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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/7/2012 7:40 PM, vordoo wrote:<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2012-12-07 01:07, Doron Shikmoni
wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CA+wgXivNrF-+Kp-s2ORUEpax=Jor_gu+h8St8N4=tVgzxYgOhw@mail.gmail.com"
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 9:26 PM,
David Suna <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:david@davidsconsultants.com"
target="_blank">david@davidsconsultants.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<div style="direction:ltr" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
text="#000000"> This is somewhat off topic as it does
not directly address Linux but it does have some
relevance to free software.<br>
<br>
I have an old hard disk which ran Windows XP. I would
like to turn that into something that I can run as a
virtualbox client. Does anyone know how I would go
about doing that?<br>
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<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows">https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows</a></div>
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</blockquote>
Yep, that's the official way, you can also use the vmware
migration tool. Usually cloning -dd/ghosting, won't work without
running a migration tool on the OS beforehand. The 'whole thing'
is called P2V, so you can google if you get in trouble;-) <br>
<br>
If you have only got the original HD, it's best to attach it to a
similar as possible motherboard to the original it was installed
on, and boot directly into safe mode(F8) -in order to run the
migration tool. I would have an extra copy of the HD before I
start the game.<br>
<br>
Good Luck!</blockquote>
<br>
Thanks for everyone's suggestions. As noted the official way
requires you to be able to boot into the old system to run a
migration tool which was not an option for me.<br>
<br>
Special thanks to Geoffrey Mendelson for pointing me in the
direction of Acronis (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.acronis.com">www.acronis.com</a>). They have a product (not
free) that will backup an existing hard disk and restore it to
dissimilar hardware and do all of the fixing up under the covers. I
was able to use that to backup the disk and restore it as a virtual
machine image.<br>
<br>
I know this is still off topic but in case someone else runs into
this in the future I figured it wouldn't hurt to have the solution
in the archives.<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Suna
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:david@davidsconsultants.com">david@davidsconsultants.com</a></pre>
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