[OpenIndiana-discuss] retrieve individual files from snapshot of vbox virtual disc

[Geoff Nordli]

On 14-12-24 01:36 PM, Harry Putnam wrote:
> Build 151_a9
> I have the time slider running on a zfs-fs that covers the area where my
> virtual box guests live.
>
> I need some files from a gentoo linux guest.
>
> I have snaps of the vms OS v-discs.  How to get an individual file out of
> there?
>
> Is there any way to get at the files in that vm virtual disc, or do I
> have to make whole new gentoo vm and use the disc as one of that
> guests disc.  That is, copy the snapshotted disc to a directory named
> appropriately. Then create a new vm which uses that disc instead of
> creating a new blank disk.
>
> Has anyone here done something like that?
>
> Before I make a really big mess of things I'd like to hear from
> someone with a bit of experience on something like this?
>
> Maybe there is someway to mount it as loop-back mount on
> openindiana?.  Its formated as linux ext4
>
>


Hi Harry.

Not sure if this is a zvol or a zfs filesystem.

If it is a zvol, then I normally create a clone of snapshot and directly 
attach it to the running vbox guest (not on the same sata port as the 
existing disk).   You can attach the clone to the VM while the VM is 
running.

Inside the guest, you can then mount it and retrieve the files you need 
to recover, you can then unmount it and remove the zvol from the running 
guest.

If it is a zfs filesystem, then you should be able to directly access 
the snapshot using the hidden zfs directory.

Go to the root of the filesystem and cd .zfs/snapshot.  You will see the 
list of snapshots for the dataset.  You can then go in there and copy 
the files out.

Happy Holidays!!

Geoff