/vmware_backup

Safely back up your VMs with CCC

Primary LanguageShell

VMware Backup

These scripts are designed to be used with Carbon Copy Cloner. I have a scheduled task that backs up ~/Documents/Virtual Machines/ each night, but if I have VMware open and a task running overnight, the backup eventually fills up the destination drive. Here's my solution.

  • vmware_preflight.sh and vmware_postflight.sh: Tested with OS X 10.10.x. Pauses currently-running VMs, performs the backup, then unpauses the VMs. Also supports suspend/resume, rather than pause/unpause.
  • vmware_check.sh: Requires OS X 10.8.x or higher. Checks if VMware Fusion is running, and aborts the backup if that is the case.
  • vmware_check_legacy.sh: Designed for OS X 10.7.x or lower. Does the same as vmware_check.sh, but does not rely on pgrep (which shipped with OS X 10.8).

I'd recommend using the first two scripts, but I'm including the older ones for reference.

More information is available on my blog here and here.

Thanks:

  • Anonymous penguin for basically rewriting it with me, twice.
  • Jed Smith @ Stack Overflow for the legacy script.