virtualbox.org

Dear Mebers

We have a Linux(Ubuntu) Host with several virtual machines.
One of the virtual disk had to be growned so I stopped the virtual machine witch has 1 snapshot and
because it was a vmdk file I have converted it to .vdi.
I growned the size and replaced the file in the VirtualBox guest configuration to the new harddisk (vdi).
After we started the guest it started from the pre snapshot state witch is 1 month old.
I tried to go back to the intact vmdk disk file but it created a new snapshot file named a new UUID between {} and I cannot revert back to the state before I converted the vmdk file.
As I can see there is the preconversion file under snapshots and named some kind of UUID and the file is also listed in the .vbox file.
How can I go back to pre conversion state? If I cahnge the configuration file on start it rewrited.

I need that harddisk witch bolded.
<HardDisk uuid="{39db1411-29d4-4cad-ac2d-eb408d3df44f}" location="MagicDev_BAdam-disk1.vmdk" format="VMDK" type="Normal">
<HardDisk uuid="{1b80e4f1-607f-4802-a3bb-85d4b2a892e5}" location="Snapshots/{1b80e4f1-607f-4802-a3bb-85d4b2a892e5}.vmdk" format="VMDK">
<HardDisk uuid="{413f9690-ec50-43b4-a2b2-6c4ac9c718be}" location="Snapshots/{413f9690-ec50-43b4-a2b2-6c4ac9c718be}.vmdk" format="VMDK"/>
<HardDisk uuid="{6696e82d-6945-4320-86f9-8a64ddb38f4f}" location="Snapshots/{6696e82d-6945-4320-86f9-8a64ddb38f4f}.vmdk" format="VMDK"/>
</HardDisk>



Thank You.

You messed up the cloning step. You needed to clone the newest state, not the oldest state as you did. If you are going to risk your data by using snapshots at all, you really IMHO need to be aware of how they work.

Ideally, restore your VM to the state it was in before you started. Hopefully you made a backup of the VM folder first so this should be easy.

Next, clone the VM (not just the disk) - choosing "Current state only" and don't reset the MAC address. The cloned VM will no longer use snapshots, but I've never cloned a VM which used VMDKs and snapshots so I don't know if the clone will be based on a single VDI or a single VMDK. If it's the latter then now you can convert the VMDK to a VDI, then resize.

Thank You mpack

The promblem is I have not made backup of the whole VM directory just the vmdk files and snapshots.
Now when I try to start the vm with the original vmdk it starts from the 5 days old state.

Is there any chance to tell the VM start from the original disk with the yesterday snapshot?
Where can I tell to Virtualbox not to use today snapshot but the yesterday file?
I tried to revert back to that state but is tells me Coud not finde snapshot UUID {413f9690-ec50-43b4-a2b2-6c4ac9c718be} however the file is there and the .vbox file has the reference for it. The {413f9690-ec50-43b4-a2b2-6c4ac9c718be}.vmdk file date is just before I started the cloning.

Thank you for the advice.

You have not mentioned doing so, but reading between the lines... if you mounted a cloned disk into the original VM which was expecting snapshots then the VM has essentially been destroyed. Even worse if the clone was not of the correct snapshot. The problem is that the snapshot control information in the VM no longer describes the disk that's mounted in the VM. I don't believe it's practical to repair this damage, given that you didn't make a backup of the VM folder.

The only solution I know is to put all the snapshot files plus the base VMDK into a single folder, then use CloneVDI to clone the newest snapshot vmdk. If it succeeds then you must build a new VM around the clone, i.e. don't repeat the earlier error.

Yes I have attached back the original vmdk file after we noticed the server was started from a very old state.
I can see it was the time I ruined a Virtualbox disk drive consistency.

However I will try out the CloneVDI program.

Thank You