Fusion backup with Time Capsule

[sasabune]

I have a new Mac and a Time Capsule. I run Windows XP Professional and some Windows software inside it -- mostly Quicken for Windows. When Time Machine backs up to my Time Capsule, I can't find the Quicken files I created using Quicken for windows in Fusion. Are they there? And if they are, how can I access them in my Time Capsule? For now, I am manually backing up my entire VMWare Fusion folder by dragging it into Time Capsule. Seems like Time Machine/Time Capsule should back up my entire Mac, including everything I create in Fusion/Windows and that I should be able to access it easily. Thanks in advance for any help.

[borisdusek]

Hi,

yes VMware Fusion virtual machines are explicitely included from Time Machine backups, since there are some issues with it. See this thread for more info on Time Machine & Fusion: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/126938

One solution would be to have the Quicken files on VMware shared folder (i.e. the files would be stored directly in Mac OS X, but accessible from Windows virtual machine). That way, your data would be backed up by Time Machine (since they would be files on your Mac filesystem), but the virtual machine would remain not backed up (but you are interested mainly in the Quicken data). However, there can be some issues with Quicken files on VMware shared folder: http://communities.vmware.com/message/833295#833295. As that post suggests, you could overcome that by instead of using VMware shared folders you would use File sharing (standard feature of Mac OS X), namely Windows sharing. So from your Windows VM, you would see it as network drive and store your data there. The data then would be on your Mac.

Hope this helps.

[sasabune]

Wow, it was really cool of you to gather all this and send it to me. Honestly, I'm very new (and self-taught) with all of this and want to read and digest what you sent to see if I understand it and can make it work. I also have some other windows based software apps that use data files I want to backup, and I assume the answer will be the same for those. It's bicycle riding computer files that I download from my bike computer to my mac and review/analyze.

If I click "yes, my question has been answered" will I be able to reply back with follow up questions?

[borisdusek]

Yes, you can hit "answered" and still post to this thread.

Btw., in general, I would suggest first trying VMware shared folders. They should work fine in most cases. However, if you are hitting some issue with them, try to do it through Windows sharing. I am myself in situation when VMware shared folders work perfectly fine for all but one application.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

If I click "yes, my question has been answered" will I be able to reply back with follow up questions?

Yes

[sasabune]

I've been trying to avoid file sharing because I've read that it's a way to let viruses etc. in. Quicken does a lot of integration over the net for banking functions. Really appreciate the help.

[WoodyZ]

Thanks for marking my responce correct and giving me 10 points however I don't deserve it as all I said was "Yes". Please consider going back and awarding the "helpful" points on his replies to you as he really answered the main question(s) you had. Thanks.

[sasabune]

Gonna do it right now. Hey, I told you I was new. And you get points?

He should get 10 points for sure.

[Bjones74]

FYI I tried this a few weeks ago because my wife uses quicken. While you can copy the quicken files there no problem. . . for some reason if you try to open them directly from the shared vmware drive. . quicken 2008 crashes.

She has it installed on a boot camp partition. . so FYI you might run into this. . . I've never found a work around other than maybe to write an automated copy job to copy the files to the shared drive daily.

[borisdusek]

Thanks to both of you for pointing that out and going back to give me helpful points, thanks to this I am now "Enthusiast"!