How can I make a virtual machine out of a real one?

[fahirsch]

I have the C disk of a defunct Windows 98 PC. Not sure it's Win 98 SE. This pc was used to run one DOS program. I would like to convert this real PC to a virtual one using Parallels for Mac. The whole point of this is to look at the data that the DOS program generated and collected, and eventually (if possible) to export it so it can be used in a modern environment.
It should be doable either starting from the real disk (it's connected to a MacPro via USB) or an iso copy of it. The hard disk is OK (it was working a week ago when the pc was dismantled). It's a 10GB HD with about 3 GB free space. What is not an option is to reinstall the software as there is no copy (and I guess it originally was a 5 1/2 inch floppy) and the original authors are not available.
The questions are: is it possible to do? How do I do it? And can it be done with Parallels 5?
Help will be appreciated.
Francisco

 

[ddahle1970]

You will need the Parallels Transporter app - look in the Help for information on that program.

It's in two parts - one is loaded onto the machine to be transferred and the other runs on the Mac to receive the data from the other computer.

 

[Stuw]

Hi, Francisco

I hope next instruction will help you.

1. If a Mac OS have access to the old disk you can make disk's copy using dd command.
For example if your old disk is /dev/disk1 you must type next command (be careful! if is source (the old disk), of is target.):
dd if=/dev/disk1 of=old_image.hdd bs=512
This command will copy each sector of your old disk to the old_image.hdd file in the current folder.

2. The old_image.hdd is equal to parallels virtual hard disk in old format. So you need to open the old_image.hdd in Parallels Image Tool and convert it to new format. Now you have virtual copy of your old disk.

3. In Parallels Desktop create new virtual machine (with type Windows 98) using old_image.hdd and try to boot it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

WBR,
Stuw

 

[fahirsch]

Stuw:
Thanks for your reply.
Using Disk Utility I saw my disk was disk4s1. I used it in dd. I got "Resource busy". It ocurred to me that it might be that Spotlight was indexing, so I put the disk in the Spotlight Privacy window. I still get "Resource busy".
What can it be? Also, which is the "current folder" that old_image.hdd will be put?

 

[fahirsch]

Stuw:
Answering my own questions:
a) First I had to unmount the hard disk, then I could proceed with the dd command
b) the destination folder is my home folder
I then used the Image tool and converted to the new format, created a virtual machine and used the virtual disk as the boot disk.
But something is wrong, as it gets stuck "Trying to boot from Primary Master IDE Drive..."
Is there something else I can try?

 

[Stuw]

Stuw:
Thanks for your reply.
Using Disk Utility I saw my disk was disk4s1. I used it in dd. I got "Resource busy". It ocurred to me that it might be that Spotlight was indexing, so I put the disk in the Spotlight Privacy window. I still get "Resource busy".
What can it be? Also, which is the "current folder" that old_image.hdd will be put?

disk4s1 isn't all disk, it's partition.
Type ls -1 /dev/disk4* in terminal.
You will see something like this:
/dev/disk4
/dev/disk4s1
You must copy all disk, but not only one partition.

Type pwd in terminal. This command will show you current path. Also you can specify full path to output file:
... of=/path/that/you/want/old_image.hdd ...

About "resource busy" - try sudo: sudo dd if=/dev/disk4 of=old_image.hdd bs=512

p.s. Unfortunately Parallels Transporter Agent does not support windows 98 as source.

 

[Stuw]

Stuw:
Answering my own questions:
a) First I had to unmount the hard disk, then I could proceed with the dd command
b) the destination folder is my home folder
I then used the Image tool and converted to the new format, created a virtual machine and used the virtual disk as the boot disk.
But something is wrong, as it gets stuck "Trying to boot from Primary Master IDE Drive..."
Is there something else I can try?

You can try to increase virtual disk capacity (+10 MB enough) with Parallels Image Tool without file system resizing. It may help to correct MBR on the virtual disk.