The VM folder is enough to recreate a copy of the original VM. There are 2 native ways that can be used to copy VM to external hard drive on ESXi.ĭownload VM files from datastore: A virtual machine is essentially a set of files. How to backup VMware ESXi VM to external hard drive In this article I will introduce the detailed steps of how to perform these backups. The first 2 ways are practical when you only need to backup several ESXi VMs, but if you have multiple VMs to backup, the third way can provide more efficiency. If you want to avoid VM data loss due to the storage issues or server crashes, and you have the same concerns as in the case above, backup VMware VM to external hard drive is a very good insurance measure.īasically, there are 3 available ways to backup VMware VM to external hard drive:

To work on a schedule used Sheduler from Windows.I need to take the backup of virtual machines from my esxi to an external hard drive, and pass it to another esxi that is somewhere else incase this one would ever go down. In the process of Drive Snapshot creates a virtual disk containing all of the data, but you get the opportunity to use, compare or restore these files directly from the image file.The program supports the FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and RAID arrays, and allows you to work in automatic mode is selected.

Drive Snapshot creates a disk image in the background on computers that must work 24 hours a day, which ensures both the complete safety of all data, and to avoid interruption of your computer. Drive SnapShot – is a utility for a full backup hard drives, allowing you to create a backup image of entire hard disk or separate partitions without rebooting.

Drive snapshot portable