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rlgleason51

OT: Parallels and TMG

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I just bought an iMac to replace my windows PC when it dies. I plan on migrating from the old to the new over a period of time. Since I will be running TMG on the iMac at some point, I am gathering info about parallels and how it works. Obviously, I have questions.

 

1. Is there a more appropriate site than this forum for me to go to with my questions?

2. Does time machine backup the data on the windows side, or do I need separate windows software for that?

3. I will be using an external disk drive for data storage formatted using the EXFat file system (to minimize the number external drives, I plan on using it for both windows and mac data). Are there any issues regarding this format I should be aware of?

 

Thanks

 

Bob

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Bob,

 

With regard to your questions:

 

1. There are several threads on this forum about Macs using Parallels and they are quite helpful.

2. Time machine will back up Windows, but Parallels creates the virtual machine as one huge file. I found it was constantly trying to backup 32GB of data. I have specifically excluded that file from my time machine backup. I have put my TMG data on the Mac side so they are automatically backed up, but others have advised against it. If you leave them under Windows, you will need separate software for automatic backup.

3. Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one.

 

Regards,

Larry

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Bob

Larry & Jim have pretty much answered your questions. As Larry says the virtual machine is simply one huge file when viewed in Mac Finder, (the equivalent of Windows File Explorer.) There are settings in Parallels to control Time Machine backups, there is a SmartGuard option that takes a scheduled snapshot of the Virtual Machine and helps to minimize the amount of data Time Machine backs up, I don’t use either.

A couple of Parallels Knowledge Base articles you might want to look at are: Backing up virtual machines with Time Machine - http://kb.parallels.com/en/8827 and "Optimize for Time Machine" backup option logic - http://kb.parallels.com/115052

I have my TMG backup files and TMG exhibits on the Mac side and they are included in Time Machine backups.

 

Larry and others have reported they don’t have problems with their TMG data on the Mac side, my MacBook is too old to run current version of Parallels so I cannot verify that; however it is relatively easy to use a data_paths.txt file and move TMG data to the Windows side if problems are encountered. See the Fixing a broken installation section in my Using TMG 8 on a Mac article.

 

A little research on EXFat seems to indicate that it should be OK.

http://lifehacker.com/5927185/use-the-exfat-file-system-and-never-format-your-external-drive-again

 

I have a 500 Gb Maxtor Firewire Drive setup for Time Machine, it’s formatted Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, Journaled), as a test I just created a folder outside the backup folder and using Parallels custom share folders was able to map that folder to a Windows drive letter, in Windows I was able to read and write a couple of test files. My other two external drives are NAS drives (Network Attached Storage, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage) I believe they have an embedded OS; I don’t know how their disk is formatted, they have their own IP addresses and are mounted like file servers. I’m guessing that if the Mac can see the drive you should be able to configure Parallels to map it or folders on it to a Windows drive letter regardless of the format.

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Larry/Jim/Glenn

Thanks for the info. Between what your answers and the threads that Larry directed my to, I think I have enough to begin thinking about
Moving TMG to the Mac. :)

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I had to move to my Mac because I started getting hard drive failure imminent messages from multiple diagnostics tools on my windows PC. In doing so, I had to take a crash (figuratively and literally) course in Parallels and Windows installation.

 

I want to thank Glenn Gilbert for providing a lot advice and recommendations offline during the migration. And I've not even gotten to installing TMG yet.

 

Thanks Glenn

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