2 simple easy to answer questions!!!

[MarlboroLite]

Hey guys I just installed Windows XP through VMWare Fusion....seems pretty easy so far...but I have 2 quetions.

1)I read that the space you give the virtual machine is set in stone...you can't increase it or decrease it unless you delete the virtual machine and install it fresh. Also...that deleteing Windows programs does nothing to decrease the size of the virtual machine....is this true? Does that mean that if I install Office 2007 then unintal it that the space used will not be freed up??

2)What's the best way to back up the virtual machine? I read that Time Machine is not a good option for this so what is?

Thanks

 

[nospamboz]

1)I read that the space you give the virtual machine is set in stone...you can't increase it or decrease it unless you delete the virtual machine and install it fresh. Also...that deleteing Windows programs does nothing to decrease the size of the virtual machine....is this true? Does that mean that if I install Office 2007 then unintal it that the space used will not be freed up??

Your VM's virtual disk is a single file on the host system (that is, Mac OS).
It grows as needed up to the maximum size you told it, but does not
shrink automatically. To shrink it, locate the "Shrink" option in VMware
Tools (the VMware icon in the system tray in Windows).

Keep in mind that if you remove files in Windows, those files do
disappear. It's just that your virtual disk file does not get smaller, just
like a physical disk does not get smaller if you remove files. If you remove
files, then add some, the virtual disk file will not get bigger until its
contents exceeds its current size.

If you want the disk to grow beyond its original maximum size, that's
possible as well, but not quite so straightforward. It involves as Terminal
command line utility supplied by VMware. Consult the VMware Fusion
community forum for more info.

2)What's the best way to back up the virtual machine? I read that Time Machine is not a good option for this so what is?

Time Machine is bad because it backs up the whole big virtual disk file,
even if you change only one little Windows file on it. Time Machine
doesn't know about VM disks, so simply treats them as files.

To back up Windows, use suitable Windows backup utilities within your
Windows VM, probably to an external USB drive, or the like. That's what
I do.