Can I exclude one virtual disk from the snapshot restore?

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
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matteo
Posts: 6
Joined: 22. Jun 2013, 16:20
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux SLC Redhat Fedora

Can I exclude one virtual disk from the snapshot restore?

Post by matteo »

I made a Linux guest with two virtual disk and I mounted the /home directory in the second disk.

I use to make snapshot of the system from time to time. In case of problems I can restore a previous configuration, but I am wondering if I can restore only the first disk, the one that contains the "system", keeping the "last version" of my home directory.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Matteo
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Can I exclude one virtual disk from the snapshot restore

Post by mpack »

See chapter 5 of the user manual, Virtual Storage. Pay particular attention to write-through storage as described in section 5.4.
matteo
Posts: 6
Joined: 22. Jun 2013, 16:20
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux SLC Redhat Fedora

Re: Can I exclude one virtual disk from the snapshot restore

Post by matteo »

I see, thanks.

Just a further question: can I change the virtual disk to write-through just before restoring the snapshot? can I go back to normal afterwards?

What happen to snapshots done before change to write-through modality?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Can I exclude one virtual disk from the snapshot restore

Post by mpack »

I don't use snapshots myself because of their obvious unreliability, so I'm afraid I can't answer detailed questions about them with authority.

However: to be completely safe you should make a backup of the VM folder. Then I would delete all snapshot markers, then I would make the secondary drive permanantly write-through. I think that chopping and changing between the two forms is too risky.
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