Software to Clone a Laptop into a Virtual Machine

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 13:28

Hi All

After experiencing the major inconvenience of my laptop hard drive dying, I want to make sure that next time I am better prepared.

I want to have a solution where I can clone a given laptop, so that I can immediately restore the whole laptop again or have access to an identical copy of the laptop on another machine as necessary.

What is the best software to do the initial clone?

What's the easiest way to make sure your restore works, and to make sure the clone is always accessible on another machine? I could buy some virtual machine technology if necessary. Would VM Ware be worthwhile?

Thanks for all comments.

Rgds

Terrier_Jimlad · 30 Mar 2009 at 13:35

VMWare would be the way forward ... also, they do a product called VMWare Convertor which converts a physical computer/laptop to a virtual machine, which you can then run in VMWare workstation or player etc ... it's really quick and i've never had it fail etc ... works wonders!!!

NeoNemesis · 30 Mar 2009 at 13:43

Second vote for Vmware converter, which is a free product I believe.

VMware Workstation isnt free, but you should be able to download and use VMware Player easy enough.

Neo

Antar Bolaeisk · 30 Mar 2009 at 14:00

Will the above work with Microsoft Virtual PC?

NeoNemesis · 30 Mar 2009 at 14:05

No, Vmware converter stores virtual hard disk files in a different format to Microsoft.

Rainmaker · 30 Mar 2009 at 14:17

Whether or not you're going to image the hdd for use in a VM, don't forget to do a normal image (eg Acronis) so that you can physically restore the image to a new hdd once it's installed. I'm presuming you would want to use the physical laptop again rather than stick to VM forever once it fails?

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 14:32

Thanks for the responses. I see I can get a free download of VMware Converter from:

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

So, I make the copy of the laptop with VMware Converter, and then what do I need to have the laptop fully usable as a virtual machine running on my desktop?

Many thanks

NeoNemesis · 30 Mar 2009 at 14:51

Download Vmware Server:

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

Create a new VM and link it to the virtual hard disk file that converter will output.

Bam. Done.

malef!c · 30 Mar 2009 at 15:07

Just as a side question - would the converter work and create images that would work across the VMWare range (thinking specifically ESXi)

Cheers

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 15:14

OK great.

Once you have the laptop working in a virtual machine on your desktop, can you then just copy a file out of the laptop virtual machine onto the desktop hard drive?

Thanks

LizardKing · 30 Mar 2009 at 15:24

malef!c said:
Just as a side question - would the converter work and create images that would work across the VMWare range (thinking specifically ESXi)
Cheers

As long as there not outdated they will work. You may need to use the converter again to load them into ESXi, i've never had any luck with other methods.

radderfire said:
OK great.
Once you have the laptop working in a virtual machine on your desktop, can you then just copy a file out of the laptop virtual machine onto the desktop hard drive?
Thanks

To do it that way you would need to share the files/folders between the VM and host machine, the easier way would be to use the vmware-mount.exe tool and mount the vmdk as a hard drive on your local machine.
see
http://www.vmwarez.com/2005/11/new-vmdk-mount-utility.html

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 15:48

Ok thanks.

Once I have a VM working in VMware server, if I do some work in that VM, will the data just get saved into the VM files (.vmdk, .vmx)?

Thanks

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 16:01

Another question. I see the Converter has created the following folders and files:

computername.vmdk.lck folder
computername.vmdk
computername.vmx

So, if I want to have access to the above VM on another of my computers, is it just a case of copying this set of files across?

Thanks

NeoNemesis · 30 Mar 2009 at 16:06

In theory, yes.

jaffacaique · 30 Mar 2009 at 19:26

Vmware Server Query

Hi NeoNemesis

Sorry for hijacking this post....

I have a query, in your reply you mention vmware server. Is this free to use or is it only free to try i.e. 30 days? I've tried using using Microsofts Virtual PC and also Virtual Box, Virtual Box seems a bit better to use out of the two. I've seen vmware mentioned many times and was under the impression that it was really expensive. Am I missing something really obvious (highly likely)...
If this is free, also what makes it so much better than the other 2 I've mentioned??????

Deleted member 77746 · 30 Mar 2009 at 19:31

I vote for True Acronis Echo Workstation + Universal restore. You can convert .tib files to VirtualPC/Vmware images and vice versa!!! Brilliant if you wanna customise your workstation in a virtual machine before hand.

Universal restore strips the drivers, changes the SID and even changes the HAL!!!! So it can be restored on all workstations

.

Downside it costs alittle but for what it does it's nothing for technicians and enthusiasts..

NeoNemesis · 30 Mar 2009 at 21:06

jaffacaique said:
Hi NeoNemesis

Sorry for hijacking this post....

I have a query, in your reply you mention vmware server. Is this free to use or is it only free to try i.e. 30 days? I've tried using using Microsofts Virtual PC and also Virtual Box, Virtual Box seems a bit better to use out of the two. I've seen vmware mentioned many times and was under the impression that it was really expensive. Am I missing something really obvious (highly likely)...
If this is free, also what makes it so much better than the other 2 I've mentioned??????

VMware are the biggest player in the enterprise virtualisation space, so they have some extremely pricy enterprise virtualisation solutions = VMware ESX.

VMware workstation is the PC based version of their enterprise software, it carries a licence cost - cant remember how much now, but it is the best desktop virtualisation product out there.

I was under the impression that VMware server was free - it certainly used to be, as it is a scaled down version of Workstation.

I have used all of the Vmware product-set as well as MS Virtual PC. The Vmware products are vastly superior in terms of features and usability.

But when it comes down to it, MS VPC does the job.

Hope that answers for you!

CliffyG · 30 Mar 2009 at 21:49

I was under the impression you couldnt convert back from a vm image though? Which makes vmware kind of pointless in this situation. Your best bet for what you want is some sort of disk cloning software such as ghost, acronis etc.

radderfire · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:54

CliffyG said:
I was under the impression you couldnt convert back from a vm image though? Which makes vmware kind of pointless in this situation. Your best bet for what you want is some sort of disk cloning software such as ghost, acronis etc.

All I care about is business continuity, i.e. once my laptop drive fails I don't want to have to spend the next few days reinstalling everything and faffing around. If I have to always work in a virtual machine, that would be fine, as long as I can keep a backup copy of that virtual machine somewhere and can instantly restore it to another computer if needs be. Is that possible, thoughts anyone?

Rgds

NeoNemesis · 31 Mar 2009 at 07:59

CliffyG said:
I was under the impression you couldnt convert back from a vm image though? Which makes vmware kind of pointless in this situation. Your best bet for what you want is some sort of disk cloning software such as ghost, acronis etc.

You can convert back from virtual to physical, however I have never found any free software that allows you to do it.

The best product for all of the suggestions mentioned is Platespin Powerconvert.