Moving between Hyper-V and Vmware – Starwind Converter


I have a requirement in the New Year to look at migration from an existing hyper-v infrastructure to a VMware solution. I remembered a utility from Starwind that allows for bi-direction transfers and its called Starwind Converter. You can get it here.

Some blurb from the supplier ..

Convert VMDK to VHD and VHD to VMDK for free

StarWind Converter is a downloadable V2V conversion tool for virtual machines. You can use it to convert VMDK to VHD files and VHD to VMDK as well as to IMG file, which is a native StarWind format. This is a very simple but useful file conversion tool that will convert virtual hard drive images from VMware’s VMDK format into the Microsoft’s VHD format.  It is a sector by sector copy operation from one format to the other.  It does not modify the source image and will leave it so you can continue to use it.   The unique feature of the free StarWind V2V Converter is that it allows IT administrators to easily migrate any virtual machines from direct attached storage to shared storage on the network in one quick and simple step.  Therefore, anyone can move VMDK or VHD images safely to shared storage. This allows virtual server clustering and ensures high application and VM availability. This also means that system administrators will be able to use advanced VMware features such as VMotion, VMware HA, DRS and VCB now that they moved VMDKs to shared storage.

Key Features of StarWind Converter:

• Converts from VMDK to VHD and vice versa   • Sector by sector copy   • Does not modify source image   • Easy to install and use

StarWind Converter is very simple to use:

1. Select your source File (VMDK, VHD, IMG).

2. Choose a location to save the converted data file

3. Click ‘convert’ and let the converter run

4. Import the resulting file into VMware, Hyper V, or mount the resulting image using StarWind

 

Once I have had a chance to test in more detail I’ll post what it was like to use the tool for a real world migration.