!
The desired boot disk is under the SATA Controller.

[Sasquatch]

Let's assume you're hooking it up to an existing VM with an OS installed on it. Then it would be very illogical that the VM would boot from the RAW disk instead of the VDI. If you want to force it, then dump the VMDK on SATA port 5 or further. Only the first 4 ports can be used to boot from, the rest will fail.

[richw42]

I just found an answer to my own question.
By adding the hard disk .vmdk as a SATA drive instead of an IDE
drive, it now boots from the first SATA drive, which is the desired disk.