How long can a partitioned virtual harddrive holds it's data without corruption?

linus72 · 05-30-2009, 06:13 AM

OK, partitioned or not, is a vhd as viable as a real hd?
Is there a certain point at which it becomes corrupted or
malfunctions 'cause it's like not real?
So, basically life expectancy of vhd after making 3-4 partitions and
whether any important data can be safely put there?
Thanks

repo · 05-30-2009, 06:19 AM

From wikipedia:

Quote:

VHDs are implemented as files that reside on the native host file system. The following types of VHD formats are supported by Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server:

* Fixed hard disk image - a file that is allocated to the size of the virtual disk.
* Dynamic hard disk image - a file that at any given time is as large as the actual data written to it, plus the size of the header and footer.

So it is just a file.

linus72 · 05-30-2009, 06:27 AM

Hey repo, meaning it's safe to store info there-like if I put a folder in there with
my Credit card number or something(just an example), it'll be there next month when
I reopen the vhd?

Also, I can't seem to create a extended partition with cfdisk- I tried using
type 05 and 85, but neither lets me create more partitions afterwards-what am I doing wrong?

Also, does partitioning the vhd hurt it's ability to save info,etc?

repo · 05-30-2009, 06:42 AM

Quote:

it's safe to store info there-like if I put a folder in there with
my Credit card number or something(just an example), it'll be there next month when
I reopen the vhd?

Why not, it's just a file, so if you don't delete it, it will still be there.

Quote:

Also, does partitioning the vhd hurt it's ability to save info,etc?

It's just a file

linus72 · 05-30-2009, 06:52 AM

OK, so how would I mount it?
Is that possible?
A qemu-img that is...
Thanks

repo · 05-30-2009, 07:05 AM

Quote:

OK, so how would I mount it?

Why do you want to mount it ?

linus72 · 05-30-2009, 07:07 AM

Because I do...so how to mount qemu-img?

jamescondron · 05-30-2009, 07:22 AM

Try it, see what it does, you cant hurt it by trying

repo · 05-30-2009, 07:27 AM

Code:

mount /tmp/diskC.img /mnt/loop -o loop,offset=32256 -t vfat

However, the QEMU img file must be RAW, not qcow or any other format. If you did accidentally use qcow or something, qemu-img can convert it into RAW.

linus72 · 05-30-2009, 07:34 AM

OK, problem now is FS type ...the vhd has 4 partitions, 2 are ext3 and one ext2 with swap on 4th.
So, when mounting what fs type do I tell it? ext2 I tried....

repo · 05-30-2009, 07:40 AM

Never tried with a partitioned image.
Perhaps you can find some pointers at
http://equivocation.org/node/107