How to move files from Ubuntu to Windows then back to a Ubuntu VM

Question

What I want to do: Have a Ubuntu development VM on Windows 8.1.

Setup: I have a new SSD that I just installed Windows onto. I have an old SSD (60GB) that has Ubuntu on it.

Problem: I am a developer and have projects on the old SSD and don't want to screw anything up.

I think what I should do is take the entire development folder I have (with all of my projects) and a dump of my databases and move them to Windows. At that point I can wipe the drive and start fresh, using the drive for VMs and storage.

Is that doable? I know I would still need to put my projects onto the VM, and though I don't know how at least I have the files and can figure it out.

Answer 1

As it is possible to also attach a physical disk to a virtual machine this procedure may lead to data loss on write access to this disk. If your data matter I would therefore not recommend you take the risk.

A much easier way to move your data, that presumably are stored on a file system inaccessible to Windows, is just booting an Ubuntu live system from where you can mount both, your Ubuntu SSD, and your Windows drive. You can then safely copy the data over from the SSD to your hard drive with no risk to these data, as these are still untouched on the SSD.

Alternatively we can also install Windows utilities to mount your Ubuntu partitions. The you are able to copy and paste your data over to your Windows drive.

After you had set up your Ubuntu VM you can give the data folder on your Windows host access via shared folders, networking, or copy the data into the VM (not recommended because making backups is much harder).

Answer 2

While there are ways to create virtual environments right from a hard drive (if you were to boot back to your Ubuntu system) I would be worried about something going wrong and losing the data. Your own suggestion of moving the files and doing a data dump of the database is the route I take when I move from one development environment to another.

Load your Ubuntu drive back in the machine and boot to it, export the database(s) and back up your exports and code.

Then you can load your Windows drive back in, format your 60 gig drive for use with windows to hold the VM(s).

Create the VM, and install whatever OS you're going to use.

To get the files onto the new VM you have a couple options. First you could share a folder between the VM and the host computer (not something I typically do, but specifically for personal reasons), or, in the event your development environment (VM) will continue to be Ubuntu you could simply install openssh-server on your Ubuntu VM, then using an FTP client on your windows machine (I typically use Filezilla) you can SFTP into your virtual machine and transfer all your files to it.

Filezilla can be downloaded free from their website, and to install openssh-server on your VM you simply open a terminal CTRL-ALT-T and enter

sudo apt-get install openssh-server