SmartGuard yet again

M

mfidelman

Bit poster
After reading previous threads about SmartGuard, and some of the referenced KB articles, I remain confused about this statement (from article 5691):

"Optimize for Time Machine. If you select this option, a snapshot will be taken every 24 hours. Time Machine, when backing up your Mac, will not back up the entire virtual machine, but only its latest snapshot. This allows you to reduce the amount of data that Time Machine backs up, to reduce the time Time Machine spends backing up the virtual hard disk(s), and to minimize the risk of data loss or corruption when restoring the virtual machine hard disk(s) from the Time Machine backup. "

This kind of leaves out two very important items:
1. How does one restore from Time Machine? (I.e., if I restore the latest backup file, containing only the latest snapshot, how does the full VM get restored?)
2. What can, and can not, be deleted in the way of earlier Time Machine backups, in order to free up disk space? (I.e., with full VM backups, deleting a backup doesn't screw you. But with snapshots, one might assume that one needs more than one backup file to restore a VM.)

Thanks,

Miles Fidelman
 
Maria@Parallels said:
Hello, you can check this KB article about the Time Machine for more info.
And this link about the restoring backup.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
Click to expand...

Yes, Maria, I have read and re-read those pages to exhaustion. I do appreciate your trying to help, but I know how to do everything that is explained in those links you have sent me (and their sublinks).. What has never been clear on Parallels documentation though is how to restore only the VM that has been backed up by TimeMachine when SmartGuard is enabled.
Let me explain in details. There are 2 possible situations situations:

1- SmartGuard is disabled and TimeMachine is configured to backup the VM. With this option, every time TimeMachine runs a backup (every hour), it has to also backup the entire VM. In my case that means 300GB, every single hour, being backed up. It's insanely wasteful in terms of time, resources, etc. The advantage of this option is that if I want to recover my VM to a certain date in the past, all I need to do is enter TimeMachine mode, navigate to the folder containing the .PVM file, and restore it. And DONE. It works perfectly. But again, there is this HUGE backup being created every hour..!
2- SmartGuard is enabled and TimeMachine is configured to backup the VM. With this option, the first time that TimeMachine processes the first backup it does need to do the backup of the entire .PVM, 300GB, but now, subsequently, every time TimeMachine runs a backup (every hour), it only backs up the latest snapshot that has been created automatically by the SmartGuard process. It is really neat, but there is no documentation on how to proceed with a VM restore from a backup like this!! Again, with option 1 I can simply restore the entire .PVM file. But with SmartGuard enabled, how do I proceed to restore the VM?? Can I simply do the same thing as in option 1? Will that work? Remember: Under SmartGuard the backups are segmented into one first full backup of the VM and several subsequent snapshots. How do I proceed so I can guarantee to restore the VM to the specific snapshot for the date and time that I choose? Again, there is NO documentation on how to do that. Myself and several others have had this same question for YEARS now! Just peruse your Forums and you will find the confusion in several forum threads.
I sincerely hope you can provide a serious, detailed, step by step explanation of what the process should be to restore a VM in option 2, with SmartGuard enabled, instead of simply directing me to KBs that have been out there forever and that do not cover what the original question asked!

Thank you for any help you can provide. Best, Raphael.
P.S. And no, restoring the entire Mac is not an option (which is in the second link you sent). I only need to restore the VM.
 
RaphaelF said:
Yes, Maria, I have read and re-read those pages to exhaustion. I do appreciate your trying to help, but I know how to do everything that is explained in those links you have sent me (and their sublinks).. What has never been clear on Parallels documentation though is how to restore only the VM that has been backed up by TimeMachine when SmartGuard is enabled.
Let me explain in details. There are 2 possible situations situations:
1- SmartGuard is disabled and TimeMachine is configured to backup the VM. With this option, every time TimeMachine runs a backup (every hour), it has to also backup the entire VM. In my case that means 300GB, every single hour, being backed up. It's insanely wasteful in terms of time, resources, etc. The advantage of this option is that if I want to recover my VM to a certain date in the past, all I need to do is enter TimeMachine mode, navigate to the folder containing the .PVM file, and restore it. And DONE. It works perfectly. But again, there is this HUGE backup being created every hour..!
2- SmartGuard is enabled and TimeMachine is configured to backup the VM. With this option, the first time that TimeMachine processes the first backup it does need to do the backup of the entire .PVM, 300GB, but now, subsequently, every time TimeMachine runs a backup (every hour), it only backs up the latest snapshot that has been created automatically by the SmartGuard process. It is really neat, but there is no documentation on how to proceed with a VM restore from a backup like this!! Again, with option 1 I can simply restore the entire .PVM file. But with SmartGuard enabled, how do I proceed to restore the VM?? Can I simply do the same thing as in option 1? Will that work? Remember: Under SmartGuard the backups are segmented into one first full backup of the VM and several subsequent snapshots. How do I proceed so I can guarantee to restore the VM to the specific snapshot for the date and time that I choose? Again, there is NO documentation on how to do that. Myself and several others have had this same question for YEARS now! Just peruse your Forums and you will find the confusion in several forum threads.
I sincerely hope you can provide a serious, detailed, step by step explanation of what the process should be to restore a VM in option 2, with SmartGuard enabled, instead of simply directing me to KBs that have been out there forever and that do not cover what the original question asked!
Thank you for any help you can provide. Best, Raphael.
P.S. And no, restoring the entire Mac is not an option (which is in the second link you sent). I only need to restore the VM.
Click to expand...

You can restore your VM from the backup (when SmartGuard is enabled ) as you do it usually. It already has your previous snapshots.
You will have your hole VM in the backup, but the current state will be changed and every back up the newest current state will be backup.
BTW if you enable optimize for Time Machine your old snapshots have been merged.

Moreover maybe this article will help you too.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or explanation.
 
So, in case anyone is still following this thread, I went thru the trouble of testing it. Yes, SmartGuard works well with TimeMachine. You can trust on both technologies to properly backup your VM. CAVEAT: The timing of the TimeMachine backups and of the SmartGuard snapshots are not synchronized, so, you will have to work around this limitation. To answer the original question we all have: To restore your VM you can just go into TimeMachine mode and restore the entire .PVM file from the backup and it will work as expected. Beware of my caveat though. You have to choose a backup that is both before the date you have in mind to restore the one existing in TimeMachine, as well as the one existing as a SmartGuard snapshot. In other words: you have to pick the backup with the oldest date that contains the changes you want to revert to, both considering the SmarGuard snapshot date as well as the TimeMachine backup. Otherwise, you may be restoring to a state that is too close to the present where the VM state is still not what you want to restore to. I hope my explanation is not too complicated to understand. Just choose the oldest date that you are willing to go back to, considering BOTH dates, the SmartGuard snapshot date and the TimeMachine backup date (the oldest acceptable date in either). If the oldest acceptable date is in the Snapshots and you do not need to restore anything else on your Mac except the VM file, restore from the snapshot without even touching TM. If you do need something from TM, then consider both dates and restore from TM, the oldest date that has the snapshot you need. Be well everyone. Best, Raphael.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top