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Couldn't you just load them up in a VM anyway?
by rangibaby 11y ago
Couldn't you just load them up in a VM anyway?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- chromakode 11y agoYes, for reading these disk images, I've typically resorted to using VMs anyway, so I can experiment with old code in a sandbox. Actually, one project I've had in the back of my mind is attempting to boot some of those old Linux installs in a VM. Can you imagine re-opening a carbon copy of your old workspace from over a decade ago, right where you left it? I think the exercise would be thought-provoking.
- marak830 11y agoDamn that would be interesting. I should make a backup of my current one and see how it changes year after year. Good idea!
- evincarofautumn 11y agoSince I’m young, a decade ago I probably hadn’t discovered proper version control. I expect I’d find folders of neatly organised, timestamped ZIP files of my code. Perhaps some things are best left in the past.
- michaelt 11y agoA few weeks ago I tried to copy a Windows 7 VM from VirtualBox to VMWare Player. I expected it to be easy, but it was actually difficult enough that I gave up on it after a few days. If your backup plan involves mounting a disk image on a VM, I strongly advise you to test it before you need it :)
- chromakode 11y agoEmphatically agreed. Migrating VMs (IME especially Windows VMs) is a frustrating proposition. Creating new Linux VMs expressly for the purpose of reading particular file formats is a much safer bet. It is unlikely that the ability to conveniently emulate a basic i386 system with block storage will go away in the next few decades. My assumption is that any formats I can read on Linux today will be readable in the future, as long as I have a copy of the source / binaries. This is why I included a copy of lrzip's git tree with my backups -- everything else is in a standard Ubuntu install.