backing up vbox machines while keeping my snap shots intact

[samstern]

ob Disclaimer: I am dyslexic please do your best to forgive my sins against the English language displayed so flagrantly below.

hi all,

I work at the high end of retail technical support. I model virus removal, dead office installs, adware infestation response, and other nightmares from the retail sector.

I currently use vmware 9.0.2 workstation. I have a number of virtual machines, 9 total, about 40 snap shots. This covers the current crops of ms consumer os , service pack , and ie version combinations. I usually revert to various snap shots (say xp sp3, ie 7 then back to xp sp3 - current with ie8 ) often during a work day. I would like to try out vbox so I can avoid the vmware 10 upgrade (likely due this year) and take advantage of vbox's rapid development cycle and awesome community.

However as I plan out the attempted migration I keep hitting a single snag and it's a big one. For reasons too detailed and long winded to go into I need to re-create my work in vbox and then re-create snaps shots of various os/ie/office/flash/java combinations. doing so with "cost" me one of the 5 licenses I have via tech net for each os and office. I have 3 licenses left and I cant "work " on unlicensed software so there is little room for error.

so I have to use snapshots and keep them or Ill run out of valid licenses and have to speak to someone and beg their indulgence. Further, if I use the backup the machine id and setup simply cannot change or I'll have to re-activate. Speaking to Microsoft about licensing is not pleasing so I try to avoid it - especially since they hold all the cards. But that is cost of doing business in retail tech support.

So, Once created, ill need to back this mess up by synching via rsync or robocopy to another system. The Ill need to test my backups work by swapping between them. the host system is raid-0 so that makes two backups - one on the host, one on another system. The live system is Windows 8 x64 (core i7-3770 3.2ghz, 32gb ram) and the backup system is Debian 7 lxde x64 (core quad q6600 , 8gb ram).

In vmware I can literally move the entire directory of machine definitions, virtual disks, snap shots etc to a new system and immediately start work after installing vmware and navigating to the vm location. Can I do that with vbox? If not how would I backup my vbox systems so I can keep my precious snap shots?

[ChipMcK]

Just a user of virtualbox here

Like VMWare Fusion (I have not used Workstation) all files relating/pertaining to an individual virtual machine are located in a single folder/directory.
Move/Copy the folder as you wish - UUIDs, MAC addresses, etc. can be a hassle, but after the second round, you will have it down pat (no Query: Moved or Copied). Or create a full clone with the hassles updated, then move it if needed, add the new virtual machine.

[noteirak]

In vmware I can literally move the entire directory of machine definitions, virtual disks, snap shots etc to a new system and immediately start work after installing vmware and navigating to the vm location. Can I do that with vbox?

Yes you can, it is actually the recommended way to backup a VM in Virtualbox.

[samstern]

wow that is very cool news!!