Solaris/Linux/Windows p2v tools
I think this is the current status. Corrections and comments are welcome.
| OS | Tool | space required |
Boot device reconfiguration |
Network device reconfiguration |
| Windows | VMware Converter |
not much more than actual space used |
automatic |
automatic |
| Linux* | ext2/ext3 aware image backup tool |
may require extra temporary space while restoring |
boot with GRUB failsafe archive and reconfigure |
manual |
| Solaris* | block by block HDD image backup tool |
requires extra temporary space while restoring |
GRUB. Doesn't require install media. |
manual |
| others* (DOS,NetWare,etc) |
file system aware or block by block image backup tool |
depends on file system used |
probably requires install media, additional driver disk. |
may need to install driver |
*) I omitted VMware Converter's Cold cloning (using a BootCD). It's $$ option and I haven't seen it. According to this FAQ, the BootCD is Windows 2003 based WinPE (or BartPE?) and sounds quite flexible. How can it read Linux disk, then? I guess it has ext2/ext3 driver installed and also capable of block-by-block backup.
