Can I convert VMDK to VDI?

The actions you need to perform are in the Virtual Media Manager. First, release the "old" virtual drive from the VM, then remove it from the media manager. Afterward, add the "new" drive to the media manager and assign it to the VM.

What is the difference between VDI and VHD and VMDK?

A VDI is the virtual hard disk image or the logical disk linked to a virtual machine. A VHD is a disk image file format used to virtualize the contents of a computer's hard drive. Lastly, a VMDK is a format specification for disk image files used in virtual machines.

What are the three 3 types of virtual hard disk?

Virtual hard drive files are classified into three main types: fixed, dynamic, and differencing. A fixed virtual hard disk file allocates the full amount of physical disk space at the time it is created.

Which is faster VDI VHD or VMDK?

VDI files are more compact and outperform VHD or VHDX files in several key areas. However, they lag behind VMDK files in terms of speed.

Comparing VDI, VHD, and VMDK Formats: Which is Superior and How to Convert Among Them?

Virtual machines store their data in image file formats. The image file format a virtual machine uses depends on the platform you’re deploying the machine. If you’re running Oracle’s VirtualBox VM, the files would be saved in VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) format; similarly, if you’re deploying a local Microsoft Hyper-V VM (Virtual Desktop), the data would be saved in VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) format, and if you use VMware products for hosting VMs, the data would be saved as VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) in a VMFS partition.

It is important to learn about these three common virtual disk formats and how to handle them – especially if you’re an IT admin who handles multiple virtual machines across platforms. This article provides clear definitions and handy information regarding these virtual disk formats.

What is VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)?

VDI (Virtual Disk Image) is Oracle’s default virtual disk format for its VirtualBox platform, which runs across multiple operating systems: macOS, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. While VDI is the default disk format for VirtualBox, the platform also supports Microsoft’s VHD/VHDX and VMware’s VMDK formats; so, you can copy these supported file formats to VirtualBox Virtual Media Manager and convert them to VDI if you wish to retain their content.

Oracle’s VirtualBox can run on older Windows versions and support backward compatibility – this makes it an ideal choice for enterprise businesses that require backward compatibility for their applications. Also, VirtualBox is Open Source, so you can find quite a lot of pre-built VM templates and support tools for using the platform.

Virtual machines created using VirtualBox generate virtual disks stored with a .vdi extension. The VDI file extension is portable and allows fixed-size and dynamically allocated storage. Dynamically allocated storage means you can scale the VDI image file after it has been created—regardless of whether there are files and data already saved on it.

Features of VDI:

Portable virtual disk format
Backward compatibility with older Windows OS editions and versions
Can be used in other virtualization platforms from VMware or Microsoft
Supports snapshots, remote access, and sparse allocation.

Pros:

Performs better than VHD and VHDX
You can further expand the VDI file at any time
High-level data security and redundancy

Cons:

Incremental backups not supported
The VDI to VMDK or VHD conversion fails more often than it goes through
Slower than VMware’s VMDK format

How to Recover VDI Files:

If you made a prior backup, you can always recover from the backup, but if you didn’t, then you need VMFS data recovery solution that supports the .vdi file format.

What is VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)?

VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) is Microsoft’s virtual hard disk format for its Hyper-V and Virtual Server platforms. The file format, originally developed by Connectix, is one of the three most popular virtual hard drive formats. Microsoft has since replaced it with VHDX (Virtual Hard Disk v2), which offers a larger storage capacity of up to 64 TB. But now? The Microsoft platforms that utilize these virtual disk formats are now defunct.

Regardless, the VHD format is still widely supported by other virtualization platforms – actually, it’s the newer version, VHDX, since it offers more storage capacity (64TB) than VHD (2TB). VHD/VHDX files stay on the host OS, there are quite a few sub-types of this Microsoft virtual hard drive format:

Fixed Hard Disk Image: Raw disk image file, typically the same size as the virtual disk and includes a VHD footer.
Expandable (or Dynamic) Disk Image: Includes a header and footer, and is usually a large file - as large as the data it stores.
Differencing Hard Disk Image: This VHD image type saves all changes on the main VHD file to a child image, with an “undo” option so you can revert the changes.
Pass-Through Disk Image: This VHD image type links with the physical hard drive on the host or one of its partitions.

Features of VHD:

Resides on the host OS
Supports multiple image types
Allows differencing and snapshotting
Using PowerShell scripts, you can convert VHD to VHDX.

Pros:

You can modify VM configurations from the host server
Ability to run multiple OSes on one hard drive without creating additional partitions
It is possible to undo and redo changes to a VHD file
You can create preset configurations

Cons:

A corrupted VHD or VHDX file can crash your Windows OS
VHD has a storage limit of just 2TB
Its native platforms are currently obsolete.
VHDX is very limited to Hyper-V

VHD Files Recovery:

VHD files can be recovered from a backup (if you made one earlier) or using a VHD file recovery tool. There are actually a good number of VDI recovery programs, including enterprise-level software solutions.

What is VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk)?

VMDK is the default file format of VMware for its virtualization platforms, vSphere and Workstation. The VMDK format is one of the most flexible and widely adopted virtual disk file formats. While it was exclusively designed for VMware applications at the initial stage, it later became an open format in 2011 and was adopted by other virtualization platforms: VirtualBox and Hyper-V.

The cross-compatibility of VMDK fosters interoperability across different virtualization platforms. You can literally run a VMDK file using QEMU, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, and Workstation editions. Aside from VMDK being more flexible and advanced than other virtual disk formats, VMware virtualization platforms are packed with so many high-tech, enterprise-level features that simplify VM deployment and management.

Also, VMware hypervisors support all types of backups – full backups, differential backups, and incremental backups – along with a suite of really useful features, including quick snapshots and live migrations, while also differing overall faster performance than VDI and VHD.

VMDK lets you clone a physical drive and run off-site backups; it used to offer a miniature 2TB maximum capacity, but since the VMware vSphere 5.5, released in 2013, the capacity has increased to 62 TB.

It is equally important to note that VMDK files can be either dynamic (sparse) or fixed (flat). Apparently, fixed VMDK files won’t change with time – as the data they store increases. But dynamic VMDK files will start to expand in size as the guest OS data continues to compound. Unofficial tests show that VMDK is faster than VDI and VHD.

Features of VMDK:

Recreate or restart VMs using a backup file
Very much flexible and cross-platform compatible
Allows you to clone your physical HDD

Pros:

Live VM migration without any effect
Faster performance than other virtual hard disks
Quick snapshots and incremental backups are supported
Provides multiple ways to access and manage your VM files

Cons:

VMware hypervisors and virtualization suites can be very expensive to set up
More of the advanced features are only available to Workstation Pro users

How to Recover VMDK Files

DiskInternals VFMS Recovery is an enterprise-level application for recovering lost VMDK files or repairing corrupt ones. The software supports all RAID levels and can mount virtual drives as physical drives accessible from Windows File Explorer. More so, DiskInternals VFMS Recovery has an intuitive interface, you can preview recovered files, too.

Converting Between VDI, VHD, and VMDK Formats

It’s actually possible to convert from one virtual disk format to another. However, in most cases, the conversion comes out “failed.” So it is best to use each virtual disk format with its supported applications. If you still want to know how to convert between these formats, hereunder are the procedures. Learn how to repair VHD in case of failure.

Converting Between VDI and VHD Formats

Convert VDI to VHD

To convert a VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) file to a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file used by platforms like Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure, you can use several tools, including command-line utilities. Here’s how to do it using VBoxManage, which is a part of the VirtualBox installation, and using qemu-img for Linux users.

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is the command-line utility included with VirtualBox that allows for various operations on VirtualBox virtual machines and disks. Here’s how you can convert a VDI file to a VHD:

1. Open your command prompt or terminal.
2. Run the following command:
```
VBoxManage clonehd "source.vdi" "destination.vhd" --format VHD
```
Replace source.vdi with the path to your original VDI file and destination.vhd with the path where you want the VHD file to be saved.

Method 2: Using qemu-img (Linux)

For Linux users, qemu-img is a versatile tool that can handle disk image conversion between different formats. Here’s how to use it to convert a VDI to a VHD:

1. Install qemu (if it’s not already installed):
- Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vdi -O vpc source.vdi destination.vhd
```
In this command, replace source.vdi with the path to your VDI file and destination.vhd with the desired output file path. The format vpc refers to the VHD format used by Virtual PC and is compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V.

Convert VHD to VDI

To convert a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file to a VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) file, you can use VBoxManage, which is included with VirtualBox, or qemu-img for those using Linux. These tools allow for the conversion of virtual disk formats quite effectively. Here's how you can do it:

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is a command-line utility that comes with VirtualBox and can handle various operations related to virtual machines and disk images. To convert a VHD file to a VDI file, follow these steps:

1. Open your command prompt or terminal.
2. Execute the following command:
```
VBoxManage clonehd "source.vhd" "destination.vdi" --format VDI
```
Replace source.vhd with the path to your VHD file and destination.vdi with the path where you want the VDI file to be created.

Method 2: Using qemu-img (Linux)

For Linux users, qemu-img is a part of the QEMU package and is a versatile tool for converting and managing virtual disk images. Here’s how to use it for converting VHD to VDI:

1. Install qemu-img if it is not already installed:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vpc -O vdi source.vhd destination.vdi
```
In this command, replace source.vhd with the path to your VHD file and destination.vdi with the desired path for the VDI file. The -f vpc option specifies the VHD format (used by Microsoft Virtual PC).

Note: learn more about vShpere recovery!

Converting Between VDI and VMDK Formats

Convert VDI to VMDK

Converting a VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) file to a VMDK (VMware Disk) file involves a few steps, and you can achieve this using a variety of tools, including command-line utilities and graphical software. Here are the common methods:

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is a command-line utility that comes with VirtualBox. It can be used to convert a VDI file to a VMDK file. Here's how you can do it:

1. Open your command prompt or terminal.
2. Use the following command to convert the VDI file to VMDK:
```
VBoxManage clonehd --format VMDK input.vdi output.vmdk
```
Replace input.vdi with the path to your VDI file and output.vmdk with the desired path for the VMDK file.

Method 2: Using VMware Converter

VMware Converter is a software offered by VMware that can convert entire machines, virtual machine formats, or disk files. It’s particularly useful for more complex setups or system migrations. Here’s a brief guide:

1. Download and install VMware Converter from the VMware website.
2. Launch VMware Converter and choose to convert a machine or a system image.
3. Select the source type as Virtual Appliances and browse to your VDI file.
4. Follow the prompts to set up the conversion specifics and choose VMDK as the target format.

Method 3: Using qemu-img (for Linux users)

If you're on a Linux system, you can use the qemu-img tool to convert between various file formats, including VDI to VMDK. Here’s how:

1. Install qemu (if it’s not installed):
- For Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- For CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vdi -O vmdk input.vdi output.vmdk
```
Again, replace input.vdi with the path to your VDI file and output.vmdk with the desired path for the VMDK file.

Convert VMDK to VDI

Converting a VMDK (VMware Virtual Disk) file to a VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) file can be accomplished using VBoxManage or qemu-img. Here’s how to do it using both methods:

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is the command-line utility included with VirtualBox that allows you to manage various aspects of your virtual machines. To convert a VMDK file to a VDI file, follow these steps:

1. Open your command prompt or terminal.
2. Run the following command:
```
VBoxManage clonehd "source.vmdk" "destination.vdi" --format VDI
```
Replace source.vmdk with the path to your VMDK file and destination.vdi with the path where you want the VDI file to be created.

Method 2: Using qemu-img (Linux)

For Linux users, qemu-img is a versatile tool that can convert between different disk formats, including VMDK to VDI. Here’s how to use it:

1. Install qemu-img if it is not already installed:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O vdi source.vmdk destination.vdi
```
In this command, replace source.vmdk with the path to your VMDK file and destination.vdi with the desired path for the VDI file.

Converting between VHD and VMDK Formats

Convert VHD to VMDK

To convert a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file to a VMDK (VMware Disk) file, you can use several available tools and methods. Here, I'll guide you through using VBoxManage, which is part of VirtualBox, and qemu-img, commonly used in Linux environments.

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is a versatile command-line utility included with VirtualBox that allows you to manage VirtualBox-related operations. It can also handle disk conversion tasks. Here’s how to convert a VHD file to VMDK:

1. Open a command prompt or terminal window.
2. Use the following command:
```
VBoxManage clonehd "source.vmdk" "destination.vhd" --format VHD
```
Replace source.vhd with the path to your VHD file and destination.vmdk with the path where you want the VMDK file to be saved.

Method 2: Using qemu-img (Linux)

For those using a Linux system, qemu-img is an effective tool for converting disk images between different formats. To convert a VHD file to a VMDK:

1. Install qemu-img if not already installed:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O vpc source.vmdk destination.vhd
```
In this command, replace source.vhd with the path to your VHD file and destination.vmdk with the path where you want the VMDK file to be created. The -f vpc flag specifies the format of the source image (in this case, Virtual PC compatible, which covers VHD files).

Convert VMDK to VHD

Converting a VMDK (VMware Disk) file to a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file, which is commonly used by Microsoft Virtual PC and Hyper-V, can be done using several methods. Two effective tools for this task are VBoxManage, included with VirtualBox, and qemu-img, popular in Linux environments. Here's how to use these tools for conversion:

Method 1: Using VBoxManage

VBoxManage is a command-line utility that comes with VirtualBox and can handle various operations related to virtual machines and disk images. Here’s how to convert a VMDK file to a VHD:

1. Open your command prompt or terminal.
2. Execute the following command:
```
VBoxManage clonehd "source.vmdk" "destination.vhd" --format VHD
```
Replace source.vmdk with the path to your VMDK file and destination.vhd with the path where you want the VHD file to be created.

Method 2: Using qemu-img (Linux)

For Linux users, qemu-img is a versatile tool that can convert between different disk image formats. Here’s how to use it to convert a VMDK to VHD:

1. Install qemu-img if it is not already installed:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
```
sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
```
- CentOS/RHEL:
```
sudo yum install qemu-img
```
2. Convert the file using the following command:
```
qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O vpc source.vmdk destination.vhd
```
In this command, replace source.vmdk with the path to your VMDK file and destination.vhd with the desired path for the VHD file. The -O vpc option specifies the output format to be compatible with Microsoft Virtual PC, which also uses the VHD format.

Tip: what to do in case of deleted virtual hard disk?

Conclusion

VHD, VDI, and VMDK are the three most used virtual disk formats and are supported by virtualization platforms. These image formats can be tweaked and converted to different formats, but the conversion doesn’t always come out good.

VMDK is currently the most preferred virtual hard disk format, thanks to VMware’s wide offerings and impressive modern tech infusion across its hypervisors and virtualization platforms. If you lose any of the virtual hard drive files, the DiskInternals VMFS Recovery can help you to restore VMware virtual machine from VMDK!

FAQ

Can I convert VMDK to VDI?
The actions you need to perform are in the Virtual Media Manager. First, release the "old" virtual drive from the VM, then remove it from the media manager. Afterward, add the "new" drive to the media manager and assign it to the VM.
What is the difference between VDI and VHD and VMDK?
A VDI is the virtual hard disk image or the logical disk linked to a virtual machine. A VHD is a disk image file format used to virtualize the contents of a computer's hard drive. Lastly, a VMDK is a format specification for disk image files used in virtual machines.
What are the three 3 types of virtual hard disk?
Virtual hard drive files are classified into three main types: fixed, dynamic, and differencing. A fixed virtual hard disk file allocates the full amount of physical disk space at the time it is created.
Which is faster VDI VHD or VMDK?
VDI files are more compact and outperform VHD or VHDX files in several key areas. However, they lag behind VMDK files in terms of speed.

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Comparing VDI, VHD, and VMDK Formats: Which is Superior and How to Convert Among Them?

What is VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)?

Features of VDI:

Pros:

Cons:

How to Recover VDI Files:

What is VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)?

Features of VHD:

Pros:

Cons:

VHD Files Recovery:

What is VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk)?

Features of VMDK:

Pros:

Cons:

How to Recover VMDK Files

Converting Between VDI, VHD, and VMDK Formats

Converting Between VDI and VHD Formats

Convert VDI to VHD

Convert VHD to VDI

Converting Between VDI and VMDK Formats

Convert VDI to VMDK

Convert VMDK to VDI

Converting between VHD and VMDK Formats

Convert VHD to VMDK

Convert VMDK to VHD

Conclusion

FAQ

Can I convert VMDK to VDI?

What is the difference between VDI and VHD and VMDK?

What are the three 3 types of virtual hard disk?

Which is faster VDI VHD or VMDK?

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