Dumb questions about Time Machine

[AppleFan360]

OK, dumb questions.

I have a iMac with 3 accounts.

1. If I have a total system crash and I need to restore the hard drive (yeah I know, not likely), will time machine restore all three accounts as they were before the crash?

2. What about VMWare Fusion virtual files for Windows XP? Are they backed up as well?

3. Can I restore everything to a new iMac and make it look exactly like the old?

Just asking. It hasn't happened but I want to make sure that everything on my iMac is properly backed up.

I am using a Time Capsule.

Thanks.

 

[McGiord]

My answer to question #3: Time Machine doesn't work well with big files, and it isn't a good backup solution for big files, it's not recommended for backing up your virtual machines.
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Ferrari F1-2000 history

 

[yippy]

Yes to all. Time machine backs up anything and everything, ie a complete clone of your hard drive, unless you tell it specific things not to back up.

However, as said before, it is not recommended for large files like virtual machines because every time you change them Time Machine will make a new copy of it and your back up hard drive will fill up so quickly you won't even have time to blink. So I would tell Time Machine not to back up the virtual machine file and just manually copy it to the backup drive every once in a while.

 

[Bobioden]

I had a Macbook with a WD Passport drive that I used with Time Machine. When I got my new Macbook Pro, one of the first questions asked is if you want to use a Time Machine backup. I said yes, and everything from my old Macbook came across to the new Macbook Pro. All settings, applications, etc. It was like nothing had changed.

 

[Mal]

Actually, in regards to #2, VMWare Fusion has been updated with Time Machine support for incremental backups, so it doesn't backup a duplicate of your virtual machine every time you change something. Should make it much better for that.

jW

 

[kolax]

Actually, in regards to #2, VMWare Fusion has been updated with Time Machine support for incremental backups, so it doesn't backup a duplicate of your virtual machine every time you change something. Should make it much better for that.

jW

Do you know if Parallel's has implemented a similar strategy?