Can the Delete Snapshot confirm dialog say what will happen?

[Sasquatch]

@Sasquatch: BTW when thinking about computer science tree in Germany and the Netherlands, which way up do they go? Is the root at the bottom or at the top and are the leaves at the top or the bottom?Sasquatch said: '...upper snapshot (further down the branch)...' In New Zealand computer science trees have the root at the top and the leaves at the bottom.

With between the lines is more like keeping in mind what Sander said about the snapshots.

I maybe have said it a bit confusing, as some say that an upper part is based on one lower, aka more towards the root/beginning. If you look at a real tree, the roots are in the ground and the leaves are in the air, which makes the leaves further up the tree than the roots and down the branch (the end of the branch has leaves). I never liked the reverse order IT uses. But that's mostly because they start painting things from the top left corner.
Maybe it's the other way around in New Zealand. I wouldn't be surprised, you are on the other side of the earth .

[Sam G]

Okay, I've read this post and this other merge post trying to get a straight answer. I've also read section 5.5 in the user manual, all of which I was unable to arrive at a clear answer given the odd names used for buttons and the button descriptions in all three sources above.

Before I go potentially lose all my data from my snapshots, can I please get a clear and concise answer on what exact steps I need to do in order to "merge" snapshots to the original or parent VM hard drive? All I wish to do is clean up my snapshot list and merge my 4 snapshots into the original hard drive image without losing my data.

I also concur with other member posts in both threads, that the snapshot manager is just confusing. (Regardless if the moderators and devs feel it's self explanatory with tool-tips and the user manual, it's not.)

Cheers,
-Sam

Using VBox 3.1.0

[Technologov]

Sam G: If you feel branched snapshots is not easy, then please draw a mockup demo GUI design so we can consider it.

[Sasquatch]

Delete the snapshots, you should then be left with a saved state. Boot the VM, shut it down normally and everything should be ok. To be on the extra safe side, make a backup of your .VirtualBox folder in case things go wrong.

[Sam G]

Delete the snapshots, you should then be left with a saved state. Boot the VM, shut it down normally and everything should be ok. To be on the extra safe side, make a backup of your .VirtualBox folder in case things go wrong.

Okay, I believe I got it merged correctly after a bit of trial and error.

What you failed to say was that I should start at the top of the tree/branch and delete from top to bottom. I started one snapshot above my current state and worked from bottom-up and received some issues, like an unresponsive VM and lost changes. Luckily I followed your tip of backing up the .VirtualBox folder; thank you for that tip.

[Sasquatch]

I assumed you were going top to bottom.

[Sam G]

I assumed you were going top to bottom.

Yea I assumed I should work my way from bottom to top. The user manual & the pop-up should be updated to specify a top-bottom flow when "deleting" snapshots to just remedy any confusion. But thanks again for the assistance on this matter.

[MarkCranness]

AFAIK, the only difference between top to bottom and bottom to top is time and disk space. Starting at the top is more efficient in time and space.

For eg, suppose this situation:
Snapshot 1 = base image.
Snapshot 2 = 1GB of disk differences/changes
Snapshot 3 = 1GB of differences,
Current State = 1GB of differences

Worst case: Discard Snapshot 3 merges its differences with the Current State differences to give 2GB. Discard Snapshot 2 merges 1GB and 2GB to give 3GB. Discard Snapshot 1 merges 3GB into the base image. In total, 8GB of differences go thru the merge process, because the differences for the later snapshots are double and triple handled.

If you start at the top, then 1GB is merged into base, followed by 1GB merged into base, followed by 1GB merged and in total 3GB of differences go thru the merge process.