A disk read error occurred

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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vragec
Posts: 5
Joined: 21. May 2008, 22:42

A disk read error occurred

Post by vragec »

Hello

I'm new here so don't be angry if some think like my problem is already in forum. I search almost anywhere but i didn't find any similary.

I have problem with my vdi files. I copy al my home folder from one pc to another and now i can't run virtual machine, i get this problem:

Image

anyone know whats wrong ?
stefan.becker
Volunteer
Posts: 7639
Joined: 7. Jun 2007, 21:53

Post by stefan.becker »

You must clone the vdi files => see user doc.

For copying path must be the same.
vragec
Posts: 5
Joined: 21. May 2008, 22:42

Post by vragec »

When I want to copy on same path i get this error:
desktop:~/.VirtualBox/VDI$ VBoxManage clonevdi Windows\ XP\ Pro\ SP2.vdi Windows\ XP\ Pro\ SP2.vdi
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.6_OSE
(C) 2005-2008 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

0%...100%
Error: failed to clone disk image. Error message: Could not copy the hard disk image '/home/simon/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows XP Pro SP2.vdi' to '/home/simon/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows XP Pro SP2.vdi' (VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS)
and on dofferend path i get this error:
desktop:~/.VirtualBox/VDI$ VBoxManage clonevdi Windows\ XP\ Pro\ SP2.vdi Windows.vdi
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.6_OSE
(C) 2005-2008 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Error: failed to clone disk image. Error message: Could not copy the hard disk image '/home/simon/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows XP Pro SP2.vdi' to '/home/simon/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows.vdi' (VERR_EOF)
stefan.becker
Volunteer
Posts: 7639
Joined: 7. Jun 2007, 21:53

Post by stefan.becker »

backslash and blanks in a path on a linux machine? this cant work.
Tha_Dogg
Posts: 1
Joined: 22. May 2008, 23:14

Post by Tha_Dogg »

Hello guys,

This is what I used to make it work : Roadkil's Boot Builder

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Roadkils_Boot ... d4980.html

I mounted the extended/copied Windows vdi as a second disk of a working Windows VM.

Then I started that working VM and launched Bootbuild.

Then :

1) Read the bootsector from the drive (back it up to a file if you like)

2) Changing the heads setting to 255 is a common solution (and worked for me)

3) Write the modified bootsector back to the disk

And it actually worked :)
I won't take any credit if it fixes your problem. As far as I'm concerned, credit goes to :

"Matt Phat" that posted there :

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content ... 004/?o=340

Good luck !

Edit : Typos
dr_agon
Posts: 1
Joined: 18. May 2008, 03:25

Post by dr_agon »

The solution posted by Tha_Dogg worked for me, too.
The important think was to guess the right value for head number.
The old disk was reported as having 128 heads, and this information was transfered to the boot record of newly cloned partition.
In my situation the geometry of new virtual disk was reported as:
fdisk - 16 heads
testdisk - 16 heads
gparted (device info) - 255 heads.
I have no idea why the geometry is reported differently by different tools.
For me the right setting for NTFS boot record was 255 heads, 16 heads was wrong.

Note: This is about the NTFS partition boot record, not the master boot record. In the partition table the geometry is still stored using 16 heads, it doesn't matter.
Note 2: testdisk is able to change the head setting in NTFS boot record, too. All these and more ntfs utils are available on SystemRescueCD - my favourite all-in-one live CD 8) .

Thanks.
dandv
Posts: 7
Joined: 7. Mar 2011, 22:20
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: A disk read error occurred

Post by dandv »

Tha_Dogg wrote:This is what I used to make it work : Roadkil's Boot Builder

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Roadkils_Boot ... d4980.html
That didn't quite work for me after resizing/cloning a 2GB .vdi to 10GB. I set the head count to 255 and XP did start to boot, but then it froze at the splash screen.

In the end, I had to reinstall it.
arojoal
Posts: 1
Joined: 21. Apr 2011, 02:45
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: linux,windows

Re: A disk read error occurred

Post by arojoal »

Tha_Dogg wrote:This is what I used to make it work : Roadkil's Boot Builder

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Roadkils_Boot ... d4980.html
It worked for me by changing to 255 with a Windows XP on VirtualBox 4.0.4. Thanks!!!!
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