BabyGotMac - Latest Comments in Tip: Using Time Machine and Parallels

Re: Tip: Using Time Machine and Parallels

Dennis — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:34:34 -0000

Good tip, Scott. When I first backed up my Mac after installing Parallels I went through a few tapes (using Retrospect) before I realized the entire WIndows image was being re-copied every time.

FWIW, I use Parallels only to run Windows apps - in other words, I don't store any data on the virtual machine. I have my Mac disk shared by parallels and have shortcuts on the Windows desktop to my most commonly used Mac folders.

Then I don't really need a backup of the virtual file every hour/day/week. I only backup the virtual machine file manually, when I install a new Windows application.

Of course this depends on what you use Parallels for - I only use it to run engineering software that isn't available on the Mac. I do everything else in the Mac OS.

Re: Tip: Using Time Machine and Parallels

pzriddle — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:30:38 -0000

After excluding Parallels from Time Machine you could back up your VM to an external drive as you suggest.

Or alternatively, you could make a separate folder which still *is* covered by Time Machine and periodically save a Parallels snapshot there. That way Time Machine wouldn't get bogged down with hourly backups of your VM but would still get your daily/weekly/whatever snapshots and you wouldn't need the hassle of a separate drive just for Parallels.

Right?

Re: Tip: Using Time Machine and Parallels

Christian Ashby — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:51:10 -0000

Thanks for this. I was inspired by it, and worked out that I could symlink the 'Snapshots' folder within the .pvm package to my time machine volume. Setup Parallels to take hourly snapshots, and I keep my disc space and all is well! When the volume is disconnected, Parallels gives you an error message and doesn't try to create the snapshot, but no other adverse effects, so to do this do the following:
- Suspend the VM and close Parallels
- Open Terminal
- cd {your parallels folder}
- cd {your VM.pvm package}
- mv Snapshots {your TM volume under /Volumes}/Snapshots/{name of VM}
- ln -s {your TM volume under /Volumes}/{name of VM} Snapshots

Re: Tip: Using Time Machine and Parallels

George — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:44:07 -0000

Very useful and valuable tip. Thanks for sharing that information. Better than all of us finding out the hard way.

Could you answer a related question for me? Is it a reasonable thing to do to have a file folder on the Mac internal HD with Time Machine used inside of it, for quick recovery and accessability (since it really isn't intended to be a backup program per se) and then have an external drive that is for the exclusive purpose of having a reliable backup disk?
OR
Is it smarter to spend the extra $$ and get TWO external drives; one dedicated to Time Machine and one to the backup program?

I would very much appreciate your views on this.

Thanks a lot for your help and sharing your tips.

George