Time Machine FAQ

[woejiz]

Further implications - NASmini?

As we know, WWDC was for developers, and letting them know about TM gets them and their apps ready to take advantage of TM. But what are the implications for users -- the consumers? It seems to me there could be two:

1. In hardware. Laptop users, especially, don't like plugging in external hard drives. Wires are so 20th century. Airport (802.11g) is too slow to back up an entire drive efficiently. I see Apple taking advantage of 802.11n across the line, but especially in laptops and the Mac Mini - a natural trojan horse for wireless NAS capabilities that TM demands.

2. The Mini would be a great NAS but would require partitioning to give TM the dedicated partition it needs. It's not the most expandable thing either. I haven't seen any estimates of how much space TM will take up to back up a 60 GB MacBook drive for 1 week much less 1-6 months; how long will it take to fill a 250 or 500 GB drive? We're not far from cheap laptops shipping with 100 GB drives - this is a backup storage nightmare in need of a good solution

So the real question, then, is: What will Apple store reps recommend to someone who walks in to buy a new MacBook with Leopard and wants to take advantage of TM via wireless? TM will certainly have a link to the Apple Store to 'Buy more storage for your TM'. But a $700 mini is a pretty expensive backup investment. There has to be a cheaper but still robust solution in a pretty box. I think Apple will launch its own (or sell a 3rd party) 802.11n-capable NAS system.

What other implications for hardware and software needs and integration are there going to be?

 

[c-Row]

19) Does anyone know if Time Machine makes bootable backups?

I'm going to guess that due to the way TM keeps track of how your HD looked through history I believe that the TM backup is some large database of files/folders. This would mean it's probably not bootable but I would guess that the Leopard install CD has an option to restore a disk from TM BUD.

It has: http://www.hardmac.com/articles/60/page1/

 

[0003838]

What will Apple store reps recommend to someone who walks in to buy a new MacBook with Leopard and wants to take advantage of TM via wireless? TM will certainly have a link to the Apple Store to 'Buy more storage for your TM'. But a $700 mini is a pretty expensive backup investment. There has to be a cheaper but still robust solution in a pretty box.

Until the n wireless standard is agreed i don't see apple including it in their laptops and with RECENT set backs that puts it at around 2008 its not a solution that will be ready in time.

My method of backing up my laptop via TM to an external drive would be via a network external drive attached to my wireless router. Leaving the laptop on at back up time, ie over night, is a small price to pay knowing when you pick it up in the morning it is all backed up.

 

[Platform]

Thanks for the F.A.Q

This really is a great feature...But there needs to be some more in Leopard

 

[Nuks]

It sucks that you need to devote a complete hd to it. I had planned on getting a 120 (or so) external drive, using 60 to back up my macbook, and then use the other 60 for external storage.

 

[atszyman]

It sucks that you need to devote a complete hd to it. I had planned on getting a 120 (or so) external drive, using 60 to back up my macbook, and then use the other 60 for external storage.

Partition the drive when you format it and you can have 2 60 GiB drives and one would be devoted to TM. Or you can create a 60GiB disk image on the drive and use that for TM. Either way you can still devote half of the drive to something other than TM.

 

[Nuks]

Cool, thanks mate.


EDIT: I guess that means I'd have 60 gigs of stuff I couldn't back up though (the 60 from external storage.) What kind of files shoudl I put there? Files that I'd be more likely to keep I guess?

 

[kdum8]

TM external drive size??

OK, so assuming I have a 120GB MBP with most of the HD used, how big an external drive will I need to have TM backup all my data for upto a year or more? Will it need to be the same size, bigger or smaller?

 

[menziep]

OK, so assuming I have a 120GB MBP with most of the HD used, how big an external drive will I need to have TM backup all my data for upto a year or more? Will it need to be the same size, bigger or smaller?

Bigger Is Better!

 

[slientkiller]

thank you! itz really helpful!!
Actually, I love that background. Itz sooo beautiful!

 

[atszyman]

OK, so assuming I have a 120GB MBP with most of the HD used, how big an external drive will I need to have TM backup all my data for upto a year or more? Will it need to be the same size, bigger or smaller?

Definitely bigger. If you have 120GB with most of it used you will use most of your backup drive (assuming no compression) with the initial backup. From there it all depends on how many changes you make within an average day. If you make changes that amount to only 5 MB being backed up every night then you should be able to live with a 200 GB drive for quite a long time. However if you are doing a lot with photos, audio, or video and making 10s of GB worth of changes every day a 200 GB drive will not last very long. This assumes that there is no compression of the backup going on which could save some space but I would plan for keeping the backup drive bigger than the source drive.

 

[lorductape]

i'm looking foreward to it.

 

[lexus]

Thanks alot for this, all my questions are now answered.

 

[dahacouk]

Will TM do a full system restore?...

What I want to be able to do is set restore points (a la XP) and then be able to say: put my Mac back into the state it was in on so-and-so date. Will TM be able to do this?

Cheers Daniel

 

[atszyman]

What I want to be able to do is set restore points (a la XP) and then be able to say: put my Mac back into the state it was in on so-and-so date. Will TM be able to do this?

Cheers Daniel

It's unclear whether or not you will be able to set specific points or bookmarks, or even if you can restore the whole system back to a specific state from a specific day, but in my best guess you will have the ability to restore the system to it's state at the end of any particular day when it was backed up. Setting bookmarks (restore points) in the timeline to make the dates easier to find is something I cannot speculate on.

 

[bgalizio]

Time Machine question: Say I want to back up my internal hard drive (160GB total capacity), plus an external hard drive that contains only FLAC music files (250GB total capacity and is always connected/turned on, rarely encounters changes except additions). I have one 500GB external hard drive that I'm planning on using for Time Machine. Would I need to create 2 partitions on my 500GB drive to back up these two drives, or could Time Machine handle this backup on one partition?

 

[ero87]

All I see this as is a glorified version of Backup.app included with .Mac. I just used Backup this morning to restore my address book after my Macbook had an infamous turn off. It is useful and should be pretty fun to use (though I hope it's not at midnight because my backups are scheduled at the end of work). I like to keep my backups at a separate location if possible.

yeah, and it all seems very beta. I guess they have to start somewhere, and props for innovation, but it seems like it has a ways to go.

 

[Platform]

Time Machine question: Say I want to back up my internal hard drive (160GB total capacity), plus an external hard drive that contains only FLAC music files (250GB total capacity and is always connected/turned on, rarely encounters changes except additions). I have one 500GB external hard drive that I'm planning on using for Time Machine. Would I need to create 2 partitions on my 500GB drive to back up these two drives, or could Time Machine handle this backup on one partition?

I have the same situation...250 internal and 300 external. But how do I backup both with TM to one 500GB+ Drive

 

[aswitcher]

I have the same situation...250 internal and 300 external. But how do I backup both with TM to one 500GB+ Drive

I am fairly certain that each Timemachine needs its own dedicated HDD.

See third last paragraph in main section here
http://www.macworld.com/2006/08/firstlooks/leotimemac/index.php

 

[Krevnik]

I am fairly certain that each Timemachine needs its own dedicated HDD.

See third last paragraph in main section here
http://www.macworld.com/2006/08/firstlooks/leotimemac/index.php

Not true, you can backup multiple source drives to a single destination drive. The catch is that you cannot use a source drive as a destination drive.

As for bookmarks/restore points, nope.

You can restore a drive from a Time Machine backup, but it has to be done from the OS X install disc.

 

[Platform]

Well I guess I just have to wait and see. Hopefully not too long

Thanks

 

[Plumbstone]

What's the point anyway??

How often does anyone here actually DELETE (and empty your trash) an important file anyway? I have been using macs everyday for about 8 years and it has happened to me once, maybe twice. Be honest here..if you do regular backups anyway, what is the point of time machine???

 

[~Shard~]

if you do regular backups anyway, what is the point of time machine???

I believe Time Machine is designed as an intuitive, simple solution which is targeted towards the average user who does not perform regular back-ups...

 

[Bregalad]

How often does anyone here actually DELETE (and empty your trash) an important file anyway? I have been using macs everyday for about 8 years and it has happened to me once, maybe twice. Be honest here..if you do regular backups anyway, what is the point of time machine???

As noted, it's for people who don't back up.

The worst situation I've encountered recently was an elderly user who tried to backup his Documents folder to a CD-R, not realizing it wouldn't fit. When he got the "not enough space" message he opened the CD-R icon on his desktop and dragged some files out. After doing this a few times and still getting the "not enough space" message, he dragged the now nearly empty Documents folder from the CD-R back to his HD. This prompted a "There is an older copy of Documents already there. Do you want to replace it?" message. He clicked Yes and wiped out a year of work.

He now has an external HD and backs up everything.

 

[Manic Mouse]

Does Time-Machine auto-boot your mac to do backups or does your machine have to already be on? I'd like to set it to back up at some point during the night while I'm asleep but I also don't want to have to leave my computer on all night every night.