Where is my VMWare snapshot

[Howard Brazee]

Time Machine fills up quickly when I use VMWare to run Windows. When
I was having trouble with space, I told Time Machine to not back up my
Virtual machine. Then I made a snapshot of my VM by hand, which
won't be incrementally backed up whenever I have to use Windows.

I want to verify that the VM snapshot is backed up, so that I can use
Time Machine to restore my computer if my hard drive fails. I'm not
finding out where the snap shot is, nor even what it's file name is.

Can anybody help me with this need?

Thank-you

[Wayne C. Morris]

In article <krh0l8hqmq2975ttv...@4ax.com>,

The VMware Fusion help says "A snapshot is not the same as a backup. It is not a
copy of your virtual machine."

Snapshots are stored in the VM package itself. If you copy the VM to another
computer and open it, you'll find all the snapshots were copied over too. Even
if you could identify which files they are within the package, they'd probably
be useless without the rest of the package.

To make a backup of your VM, you'll have to manually copy the VM package to
another drive, or to a folder which will be backed up by Time Machine.

[Chris Ridd]

On 2013-03-25 18:00:03 +0000, Wayne C. Morris said:

> In article <krh0l8hqmq2975ttv...@4ax.com>,
> Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> wrote:
>
>> Time Machine fills up quickly when I use VMWare to run Windows. When I was
>> having trouble with space, I told Time Machine to not back up my Virtual
>> machine. Then I made a snapshot of my VM by hand, which won't be
>> incrementally backed up whenever I have to use Windows.
>>
>> I want to verify that the VM snapshot is backed up, so that I can use Time
>> Machine to restore my computer if my hard drive fails. I'm not finding out
>> where the snap shot is, nor even what it's file name is.
>
> The VMware Fusion help says "A snapshot is not the same as a backup. It
> is not a
> copy of your virtual machine."
>
> Snapshots are stored in the VM package itself. If you copy the VM to another
> computer and open it, you'll find all the snapshots were copied over too. Even
> if you could identify which files they are within the package, they'd probably
> be useless without the rest of the package.

In other words, they are additional files inside ~/Documents/Virtual
Machines.localized/<name of your VM>.vmwarevm/

If memory serves, they've got 'snapshot' in the name (and there are
multiple files per snapshot), but I don't have any here to check. As
Wayne says, they are not backups.
--
Chris

[Howard Brazee]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:03 -0500, "Wayne C. Morris"
<wayne....@this.is.invalid> wrote:

>To make a backup of your VM, you'll have to manually copy the VM package to
>another drive, or to a folder which will be backed up by Time Machine.

I should have thought of that. I'll put a note in my calendar to
manually copy it monthly, overriding the previous backup.

--
Anybody who agrees with one side all of the time or disagrees with the
other side all of the time is equally guilty of letting others do
their thinking for them.

[Howard Brazee]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:03 -0500, "Wayne C. Morris"
<wayne....@this.is.invalid> wrote:

>The VMware Fusion help says "A snapshot is not the same as a backup. It is not a
>copy of your virtual machine."

What is the purpose of a snapshot? I suppose I should delete mine
to save on space.

[Wayne C. Morris]

In article <68j1l8lrsrrlvbq3s...@4ax.com>,

Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> wrote:

> On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:03 -0500, "Wayne C. Morris"
> <wayne....@this.is.invalid> wrote:
>
> >The VMware Fusion help says "A snapshot is not the same as a backup. It is
> >not a copy of your virtual machine."
>
> What is the purpose of a snapshot?

Again quoting the VMware help:

| "You might take a snapshot any time you are about to take an action in your
| virtual machine and you are unsure of the consequences. For example, you
| might take a snapshot before you make a change to your virtual machine's
| system software, such as an operating system upgrade or a major configuration
| change. If something doesn't work as expected after the change, you can
| restore the snapshot to return the virtual machine to its previous state."
|
| "You might also take a snapshot before you go on to the Internet, or log in
| to an unknown network. If your computer acquires a software virus or spyware,
| you can restore the snapshot to return the virtual machine to its previous
| uninfected state."

Snapshots can also be useful for programmers and QA testers, who need to see how
their software will behave for new customers. They can revert to a snapshot and
install the app "for the first time" again and again.

> I suppose I should delete mine to save on space.

Yes, it's unlikely you'll need it if you're backing up the VM.

[Jolly Roger]

In article <68j1l8lrsrrlvbq3s...@4ax.com>,

Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> wrote:

> On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:03 -0500, "Wayne C. Morris"
> <wayne....@this.is.invalid> wrote:
>
> >The VMware Fusion help says "A snapshot is not the same as a backup. It is
> >not a
> >copy of your virtual machine."
>
> What is the purpose of a snapshot? I suppose I should delete mine
> to save on space.

Think of it as a backup.

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JR