Time Machine backup question

[Muscle]

I have a password protected .dmg folder on my iMac.

Does time machine backup everything on your HD or do I need to back-up this password protected folder manually?

TIA

 

[simonsi]

It backs up everything except what you positively exclude as far as I am aware, have you tried it?

 

[BrianBaughn]

It will definitely back it up. If you change anything in the .dmg TM will see it as a modified file and back the whole thing up. This might be an issue, space wise, if the .dmg file is really big.

 

[Muscle]

So this might seem like a really newbish question but if I dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine, its just going to keep backing up into this HD until its full and then start deleting old backups?

Since Time Machine automatically backsup every hour, day, month (without the option to choose how often it backs up...correct me if I'm wrong)

So basically once you dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine its only use is for your backups on that specific mac hardware (unless you partition it of course).

 

[jbarley]

So this might seem like a really newbish question but if I dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine, its just going to keep backing up into this HD until its full and then start deleting old backups?

Since Time Machine automatically backsup every hour, day, month (without the option to choose how often it backs up...correct me if I'm wrong)

So basically once you dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine its only use is for your backups on that specific mac hardware (unless you partition it of course).

TM backup schedule can be controlled using one of several scheduling utilities.
I have my TM set to backup twice a day at 8AM and 8PM using "TimeMachineEditor"

 

[BrianBaughn]

So this might seem like a really newbish question but if I dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine, its just going to keep backing up into this HD until its full and then start deleting old backups?

That's correct.

Since Time Machine automatically backsup every hour, day, month (without the option to choose how often it backs up...correct me if I'm wrong)

"Stock out of the box"...yes. I'm not sure about compatibility with Yosemite but there's one or two third-party TM scheduling apps out there that allow for setting a different schedule.

So basically once you dedicate an external HD to TimeMachine its only use is for your backups on that specific mac hardware (unless you partition it of course).

You could put other files on there but I'd recommend leaving it alone.

 

[Muscle]

thanks for the responses

 

[arncalars]

thanks for the responses

Yesterday I made a clean install of Yosemite and erased my TM backup drive. It had "only" used 221GB in 18 month so I decided to partition the external drive into 2 partitions of 500GB each.

So yes, I have partitioned my backup drive and now use it for both backups and ekstra storage and if I'm careful it should be o.k.

And, if you worry about safety and passwords you could encrypt the drive when TM backup is established.

Regards Lars

 

[Muscle]

Yesterday I made a clean install of Yosemite and erased my TM backup drive. It had "only" used 221GB in 18 month so I decided to partition the external drive into 2 partitions of 500GB each.

So yes, I have partitioned my backup drive and now use it for both backups and ekstra storage and if I'm careful it should be o.k.

And, if you worry about safety and passwords you could encrypt the drive when TM backup is established.

Regards Lars

I did opt to encrypt my external HD for time machine. I probably won't need to backup my macbook yet as I only use it for music, web, email. Hopefully by the time I need one external SSDs will be a lot cheaper.