virtualbox.org

i have 1 virtual machine on virtualbox,
i want to transfer that virtual machine to my esxi vmware machine
the current vm is VDI

i know vdi is virtualbox and vmdk is for vmware, but is one of these backwards compatible?

i heard vmdk is backwards compatiable with virtualbox and vmware, and vdi is only for virtualbox,
i seem to be confused,
can someone clarify this for me,
i know i can convert my vdi to a vmdk, but its a bit of a pain

any backwards compatible?

Read the two following chapters from the User Manual:

• 5.2 Disk image files (VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD)
• 5.3 The Virtual Media Manager

You should also have a searchable PDF included with your installation. Take advantage of that fact, and use it to search the PDF for those terms.

The main thing I'd point out is this - if you have a corrupted disk disaster with a VMDK in VirtualBox then you're on your own. You'd need to ask on a VMWare forum for repair expertise.

That, and that certain features of VirtualBox are not available if you use VMDK, for example the "VBoxManage modifymedium" compact and resize subcommands.

p.s. I couldn't stand it any longer, and corrected the spelling of "forth" in the topic title. The horse that comes in after the third one is fourth. The rousing advice to restless youth is "go forth young man".

mpack wrote:p.s. I couldn't stand it any longer, and corrected the spelling of "forth" in the topic title. The horse that comes in after the third one is fourth. The rousing advice to restless youth is "go forth young man".

<off-topic>That reminds me of a manager I used to have back in the days when the use of email wasn't widespread and most communication was by fax... he would take a red pen and correct all the spelling and grammar in incoming faxes before actually dealing with them</off-topic>

-Andy.

The OCD-ish inability to tolerate even minor flaws is a useful trait in an engineer. Possibly other occupations too. So, I'm with your former manager!