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[Solved] How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 24. Dec 2015, 23:57
by gianluigi.zanettini
Hi guys,
I've a Windows VM that went through all the Win10 Insiders builds, up until RTM and then to 201511. I took a snapshot after each new build, so the situation is a bit messy:

Image

So: I would like to create a new snapshot "branch" now and the start again to go "deep" from here. How can I do that?

Thanks!

Re: How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 25. Dec 2015, 11:53
by mpack
In direct answer to your question: pick a past snapshot and revert to it. That creates a new branch from that snapshot.

However...

Why not just destroy the VM now and save a lot of time? while also reducing the amount of data loss? Catastrophic data loss is after all is the inevitable result of so many snapshots, as you can easily tell if you Google for "snapshot site:forums.virtualbox.org".

I hope you weren't thinking of snapshots as some kind of backup. They're not. They are the opposite of a backup in the sense that they actually increase the danger of disaster. Nor are they a space saver.

A true backup is a copy of the entire VM folder to secondary media, which incidentally would also have saved you a good deal of primary disk space.

Re: How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 6. Jan 2016, 02:38
by gianluigi.zanettini
Hi mpack,
thanks for your reply
mpack wrote:In direct answer to your question: pick a past snapshot and revert to it. That creates a new branch from that snapshot.
I tried and it works as advised... but this is not what I'm trying to achieve. This lead to the situation where a new branch is created for said snapshot on:

Image

What I need is the last snapshot to become a new root on its own (without parents).

Re: How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 6. Jan 2016, 09:57
by Martin
If you want a new "root" just clone the selected snapshot to a new VM. Without the parents it cannot be a snapshot anymore.

Re: How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 6. Jan 2016, 13:47
by mpack
Martin wrote:If you want a new "root" just clone the selected snapshot to a new VM.
And make sure to choose "Full clone" (not linked) and "Current state only" when asked, otherwise the clone will inherit the entire snapshot spaghetti mess.

Re: How to create a new snapshot "branch" in VirtualBox

Posted: 2. May 2016, 01:20
by gianluigi.zanettini
Thanks guys,
I ended up creating a "Full clone" from the last snapshot I had.