does time machine back up virtual box?

[me88]

hello

does time machine backup virtual box? i have windows 7 running in my virtual box and i have files saved on that windows 7 in virtual box. i want to know if time machine will back up everything of virtual box? i am asking because i want to upgrade to lion and i want to make sure i can bring over virtual box with out loosing anything

[Sasquatch]

Depends on your TM configuration. Check that and you have your answer.

[me88]

i have check the time machine configuration it seems that it will back up everything but what i want to know is that will it back up everything with virtual box? i don't want to loose any thing because i have files saved inside of my virtual box guest machine

[Perryg]

If the guests were created in VirtualBox version => 4.* then all of the files are within a single folder. (Usually VirtualBox VMs) -> name of guest/s
These folders have everything in them that you need to get back to work. You still will need to install the VirtualBox program and Extension Pack, but all you need to do it add them back and you should be exactly where you left off.

Note: when I say add them back you use the add feature of VirtualBox to register them again. It is normally a good idea to use the same file structure on your new install so things go smoothly and you don't need to investigate what to do.

[me88]

If the guests were created in VirtualBox version => 4.* then all of the files are within a single folder. (Usually VirtualBox VMs) -> name of guest/s
These folders have everything in them that you need to get back to work. You still will need to install the VirtualBox program and Extension Pack, but all you need to do it add them back and you should be exactly where you left off.

Note: when I say add them back you use the add feature of VirtualBox to register them again. It is normally a good idea to use the same file structure on your new install so things go smoothly and you don't need to investigate what to do.

so would i have to reinstall windows 7 on virtualbox? how would i transfer everything back to virtualbox from my external harddrive ?

[Sasquatch]

If you have TM set to make a backup of your entire user profile/home, then it will also contain the VMs. Then all you have to do in case of a crash or move to another Mac, is install VB and restore from backup. So it really depends on how you set TM on what to back up.