virtualbox.org

I have looked around the forum, but could only find instructions for Windows XP, so...

I have an old Linux PC which has finally died. The IDE HDD is still OK and can be read as a USB drive when hooked to an IDE->USB kit. It's not worth my buying new hardware just to run this old Ubuntu Linux installation (and I mean OLD) so I was hoping to turn the HDD installation into a VM and then take a snapshot (or clone it) which would allow me to safely "update" the installation and the webserver software running on it on a spare laptop - if anything goes wrong, just start a new VM from the clone/snapshot.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find instructions on how to take a Linux HDD with an old (possibly ancient) installation and turn it into a VM on a new PC.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

You can start a linux live distro. With this you can mount an external usb drive and make an image with clonezilla.

Then create a guest, start it with the same live cd and recover the image with clonezilla.

Best for this is gparted magic.

Stefan's instructions should get you to where you want to go. If you want to delve into the subject, search the forum for P2V, i.e. physical to virtual. The subject has been thoroughly discussed on the forum. I would suggest to not use snapshots. It is better to just make a backup (copy) of the VDI and if you mess up, shut down the VM and then quit VBox, copy the backup to the VM folder , restart and continue from there. In case you make changes to the VM itself, a backup of the .vbox file is very useful. Best bet is to just make a copy of the complete VM folder. It is also worth while to keep a backup of the VirtualBox.xml file located in the .VirtualBox folder.
Seeing as how this was your first post, I assume you're new to VBox and would kindly suggest reading through the manual so that you understand what all the above is about.

Have fun...

I am indeed new to VirtualBox (though I have been dabbling with Xen for the last 6 months). I do have the manual and read it over the Christmas break.

Many thanks for both your comments; I am happy to "work it out" myself but it is nice to have somewhere to start, especially if you come to it late in the game (i.e. after the software has been around for a while and now has a lot of bells-and-whistles. Yes, I am looking at you Photoshop).

I look forward to building a PC out of spare parts and trying out your suggestions.


Thanks!