Using Time Machines w/ Parallels & XP

I the past week, I have performed a successful erase/install upgrade of Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" on my MacBook, and now also have Parallels and Windows XP running as well, thanks in no small part to the diligent help of contributors to these forums.

One of the reasons I wanted to upgrade to Leopard was to avail myself to the Time Machine feature for automated backups. I've also procured an Apple "Time Capsule" for these backups.

In the case of this MacBook, I performed the initial backup through an ethernet connection, which is considerably faster than my household's 802.11g WiFi network. I figured that once the first big backup was done, I could use the WiFi for subsequent backups which would be considerably smaller than the first 100+GB backup.

This morning, I ran Windows for the first time in about a week (and the more I see of Windows now, the more I hate it...). I finished the work I had to do in Windows and closed Parallels desktop.

Nevertheless, I see that Time Machine is now trying to perform a backup of some 30.1 GB, which I am guessing represents the partition created when I started Parallels and Windows. And since it is performing this backup via wireless, it's going to take a coupla/few hours.

What I don't understand is: why the need to do this backup of 30GB a) if I've closed Parallels and b) if the winxp.hdd partition in the "Parallels" folder in "Documents" has already been backed up? Isn't that winxp.add folder the XP partition? Isn't it already backed up? Why does Time Machine think it has to back it up again?

Time Machine strikes me as pretty much "Backups for Dummies" -- it's egregiously lacking in options (like what files to backup, how often, incremental - differential, etc.). But at least it's fully automated, and thanks to the wireless capability I can put the Time Capsule in the basement where it should be safe if my house burns down (perish the thought).

But I would really rather not backup the Windows partition if it has already been backed up by separate means.

Anybody got any other experience with Time Machine as it pertains to running Parallels and a Windows partition who can offer any advice?

Thanks,

--PS

 

What I have found is that Time Machine will backup the .HDD file everytime it's modified date changes, and this modified date appears to change when you start a Parallels session.

i.e.

1. First TM backup done (.HDD file is backuped up)
2. Start Parallels, mod date changes, .HDD file backed up on next scheduled TM backup
3. Leave Parallels running all day, TM does not back it up
4. Bring down Parallells session, next scheduled TM does not back up .HDD
5. Start Parallels again, mod date changes, next scheduled TM backs up .HDD

For me I do not think this is going to work as I leave my Parallels session running for days at a time.

Would be nice if the Mod Date for the .HDD file changed when you shut your session down

 

In my case, I just don't feel the imperative to have my .hdd file backed up every time I use Windows.

I discovered today that you can set options in Time Machine to EXCLUDE any folders or files you don't want backed up. I've put my winxp.hdd file in that group.

That should put a stop to all these 30GB backups.

--PS

 

I backup Windows files by using SyncToy 2.0 from Microsoft (after backing up my OSX files with Timemachine). The Timemachine does not work for me because it backs up the whole Windows image when it changes. MS-SyncToy back up the Windows files that are new, modified or deleted. However, it requires that you boot up Windows when the backup disk is connected. The benefit is that you can easily read the Windows files from the external disk by using MS-Synctoy (it is a free product from Microsoft).

 

Actually,

I don't see why the modification date would change once undo disks or Smart Guard is enabled since any changes are not written to the HDD file.

Parallels, any chance in modifying this behavior? Why change the modification date when no updates are being written? Should be fairly simple to change this within Parallels.

 

What would be the equivalent file for a system running Vista instead of XP? Im having difficulty tracking it down. I'm getting annoying 28GB backups every couple of hours... :/