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Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

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xtabber:
Even if you can use snapshots for testing, I agree with Renegade that it is a good idea to keep backup copies of any original "clean" VMs you create.  In many ways, a VM is like another computer available to work on when needed, and you really don't want to lose it by accident.

A VM is like a disk image. The difference is that the operating system on it has been modified to require a virtual environment in which to run.  In some cases, it is possible to convert an image of a real system to run in a VM, or to convert a VM to run a real system.  I have used Paragon's virtual manager (part of their Hard Disk Manager Pro but also available separately), to restore a backup image of an older system to a VMware VM, allowing me to run programs that were installed on it even though I no longer have the original computer.

Shades:
Converting a VM to a real system again requires you to make an image from the running VM and use that image (plus all the required drivers for the real system) to create a real system again.

Just to add to the confusion... :P

tslim:
There are two things about VMWare Workstation I think worth mentioning:

1. There are two VM states: either its O/S is alive or has been shutdown. Creating a snapshot of the latter is much quicker and much smaller in size. That is because a VM snapshot of a running O/S will include its "memory" state. e.g. if you run WinXP in a VM which has been setup with a 1 GB memory, the state of that 1 GB memory is always included in a snapshot unless you shutdown that WinXP before creating a snpshot.

2. It is a great fun to play with VMWare snapshots, like playing solitaire a game.
a) You can create multiple snapshots base on a parent snapshot.
b) If a1, a2, a3, ... aN is a series of snapshots where aN is based on aN-1, you may delete a snapshot in the mid. e.g. you can delete a2 without hurting a3 and the rest of the snapshots which all originated from a2
c) You can even edit and manipulate VM shnapshot file(s) (while it is not in use)...

cyberdiva:
@CD - if you get a chance (and can spare about an hour) do try to watch some of Eli the Computer Guy's Introduction to Virtualization video I mentioned earlier. It's a very gentle, but not dumbed-down, introduction to virtualization technology. And one of the better instructional vids I've ever seen. :) :up:
-40hz (August 19, 2012, 12:32 PM)
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Thanks very much, 40hz, for the recommendation.  I watched the shorter video you mentioned earlier, about VirtualBox, and found it helpful.  I've now started to watch the longer video you mention here, and it may turn out to be really useful, but I wish Eli had broken it into two parts, one dealing with type 1 hypervisors and one dealing with type 2.  I found it somewhat tedious listening to him go on and on about type 1, knowing that I'd probably never use that.  I finally realized that there was a contents list below the video, and I was able to bail out of the rest of the type 1 discussion and move on to type 2.  But by then I was getting a bit antsy, so I stopped the video and did other things.  I definitely will go back to it later today, however, and I'm very grateful to you for letting me know about it.

40hz:
^Sorry! Should have warned you. Being in IT, it didn't really occur to me to tell you to skip forward. And yes he can repeat himself a bit. But part of that is the old school way of presenting tech info to a mixed audience, to wit:

First, tell them what you're gonna tell them.  :o
Next, tell them.  :)
Finally, tell them what you just told them.  :-\

Everybody hates it. But it does boost retention quite a bit (at least in males) doing it that way.

And the first 8-10 minutes are worth digesting regardless.

Anyway, glad some of it was helpful.  :Thmbsup:

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