Should I back up a virtual machine?

Are virtual machine files (.dsk or .vmdk) important enough to backup. Typically these files are huge, 60GB or even more. Can the virtual machine be recreated without these monsters?

Answer

These files are the virtual hard drive of the virtual machine.  They contain the virtual machine's operating system, and any software installed inside the virtual machine.  Without these files, you would not be able to boot a virtual machine, and would have to completely reinstall it.

Also see related article, Should I backup a vmware virtual machine?