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Time Machine Backup

frnak

frnak

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
73
0
Hello, I'm just wondering if I enable time machine on a certain external HDD, will that HDD become entirely closed off for any other writes manually?

In other words...Will I still be able to put video files on the HDD if I enabled it for time machine? Because technically my external HDD is 700GB, and my internal HDD is 250GB.

I would rather not partition...


Thanks for the help!
 
Would Time Machine continuously keep versions of newer files until the drive is full though? I heard that it will keep on going until the HDD runs out of space. Is that true?
 
jmann said:
It will, and keep old copies of programs too. Once it runs out of space, it will automatically delete old backups.
Click to expand...

...and so if you want to keep some space free for your own use, you might want to bite the bullet and partition. I suppose you could manually delete some older backups when you need the space, but I'm not sure if that's safe to do. Maybe someone else does?
 
frnak said:
Would Time Machine continuously keep versions of newer files until the drive is full though? I heard that it will keep on going until the HDD runs out of space. Is that true?
Click to expand...

Some things to consider. Before you can use a external drive with TM, it will have to be formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if its not already. This would be a excellent time to partition your external. The Disk Utility that ships with OS X does a excellent job of partitioning, and is very easy to use.

When you tell TM to use your external as a backup drive, it will make a copy of your Mac hard drive, to your external. From that point on, only the files that have been changed, or added will be copied. So if your initial backup is 50 GB, you would still have 650 GB to go. Point being that it is going to take TM a very long time to fill your 700 GB external.

Time Machine has some good features. The one I like the most is in conjunction with your install DVD, you can restore your entire system from any TM set point.
 
additional question...

Hey guys,

Just a quick question on this topic-might be a stupid question.

I'm about to do my first TM backup, and i was wondering if it backs ip the programmes, AS WELL as the files. As in, if my mac totally breaks, will i still have all the programmes that i now have. I ask because i have *so* much expensive stuff on here, music stuff like logic and pro tools, lots of movie editing software etc, but im a bit of a newbie, and i want to keep that stuff safe.

if everything dies, will my TM backup keep those programmes in working order? it seems like that would have copying issues to me (i.e. wouldn't it have to make a 'copy' of the programme to do this, and therefore be able to be copied to anyone's computer? seems like the companies would protect against this.)

thanks guys

Jim
 
It most certainly makes backup of your applications too. And in working order.

I bought a new Mac a few days ago, and my old Mac was backed up with TM. When I was going to transfer my applications, files, settings, etc, I used Migration Assistant to transfer everything from the latest TM backup. It all worked flawlessly and without any copy-protection-issues, as if the new Mac was the one I had been using all the time.
 
Yes, it will back up everything on your Mac unless you select folders you dont want backed up.

If your really worried about loosing applications you could use disk utility to make a copy of the discs as dmg files and keep them on your HD as a copy.

I use a 2TB drive with a partitian to keep a clone of the boot drive just in case.
 
frnak said:
Hello, I'm just wondering if I enable time machine on a certain external HDD, will that HDD become entirely closed off for any other writes manually?

In other words...Will I still be able to put video files on the HDD if I enabled it for time machine? Because technically my external HDD is 700GB, and my internal HDD is 250GB.

I would rather not partition...
Click to expand...

You can store other things onto that hard drive, no problem at all. Time Machine will eventually fill whatever space is available on your drive, but it won't overwrite what you put there. When it runs out of free space, it will delete old backups. And it always needs enough space for the last backup and the changes since the last backup, so you shouldn't fill the hard drive too much.

If you need space and Time Machine has taken it all, "Enter Time Machine" from the menubar, and then you can delete old backups to gain more space. And remember that files you put on your Time Machine hard drive _are not backed up_.


jimhowe said:
I'm about to do my first TM backup, and i was wondering if it backs ip the programmes, AS WELL as the files. As in, if my mac totally breaks, will i still have all the programmes that i now have. I ask because i have *so* much expensive stuff on here, music stuff like logic and pro tools, lots of movie editing software etc, but im a bit of a newbie, and i want to keep that stuff safe.

if everything dies, will my TM backup keep those programmes in working order? it seems like that would have copying issues to me (i.e. wouldn't it have to make a 'copy' of the programme to do this, and therefore be able to be copied to anyone's computer? seems like the companies would protect against this.)
Click to expand...

It depends on the copy protection these programs use. Normally there is some hidden information somewhere that says "this app is allowed to run on this computer", and that hidden information would be copied and restored by Time Machine. So as long as you copy the software to the same computer, it should work. If something doesn't work, you'd have to call the company who sold the software.
 
I have a 2TB drive that I use for time machine.
I have a 1TB drive that I put my movies on.
I have a 500GB drive that sits in my MBP.

I use the 2TB drive to backup both my 1TB & 500GB drives. Still 300GB left on my 2TB drive and my oldest backup is from July 2010.

I didn't want to store anything else on my time machine drive other that time machine backups.
 
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