Here are some tools that might help in creating a virtual machine from a real one. Some of them create only a virtual hard disk drive image, which can be enough since creating a new virtual machine is rather simple with VirtualBox or other virtualization programs.
QEmu package can be used to create new .vmdk virtual drive images and then the following programs can be used to copy files from an existing system, or mount an existing virtual drive and copy, or any other combination possible.
Free software:
- HoboCopy - copy utility using Volume Shadow Copy. Project page on SF - here.
- Shadow Copy - copy utility using Volume Shadow Copy.
- DD for Windows
- VMWare Server
- CloneZilla
- Ping and PartImage (for Linux)
- VMWare Converter
Additional free software listed here.
Free alternatives (trial, home, shareware, etc.):
- DriveImage XML
- DriveBackup Express
- CopyWipe from Terabyte
- Macrium Reflect
- DiscWizard
- Acronis True Image 8.0 Personal
- WinImage
- Drive SnapShot - creates disk images from a running system. See Tips on how to create a virtual disk from a drive snapshot.
Commercial software:
- VMWare, both Workstation and Server, offers the feature of creating a VM from a physical one but I had no luck using this feature;
- Acronis True Image
- AyRecovery (home), previously EAZClone
- DriveBackup, from Paragon
- Norton Ghost
- Image for Windows from Terabyte. There is also BING (BootIt Next Generation)
- ShadowProtect If you run across some other packages, let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment