Configuring Time Machine with Parallels

[aragornii]

Hi all - I have a Macbook running the latest OS X (El Capitan), Parallels 11, and Windows 10.

My understanding was that Parallels can be set up so that Time Machine doesn't back up the full 50 GB virtual machine every time you use it, but just the incremental changes so that backup sizes are manageable. Does anyone know the proper configuration for this? Time Machine is backing up the full size virtual machine every hour.

 

[PaulChristopher@Parallels]

Hello, Yes, you can optimize your virtual machine by enabling Smart Guard feature. Please refer to this article for more information about Smart Guard.

 

[aragornii]

Hello, Yes, you can optimize your virtual machine by enabling Smart Guard feature. Please refer to this article for more information about Smart Guard.

Hmmm. I turned on the Smart Guard feature but TM still seems to want to back up the whole VM after every time I use it. I thought I must have missed something. Maybe I'll let it go through the process a couple of times and see if it settles down.

If I use this feature do I need to tell Time Machine only to back up the snapshots and not to back up the VM? Maybe that is the problem.

 

[Dhruba@Parallels]

Hmmm. I turned on the Smart Guard feature but TM still seems to want to back up the whole VM after every time I use it. I thought I must have missed something. Maybe I'll let it go through the process a couple of times and see if it settles down.

If I use this feature do I need to tell Time Machine only to back up the snapshots and not to back up the VM? Maybe that is the problem.

Hi, Time Machine does a incremental backup you can also schedule the time machine back up while you are not using the Mac. It is always recommended that whenever you backup the virtual machine, it should not be in used state.
Smart Guard feature is good one, however if you enable this it will take snapshot automatically and it will occupy space from the Mac hard drive.