Running VMWare images on real hardware and other nuances of Zalman VE-300

Foreword

It was an ordinary evening. There was nothing to do, but somehow it was necessary to pass the time before sleeping.

I decided to clean my external HDD from trash, and at the same time to check if there is a new firmware on my favorite Zalman VE-300 pocket. Having visited the Zalman website, I just found one like that. While the firmware was being downloaded through an incredibly slow EDGE, I was browsing the changelog. My eyes attracted this line:

Support VHD of MS / VMDK of VMWare which is virtual Hard disk file (Still not support for Dynamic)

Go

Since shortly before this, I decided to explore Windows server 2012, I had a downloaded VMware image with Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 Datacenter installed . I wondered how all this will work and whether Windows will start at all, “accustomed” to another hardware on my modest laptop. To celebrate, I copied the .vmdk file to the _iso folder on an external HDD, but when I tried to mount it using my own pocket, I got an error "No support for dynamic". This, in principle, was said in the changelog, and I began to google how to fix it. The search quickly led me to the official help, where the VMware Virtual Disk Manager utility and examples of its use were described. It was necessary to convert my growable image to preallocated.



The vmware-vdiskmanager itself is in a folder with VMware installed. The VMware website tells you how to convert preallocated to growable, but we need the opposite. By running vmware-vdiskmanager on the command line, you can see the full help with all possible parameters.

To achieve the desired result, use the following command:



vmware-vdiskmanager –r < > -t 2 < >



Where:

-r - the parameter indicating that we are going to convert

-t - specify the ID of the type of disk that we need

2 - the type we need (preallocated virtual disk)

eg:

vmware-vdiskmanager –rd:\Soft\vmware\Mint17_x64\Mint.vmdk -t 2 e:\_iso\Linux\Mint.vmdk



Immediately, an error “VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter. Failed to read configuration

file. ”, but you can safely ignore it. The conversion will go further.

I started the conversion and while it was on, I decided to watch the first episode of the series. The process refused a long one, because the image “grew” out of 15 GB to 40 GB (the author of the distribution indicated such a partition size. Of course I could change it, but did not) + I immediately converted it to an external HDD, and USB 3.0 in my Unfortunately, there was no laptop.

')

And with all this we are now trying to fly

So, the exciting moment has come, namely the attempt to launch. Mount the .vmdk image with your pocket, go to reboot, and select the pocket in the BIOS BIOS Boot Menu. To my surprise, Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 Datacenter booted successfully. Naturally, the drivers for all the equipment did not stand up, but the fact of a successful launch is already pleasing.







Since the pocket mounts the image in RW mode, you can add drivers, software, etc. All this will remain and will not disappear as in the case of the Live CD, for example.



As I said, I do not have USB 3.0. And with USB 2.0 Server2012, until the administrator password was requested, it booted in 45 seconds. I think not bad though. It would be interesting, of course, to try USB 3.0, but alas, my PC is far from me and I don’t know when I can check it.

Also checked out Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon. As expected, the OS booted without problems. I suspect that any or the vast majority of Linux distributions will also normally boot and work. Windows XP SP3, in turn, fell into BSOD both in normal boot mode and in safe mode, which in principle is not strange.

I do not understand anything. And why all this?

To be honest, for me personally, so far from all of the above, there is little confusion. The use of this feature every owner of the VE-300 can find himself. Although, this way you can make a good likeness of the Live CD, with your favorite OS, software, etc. Such an image will be useful to those who often put people on the OS, clean the virus and perform other PC maintenance. The obvious advantage is that all changes are saved, work is being done with a real OS with the only difference being that it is launched from an external drive. Immediately I anticipate some comments like "I will install the OS on a USB flash drive, and I will get the same result." Yes, but:



1) Do not forget about the limited number of rewriting cycles to Flash memory;

2) The speed of the HDD over USB 3.0 will still be higher than the average USB 3.0 flash drive;

3) On the VE-300, such images can be a little more than a lot, and they are conveniently stored — one image file per OS.



If you have any other ideas about how you can still use VMware mount images in this way, write in the comments, I will add a post.

Anyway, this is a perversion!

I agree, so you can make the same Live CD or installation “media” easier.

The main feature of Zalman VE-300 is usually considered to be the mounting of ISO images and focus on this feature in all sorts of reviews, but in addition to the above, the pocket can also mount USB Floppy, Removable Disk and Fixed Disk images. Not only mount, but disguised as them.



Such images are created by proprietary utility from Zalman - Backup Utility.







Just select the type of the desired disk, enter the name of the image file, its size, click Add and File Create. Depending on the selected image size, its creation will take some time, because the images are not dynamic, and are immediately created to full size. This is probably the only negative, although it is also a plus, because it prevents the fragmentation of images on our external HDD.

After creating the mount of such images for the first time, they are defined as the corresponding device (USB Floppy, removable disk, local disk) and Windows offers to format them. With USB FDD, for example, in the old-fashioned way, you can slip an OS driver installer onto a hard disk controller, you can write any OS distribution to USB Removable as a regular USB flash drive, but install it on Fixed Disk.



A typical example from my practice: sometimes, when I installed Windows 7 or 8.1 on some PCs using the VE-300 and mounting an ISO image (for a PC, the pocket is seen as a USB-CDROM), at the stage of selecting the partition to be installed, Windows issued error "The required driver for an optical disc drive was not found."



This problem can be easily solved by writing the necessary distribution kit on the USB flash drive and installing it “in the old way” (therefore, I had such a “reserve” always with me). But if such was not at hand, the problem is solved as follows:



1) Create ~ 5 GB of Removable Disk in Backup Utility (or another size depending on the size of the distribution kit);

2) We mount this image by means of a pocket;

3) With any convenient software we write down the required distrib on the appeared "Removable Disk";

4) Install by booting as with a regular flash drive;

5) We do not see the error described above.



Finally, I would like to talk about another interesting feature. Mounting images USB FDD, USB Removable and USB Fixed does not affect the standard 3 modes of the pocket (Dual Mode, HDD Mode, ODD Mode). If, after mounting USB FDD, USB Removable or USB Fixed, go to the menu in the Mode Select section and select Dual Mode, the pocket will successfully accomplish this. The result will be "full stuffing" of all available modes:







Here:

C and D - local disks of the notebook hard drive;

E - Pocket mounted .iso;

F and G - mounted Server2012R2 .vmdk image;

H - Section of the hard drive inserted into the pocket.



That's basically all I wanted to talk about. If someone is interested in the iron on which all the manipulations were performed, it is the following:



1) Lenovo IdeaPad S210 Laptop. Intel Celeron 1037U, 1800 MHz. ST500LT012-9WS142 (500 GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-II). 4 Gb DDR3 1600 MHz;

2) Actually Zalman VE-300. Inside the HGST HTS541010A9E680 (JA4000C0GH81VC), 1 TB.