Time Machine & sleep mode

[btownguy]

I'm finding it difficult to find any detailed documentation on Time Machine. Maybe there isn't any - maybe it's not that hard. I come from a PC background where everything is more difficult than it should be.

I have a new MacBook Pro and will be connecting it to an external HD via FireWire 800. This drive will only be used for Time Machine. I'm not sure how this is going to work with sleep mode however. I understand that the first backup takes a really long time. Do I need to manually set my energy saver preferences so that the MBP will not go to sleep or will TM prevent it from going to sleep? Can I safely close the lid on my MBP when TM is running and it will safely stop and restart when I come out of sleep mode?

 

[KC2]

This is interesting...I've never actually considered how sleep affects TM. There is a brief discussion about it here, but I don't think they even really reach a conclusion: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7599192

I, personally, have never even considered the effects of sleep, but...I imagine on your first backup, TM should prevent sleep from kicking in, otherwise it would never technically get through the initial backup (depending on your sleep settings). For the periodic backups, I just close the lid regardless of whether it's in the middle of a backup. From the post above, it sounds like it will either resume the backup, or just start a new one (these are incremental so shouldn't take all that long anyway).

This is a bit off topic, but you may also want to consider other backup alternatives, like bootable backups with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[btownguy]

This is a bit off topic, but you may also want to consider other backup alternatives, like bootable backups with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.

Oh, I am planning on using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner in addition to Time Machine. I will create a bootable backup clone on a separate HD about once a week and keep that HD at my office (offsite from my home).

 

[kyleh206]

I just set up my Time Machine drive the other day and went to work. When I got home my macbook had gone to sleep and paused the initial backup. I dont think it makes a difference but i was also connected via firewire.

 

[Apollo33]

I think TimeMachine has been designed to work in the background without you having to worry about it, so it would make sense for Apple to have it simply pause if the computer tries to go to sleep.

There's not really much in terms of options for controlling sleep with Time Machine. I'd say not to worry too much about it. It'll eventually finish (while the machine is on). You could temporarily disable sleep in the preferences, but I don't see why it would be necessary.

 

[satcomer]

Use the free Time Machine Editor to set the time you want it to backup. Plus use the free Time Machine Buddy to see the errors Time Machine gets.