virtualbox.org

First time posting, willing to take any advice.
I have a Windows XP VM (VHD format) on Windows 7 host, VBox Version 4.3.12. when trying to clone VM, it errors out at 20% processing with this error:
" Failed to clone the virtual machine PrintSmith.
Could not create the clone medium 'C:\Users\Bob\VirtualBox VMs\PrintSmith Clone\PrintSmith Clone-disk1.VHD' (VERR_UNRESOLVED_ERROR).
Result Code: VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004)
Component: Medium
Interface: IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}"

tried to just copy VHD file (Windows explorer) to another drive, failed at 80% with I/O error.
VM is working with no obvious problems. no snapshots.
I remember copy and clone was working about a year ago.
Don't know what to do now. the VM is very important to me as it runs an old software which cannot be reinstalled.

thank you, in advance for any replies.

Colin.

ACTSYS wrote:tried to just copy VHD file (Windows explorer) to another drive, failed at 80% with I/O error.

This right here, should tell you that this is not a VirtualBox problem per se, but a deeper problem with your physical computer (host). I would check my hard drive for errors, by either 1) running "chkdsk c: /b", or 2) select your C: drive, Properties, Tools, Check for errors, including "Scan for bad sectors". Both of these require a reboot and the hard drive check will take place at the boot phase.

Try MPacks most excellent clone tool.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22422
I've never tried the built in tool as I was brought up on MPacks

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, but if the OP is getting host I/O errors then CloneVDI will most likely be affected too.

It's important to find out what the I/O error is exactly, particularly including whether it's a read error or a write error. If it's the latter then no problem: back up the VM to a different drive before you anything else, then run disk checks on the suspect drive as discussed above (though incidentally, it's "chkdsk c: /f", not "... /b" - the "/f" selects the "fix filesystem errors found" option, otherwise errors are reported but not fixed).

If you're getting read errors then we're kind of limited in what can be done. File copy tools do exist which can be instructed to ignore read errors, e.g. the Windows port of "dd" might be worth a look. This will allow you to make a copy to another drive: the copy will have some internal corruption, extent unknown, but filesystem fixes inside the guest OS might deal with those.

Then you make a backup.

mpack wrote:though incidentally, it's "chkdsk c: /f", not "... /b" - the "/f" selects the "fix filesystem errors found" option, otherwise errors are reported but not fixed

Hmm.. not exactly. From "chkdsk /?":

/F    Fixes errors on the disk.
/R    Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F).
/B    NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume (implies /R).

So, not only /b has /f covered, but it does a whole lot more.

Hmm. My docs on chkdsk (e.g. here) does not have that /B switch. Neither is it reported by "chkdsk /?" on an XP host. However, the OP can easily find out what works.

Hmm... It must be a Windows 7 thing then (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/mag ... 72425.aspx). I guess the "/F" or the more rigorous "/R" will do then...

Edit: I guess the best advice from here on would be to run "chkdsk /f /r /b". That's got to cover everything

thank you, mpack.
I actually did a chkdsk /r on the host drive (it's a Sandisk 256GB SSD, less than 2 years old) right after the first failure. no errors found/corrected. still failed to clone VM.

Please go back and review my first post, and carefully consider and answer all of the questions raised. The chkdsk matter was minor and peripheral. I'm more interested in having details of the reported I/O error.

Scandisk didn't fix anything on the drive. I replaced the Sandisk SSD with Intel 240GB SSD, was able to imaged over. VM working fine now. Clone & copy also worked. I guess Solid State Drives behave differently than traditional drives when start getting troubles.
thank you all for advices!