<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:09 PM, Bill Littlejohn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:billl@mtd-inc.com">billl@mtd-inc.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:06 PM, John-Thomas Richards <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jtr@jrichards.org" target="_blank">jtr@jrichards.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 12:05:34PM -0500, Bill Littlejohn wrote:<br>
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:40 AM, John-Thomas Richards <<a href="mailto:jtr@jrichards.org" target="_blank">jtr@jrichards.org</a>>wrote:<br>
</div><div><div></div><div>> > I'm confused about why I need to move the partition into another<br>
> > partition (on a USB drive). Is it so it has a bootloader? Can I not<br>
> > install a bootloader into the restore partition and accomplish the same<br>
> > thing? (Perhaps my ignorance is showing here...) The restore partition<br>
> > would only be used to install the VM and then it could be removed (at<br>
> > the least unmounted).<br>
> ><br>
> > > If you have a spare drive large enough to copy your existing drive into,<br>
> > > then you can attach that to the VM and boot the VM using a live CD ISO,<br>
> > > repartition the drive to turn sda2,sda3,sda4 into one ntfs partition,<br>
> > reboot<br>
> > > the VM without the live cd and run the restore, then when it's all done<br>
> > and<br>
> > > youv'e successfully booted the restored OS, shrink the OS partition as<br>
> > small<br>
> > > as practical (and obviously somewhat <38GB).<br>
> > > After all that you'll have a working VM, and all you have to do is<br>
> > convert<br>
> > > the physical drive into a virtual one and change the VM config to use the<br>
> > > new virtual disk.<br>
> > > I may be wrong, but other methods seems to get rather complicated rather<br>
> > > quickly.<br>
> > > This of course all hinges on having another 130GB+ drive laying around.<br>
> ><br>
> > Why would I repartition sda2-4 into one ntfs partition? I don't want to<br>
> > get rid of my Linux install. I just want to boot the restore partition<br>
> > via VirtualBox to create a VM of the factory install of my laptop, after<br>
> > which I can delete the restore partition and continue running Debian as<br>
> > my operating system, booting <gulp> the Vista VM as needed.<br>
> > --<br>
> > john-thomas<br>
><br>
</div></div>> Apologies for being unclear.<br>
<br>
I'm pretty sure it's not you being unclear.<br>
<div><br>
> I essentially meant to make a copy of your existing disk, and then to modify<br>
> those partitions. In the end having a single (restored) OS in a VM, no<br>
> dual-boot.<br>
<br>
</div>I'm still confused why I would modify the partitions on my drive. Do you<br>
mean the USB drive?<br>
<div><br>
> I also did not mean to confuse the issue by sending something mildly<br>
> related, that was only to provide that Virtualbox can boot a partition and<br>
> some associated commands that may help shed some light.<br>
><br>
> I'm installing V.B. on another pc right, and I'll be back shortly.<br>
<br>
</div>I think I need to reread this thread. Thanks for your help!<br>
<font color="#888888">--<br>
john-thomas<br>
------<br>
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.<br>
Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>I'm still confused why I would modify the partitions on my drive. Do you<br>
mean the USB drive?<br></div></div>
Yes.<br>I'm making an image of the restore partition on this pc I have right now. I'll try to see if there's a way to boot it without using another drive. <br>
</blockquote></div><br>Running out of time for today, but I did get the restore partition on a virtual drive.<br>After I get a bootloader on there and actually boot it I'll let you know how I did it.<br>Bill<br>