Time Machine Question (Delete old backups?)

[aznguyen316]

it is a good point. the program you want to use is up to you, but Time Machine is useful if you do delete files you might need. as for me, I do what you do, only deleting the file if I absolutely know that I am done with it, which is why I can use superduper and get away with it

okay explain to me really quick.. Super Duper makes basically a single backup right? Then if you need to use it, you just do a full restore? Can you open pkg contents and pick out files?

I like TM b/c it's pretty easy to restore for me, files and full restores using OSX.

 

[MacGeek767]

okay explain to me really quick.. Super Duper makes basically a single backup right? Then if you need to use it, you just do a full restore? Can you open pkg contents and pick out files?

I like TM b/c it's pretty easy to restore for me, files and full restores using OSX.

yes, it makes a single backup with full restore capabilities

as for single files, I've gone into my backup disc and opened files from it before, so I believe you can pick out lone files from it.

 

[pesc]

Does anyone know, can you use more than one external drive for TM. For instance once a month I'd like to do a full backup to a drive and then keep it at my Mums, whilst still having another drive at home for daily backups.

It is possible to change the TM disk to a new one in the System Preferences. And then change back. I have tried it and it works fine. You have to manually change the setting in System Preferences though, it is not automatic.

I think the main benefit with TM is that it is automatic. This is where it beats SuperDuper (in my opinion).

If you want a more secure backup system with daily backups at home and a monthly at your Mums, you could use TM at home and SuperDuper for the monthly one.

 

[NightFox]

I always relied upon TM deleting old stuff as required, and never had a problem with it until yesterday, when I had to do a complete system restore (from Time Machine) to a day earlier. Since then, it fails on every attempt with the dialog below.

All it's set to back up is the primary HD, and that has only about 130GB in use (out of 320), so the TM "incremental" backup it's trying to save is bigger then the source data (151.6GB>130GB). Even though I appreciate there will be overheads, 20GB seems rather excessive.

I don't really want to buy another drive when I know that my existing (internal) TM drive should be sufficient, but what can I do, apart from delete all my existing TM backups and start again?

 

[SimD]

I use Time Machine three times a week with my MBP, but I also use CCC weekly. Also when I format my drive, I use Migration Assistant with the CCC clone and just bring in the stuff I need. It's very efficiant!

 

[Boston Fan]

it is a good point. the program you want to use is up to you, but Time Machine is useful if you do delete files you might need. as for me, I do what you do, only deleting the file if I absolutely know that I am done with it, which is why I can use superduper and get away with it

But that is exactly the problem - your system does not account for human error. Time Machine is great in that way. And it's not just about accidentally deleting stuff, but also accidental overwrites, or having access to multiple previous versions of documents.

As a PhD student, I have been aided by TM on a number of occasions where late night paper writing had me re-work sections of papers/studies in a way that was not as good as the original. When proofreading the next day, I was easily able to retrieve the prior version(s) in their entirety.

And all without me having to do a thing. It was done automatically, and the UI is excellent.