Iomega v.Clone creates portable VMware machines from physical systems

Some sites are referring to Iomega's v.Clone as a backup utility, but that's not a very accurate description of what it does. Sure, it could come in handy if your system fails, but traditional methods are probably more useful to the average PC user.

What makes v.Clone interesting is the fact that it creates a VMware virtual machine from your system and then wraps it in a portable version of the Player. Take your drive anywhere and boot your v.Clone up, and you've got access to your complete desktop - apps, data, and all!

You will, of course, you'll need to have an IOmega branded drive to make the magic happen.

If your external is made by another company, you can always pull off the same thing (nearly, anyway) by using disk2vhd. VHDs can be opened by Microsoft Virtual PC and VirtualBox, so you just need one or the other installed on a PC to be able to boot your system image.

Tags: portable, v.clone, virtualization, vmware