Create a Virtual Machine as a backup

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I am a Software Developer. I have a Windows tablet, which has a lot of stuff configured for my learning e.g. .NET, IIS, Java, GlassFish etc.

I have backed up all of my data, however it would be a real pain to have to rebuild my PC if it suffered from BSOD or worst still a hardware fault meaning a new tablet was needed.

Therefore I am thinking about ways of backing it up, which is not just data backup i.e. I would have to take an image some how.

I have already created an image using Backup and Restore in Control Panel. Is this a reliable way of approaching this? Has anyone used VMWare before to create a virtual machine?

w0051977

Posted 2018-01-15T21:57:05.060

Reputation: 163

Backup and restore is capable of creating a system image that can be restored (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17127/windows-back-up-restore). You need to narrow your question down. Is your question about backing up your tablet? Or, is your question about migrating your tablet to a virtual machine? I understand how you could intermingle the two, but the two items are actually completely different and serve different purposes.

– Appleoddity – 2018-01-15T22:02:14.493

there are P2V options, but I have no idea if they would work for your particular hardware. what hypervisor would you want to run your VM on? – Frank Thomas – 2018-01-15T22:24:07.367

I appreciate third party imaging software with a Boot CD like Acronis Trueimage for things like this. – Damon – 2018-01-16T02:59:00.453

1Sorry to be blunt, but this is really a dumb use-case for virtualization. If you want to back up a physical computer, you're much better off using disk imaging software. There are multiple options to choose from, both free and paid. If you do want to fit virtualization into your picture somehow, here's a better solution: Make a VM that has all of your development software on it, and then RDP to it when you want to do your development work. You could use the built-in cloning or snapshotting tools to make backups as frequently as you like. – Charles Burge – 2018-01-17T23:36:52.187

I ran an ESXI/vCenter cluster for my dev team that let us support dev and maintenance on a wide variety of applications, no matter how old or esoteric. it let me build and deploy template environments for each project, assign and unassign devs dynamically, while still providing everyone an isolated system. It was beautiful. unfortunately, now we;ve had to move to the cloud, but for years it was the envy of every team lead I met. – Frank Thomas – 2018-01-19T05:36:03.987

Answers

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Yes you can create a virtual hard diska for a backup. There are several tools out there that can do this. One example from Microsoft is Disk2VHD. Many VM platforms support Microsoft's VHD format, which is convenient. The problem with this type of solution is you need another PC to run the virtual machine, if your current machine is no longer working. If you dont have another PC, then you have to return your affected PC to a workable state. And once your virtual machine is up and running, you still have to return the affected machine to its previous state. These time consuming extra steps are the reason why the following is a better choice.

A better solution would be creating images of your machine. Programs like Macrium Reflect Free allow you to make complete images of your machine, as well as create bootable media to restore that image directly to the affected PC. No secondary PC is required, or the need to fix your affected PC.

Keltari

Posted 2018-01-15T21:57:05.060

Reputation: 57 019

-1

You can use Macrium Reflect Free to capture an image of that machine. Aferward, MRF will let you mount that image as a virtual drive, or you can use the Macrium viboot to boot up that image as a VM.

PS: Macrium Reflect Free download page

Ed Tittel

Posted 2018-01-15T21:57:05.060

Reputation: 75

Asked: 2018-01-15T21:57:05.060

Viewed: 283 times

Active: 2018-01-17T23:55:44.037