XP: Physical to Virtual Machine & Share Boot Drive w Host?

[crashnburn]

XP: Physical to Virtual Machine & Share Boot Drive w Host?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical-to-Virtual

My Thinkpad X61T with recent 8GB DDR2 Upgrade:

I have an XP Pro 3 instance on a HDD able to use 2.99 GB RAM. I can backup bunch of data files to make size smaller.

I have a Win 7 x64 instance on another HDD that can use most of the 8GB RAM.

Now, I'd like to do two things:

1. Virtualize the XP instance and create a Virtual Disk/ Virtual Machine, with all of the Programs & Settings intact.

2. Run this XP on top of Win 7 x64 Host and "Slowly" Migrate Files/ Settings/ MetaData etc. from GUEST XP to HOST machine.

I'd prefer to be able to SHARE "the C: or Boot Drive" between the GUEST & HOST machines (as it is mounted/ running) and be able to COPY some Specific Files/Folders using ROBOCOPY/ RICHCOPY to maintain attributes that could/ easily get lost with any other copy method.

Thoughts/ suggestions, experiences, comparative reviews on using Software/ Tools out of the above listed page and how could go about doing both the things.

Please do let me know. Thanks.

 

[dbwillis]

vmware converter to convert the XP install to a virtual machine stored in a folder on an external drive
after you convert the XP, remove the xp hdd and install the W7 hdd, then install vmware player
create a folder to place the converted XP hdd files in, then configure vmware player for settings
share out drives as you normally would, then you can copy back and forth, VMware does have a shared folders option that might do your 'share' request, but Ive never messed with it

 

[crashnburn]

Thanks for replying. Really appreciate it.

I've used VMWare and Virtual PC a LOT in the past, but not used in a long time. I know some functionality for items 1 & 2 exist but wanted to get a comparative idea between the various options LISTED in the Link. I guess I was a little out of touch when I realized so many products existed just to do P to V. I remember only VMWare had that for a while.

For me the ability to "share" & "copy" these files is critical. PS: Also, I may or may not have enough storage on the Win 7 x64 drive so I'll have to run the guest VM from a USB 2.0 HDD. Would that work okay?

PS: What are the pros vs cons of V2HD vs VMWare? (Given the updated specifics of my scenario)