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I love Time Machine and want to have its babies

Benbikeman

Benbikeman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 17, 2011
616
1
London, England
The (main) hard drive on my MacBook Pro failed. Refused to even mount, so the machine wouldn't boot.

(Aside for anyone who read my other post: The problem was a confusing one at first as after some messing with Disk utility, it did mount and AppleCare suspected a software glitch, so we wiped the drive and reinstalled OSX but then the problem came back. At that point I took the MBP to an Apple store and they hooked it up to their diagnostic software. That plus examination of the logs led them to diagnose a faulty hard drive.)

Got the drive replaced (temporarily with a 750Gb one as my supplier doesn't have any 1Tb drives in stock), reinstalled OSX, plugged into my Time Capsule, did a Migration (rather than a Restore in case the drive had corrupted any system files) and a few hours later the machine is back in action with all my data, apps and (most) settings intact.

Unlike Restore, Migration Assistant doesn't recreate absolutely all settings, but pretty damn close. It only took 20-30 mins to sort the few remaining bits & pieces.

Thanks to Time Machine, the whole thing has been a nuisance rather than a crisis. Yes, there are other backup options around, but with a Time Capsule I don't ever have to think about it - the machine is always backed-up.
 
Nice!!

Thats Awesome!! Glad to hear that.
I have Time Machine Running on a 640 GB drive for my iMac 27"" but have never actually used it to do anything so Im not even really sure how I would utilize it in the event that something happened.

Any tutorials on how to use it?

Also My GF just got a MBA and I want to get her time machine back up running. Did you use a wireless Time Machine or a wired one?

Roger
 
Assimilated said:
Got the drive replaced (temporarily with a 750Gb one as my supplier doesn't have any 1Tb drives in stock), reinstalled OSX, plugged into my Time Capsule, did a Migration (rather than a Restore in case the drive had corrupted any system files) and a few hours later the machine is back in action with all my data, apps and (most) settings intact.

Unlike Restore, Migration Assistant doesn't recreate absolutely all settings, but pretty damn close. It only took 20-30 mins to sort the few remaining bits & pieces.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you're happy with Time Machine. As an alternative for some, that entire recovery process could have been as simple as plugging in a backup drive and booting up, if you used Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup.

You could also install a new internal drive, then boot from the backup on the external drive, and clone it to your internal. No OS X installation, no Migration, no recreating settings. It can also maintain your bootable backup with automatic incremental backups, just like TM. Use what you prefer, but CCC is an alternative that may appeal to some.
 
GGJstudios said:
I'm glad you're happy with Time Machine. As an alternative for some, that entire recovery process could have been as simple as plugging in a backup drive and booting up, if you used Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup.

You could also install a new internal drive, then boot from the backup on the external drive, and clone it to your internal. No OS X installation, no Migration, no recreating settings. It can also maintain your bootable backup with automatic incremental backups, just like TM. Use what you prefer, but CCC is an alternative that may appeal to some.
Click to expand...

Is Carbon Copy Cloner a alternative to Time Machine that you use?
 
not to disrupt the love fest

For Carbon Copy Cloner which is a great program especially for imaging whole drives etc.

The biggest advantage for time machine is for incremental backups and the option to restore from more than one time point. Plus once you do the initial backup (which is slower than CCC) the incremental back up (I do mine once a week or before I install a new app) it's pretty quick.
 
sno1man said:
The biggest advantage for time machine is for incremental backups and the option to restore from more than one time point. Plus once you do the initial backup (which is slower than CCC) the incremental back up (I do mine once a week or before I install a new app) it's pretty quick.
Click to expand...
CCC can also do incremental backups, just like TM.
 
sno1man said:
true but time machine is free
Click to expand...
So is CCC 3.4 and earlier. Only the newest version, 3.5, is not free. Earlier versions will work on Mac OS X up through Lion, and may work on ML, but they're not certified on ML.
 
I use time machine mainly in case I need to go back and grab something from a previous point in time. It's a nice thing to have to give some peace of mind.

I also use CCC to incrementally clone my system drive in order to have an exact bootable clone.

Then, I have Crashplan to backup all my media like photos, music, home movies, and other stuff I couldn't easily get back.
 
Assimilated said:
The (main) hard drive on my MacBook Pro failed. Refused to even mount, so the machine wouldn't boot.

(Aside for anyone who read my other post: The problem was a confusing one at first as after some messing with Disk utility, it did mount and AppleCare suspected a software glitch, so we wiped the drive and reinstalled OSX but then the problem came back. At that point I took the MBP to an Apple store and they hooked it up to their diagnostic software. That plus examination of the logs led them to diagnose a faulty hard drive.)

Got the drive replaced (temporarily with a 750Gb one as my supplier doesn't have any 1Tb drives in stock), reinstalled OSX, plugged into my Time Capsule, did a Migration (rather than a Restore in case the drive had corrupted any system files) and a few hours later the machine is back in action with all my data, apps and (most) settings intact.

Unlike Restore, Migration Assistant doesn't recreate absolutely all settings, but pretty damn close. It only took 20-30 mins to sort the few remaining bits & pieces.

Thanks to Time Machine, the whole thing has been a nuisance rather than a crisis. Yes, there are other backup options around, but with a Time Capsule I don't ever have to think about it - the machine is always backed-up.
Click to expand...

Yes, Time Capsule is much more important than Apple Care(I didn't buy) IMHO. The content on my macbook pro is much more valuable than the laptop itself. However, my first 1TB TC failed after 2 years, common power supply issues. I can't live without one, so I immediately bought a new 2TB TC. It's like peace of mind. My HD failed twice during 3 years. (1st was by itself, 2nd time was my fault) Each time I replaced with bigger HD.
 
I hates me some Time Machine. SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner had my babies.
I don't dig the Apple data manipulation way. Nice GUI too bad you fail at recovery:(
 
GGJstudios said:
I'm glad you're happy with Time Machine. As an alternative for some, that entire recovery process could have been as simple as plugging in a backup drive and booting up, if you used Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup.
Click to expand...

The concern here was that there might be corrupted system files, so an exact clone would have exactly the same corrupted files.

However, the symptoms (kernal panic and drive intermittently mounting/not mounting) returned with a brand new drive so Apple now suspects logic board or drive cable. Hopefully the latter as that's being replaced this evening, while replacing the logic board would take nine days(!).

Can CCC do its incremental backups via wifi if the drive is plugged into a Time Capsule? If so, I might do that as a further level of protection.

What I've done as an interim measure for today is installed OSX on the second hard drive (in the optical drive bay) so that I have a bootable system, and at least have my email and web running. If the machine runs all day like that, we can probably eliminate logic board.
 
Assimilated said:
The concern here was that there might be corrupted system files, so an exact clone would have exactly the same corrupted files.
Click to expand...
How would a TM backup be any different in that regard? If TM backs up corrupted files, the backup will contain the same corruption.
Assimilated said:
Can CCC do its incremental backups via wifi if the drive is plugged into a Time Capsule?
Click to expand...
Yes, CCC can backup to external or network drives, via wired or wireless connections. However, if the backup is to be bootable, it must be to an external drive plugged directly into the Mac.
 
Badrottie said:
Time Machine is for me. Very easy to use and very simple! :apple:
Click to expand...
Yes. Used if for a very long time. Great solution.

Then, I discovered CCC. Like Time Machine I just plug in an external and let the backup script clone my internal drive in "silent" mode. CCC lets me know when it's done then dutifully ejects the drive. It will even shut me down if I want. (For that long job overnight). During a recent SSD reformat, it was nice just to clone that external back to the SSD.

I suspect CCC not being certified on ML has more to do with GateKeeper and tying it into ML's notification scheme. Not s serious hurdle for the developer to overcome.
 
Krazy Bill said:
I suspect CCC not being certified on ML has more to do with GateKeeper and tying it into ML's notification scheme. Not s serious hurdle for the developer to overcome.
Click to expand...
The developer stated that he tested and certified version 3.5 on ML. He simply didn't test the earlier versions. That doesn't mean they won't work on ML. It just means the developer didn't test them to find out. The primary motive is that he wanted to transition to charging for newer releases.
 
Assimilated said:
The (main) hard drive on my MacBook Pro failed. Refused to even mount, so the machine wouldn't boot.

(Aside for anyone who read my other post: The problem was a confusing one at first as after some messing with Disk utility, it did mount and AppleCare suspected a software glitch, so we wiped the drive and reinstalled OSX but then the problem came back. At that point I took the MBP to an Apple store and they hooked it up to their diagnostic software. That plus examination of the logs led them to diagnose a faulty hard drive.)

Got the drive replaced (temporarily with a 750Gb one as my supplier doesn't have any 1Tb drives in stock), reinstalled OSX, plugged into my Time Capsule, did a Migration (rather than a Restore in case the drive had corrupted any system files) and a few hours later the machine is back in action with all my data, apps and (most) settings intact.

Unlike Restore, Migration Assistant doesn't recreate absolutely all settings, but pretty damn close. It only took 20-30 mins to sort the few remaining bits & pieces.

Thanks to Time Machine, the whole thing has been a nuisance rather than a crisis. Yes, there are other backup options around, but with a Time Capsule I don't ever have to think about it - the machine is always backed-up.
Click to expand...

I have a 2TB current generation time capsule and it is absolutely awesome I agree. If you want to know how to change the backup frequency so it's not doing it every 2-3 hours you should go to this link and follow the directions :http://hangoutjunkie.com/how-to-change-time-machine-backup-frequency/ I've done it so it only backs up once a day. Otherwise it feels like the default setting is to back up 6 times a day or something.
 
And if you are really paranoid about backing up

Use both. My Time Machine backs up all changes to my data hourly. My CCC drive backs up my whole MB Pro drive once daily. I really don't want to lose anything.

Additionally, I store 360 GB of photo images on a third external drive which I back up, once a month or whenever I have added images, to a fourth external wireless HDD. With that Go Flex Satellite I can wirelessly stream photos and video to my iPad.
 
I use both TM and CCC. I feel both have pluses and minuses. Not going to get into specifics, but this is my personal opinion because NOTHING is perfect and will always meet everyone's needs 100% of the time.

In my setup, I have TM set to backup mostly just system files to a Time Capsule and CCC to backup my media files to a NAS.

I am also going to setup a backup schedule of my Time Capsule to my NAS. I just have not got around to it yet. Not sure if I will use CCC or the internal backup software of my NetGear ReadyNAS...
 
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