0

Background:
I am a software developer and work on several projects in parallel. Because of this, I use virtual desktops, one per project.
I never restart my computer - only hibernate or sleep - because I have a huge amount of programs running.

Problem:
I am using VMware for my day-to-day virtualisation needs.
Developing for Windows Phone requires Hyper-V to be active.
Only one virtualisation solution - VMware or Hyper-V - can be active at any given time. To switch between them, a restart is required.
I want to avoid that.

Possible solution:
A possible solution would be to snapshot the current state of my machine - the physical and virtual memory - and after that, activate Hyper-V and perform the reboot. When I am finished developing the Windows Phone application, I would re-enable VMware, reboot and restore the snapshot.
Basically, it would be like a backed-up hibernation state.

Question:
Is something like that possible?

3
  • If you downvote, please leave a comment about what I should improve. Otherwise, the downvote misses its purpose. Oct 3, 2014 at 9:11
  • I haven't downvoted myself, but there is a chance that it is because your problem is related to development environment, which is not an appropriate subject on SF. You should consider asking the guys on SU instead.
    – NaeiKinDus
    Oct 3, 2014 at 9:17
  • @NaeiKinDus: Thanks for the hint. Can you please vote to migrate it? Oct 3, 2014 at 9:18

1 Answer 1

1

No, it isn’t possible. A few more details as to why are detailed here.

The gist of it: A system state snapshot, be it hibernation or VM or whatnot, includes the current file system state. If that state were to be inconsistent with what’s on the disk after a snapshot is restored, catastrophic data loss is absolutely guaranteed.

The solution is quite simple, too: Buy another PC. Unless you’re compiling super-huge projects, something with an AMD CPU should be fine and isn’t too expensive.

2
  • Thanks for your answer. What exactly is the "current file system state"? It can't be the files and their contents, right? Otherwise, the hibernation snapshot would be huge. Buying another PC is not a problem of money but a problem of having to maintain two systems in parallel, especially with regards to application configurations etc. Not something I want to do Oct 3, 2014 at 9:44
  • No file contents—these are only in cache, which is pruned before hibernating. But essential file and filesystem metadata, especially on opened files. This information is very suitable for caching, because it can’t change without the OS knowing (in regular use).
    – Daniel B
    Oct 3, 2014 at 9:52

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .