Browsing HDD files

Is there anyway to obtain files from an HDD file without booting up the operating system on it?

 

Very good question. You could mount drives as images back with VPC when the VM was shut down.

Steve

 

Something like that would be GREAT! My current VM won't boot, but I'd like to get some important files from the HDD image file that I stupidly haven't backed up recently.

 

So I have a new working VM running, and the old one that wouldn't boot (BSOD) I have loaded as a second virtual disc. When I boot the new VM, it finds the secondary drive and I now have it available in Windows Explorer. When I go to view the contents, there is nothing available? Where is all the content from the old VM?

So C: is the new working WinXP HDD, I now also have E: which is the old WinXP HDD (that I get a BSOD on). It says E: is 7.79GB and there is 1.17GB available. I go to browse E:, and it's just empty, no nothing there.

 

Just needed to run CHKDSK on the second HDD file and I'm back. Recovered the files I needed from the old unbootable HDD file and I'm a happy camper.

 

That would be a good topic for the Parallels blog/wiki.