I am constantly getting backups on my VM's to Time Machine of anywhere from 2GB to 7GB per hour. I have the "1 Per Day and Keep 2" setting enabled on my snapshot(s) for the VM's--but every hour I get the .vmdk files backing up to my Time Machine instance.
I have extracted my log from Time Machine and here is the latest delta sample from just (2) VM's running on a 16GB MacBook Pro:
So in just over an hour, there is a 4.35GB backup headed to Time Machine--and this repeats every hour on the hour.
For example, here is the next hour delta backup headed to Time Machine:
matt$ timedog -d 5 -l
==> Comparing TM backup 2012-01-20-120747 to 2012-01-20-111748
Depth: 5 directories
3.1KB-> 2.9KB /.Backup.log
527B-> 527B /.com.apple.TMCheckpoint
2.1KB-> 2.1KB /.exclusions.plist
79.4KB-> 79.4KB /MacBook Pro/Library/Keychains/System.keychain
79.4KB-> 79.4KB [1] /MacBook Pro/Library/Keychains/
3.3KB-> 3.3KB /MacBook Pro/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
6.1KB-> 6.1KB [2] /MacBook Pro/Library/Preferences/
11.7KB-> 11.7KB /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/.bash_history
85.4MB-> 85.6MB [80] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Documents/Microsoft User Data/
4.9MB-> 4.9MB [140] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Application Support/
169.7KB-> 173.0KB [1] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Cookies/
487B-> 487B [3] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Google/
369.4KB-> 3.7MB [389] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Mail/
3.7MB-> 3.7MB [23] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Preferences/
237.3KB-> 179.3KB [8] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Safari/
6.0KB-> 6.0KB [1] /MacBook Pro/Users/matt/Library/Spelling/
2GB-> 2GB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/564d589e-d264-ccac-2c75-d09c29724e95.vmem
82.1MB-> 82.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s001.vmdk
205MB-> 205MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s002.vmdk
3.4MB-> 3.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s003.vmdk
49.6MB-> 49.6MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s004.vmdk
3.7MB-> 3.7MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s005.vmdk
18.7MB-> 18.7MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s006.vmdk
10.2MB-> 10.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s007.vmdk
6.4MB-> 6.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s008.vmdk
448KB-> 448KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s009.vmdk
6.4MB-> 6.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s010.vmdk
16.8MB-> 16.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s011.vmdk
26.4MB-> 26.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s012.vmdk
28.1MB-> 28.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s013.vmdk
102.4MB-> 102.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s014.vmdk
43MB-> 43MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s015.vmdk
44.9MB-> 44.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000001-s016.vmdk
.... -> 19.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s001.vmdk
.... -> 23MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s002.vmdk
.... -> 1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s003.vmdk
.... -> 8.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s004.vmdk
.... -> 1.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s005.vmdk
.... -> 3.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s006.vmdk
.... -> 2.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s007.vmdk
.... -> 704KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s008.vmdk
.... -> 320KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s009.vmdk
.... -> 1.5MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s010.vmdk
.... -> 3MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s011.vmdk
.... -> 6.7MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s012.vmdk
.... -> 4.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s013.vmdk
.... -> 14.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s014.vmdk
.... -> 4.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s015.vmdk
.... -> 11.5MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s016.vmdk
.... -> 9.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s017.vmdk
.... -> 6.6MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s018.vmdk
.... -> 2.4MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s019.vmdk
.... -> 12.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s020.vmdk
.... -> 71.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s021.vmdk
.... -> 5.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s022.vmdk
.... -> 6.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s023.vmdk
.... -> 384KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s024.vmdk
.... -> 105.6MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s025.vmdk
.... -> 13.3MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s026.vmdk
.... -> 49.7MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s027.vmdk
.... -> 320KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s028.vmdk
.... -> 320KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s029.vmdk
.... -> 320KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s030.vmdk
.... -> 64KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002-s031.vmdk
.... -> 1.7KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002.vmdk
.... -> 2GB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-Snapshot40.vmem
.... -> 184.6MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-Snapshot40.vmsn
8.5KB-> 8.5KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7.nvram
4.6KB-> 4.6KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7.vmx
358.5KB-> 391.4KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/vmware.log
.... -> 512B /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002.vmdk.lck/M32529.lck
0B-> 512B [1] /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/RAI.vmwarevm/Windows 7-000002.vmdk.lck/
168.6MB-> 178.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s001.vmdk
175.3MB-> 180.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s002.vmdk
127.1MB-> 130.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s003.vmdk
146MB-> 152.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s004.vmdk
158.2MB-> 163.9MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s005.vmdk
95.6MB-> 101.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s006.vmdk
132.6MB-> 140.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s007.vmdk
154.2MB-> 164.8MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s008.vmdk
325MB-> 325.1MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s009.vmdk
382.5MB-> 384.2MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s010.vmdk
21.4MB-> 24.7MB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/Standard XP VM-000001-s011.vmdk
262.8KB-> 264.6KB /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/vmware.log
0B-> 108B [1] /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/appListCache/appData/
1.8KB-> 1.9KB [1] /MacBook Pro/Virtual Machines/Standard XP VM.vmwarevm/appListCache/recentDocuments/
1.1KB-> 1.1KB /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/.TimeMachine.Results.plist
2.4KB-> 2.5KB /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/com.apple.TimeMachine.SnapshotDates.plist
168B-> 168B /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/kcm-dump.bin
8B-> 8B /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/ntp.drift
53.1KB-> 60.8KB [4] /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/BootCaches/
58.3KB-> 87.2KB [1] /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/crls/
5.1KB-> 4.6KB [2] /MacBook Pro/private/var/db/vmware/
68B-> 68B [1] /MacBook Pro/private/var/log/asl/
==> Total Backup: 778 changed files/directories, 7.19GB
So, in just 2 hours over 11GB of Time Machine backups--when the "Auto-Snapshot" is turned on.
I have read theough the primer from the blog on backups--and really ended up with more questions than answers; but I am about to exclude my VM directory from Time Machine--as this is just too much network traffic which overall impacts my environment.
Some of the "helpful links/primer" I refer to above are:
http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2011/12/backing-up-your-virtual-machine-with-time-machine.html
Anyone got any *silver-bullet* approach to solving this "constant backup" issue?
.mws.