I'd like to backup Windows 7 using the Windows Backup feature. When I first launched the Backup program, it wouldn't find the external HD I have hooked up, i.e. the "Backup Destination" list was blank. (This, even though I can access the external HD through Widows Explorer.) I tried reformatting a section of the external HD to FAT32, thinking that may be the issue, but I still have the same problem. I can think of two other potential issues. First, the external HD is connected via FireWire 800. Second, in Explorer, the external HD shows up as a network location (more specifically, it's "WINDOWS 7 on '.psf' (X"). But when I try the "save on a network" feature of Windows Backup, I can't find this partition using the browse button. Any ideas on what I need to do differently? Thanks.
Afaik Parallels doesn't (yet) support FireWire. "Shared Folders" on the .psf drive are not quite "real" Windows network drives for all I know, so that might limit their usefulness as a backup location from within Windows (at least using Windows Backup). Try a cheap USB drive. Personally I back up my entire VM every few days onto a (Mac formatted) USB drive, using the Finder, completely outside of Parallels (I shut down the VM before I do this). I don't do this via Windows Backup.
