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Backing up VM's
Posted: 19. Apr 2015, 10:30
by kostasb
I'm a bit confused because of the multiple options on that matter.
What is the best, most reliable way to backup my VM's?
Cloning, exporting or just copying the whole folder of the VM?
What are the differences?
Re: Backing up VM's
Posted: 19. Apr 2015, 11:50
by loukingjr
Copying the VM folder is the best option.
Re: Backing up VM's
Posted: 19. Apr 2015, 11:59
by mpack
Just to clarify: cloning and exporting are not used to make backups.
Cloning creates a second VM similar, but not identical, to the first. They can't be identical because two identical VMs couldn't exist on the same host, be on the same network etc. Of course for backing up you want identical, not similar.
Exporting creates a so called "appliance", which is a VMWare portable VM format. It has a descriptor file in OVF format and a hard disk in VMDK format. Alternatively these might exist in one container - OVA format. The purpose of exporting is to move the VM to another, significantly different, VM platform. It generally isn't used when source and dest are both VirtualBox. Like cloning, exporting modifies the VM, so again it is not appropriate for backups.