Time Machine Newbie Questions

[Benjer]

I don't believe these specific questions have yet been covered, but if they have please feel free to point me to the correct post.

I just got a replacement MacBook, and with it came Leopard. I have moved from Super Duper! (the free version to just do a clone) to Time Machine, because Time Machine seemed really cool. The biggest pro I can see is that I can recover an older version of a file or one that I accidentally deleted, even if it's not included in my most recent backup. It doesn't happen to me too often, but it certainly could have saved me a lot of time in the past.

I do have some concerns, perhaps because I do not fully understand everything about Time Machine:

In the past, if I was without my MacBook for some reason (such as a repair), I could easily use my wife's Mac (Running Tiger) with our backup hard drive to do work using applications and documents that are only on my MacBook. Is that easy to do with Time Machine? Note that I don't necessarily need a bootable backup, just a useable one.

What if I get a new machine in the future (perhaps two or three versions of Mac OS down the road) and want to only move my documents and media files over to it rather than do a full recover? Would that be easy to do?

Thanks for your help!

 

[72930]

In the past, if I was without my MacBook for some reason (such as a repair), I could easily use my wife's Mac (Running Tiger) with our backup hard drive to do work using applications and documents that are only on my MacBook. Is that easy to do with Time Machine? Note that I don't necessarily need a bootable backup, just a useable one.

What if I get a new machine in the future (perhaps two or three versions of Mac OS down the road) and want to only move my documents and media files over to it rather than do a full recover? Would that be easy to do?

1. No, TM does not create a bootable backup

2. Yes, you can just move the files

 

[krye]

With a .mac subscription you can use Back to My Mac to access your home files from anywhere in the world. As far as Time Machine goes, it's awesome and the best backup solution I have used to date.

It is a life saver being able to pull back a file from the past, even from a hour ago. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of something and screw it up. Like a large, lengthy iMovie project. Rather than trying to undo what I've done, or figure out where I screwed up, it's easier to just blow it away, and Time Machine the file from an hour ago. Done.

Also, from time to time if my drive runs short on space and I need to do something that requires more drive space, I can kill my iPhoto or iTunes libraries since they are 30 gigs each. Finish my task , and then restore the library. It's that easy and it works every time.

You can't boot off a volume, but everyone in your house could backup to a central Time Capsule wired/wireless.

 

[Benjer]

Thanks for the input. I'm glad to hear it works well from those who have used it.