What is the difference between Snapshot and Rollback?

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by NicholasW3, Oct 15, 2017.

  1. NicholasW3

    NicholasW3 Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    When you do a Rollback, the software then asks if you want to delete the Snapshot, well actually, remove the snapshot (note the inconsistent terminology). So Snapshot and Rollback, are they the same thing? As a user (newbie) I see these program messages and say to myself "well, if it says it's a snapshot then I can bypass the Rollback and do it manually as even the Rollback requires you to manually 'remove' the Snapshot).
    As a user, I then also say that all Rollback is doing is adding a layer of automation to a process that I'm happy to do manually (I'd have to disable Rollback in the normal course of things just so as any of the VM updates are incorporated to my base VM - making Rollback rather a redundant tool).
    I've checked the Help documentation and it does not explain (pretty limited in depth) and I'm still not clear.
     
  2. Ajith1

    Ajith1 Parallels Support

    Messages:
    2,719
    You can refer to these articles to know more about snapshots and rollback mode
     
  3. NicholasW3

    NicholasW3 Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Thanks, I had already read these articles but was left with more questions than answers. See, when you do a Snapshot, depending upon where you are in the list of Snapshots, you can have 'branching' occur; there is no explanation of this in the article. And also, neither of the 2 articles do a comparison of the two actions, so as a user, you are left to draw your own conclusions about the merits of each. I concluded that a Snapshot was pretty much the same as a Rollback, both require you to click on their options to go back to a previous state, both 'seem' to provide the same end result - returning to a previous state. Both require you to delete or in the case of Rollback 'remove' the Snapshot, which Rollback also confusingly calls a Snapshot and will otherwise keep the Snapshot as a Snapshot (presumably). So it is taking me several hours to get to a state where I am no wiser (making new VMs, testing each, contacting Parrallels etc). ...kinda irritating if you know what I mean.

    Official wording for 2 actions:
    • Rollback: If you do not want Windows to store the changes you make to it during the working session (for example, when testing some Windows programs that may damage Windows), you can start Windows in Rollback Mode.
    • Snapshot: A snapshot is a saved state of a virtual machine. Snapshots can be created manually or automatically when the virtual machine is running. After you make the snapshot, you can continue working with the virtual machine and revert to the created snapshot at any time of your work.
     

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