Time Machine Functionality question??

[texmacs]

I am new to Mac world. I just bought new Macbook Black and would like to know how Time machine works in Leopard before I actually consider buying it. So as far as I understand, it backs up whatever is on your mac. Now does that mean I can use it as external hard drive? I mean the macbook has 250GB capacity so if I exceed it can it be used to store stuff that’s not needed?

Thanks.

 

[SydneyDev]

Yes. When you plug in a USB hard drive OS X asks you if you want to use it for a backup drive. You say yes, and that's pretty much it. The initial back up takes a long time but after that it's fast.

 

[PhilaScott]

I am new to Mac world. I just bought new Macbook Black and would like to know how Time machine works in Leopard before I actually consider buying it. ...
Thanks.

Do you mean a Time Capsule that is wireless storage with built in Wifi? Time Machine come built into MacOSX and is the software that allows automatic backups to an external HD -- whether direct connected or a wireless drive.

 

[texmacs]

So does that mean, after intially backing up all your data IF you delete some folders, you can get it back from Time Machine? I mean is it equivalent to transferring your data from your mac to external hard drive which you can retrive by plugging external hard drive back, in Time Machine's case wirelessly?

 

[iSee]

The answer to your question is yes.

But you're still confusing Time Machine and Time Capsule:

Time Capsule = hardware: a wireless router with a built-in hard drive, too.

Time Machine = software that will do a running backup of you Mac's hard drive to an external hard drive. Including the hard drive in a Time Capsule. It can also back up to hard drives you plug in via USB or other ways. The software is included with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) which your new Mac came with.

Just FYI, becaue your questions will make more sense if you use the right terms. Apple gave these two different but related things confusing names, so it takes extra effort to keep it straight.

 

[PhilaScott]

So does that mean, after intially backing up all your data IF you delete some folders, you can get it back from Time Machine? I mean is it equivalent to transferring your data from your mac to external hard drive which you can retrive by plugging external hard drive back, in Time Machine's case wirelessly?

Yes. I have Time Machine (configured through System Pref panel) backing up my data to a USB-connected HDD from my powerbook. My data backups extend back through December of last year when I originally started my Time Machine. I am thinking about replacing my AirPort Extreme wifi base with a new Time Capsule base station so that I could do all my backups over my wireless network.

But to answer your question, yes, I have used Time Machine to successfully search and recover deleted files from past backups.

 

[PhilaScott]

The answer to your question is yes.

But you're still confusing Time Machine and Time Capsule:

Time Capsule = hardware: a wireless router with a built-in hard drive, too.

Time Machine = software that will do a running backup of you Mac's hard drive to an external hard drive. Including the hard drive in a Time Capsule. It can also back up to hard drives you plug in via USB or other ways. The software is included with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) which your new Mac came with.

Just FYI, becaue your questions will make more sense if you use the right terms. Apple gave these two different but related things confusing names, so it takes extra effort to keep it straight.

Thanks for very clearly outlining that distinction for texmacs!

 

[texmacs]

The answer to your question is yes.

But you're still confusing Time Machine and Time Capsule:

Time Capsule = hardware: a wireless router with a built-in hard drive, too.

Time Machine = software that will do a running backup of you Mac's hard drive to an external hard drive. Including the hard drive in a Time Capsule. It can also back up to hard drives you plug in via USB or other ways. The software is included with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) which your new Mac came with.

Just FYI, becaue your questions will make more sense if you use the right terms. Apple gave these two different but related things confusing names, so it takes extra effort to keep it straight.

Thanks for the response. Yes actually I was sort of refering Time Machine to combination of software and hardware. Now it is clear. So just to reiterate, Time Capsule when you put in simple term can be your External Hard drive worth 500 GB? Did I get that right?

 

[brop52]

How long could a Time Capsule take with gigabit ethernet? It took me about 10 minutes or less to backup 15GB from my new MB with USB 2.0 to an external drive so ethernet should be at least 2X faster considering it is roughly 60MB/s for USB at maximum and 128MB/s gigabit ethernet.