Running a one-time virtual conversion

You can use Norton Ghost to convert recovery points of a physical computer to VMware Virtual Disk, Microsoft Virtual Disk, or a VMware ESX Server. Virtual disks are excellent for testing and evaluation purposes.

The following platforms support virtual disks created from recovery points:

You can also create scheduled recovery point conversions to virtual disks.

See Defining a virtual conversion job.

To run a one-time recovery point conversion to virtual disk

  1. On the Tasks page, click One Time Virtual Conversion.

  2. Click the virtual disk type (and version, if applicable) that you want to create, and then click Next.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Click View all recovery points near the bottom of the pane, and then select a recovery point in the list based on its creation date.

    • In the View by list, select one of the following alternative recovery point sources:

    Date

    Displays all of the discovered recovery points in the order in which they were created.

    • If no recovery points are discovered, the table is empty. In such cases, you can select an alternate date by using the drop-down calendar.

    • Select a recovery point from the list.

    File name

    Lets you browse to another recovery point location. For example, you can browse an external (USB) drive, network location, or removable media to select a recovery point (.v2i) or incremental recovery point (.iv2i) file.

    Select this option, and then do the following:

    • Click Browse, locate and select a recovery point, and then click Open.

    • If you selected a recovery point that is stored on a network, type your network credentials.

      See About network credentials.

    System

    Uses the current system index file that is located in the recovery point storage location. The system index file displays a list of all of the drives on your computer and any associated recovery points from which you can select.

    Or, you can select an alternate system index file (.sv2i) that resides elsewhere, such as a network location. The use of a system index file reduces the time it takes to convert multiple recovery points. When a recovery point is created, a system index file is saved with it. The system index file contains a list of the most recent recovery points, which includes the original drive location of each recovery point.

    Select this option, and then do one of the following:

    • Click Use latest recovery points for this computer.

      The list of drives, source files (.v2i and .iv2i files), and dates comes from the most current system index file (.sv2i) that is located in the recovery point storage location on your computer.

    • Click Use alternate system index (*.sv2i) file .

      Click Browse, locate and select an alternate system index file (.sv2i), and then click Open.

      If you selected a system index file that is stored on a network, type your network credentials.

      See About network credentials.

      Select the recovery points that you want to convert in the list box.

  4. Click Next.

  5. Do one of the following based on the virtual disk format and version (if applicable) that you selected:

    If you selected VMware Virtual Disk or Microsoft Virtual Disk as the conversion format.

    • Folder for virtual disks

      Type the path to the folder where you want to place the virtual disk files.

    • Browse

      Click Browse to locate the folder in which you want to place the virtual disk files.

    • Network Credentials

      If you selected a virtual disk folder location on a network, type your network credentials.

    • Create one virtual disk per volume

      Select this option to create one virtual disk file per volume.

      If you do not select this option, each drive is matched to its respective hard drive letter assignment during the conversion. Therefore, it results in multiple drives within one virtual disk file.

      This option is not available if the volumes are on separate disks.

    • Rename

      To edit the name of the resulting virtual disk file, select the file name in the list near the bottom of the pane.

      Click Rename, and then type the new file name.

    If you selected VMware ESX Server as the conversion format.

    • ESX server name or IP address

      Type the name of the server or the server's IP address.

    • ESX Server Credentials

      In the ESX Server Credentials group box, type a valid administrator user name that has sufficient rights. Type a valid password.

    • Destination for the virtual disks

      Type the path to the folder where you want to place the virtual disk files.

    • Rename

      To edit the name of the resulting virtual disk file, select the file name in the list near the bottom of the pane.

      Click Rename, and then type the new file name.

    Click Next.

    • Temporary location for conversion

      Type the name of the server or the server's IP address that you can use as a temporary location for files.

    • Temporary Location Credentials

      If you selected a temporary location for files on a network, type a valid administrator user name that has sufficient rights. Type a valid password.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Select one or more of the following options:

    Run Windows Mini-Setup

    Select this option (default) to run Windows Mini-Setup when you restart the computer after recovery.

    During recovery a text-based answer file is generated that scripts the answers for a series of dialog boxes. When the Mini-Setup wizard starts, it looks for this answer to automate the wizard. For example, the answer file, by way of the wizard, can automatically apply network card settings and other hardware and software settings on the computer.

    Unlike Windows Welcome which can take up to 60 minutes or more to set up Windows, Mini-Setup takes about six minutes. Specific information, including accepting the End - User License Agreement, entering the Product Key, user name, and company name are automatically applied by Mini-Setup which uses the answer file.

    Deselect this option if you want any of the following to occur at the time of recovery instead:

    • Run Windows Welcome instead Mini-Setup

    • You do not want to change any of the configurable options for which the Mini-Setup wizard changes for you at the time of recovery. This ensures that the computer is recovered to its original state prior to recovery.

    For more detailed information about Mini-Setup. you can perform a search for "Mini-Setup" on the Microsoft Help and Support Web site.

    Split virtual disk into 2 GB (.vmdk) files

    Select this option if you want to split the virtual disk into multiple 2 GB .vmdk files.

    For example, use this option if your virtual disk is stored on a FAT32 drive (any file system that does not support files larger than 2 GB). Or, if you want to copy the virtual disk files to a DVD but the size is larger than the DVD allows.

    Note:

    This option is specific to VMware; it is not available if you selected Microsoft Virtual Disk as the conversion format.

  8. Click Next.

  9. Review the summary of the choices you made.

    If you need to make any changes, click Back.

  10. Click Finish.