Convert , Clone or Modify to VirtualBox VDI Images

VirtualBox is a free virtualization software that works both for the 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Using VirtualBox you can run a virtual PC inside your existing computer, in other words, you can run any number of supported operating systems within your existing operating system. It supports a large number of operating systems including Windows, Linux, FreeDOS, FreeBSD, Mac and more.

VirtualBox creates the virtual PC storage files as VDI files on your computer. If you want to import the virtual disk files from some other software to VirtualBox, then you might want to convert them to VDI first. You can do this using the CloneVDI software. This software can also clone the VDI files by modifying their UUID and you can also modify the properties of the existing VDI files.

CloneVDI does not make use of the command line tools that come with VirtualBox. It is a standalone program and can work even when VirtualBox is not installed in your PC. You have to select a source disk image file that could be a VDI, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, or a raw disk image. The destination file is always a VDI disk image. It displays the source disk information like the partition size and the partition type.

CloneVDI

In the options, you can choose to increase the virtual disk size or the partition size. You can compact the drive while copying its contents to the destination. If you are cloning the VDI, then you should generate a new UUID. But if you want to make a backup, then you should keep the old UUID.

When you click on the Proceed button, it will instantly start processing the source disk image file. You might also see a CLI window popup and process the source disk image. Depending on the size of the disks and the tasks being performed, the process may take a short or long time.

You can download CloneVDI from https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=22422.

3 comments

  1. Hi. As the author of the CloneVDI tool reviewed above I want to thank you for the writeup but also nitpick a little: CloneVDI is NOT a GUI for the VirtualBox command line tools. CloneVDI is completely stand alone, it does not require VirtualBox to be installed. Most importantly, if CloneVDI was just a front end then it couldn’t provide any feature not already provided by VBoxManage, such as smart compaction. At the time CloneVDI was written VBoxManage didn’t even have a resize function, and even now VBoxManage uses an unsafe in place algorithm for that function.

    1. Hey there,

      thanks a lot for that helpful blog post – even if there is this slightly incorrect fact that CloneVDI is/has it’s own algorithm(s) and does not make use of VBoxManage in any case.
      I had the problem to resize a virtualbox HDD (VDI-File) and ran into even more problems that I couldn’t solve. After another online research and reading of many many blog posts I found this one here.
      And I have to tell you that besides the fact that it simply works, it even shrank my 26 GByte-VDI-file down to 5,7 GByte! Great…! I am deeply convinced that CloneVDI is THE most lovely piece of software I have been using so far this year.

      I am working on another blog post on the issue, but it is/will be in german. So you won’t understand but I have a question to Don: Are you still working on that lovely piece of software (although it is still working anyway!)? Do you host your own website where to find more information?

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