Windows 10: Okay Parallels or VM or Mac experts

Creating an Image with Parallels of Mini
Okay, I've got the Trial version of Parallels, I'm going to keep it, what I want to know is the best way of either backing up, creating an image or whatever with all the following stuff I've got on the Mini.
I'm running Yosemite with Windows 8.1 in Bootcamp, on Yosemite I've got Parallels running Windows 8.1, Windows TP and Chrome.

What I'd like to know is in case of a disaster, what is the best way of backing up all this stuff and making a disk I can boot off, so I can recover off an external HDD. Do I do it through Windows with a Program like Macrium Reflect or can I do it through time machine or Parallels. I want to save the whole lot.









:)

 

Windows 10 home N license

Hi Andre,

I solved my problem.

First I removed the VM on parallels v.13 (Mac OS X high sierra). Then I downloaded an ISO image (Windows Home Edition) on my mac. At last I created a new VM with parallels (option: install with ISO image). The product key was accepted during the installation.

Best regards,

Eric

 

Certificates all wrong on an old VM

No, these are normal windows 10 fast track builds running in Parallels on my Mac. Not Microsoft VMs.

 

Use both, albeit prefer VMWare. As to backing up an imagine is to download it to an external drive.

 

Hi, yes I'm just trying to work out the Mac side of Parallels, I'm probably going to have to do it through Time Machine seeing as I've got to put the image back on the Mac. Maybe I cant do what I'm trying to do unless I clone the whole disc which I don't want to do.

I might have a bit of a play around with VMware as well.

 

Hi there

I think the problem with Parallels is that after the expiration of the trial your VM won't run whatever method you used to restore it.
I don't know about VMware on a mac but the free vmplayer works just fine - to backup the VM just simply save the vm folder using file explorer or from within the vm itself create an Image using an imaging program like macrium or acronis and save to a shared hdd that the vm has access to.

I think bootcamp runs windows just fine on a mac- not sure exactly how it works but people seem to be satisfied with that method too. This would be more like double booting though.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I'm going to buy Parallels before it expires, also I've been reading a fair bit about Parallels and backing up, it looks like I'll be able to do what I want in Time Machine you just have to tell it where to look.
Bootcamp is good, but sometimes I want to do something on the Mac side and I have to reboot, also I've now got TP and Chrome on there as well. It's just good playing around with all these OS without having to reboot.
Ive still got Bootcamp and now in Parallels, you just tell Parallels where it is and it sets it all up as 8.1 in Parallels.

The next hard bit is going to be installing Dual drives in the Mac Mini so I can get SSD speed and migrating all this mess over to the SSD.

 

I'm going to buy Parallels before it expires, also I've been reading a fair bit about Parallels and backing up, it looks like I'll be able to do what I want in Time Machine you just have to tell it where to look.
Bootcamp is good, but sometimes I want to do something on the Mac side and I have to reboot, also I've now got TP and Chrome on there as well. It's just good playing around with all these OS without having to reboot.
Ive still got Bootcamp and now in Parallels, you just tell Parallels where it is and it sets it all up as 8.1 in Parallels.

The next hard bit is going to be installing Dual drives in the Mac Mini so I can get SSD speed and migrating all this mess over to the SSD. Hi there
Some stand alone recovery programs can copy partitions / disk images irrespective of the file system. For example you could boot a Linux Live distro from a USB and simply copy your OS'es over to the SSD with the Linux DD command (use it carefully though), or a thing like clonezilla/filezilla. Acronis will also handle any type of partition / file system too --simply backup the original (source) on to a temporary storage device and then restore to your SSD (target).

Cheers
jimbo

 

Thanks for that Jimbo, looks like I've got a few options now, now all I've got to do is get motivated to buy the SSD and put it in.