Best way to backup Parallels VM?

[sniffs]

I have a 30GB parallels VM that I use all throughout the day(I'm an Exchange/Lync admin and find working in Windows to be easier for Exchange stuff/testing)

I see that Time Machine is backing it up regularly, like every hour it's backing up 30GB to my USB drive. I don't want my USB drive to fail prematurely because of this.

Anyone have any recommendations for backing up the data/VM other than Time Machine?

 

[jdelgado]

I have a 30GB parallels VM that I use all throughout the day(I'm an Exchange/Lync admin and find working in Windows to be easier for Exchange stuff/testing)

I see that Time Machine is backing it up regularly, like every hour it's backing up 30GB to my USB drive. I don't want my USB drive to fail prematurely because of this.

Anyone have any recommendations for backing up the data/VM other than Time Machine?

I only backup regularly the documents I use within the VM. I share them with the Mac so TM backs them up regularly. I exclude from TM the VMs.
For the VMs themselves, I have copies that I can clone in case the working VM fails. I have two basic VMs: one only with the OS and another with the OS and Win applications installed. I do not make regular backups of the VMs. If one fails, I just use a copy of the original clones.

 

[sniffs]

I created a folder on my OSX desktop called "Exchange stuff" and then created a shortcut within my VM to that folder on my VM desktop, so I got that covered.

I guess at this point I could just turn off the backup of the VM and see how it goes?

 

[glenthompson]

I make periodic copies of my VM to an external drive so I have a snapshot in case something gets hosed. Any critical data is stored on the Mac side so TM backs it up. The VM is excluded from the TM backups.

 

[flynz4]

I only backup regularly the documents I use within the VM. I share them with the Mac so TM backs them up regularly. I exclude from TM the VMs.
For the VMs themselves, I have copies that I can clone in case the working VM fails. I have two basic VMs: one only with the OS and another with the OS and Win applications installed. I do not make regular backups of the VMs. If one fails, I just use a copy of the original clones.

I make periodic copies of my VM to an external drive so I have a snapshot in case something gets hosed. Any critical data is stored on the Mac side so TM backs it up. The VM is excluded from the TM backups.

Those two are similar... and I do the same.

I only use 1 VM, and it is stateless. I get it from my corporate IT department, and it shared all of my data with OSX folders.

Like the others, I exclude the VM from backups (TM & Crashplan).

/Jim