I have a backup question

S

Stevamundo

Pro
I recently bought this:
http://www.qdea.com/pages/pages-bs/bs1.html

I like this program but unfortunately you can't choose what folders you backup. I think this is how it works is that it's scans the whole HD and only backups the new or modified files and folders that it finds on my external HD.

It even has a scheduler so you can backup automatically.

However I'm afraid to use that scheduler because I use my XP VM all the time because of my speakerphone modem. So I just leave my VM running in the background always. I'm afraid if I use my scheduler because likely my VM would be running and I heard if you backup your VM while it's still running that would mess up everything. Is this true?
 
Stevamundo said:
I recently bought this:
http://www.qdea.com/pages/pages-bs/bs1.html

I like this program but unfortunately you can't choose what folders you backup. I think this is how it works is that it's scans the whole HD and only backups the new or modified files and folders that it finds on my external HD.

It even has a scheduler so you can backup automatically.

However I'm afraid to use that scheduler because I use my XP VM all the time because of my speakerphone modem. So I just leave my VM running in the background always. I'm afraid if I use my scheduler because likely my VM would be running and I heard if you backup your VM while it's still running that would mess up everything. Is this true?
Click to expand...

Yes. The only way to back up your VM is to turn it off and back it up, or pray to your diety that your vm vendor has provided snapshots. Well, we know that one of them has and one has not :)

If your backup software does only differential/incremental backups it is not very smart. It should be able to do full backups when you need/wish them, and incrementals at intervals you determine.
dp
 
dkp said:
Yes. The only way to back up your VM is to turn it off and back it up, or pray to your diety that your vm vendor has provided snapshots. Well, we know that one of them has and one has not :)

If your backup software does only differential/incremental backups it is not very smart. It should be able to do full backups when you need/wish them, and incrementals at intervals you determine.
dp
Click to expand...

Thank you Dennis.

I thought so. Well it's looks like I'll be backing up manually first thing in the morning before I open any of my VMs.

You're exactly right, all backup software should let you choose what files and folders that you want to be backed up all the time. Also do a full backup if/when that I tell it too.
 
Stevamundo said:
Thank you Dennis.

I thought so. Well it's looks like I'll be backing up manually first thing in the morning before I open any of my VMs.

You're exactly right, all backup software should let you choose what files and folders that you want to be backed up all the time. Also do a full backup if/when that I tell it too.
Click to expand...

Consider using a good Windows backup program running inside Parallels. I use Acronis, because I have had good experience with it for several years. It can do a full backup and also can do incremental backups of just what has changed.

It is good to have as little as possible going on in Windows while the backup is running, because if a file changes just after it has been saved, the backup verification may fail.

There are lots of other Windows backup programs, some of them free. But not all that many that can make a bootable backup, and do incremental, and can back up to both DVD and a hard drive.
 
Why not backup the whole d**** thing (Mac+Parallels) ? I use a Mac program called SuperDuper! & an external Firewire (LaCie) HD setup. SuperDuper! is ... uhh SuperDuper! For backup I trust SuperDuper! (sofah).

PS: Stevamundo, u ask great ... --- ... questions.
 
The best thing about SuperDuper is that it creates a bootable image.

Imagine two scenarios:
1) Your Mac harddrive gets hosed. No problem, after you arrange to get it repaired or replaced, you can use your backup to get going again.

2) Your Mac harddrive gets hosed. No problem, I can boot off my firewire drive and keep working while I figure out when I can take my machine in for service.

Scenario 2 is SuperDuper!
 
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