Virtual Machine Backup Best Practices in VMware Fusion

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Backing up virtual machines effectively in VMware Fusion is critical for data integrity and recovery. This article outlines best practices for backing up virtual machine bundles, addressing modern backup solutions, and optimizing performance.

Environment

VMware Fusion Pro

Resolution

• Best Practices for Backup:
  • To back up an entire virtual machine, including the operating system, application files, settings, and user data, copy the .vmwarevm bundle while the virtual machine is fully shut down (not suspended).

Note: This method is resource-intensive and best used occasionally, such as after installing major updates or significant configuration changes.

• For frequently changing data, use one of the following methods:
  1. Network-based Backup: Treat the virtual machine as a network client and utilize standard network backup solutions.
  2. Shared/Mirrored Folders: Store frequently changing data files in a Shared or Mirrored folder and back up the corresponding folder from the macOS host using Time Machine or other macOS-native tools.
  3. Manual/Scheduled Copies: Copy specific data files from the guest operating system to a shared location on a scheduled basis.
• Time Machine Considerations:
  • While it is possible to use Time Machine with VMware Fusion, it is generally not recommended as a primary backup method for virtual machine bundles due to the following reasons:
    1. Differential Backups: Time Machine performs file-level backups. Because a virtual disk is a single large file, any minor change within the guest operating system forces Time Machine to back up the entire virtual disk file, leading to rapid storage exhaustion.
    2. Corruption Risks: If Time Machine attempts to back up a virtual machine while it is running, the resulting backup file may be corrupt and unusable.
  • Recommendation: Exclude the Virtual Machines folder from Time Machine backups to prevent performance issues and disk space exhaustion. For steps on how to do this, see Excluding the Virtual Machines folder from being backed up by Time Machine 

 

Additional Information

Copying a virtual machine in VMware Fusion 
Setting up mirrored folders for Mac and virtual machine
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