I've got this HD now from the old laptop that's got loads of software & stuff on that I could do with copying onto the new one.
I've not got the setup files & stuff anymore so I could do with just copying it as it is into VB running Windows Vista.
Is that possible?

Yes, actually if you use vmware there's a tool called vmconverter which will make an entire exact vm copy of a machine across the network.
I'm afraid I cant talk you through it on the forum though

The alternative is to use a USB hard drive caddy to copy off files you want

Cool cheers I'll look into that.

Now I'm using my laptop instead of phone so here's a link

www.vmware.com/uk/products/converter/

There's also disk to VHD here- technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415.aspx

vmware is of course the better tool to use than virtualbox , especially vsphere esxi server which is the dogs dangly bits
I use it often at work, just install it on an empty server and it bots a minimal OS that hosts virtual machines which you can manage remotely using the vsphere management tool. Anyway, the microsoft disk2vhd tool linked above should create a vhd image which you can boot in virtualbox.
www.sysprobs.com/physical-virtual-virtualbox-virtualbox-p2v

Have a read of that and the comments below too, you'll find that it might not work first time and you need to tweak some settings but its possible.

andyh wrote:
Looks like I wasn't too far off.

With Free Version of Windows, Microsoft Gives In to the Google Way

Yep. there'll be free OS on touchscreen devices but you'll find they'll make their money via 'apps' and software 'rental'.

They'll probably get a cutback for the OS on the device sales themselves, nokia windows mobiles for example.

I've much less of an objection to windows on touchscreen devices actually, win8 works well enough there, on desktops though..ewwwww :/

I said something similar in a previous post, i.e. that they'll use Windows as a platform for sales. And also with cutbacks and branding as you say. They've also got Office 365 which costs a small fortune and is pretty much a necessity for all companies, so they ain't going bust just yet!

And after the initial frustration of Windows 8, I actually don't mind it too much, although it is a million times better on a touch screen.

Still use XP myself on my other machine though.

Linux Remote Control

Looks interesting.. You had a go on this yet Andy?

mild_peril wrote:
Never had cause to tbh, I have ssh

Then there's stuff like webmin or vnc or teamviewer so never been much of an issue really.

I knew you would have, just wondered if you'd given this a trial run.

I've got webmin - looks very juicy. Just need a server to play with now.
I thought Linux remote was part of the kernel nowadays.
edit: Scrub that...Linux tv driveris part of the kernel - the remote is in my repository.