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One of my first jobs (1996) as a freelance support person was for a company who's accounts machine had gone bang. OK, they had a full set of daily backups, including off-site, and all beautifully labelled. Went to restore on the new machine - they'd backed up the APPLICATION every day, but not the data files... 
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I don't use any backup software other than the built-in robocopy.exe, which is essentially just a glorified file/folder copy app (with the invaluable option to skip over what hasn't changed). If something can't be written/read back, it's either a hardware failure, or a fundamental bug in the OS that you know would be addressed already. So, I'm really not at the mercy of any bug in some third-party software. That's one layer of possible problems removed. And if I need get directly to a file...the backup is just another file system, not some proprietary blob that can only be read back by a working instance of some software.
The only problem is that if a VM is running when I'm running the backup, I'll get a file in use error, so, I have to shut down my VMs to perform a proper backup of the server. Which I'm okay doing on weekend evenings - start the backup early evening, and odds are, it'll be done before I'm ready to go to bed, so I start my second backup, which is then done by the next morning.
How do I back up the host OS itself and its settings?
I don't. There's nothing running on it except for the OS, maybe some proprietary driver (I have a Drivers folder on a file share, organized by system, which makes it trivial to determine what's needed by a given machine), and the OS's latest CUs (which are quick to install nowadays).
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No intent to be argumentative, we are in different environments. We are up 24/7, so I don't have the luxury of shutting down for backups. Copying the VM files from ESXi is also not a trivial task, IMO. One of the servers is maintained by a third party (via VNC) and using the systems backup program for each VM on an ESXi server is less than stellar when it comes time to restore. The 3rd party software takes a snapshot, does the backup and then deletes the snapshot. I copy the backup files to a removable cartridge (typically about 500GB) and use it to update/replicate the VM's on my ESXi machine. I have a script (VBS, shhhhh) that uses robocopy to backup the new/changed data files nightly and send me the report log via email. Robocopy is a very handy piece of software, similar to rsync.
Ask me what I think about the new licensing for Vmware. 
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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theoldfool wrote: No intent to be argumentative, we are in different environments. We are up 24/7,
No offense taken. Indeed, I was talking about my own personal home setup (which I do use as a work lab). I'm responsible for my own systems, and being up 24/7, while desirable, isn't vital (eg, nobody but myself knows when my VMs are down for backups).
theoldfool wrote: Ask me what I think about the new licensing for Vmware
I remember it made the headlines. I never read the actual details, but I suspect they're rather nasty. I did pay for a VMware license over a decade ago, and already at that time gave up in disgust. Frankly I'm happy using Hyper-V as a freebie.
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I am using the VMWare Player for long time. Is free for personal use and allows to mount new OS too.
I know the workstation has a lot more features, but didn't miss any of them.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I keep hearing that VMware (and even Player in this case) is still the better choice according to some people, and - as far as I know - that mostly revolves around things such as better support for USB devices under virtualized OSes.
Is that your experience?
I currently have two hosts here at home, each with 64GB of RAM, dedicated to running Hyper-V. I'm not sure I'd want a third host, especially if it was for the sake of (re-)familiarizing myself with VMware's current offerings...especially with the recent licensing discussions.
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I am not sure if I can answer you satisfactorily.
I can only say, that I have been using the player for really long time and until now never had issues that I could not solve within minutes.
In private I use it for several things... a "crap OS" to go online without worrying to what I click. I have winXP and Win7 guests with old software that wouldn't work in newer systems. I don't usually use the USB in the VMs, but the few times I have used it, had no issues with it. The only problem I had (and still do not understand why) was that BitDefender wouldn't install properly, while the ETH Bridges of the VMWare were there. I had to deinstall the VMWare Player, install the antivirus, activate it and then install the VM again.
At work we used to use VMWare too, the images were done using the Workstation, but we had the player to plain use them. VM was the most confortable way to get through software version incompatibility (specially with Siemens Automation and some periferics for industry like Screwers, light barriers for safefty and things like that). I have used USB to Serial, USB to ETH, ETH to Profibus, Null-Modems... I can only remember having problem with the gadgets once.
On the other hand, a co-worker complained a lot about one specific converter to connect to a particular device. But I think that would be a driver problem on vendor side.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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My first introduction to virtual machines was when Microsoft in all it's glory tried to terminate Windows Xp. Well, that raised a $hit storm because so many other 3rd party products would not run under Windows 7. So, MS rolled out a canned VM that would allow you to run Xp. A few years later, I converted that to a VMWare Professional virtual machine. Why? Well, I write s/w for a living, I get paid for it, and VMWare should get paid as well. The price was reasonable, and none of this bull$hit annual licensing nonsense.
It has been rock solid. For 15+ years. It has its quirks, but overall as a development platform it's my goto. I tried openbox and a few others, and since time is money, nope back to VMWare. I mainly work off a laptop which maxes out at 64GB of ram. You have to be careful spinning up to many Windows OS VMs.
USB detection - solid. But you have to be careful. In my case, I have that Xp VM - it does not understand USB 3.0. Other than that, I've never had an issue.
As for VMWare licensing, Broadcomm is going after the corporate market (I feel the customer pain). I fully expect Broadcomm to push VMWorkstation to a subscription model (bye bye), and terminate VMplayer, but I'm a bit of a pessimist.
If you are leaning this way, grab a workstation license now and a player download. Broadcomm is gutting VMWare as I type this (the termination letters are going out). On the good side, there are going to be a lot of very experienced people with VMware on the job market. 
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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well that makes things different.... and non-trival.
The company I contract with has transitioned to a pure VM environment - generic hardware and lots of VMs. I asked this question - "how do you know your backups are good?" I received a tutorial on all of the system software they use to make the world a perfect place. The backup king explained this that and the other, and it was clear he did not want me to ask the $10 question.
Are you sure?
It was layer upon layer and layer and some ice cream of software - at some point, you have to trust people to do their jobs. But, I am making copies of stuff and saving them off to my local machine. They simply have no validation system active to validate the backups... and I'm too tired to care. It's easier for me to agree and just make my own backup.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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Learn all rules, only then will you know which ones you can break 
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Heard more than 25 years ago: Backup your files, and backup your backups.
Am now retired, and so my personal backups are only on external hard drives. The most difficult task sometimes is the feeling that - "I've backed this up somewhere, but where, which drive, which folder, which subfolder?" Maybe some of you also face this issue.
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On most of my machines, I try to stay bare metal - the OS, VMWare Workstation and VMs. My backups are simply a copy of the VMs to a 1 or 2 TB USB-C drive. I really need to get back into the habit of putting one copy in the safety deposit box.
I also need to image the OS drive such that I don't have to rebuild the darn thing.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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charlieg wrote: I also need to image the OS drive such that I don't have to rebuild the darn thing.
Windows 10 and 11 are fighting hard against that... :S
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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truth. It use to be I could pop out my SSD, image it, and pop it back in. MS, in all its wisdom - sarcasm - will tend to invalidate your license for whatever reason they seem to choose. Oh, you changed your hard drive? You are hacking pirate... etc.
Microsoft is suffering from an over consumption of stupid pills.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I think the biggest tell-tale is the MAC of the NIC. Supposedly, no two are the same (no manufacturer would ever copy, right?). When you boot up a copy of the VM, Vmware workstation will notice that the VM is not the same as before and ask if you have copied it or moved it. If you say moved, it keeps the same MAC. On the one hand, that keeps activation. OTOH, you can't run both copies of the VM at the same time because of the duplicate MACs.I have never moved one to a system with a different CPU (Intel versus AMD). If you say copied, you will probably get challenged to activate. This makes for an excellent backup, but not an extra "machine".
As always, "can't" is a relative thing.
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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theoldfool wrote: If you say copied, you will probably get challenged to activate.
Not in my experience... But I use them mostly in the same PC where I have created them anyways.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I have probably referred to it a few times before, but worth repeating: The Tao Of Backup[^]
For being 27 years old, it is surprisingly relevant even today.
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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Every time I do a new image I let it do a check up and one out of max. three will be restored just after finishing to see that everything works.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Excellent advice.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Ubuntu. Deja-dup (works on top of rsync, keeps full and incremental backups...)
Set to back up laptops (user directories) to home server in the wee hours.
Most mornings I see a notification "Backup completed x hours ago"
Every couple of months instead I get a dialog box asking for my backup password. It then does a test restore/verify.
System is rebuildable; I have a script that records installed packages nightly.
Would be a bit of effort, but I've never had to do it over several OS releases and hardware iterations.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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If you are running Ubuntu, you should be able to scrounge up a cheap machine and recover to bare metal.
That is the ultimate test of backups.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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Back when my laptops had 2.5" SATA spinning rust, used to swap 'em round all the time. external drive dock for cloning.
Mobo dies, pull the HDD and pitch the rest...
Still got a couple in the cupboard with reasonably current images.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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When I tried buying Acronis backup software to replace Macrium Reflect. The Acronis rescue boot could not read a backup created with the same application. The application could not read the backup it had just created, except that the verify operation stated the backup was perfectly valid. Acronis tech support was less than helpful, and they refused to refund my money.
Back to Macrium Reflect I went.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I asked this question at work once ("when is the recovery plan tested?"), when they were banging on in a self satisfied way about the business "disaster recovery plan", contracted to a third party company. I got blank looks, as if I was mad.
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When it's a backup by EaseUS TODO backup.
It failed me several times and the backups are in a proprietary format.
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