Can a FOG back up be converted into a .VMDK file and spun up as a VM?

[Steve.Owen]

I am currently converting Acronis .TIB files into .VMDK file so they can be spun up as VM’s. Can the same be done with a FOG back up? If so what is the process and what file format are the FOG back-ups?

[Sebastian Roth]

@Steve-Owen Depending on the image settings the files are compressed (gzip, zstd) partclone or partimage files…

[Steve.Owen]

Thanks for the reply Sebastian, do you know if gzip or zstd can be converted into vmdk?

[Sebastian Roth]

@Steve-Owen I’d think this forum post should be of much help to you as it explains how to convert/extract files from FOG backups. After you extracted the whole image (big file!) you need to convert that raw image to vmdk which can be done using qemu-img or VBoxManage tools: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/454899/how-to-convert-flat-raw-disk-image-to-vmdk-for-virtualbox-or-vmplayer

Be aware that you need a lot of disk space for the conversion steps. I wonder if it more appropriate to deploy the FOG image to a VM and using that VMDK.

[Steve.Owen]

Ok thanks for all the help Sebastian