Time machine backup

[TFL167]

I just started my first TM backup. I got the message that TM will start backup in 80 or so seconds.
Is there some kind of progress bar so i can see how far done it is. I have the TM icon in the top left corner indicating the hard drive that is being used. How long does it take to do initial backup as I have 150Gb to backup?

 

[hfg]

If you are still looking at the TimeMachine Preferences screen (where you probably saw the "starting in 80 seconds" message, there will be a progress bar once the actual backup starts, along with an "estimated time to completion" message.

The first TM backup will take several hours, but subsequent hourly backups are "incremental" and should only take a minute or two, depending on how much you have added or changed since the last backup.

If you have a Windows Virtual Machine (Parallels or VMware), you may see a very large backup after using the VM since it is a large file (30GB on mine). If you don't need Windows backup, click the "Options..." button and exclude the folder which holds the VM images.

 

[TFL167]

Hi thanks the first backup took a few hours. Is there anyway to change the backup schedule in that I only really need to do a weekly backup as my computer usage is not that significant.

 

[hfg]

Hi thanks the first backup took a few hours. Is there anyway to change the backup schedule in that I only really need to do a weekly backup as my computer usage is not that significant.

I believe I read on these forums of a way to alter the time between backups using either Terminal commands, or a 3rd party app. You can probably fine it with a bit of searching or Google. However, once you have the initial full backup, the updates really aren't noticeable at all since they are very short and operate in the background ... you probably won't even notice they are occurring.

You could also simply make a "clone" of your operating disk using a program like CCC and that can be programmed to execute on any schedule you desire. This will create a simple bootable backup copy of your disk ... but you will not have the historical "versions" of files you have changed or deleted available to you.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Hi thanks the first backup took a few hours. Is there anyway to change the backup schedule in that I only really need to do a weekly backup as my computer usage is not that significant.

The first backup is ALWAYS the longest because TM is backing up everything. After that it just backs up new or changed files, therefore taking a much shorter time to backup. In short leave TM alone if you want it work reliably!!!!!