Archive for 2015

How to Delete Hyper-V Backup Checkpoint That’s Stuck

Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 and later, around spring 2014, introduced a HyperV backup mechanism where Hyper-V creates a hidden internal checkpoint when a Hyper-V backup is initiated. Shortly after the server backup software goes into its prep phase, this checkpoint is deleted and merged automatically while the backup proceeds. See below:   If the host […]

How to Create and Delete Hyper-V Checkpoints / Snapshots

Checkpoints (see this article for a definition) can be useful for short-term testing when you need a quick way to revert a Hyper-V virtual machine to its prior state, for example, before updating Windows or installing software. To create and delete checkpoints (aka. snapshots in older versions of Windows Server and Hyper-V), you can issue […]

Before You Use Carbonite, Mozy, CrashPlan, Rackspace, Softlayer

As you may consider backing up to the cloud using alternatives to Carbonite, Backblaze, SOS Backup, Mozy, Vaultlogix, CrashPlan, Rackspace, and Softlayer, you may want to look into options that are specifically made for server-grade scenarios. Hence, you may also want to add BackupChain to your trial list because there are some great advantages BackupChain has […]

Hyper-V Manager: Scheduled Snapshot and Checkpoint Creation

Unfortunately Hyper-V Manager doesn’t provide an automatic, scheduled creation of snapshots aka checkpoints. However, it’s a great thing to add to your VMs and it can be done with just one command and the Windows Task Scheduler:   You could either use  a fixed name for the snapshot / checkpoint or generate one automatically. The PowerShell script […]

Download BackupChain®