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New Time Machine User

S

stockcerts

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 29, 2007
1,308
31
Pensacola, FL
I've had my iMac for almost three years, but I just now bought an external drive large enough to use Time Machine. Bought a 1 terrabye USB drive over the weekend for $79.00.

The concept is to leave the external back up drive running all the time. In theory this drive should last several years, even running around the clock. Do most of you Time Machine users leave your external drive on all the time?

Thanks all!
 
Mine is always on ,but my drive is the western digital my book thing. Its 1T drive i picked up last week, my old one is gone. ANd it automatically shuts of as soon as your mac goes off or if it is not in use for a while it will go to stand by mode. Best.....Purchase..Ever!! My lacie 500 GB was on for two years straight with a few power downs here and there, but not for too long, and well laster two years.
 
I decided to go with Time Machine Editor. I set it up to back up once in the morning, once in the early evening. I really don't see the need for an hourly backup as I'm not making that many changes throughout the day. Also, I heard that your hard drive will last much longer if it's not writing to the drive as frequently as every hour.

I think with this schedule I should be covered. I did some investigation on the internet and some people really take backups to the next level. Just wondering how many of you use Time Machine and your comfort level with this backup solution. Thanks everyone!!
 
stockcerts said:
I decided to go with Time Machine Editor. I set it up to back up once in the morning, once in the early evening. I really don't see the need for an hourly backup as I'm not making that many changes throughout the day. Also, I heard that your hard drive will last much longer if it's not writing to the drive as frequently as every hour.

I think with this schedule I should be covered. I did some investigation on the internet and some people really take backups to the next level. Just wondering how many of you use Time Machine and your comfort level with this backup solution. Thanks everyone!!
Click to expand...

I LOVE it...I never really backed up religiously before, but TM makes it very easy and a no-brainer. I have no qualms with it writing every hour. Some hours there may be very little or nothing written as nothing will have changed on the source drive. Doesn't bother me in the least.

I also have an external that I connect to my wife's laptop and do a backup for her every 2 weeks or so. We just plug it in and TM picks up from where it did the last backup. I am thinking of hosting this drive on my AEBS so she can do it over the network...just too lazy to run out and purchase a USB hub :) we currently use our only AEBS USB port for the printer. It would be nice to have multiple ports on the AEBS...that would be a nice addition.

I assume my hard drives will have approximately a 2-3 year lifespan and ALWAYS make backups of files I don't want to lose. So far, I have never lost anything important to a drive failure...and I have had 3 Maxtor externals fail me in the past. :(
 
So far I like Time Machine, just set it up and forget about it. I'm pretty sure backing up twice daily will be sufficient, plus from what I understand my hard drive will last longer if it's not writing data every hour.

The two most important things on my Mac that I would never want to lose are my digital pictures and my iTunes library.
 
stockcerts said:
...from what I understand my hard drive will last longer if it's not writing data every hour.
Click to expand...

Well your internal is constantly writing and reading data as you perform tasks throughout the day. You should limit your computer usage then to save wear and tear on that drive then. ;) it's getting a much more strenuous workout than your TM drive.

In my opinion, it's negligible.

What's worse, writing 120MB of data now, or an average of 10MB (some hours will be 0 some may be 40-50) at the top of every hour for 12 hours?

You like your setup...that's fine... but your rational, I believe, is flawed.
 
mstrze said:
Well your internal is constantly writing and reading data as you perform tasks throughout the day. You should limit your computer usage then to save wear and tear on that drive then. ;) it's getting a much more strenuous workout than your TM drive.

In my opinion, it's negligible.

What's worse, writing 120MB of data now, or an average of 10MB (some hours will be 0 some may be 40-50) at the top of every hour for 12 hours?

You like your setup...that's fine... but your rational, I believe, is flawed.
Click to expand...

Actually my iMac is in sleep mode most of the day while I'm at work. That's why I don't see any need for hourly backups for the 10+ hours out of each day that I'm not home.
 
stockcerts said:
Actually my iMac is in sleep mode most of the day while I'm at work. That's why I don't see any need for hourly backups for the 10+ hours out of each day that I'm not home.
Click to expand...

If it's asleep...it's not going to wake up and make a backup.
 
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