Sent my Mac in for repair (new logic board) and the drive had to be reformatted and reinstall OS. I use Time Machine as well as Crashplan for my backups. After restoring via TM, two of my four VM/s were restored. The other two aren't on TM. Checked my TM preferences and they aren't in the list for exclusion. Then I went to Crashplan and same thing. Only two of the four Vms are in the Documents/Parallels folder. So I searched the rest of the drive and I do see the Parallels Applications... folder (the one with the shortcuts) is there but no hint of the VMs. Is there a way to see where Parallels THOUGHT my VM's were so I can search there? I have a bad feeling about this. Tom
Hello Tom3, By default all virtual machines are stored in /Documents/Parallels or in /Users/Shared/Parallels folder, please refer http://kb.parallels.com/117333 this article might help you.
Thanks for that. I figured that's probably where they normally are stored. I see my other VMs there. But two of the four I had are just not there in either of my backups which is really odd. I can't use the Show in Finder, because it says it's not theere (reveal in finder only works if it seems the VM file). Wondering if there was some way to see where parallels is looking for it. Besides that, any clues as to why two of my four weren't backing up. I don't see it in the Exclusion list for time machine and it's not in my separate Crashplan cloud backup which is so odd. My first thought was maybe I excluded it in TM and since the file doesn't exist anymore, in TM preferences maybe it now won't show up as an exclusion because there's nothing to exclude. However that doesn't explain why it's not in CrashPlan either.
Damn. Figured it out. I happened to create a manual backup of my VM (thank god or whomever) and restored that. I now see that for some damn reason I had checked the Time Machine: Do Not Backup Virtual Machine. No idea why I would have done that but that's what it was. Looks like that setting also prevented the VM from being backed up with CrashPlan which scares me a bit. Luckily I had a third backup of my main VM but did loose one and it's gone for good.
Hi Tom, We are glad that you had another safe back up of your Virtual Machine. Please use the tips mentioned in the link below to back up your Virtual Machine. http://kb.parallels.com/4859
Thanks but I kinda did follow the tips. "4. A third party backup utility like Acronis True Image Home, Carbonite, etc." What I'd like to know is if I have the setting for "Time Machine: Do not back up virtual machine" turned on, will that prevent it from being backed up with other services like Carbonite or what I was using CrashPlan? Thanks Tom
Hello Tom, Preventing time machine from backing up your Virtual Machine will not prevent Carbonite, Crash Plan or Acronis from performing their functions. Time Machine is exclusively related to Apple and will not interfere with the functioning of any other such applications.
OK. Just so I'm clear, the option in Parallels to Not Back Up, has no effect on other backup services. BTW, how does that work in Parallels? When you check that box in settings, does it add it to Time Machine's exclusion list in the TM settings?
Hi again, Yes, the option in Parallels to Not Back Up, has no effect on other backup services. Also, when you check that option in settings it adds your VM in the Time Machine's exclusion list.
Thanks. Do you know at what point it does this. I've been trying to confirm it and when I check the box and go to TM/preferences/options I don't see it in the exclusions list. I think I just learned that Crashplan follows the TM exclusion list (not smart I think) so that caused a problem for me. However I still don't see it in the exclusion list which is odd.
