As I am testing the restore process, I can confirm this same issue exists within VMware ESXi 4.1. When I created a new Virtual Machine, I let VMware guide me through the hardware selections. The VM I received had an LSI Logic Parallel SCSI adapter. Changing this to adapter type to BusLogic Parallel allowed the restore process to find and mount the target hard drive.
Reading partition table…
Testing partition availability…
Testing partition availability…
Testing partition availability…
I do not expect to run into a BSOD problem because both my source VM and target VM have the same virtual hardware. One possible way around this would be to load the target VM’s software drivers into the source VM before you create your backup. Again, though, Uroni is right. Windows can be very challenging in this way.
One more thing. If your source VM’s controller was anything other than a BusLogic SCSI adapter, you will need to change it to the proper type before attempting to boot Windows.