3 computer crashes/rebuilds in 3 years – same machine – I finally snapped and did the VM thing

OK – so 1.5 days down without pay. That stinks and is not going to happen to me again. I have always wanted to make a VM and run Windows inside my VM. 2 machines later and 3 crashes – I finally snapped and did it. I don’t have a blog with many links, but here is what I did… and it works. Again , I wrecked many a VM on purpose – fiddling and knew how quick a restore could be – so why am I not working like this on purpose for my own disaster recovery? A whole weekend went down the drain – but never again … here’s how…

• bought a new ssd to replace the broken hybrid that came with my computer
• added virtual box to my mac
  • built windows WM w. the windows 10 iso on my mac
  • why? Cause making the bootable windows 10 usb didn’t work. So installing virtual box on my mac – I can pick the .iso directly from my downloads folder. Not sure why the host comp did not see it. You CANNOT use boot camp assistant w. El Capitain to make a bootable usb
  • Holy smack the mac is fast – with a VM! Was quite impressed – I have NEVER installed windows anywhere from scratch so fast
• installed ubuntu on my pc
  • download ubuntu server (should have downloaded the desktop)
  • after making a bootable usb on my mac
  • added the gui to it
  • added Samba to it
  • added virtual box to it … I think I checked a box on the ubuntu initial setup
    • wish I had this article at the time
  • added virtual usb’s (don’t do this)
• copied VM vdi file to the ubuntu box
  • actually originally i had a vmware distributed file .vmdk files that I converted to .vdi – just do the .vdi file instead from the get-go
  • up and running in seconds
  • figured out the hard way to NOT to map usb devices
    • simply plug in usb and use the network to see the usb drives
    • installed all my windows software
  • installed Synergy – Mouse and keyboard sharing software from symless.com to share mouse/clipboard from mac to unix – (don’t install it on the VM – do it on the host – it works – the VM does not work)
    • buy the pro – it costs $19 – for all the machines in the world that you use.
  • got Novastor backup recovery software up and running
    • restored files
• Now I am learning how to backup
  • ubuntu 
    • (there was a – missing before cvpzf seen here)
      

    • sudu su
      cd /
      tar -cpzf linuxbackup/ubuntu_backup_20170107_1430.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/proc --exclude=/tmp --exclude=ubuntu_backup_20170107_1430.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys --exclude='/home/ebley/VirtualBox VMs' --exclude='*.vdi' --exclude='/root/VirtualBox VMs' --exclude=/linuxbackup --exclude=/var/lib/lxcfs /
      

    • the text above in readable format is
      • sudu su
      • cd /
      • tar -cpzf linuxbackup/ubuntu_backup_20170107_1430.tgz –exclude=/proc –exclude=/lost+found –exclude=/proc –exclude=/tmp –exclude=ubuntu_backup_20170107_1430.tgz –exclude=/mnt –exclude=/sys –exclude=’/home/ebley/VirtualBox VMs’ –exclude=’*.vdi’ –exclude=’/root/VirtualBox VMs’ –exclude=/linuxbackup –exclude=/var/lib/lxcfs /
    • some warnings might be ok
  • my VM files (easy, medium, harder)
  • exfat backup format for the external drive
    • dang it – just do it with the commad line.  Length of LABEL (or UbuntuWin10 in my case) has to not be too long

      • sudo fdisk -l
        sudo mkfs.exfat -n UbuntuWin10 /dev/sdXn
        

    • or follow these steps (would not mount automatically – but after a reboot and these steps it did)
    • it seems it is proprietary and owned my Microsoft – but it is compatible among all 3
    • have to download FUSE and exfat support
  • what snapshots are
  • why I SHOULD HAVE USED LVM
  • I knew all this stuff but I did it for the companies I worked for not because I knew precisely why “for me”. Now I have been bitten and am much much wiser “for me”. Now I am more than interested in the details AS I WILL NEVER SPEND MORE THAN 1 HOUR ON A RESTORE EVER AGAIN (hopefully)