Can you force Time Machine to backup NOW?

[~J~]

Since I have a MBP and just cant leave it constantly connected to my TM disk, is there a way to force TM to do a backup whenever I plug the backup disk in?

 

[xUKHCx]

Since I have a MBP and just cant leave it constantly connected to my TM disk, is there a way to force TM to do a backup whenever I plug the backup disk in?

Well you can manually do it



however if you want to do it automatically you will probably have to use folder actions, but there is no dictionary in applescript to talk to Time Machine, don't know about other options.

 

[~J~]

Sweet, thanks xUKHCx! That will work for my purposes.

 

[netnothing]

My understanding is that once you configure an external drive to be your backup drive, once you reconnect it to your machine, TM should automatically start a backup for you.

Haven't tried this since I have a Mac Pro, but that's what it's supposed to do I believe.

I'd let it do the initial large backup first. After that, the backup process will watch and keep track of all changes, and wait until you plug the drive in again to copy them over.

-Kevin