Backing VirtualBox

[Lucio M Nicolosi]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 7:48 PM, MirJafar Ali <mirjafarali at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Lucio M Nicolosi <lmnicolosi at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 7:07 PM, MirJafar Ali <mirjafarali at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Hello
>> >
>> > I have one simple question. I have VirtualBox that I want to backup to
>> > install new version. I can see that there is one
>> > directory named ".VirtualBox". Is doing "cp -r .VirtualBox
>> > VirtualBoxBakUp"   will correctly backup the VM ? I am asking
>> > this question as I am not sure how and where VM keeps the file.
>> >
>> > Thanks.
>> > Mir
>>
>> No need to do this but if you insist, better go to VBox / File /
>> Export Appliance. This way you can create a proper copy of your
>> Virtual Sistems (wherever they might reside).
>>
>>
>> L.
>>

>
> Hello Lucio
>
> Perhaps I didn't understand the word "if you insist". Does it mean that this
> step is not at all require ?
> As far as I know, there is no version 4 from synaptic, so I will need to
> download *.deb file from the oracle
> site and then install it.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Mir

Mir,

Once you have correctly configured Oracle-VirtualBox repository in you
desktop ( according to instructions on the VB link I previously gave
to you ) the program, VirtualBox can be installed and uninstalled at
will. There's nothing much to bother with. You can use Synaptic or the
command line.

Regarding your data, the VirtualBox images you created when configured
a guest OS, these are not affected by installs or uninstalls, they
remain there, at /home/user/.virtualbox, I guess, if you accepted the
default parameters when first installed.
You can make copies or images of your guest OSs, but if you do, choose
the internal VBox options, like previously stated, otherwise the
copies, if needed, will nor run properly (nothing that cannot be
corrected later)

Of course backup is a very important thing to do (by the way, mine are
always behind schedule), but you need to backup your data, not the
programs.

And no, you do not need to download any .deb. Synaptic will take care
if properly configured. Please read the link.

Lucio


-- 
L M Nicolosi, Eng.
Ubuntu AMD64
GNU-Linux Regist. User #481505 - http://counter.li.org/