virtualbox - booting from physical drive

virtualbox version = 6.x

create vmdk file pointing to device

these instructions were for winblows. to be tested later in linux. tested and worked in windows.

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename C:\usb.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive#

create a new virtual machine

in the new VM creation wizard hard drive section, select use an existing virtual hard drive file and select the vmdk file from above

then, boot the new VM. in windows it was required to start the vitualbox console with the "run as administrator" option.