Hello all-
Due to recent hardware problems with our existing ESX 3.0.2 server I need to image the server for (hopefully) export to a new ESX 4.1 system. The system is currently not in a bootable state (I don't want to risk further possibility of data loss). What would be a recommended CD or USB-bootable program that would copy the existing RAID onto a SATA or USB HDD that I could mount on a new server? Basically anything with linux dd, or are there any more sophisticated and faster recommendations?
Second -
what is the best-practice procedure for an upgrade of this sort? On the assumption we are starting with a brand-new, vanilla ESX 4.1 server how would we go about importing our existing guests from this VI3 system if we have a portable USB or SATA disk? Network migration is not really a viable option due to the sheer size and speed.(~1.5Tb).