Wow, if that is the case, which I'm really hoping it's not, that doesn't make a lot of sense. There are tons of folks out there that don't necessarily use the system drive for data, and eh, it still needs to be backed up somewhere.
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Time Machine FAQ
- Thread starter atszyman
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Wow, if that is the case, which I'm really hoping it's not, that doesn't make a lot of sense. There are tons of folks out there that don't necessarily use the system drive for data, and eh, it still needs to be backed up somewhere.
You can put whatever you want on the drive you use for timemachine, as long as you don't touch its files.
However, putting your media on the same drive as your backups is very silly. If you have a failure on that drive, not only do you lose your backup history (which isn't bad) but you lose your media.
Now, if you want to have 2 external drives ... then backup both your internal drive and one of your external drives to your timemachine drive ... You should be able to. You just need to remove that media drive from the list of excluded drives.
Make sense ?
So since only daily backups are kept after 1 month, what happens to the inbetween steps?
Say, at the 5PM backup, there was a file called "Booga1.pages," and then it was deleted. Then, during the 6PM backup, there was a file called "Sniffles.jpg." After that, it was also deleted. So on the actual computer, neither files exist anymore. But that's alright, because the two hourly backups each have one of the files. So we can get to them.
But, lets say a month has passed, and those 5PM and 6PM backups were made on July 17th. It's currently August 18th. Does the July 17 "daily" backup contain the merged hourly backups? Or does it take the one made at noon? The one made at 3PM?
I'm really just wondering if switching to the more spread out backup intervals after a certain period of time will diminish the amount of data you can retrieve.
Say, at the 5PM backup, there was a file called "Booga1.pages," and then it was deleted. Then, during the 6PM backup, there was a file called "Sniffles.jpg." After that, it was also deleted. So on the actual computer, neither files exist anymore. But that's alright, because the two hourly backups each have one of the files. So we can get to them.
But, lets say a month has passed, and those 5PM and 6PM backups were made on July 17th. It's currently August 18th. Does the July 17 "daily" backup contain the merged hourly backups? Or does it take the one made at noon? The one made at 3PM?
I'm really just wondering if switching to the more spread out backup intervals after a certain period of time will diminish the amount of data you can retrieve.
This is the basis of my question as well. In a nutshell, I've got a machine with two internal drives, and two external drives that all contain data that needs to be backed up. Now, I buy an additional HUGE external drive just for Time Machine. I want to backup both internal drives, and both external drives to the new HUGE external drive with Time Machine. Possible? I'm truly hoping so, or I'll still be using my old backup solution, which would really suck with something like Time Machine available!
Actually, you can.
Time Machine backs up all connected drives to the backup drive, unless you EXCLUDE it.
It looks like you can, however I have not tried it so don't come shoot me if it doesn't work. I am 98% sure you will be able to.
Mind me asking what types of odd scenarios and configurations you have tried this with yet and your results?
Guys/gals forgive me if I'm asking something that's already been asked, but I searched and didn't find anything.
I was wondering what size of external hard drive I should get for Time Machine? My iMac has 500GB of memory (20GB of which is a Windows partition), so what size should the external hard drive be for Time Machine?
Many thanks.
I was wondering what size of external hard drive I should get for Time Machine? My iMac has 500GB of memory (20GB of which is a Windows partition), so what size should the external hard drive be for Time Machine?
Many thanks.
I ordered some more external drives this week (last night actually). I plan on setting up a few odd scenarios and seeing what works and what doesn't.
I will try to get something put together for ya.
Not to mention, I want to try them on the GM build rather then the current seed
Okay, here's one for you TM gurus...
Situation:
Mac Pro with 250GB OS and Applications internal drive, plus two 500GB internals RAIDed together for redundant backup (I forget which RAID number that is!).
Connected via eSATA or FW800 are two 1TB external drives, one or both of which is nominated as the BUD.
Questions that arise:
Can TM alternate between multiple nominated external BUDs? For example, on day one backup to external BUD1, day two backup to external BUD2 and so on...
Or, could the two external drives be RAIDed together for redundant backup and seen by TM as a single BUD?
*** Edit: Thanks for the info, ChrisA ***
Situation:
Mac Pro with 250GB OS and Applications internal drive, plus two 500GB internals RAIDed together for redundant backup (I forget which RAID number that is!).
Connected via eSATA or FW800 are two 1TB external drives, one or both of which is nominated as the BUD.
Questions that arise:
Can TM alternate between multiple nominated external BUDs? For example, on day one backup to external BUD1, day two backup to external BUD2 and so on...
Or, could the two external drives be RAIDed together for redundant backup and seen by TM as a single BUD?
*** Edit: Thanks for the info, ChrisA ***
I just read that yes, you can have multiple BODs. The idea is that you may want to take one to an off site location in case of fire or theft. When a BOD is not available TM simply does not write to it. When it is plugged back in Tim continues with whr backup schedule.
RAID looks and acts like a drive. I read that TM can used any device that can be mounted to the desktop as an HFS+ volume. If the raid can do that then it can be a BOD.
How well does all this work? We will all know in a month.
TM however does not invalidate the basic rule of thumb for backups which is:
- Data should exist on three different media
- Data should exist at two different geographical locations
You really do need at least two BODs
I didn't see it listed in the FAQ, but on Apple's 300 Leapord features page, they list the shortcut for doing an incremental backup: "Hold down the Control key and click the Time Machine icon in the Dock."
Just thought I would bring it up. Sorry if someone already posted it, I sorta skipped from page 3 to 8.
Just thought I would bring it up. Sorry if someone already posted it, I sorta skipped from page 3 to 8.
Can you have multiple BODs active at once?
Does anyone know if TM can handle this case?
Let's say I have a lot of data, enough that I need two external drives. So the time machine external BOD would have to be larger than the sum of my internal and two external drives. But they don't make 2TB drives. Yes I know I can simulate a 2TB drive using RAID but can I tell TM to use a different BOD for each of my external drives. What I have read so far seems to suggest I can only have on TM BOD active at a time.
Does anyone know if TM can handle this case?
Let's say I have a lot of data, enough that I need two external drives. So the time machine external BOD would have to be larger than the sum of my internal and two external drives. But they don't make 2TB drives. Yes I know I can simulate a 2TB drive using RAID but can I tell TM to use a different BOD for each of my external drives. What I have read so far seems to suggest I can only have on TM BOD active at a time.
Oh... Thank god. I was kinda hoping I was wrong. I just hadn't heard. Thanks for correcting me tho.
I ordered some more external drives this week (last night actually). I plan on setting up a few odd scenarios and seeing what works and what doesn't.
I will try to get something put together for ya.
Not to mention, I want to try them on the GM build rather then the current seed
Thanks, what it comes down to for me is reassessing what I want backed up and how stream line I want to make it.
Time Machine sounds like a great backup solutions if you play by Apple's rules. For me the issue was that network storage only worked if it a) a whole volume is dedicated to the backup and b) HFS+ only. Forcing HFS+ also forces you to stick with an Apple based server if you want your storage to be on the network, such as one of those crazy Airports or another Mac. I myself don't see much value past anything other then Linux/BSD for servers, so this sort of kills off the network thing (unless of course toaster finds some neat results in his testing).
I like Time Machine's ability to streamline most of the back up process in the background. Other things that I'm looking forward to are version checking and encryption. And I'm fairly certain it's going to comprehend how to deal with Aperture libraries. I don't think it's going to kill me to have a drive connected only via USB or Firewire over just having it sit on the network. This'll also give me the advantage of keeping a drive at my mother's house several miles miles away and just sync up over night.
I'm also jazzed with the option of creating a black list for directories and files to ignore. My central server here at home hosts a master copy of all my mp3s and movies for things such as my XBMC and my housemates to enjoy through the local network (and remotely if need be). I really don't need to have a 2nd copy backed up off of my MacBook Pro, but I do need a solution to keep my version synced up with my server's version (updating ID3 tags, adding new stuff to the library locally on MBP, etc). I was hoping Time Machine would also include something like this but it looks like that's not the case. So I think I'll be running RsyncX once a week to deal with this.
All in all I look forward to not guessing how any of this will function in about 9 days. Heh.
I just purchased a Macbook Pro 2.2 from Apple.com (should be here in a few days). I am wanting to order an external hard drive like this http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...e/mac/buying_guide/hard_drives&nplm=TQ081LL/A
If I leave this HD at home, will TM simply backup everything when I connect the HD to the MBP?
If I leave this HD at home, will TM simply backup everything when I connect the HD to the MBP?
Here's the thing I still don't get with Time Machine though. It seems like one of the big purposes of it is to allow you to "go back in time" to find different versions, etc. of a file.
I think this makes sense and is fine when you are at home, but how will TM work when you're with your MB or MBP out and about all day?
If I spend all day in a library working on a paper, TM isn't going to be able to back anything up to an external drive I have at home, right?
So it's useful when it has a drive to back up to, but for laptop use, it seems like you don't get those individual backup versions of a document any time you were working on something away from "home base".
-Zadillo
sellitman said:
that's what i'm thinking as well
iMac = 250 Gb
external HDD = 160 Gb
is there any known way to make time machine only back up deleted files?...or is that just against the philosophy of time machine? (i.e. backing up everything)
It doesn't sound like TM will keep versioned backup copies locally till it hits a BOD. Which, at first sucks, but if you're anyone who pays attention to how much stuff on your machine gets moved around and written to, you know it'll be moot unless the MBPs were faster, with more ram, and had a larger drive.
I think TM's first function is for backups, and 2nd is versioning just in case you do a minor change to a file you don't notice for several days. For many of us who are looking for a fairly simple backup solution, I don't think we're going to care that not every-single-change is going to get versioned and archived.
So since only daily backups are kept after 1 month, what happens to the inbetween steps?
Say, at the 5PM backup, there was a file called "Booga1.pages," and then it was deleted. Then, during the 6PM backup, there was a file called "Sniffles.jpg." After that, it was also deleted. So on the actual computer, neither files exist anymore. But that's alright, because the two hourly backups each have one of the files. So we can get to them.
But, lets say a month has passed, and those 5PM and 6PM backups were made on July 17th. It's currently August 18th. Does the July 17 "daily" backup contain the merged hourly backups? Or does it take the one made at noon? The one made at 3PM?
I'm really just wondering if switching to the more spread out backup intervals after a certain period of time will diminish the amount of data you can retrieve.
This is exactly my question. It seems to me that there are three possibilities after the hourlies are combined into one daily.
1) All versions of all files that were backed up in any snapshot are kept. Seems unlikely since there is no indication that a view in the Finder shows n copies of the file when looking at a Folder on a given date.
2) The combining process tosses all the backups/files from the earlier hourlies and just keeps the last one. This is good because it is simpler and keeps the last version of any file. BUT it means that if a file was backed up at hour h-1 and then is accidently tossed before the last hourly backup of the day, Time Machine, while it would have shown the file existing before the clearing of the hourlies, now would show NO SUCH FILE. Thus, after the combination you are limited to only restoring those files that existed during the last snapshot.
3) The combination keeps the LAST copy of ALL files that EVER existed in any of the hourly snapshots. Thus, while you can't go back to a given version of a file (you will only find the last version), every file that ever was backed up on that day is available to restore, not just those files that remain in existence on the last hourly snapshot.
This is a big difference and if it turns out that 2 is how it shakes out, there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth when people find out how limited their trip back in time could be if they wait too long.
