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Time Machine with intermittently connected HD?

G

greg555

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
How well does TM work with a hard drive that is connected only every few days? Will it complain when it is missing? Will it just silently get back up to date when the drive is connected?

I'd like to keep my backup drive disconnected and powered down normally to extend it's life (hopefully) and lower the risk of the computer HD and the backup HD both getting zapped by lightning or a power surge.

Thanks - Greg
 
greg555 said:
How well does TM work with a hard drive that is connected only every few days? Will it complain when it is missing? Will it just silently get back up to date when the drive is connected?

I'd like to keep my backup drive disconnected and powered down normally to extend it's life (hopefully) and lower the risk of the computer HD and the backup HD both getting zapped by lightning or a power surge.

Thanks - Greg
Click to expand...




TM will remember what's changed since last time you plugged a hard drive into the machine..
 
iPhil said:
TM will remember what's changed since last time you plugged a hard drive into the machine..
Click to expand...

Also TM doesn't complain about the backup drive not being there when it's disconnected. I've only ever seen one message from TM (and this was on 10.5.1 so may be slightly different now) which said that a backup hadn't been performed for over 7 days, and prompting me to plug in my external drive.

HTH

Mark.
 
Thanks iPhil and Mark.

A related question: I noticed that my iPhoto library is (appears to be) a single 13GB file. Does that mean TM will eat up 13GB of hard drive space every time I change one photo? (I thought it was just Aperture that had that issue.)

Thanks - Greg
 
I only plug in my external to back up via Time Machine every week or 2 weeks. However what I usually do is when I have my external plugged in I select "Back up now" which will do a one time backup, then unplug the drive. Or if I'll have the drive in for a while I'll just go into preferences and Turn-on Time Machine, then shut it off whenever I'm going to remove the external.

What's nice is that TM even backs up my external USB drive (I have 2 externals)
 
greg555 said:
Thanks iPhil and Mark.

A related question: I noticed that my iPhoto library is (appears to be) a single 13GB file. Does that mean TM will eat up 13GB of hard drive space every time I change one photo? (I thought it was just Aperture that had that issue.)

Thanks - Greg
Click to expand...
The iPhoto library is actually a package (like a folder). Packages are like secret folders and you can open them by ctrl-clicking the icon and selecting "Show Package Contents". Most applications are packages too. What's the advantage of them? They keep everything neat.

As far as I know, Packages are simply folders, so Time Machine will only modify the bit within it that needs to be modified.

BTW, Time Machine only records the changes - it doesn't duplicate the file every time you back up.
 
From the Apple web site:

Ready when you are.
When your mobile Mac is connected to your backup drive, Time Machine works as you’d expect. When it isn’t connected, Time Machine also works as you’d expect.
 
johnnyjibbs said:
The iPhoto library is actually a package (like a folder). Packages are like secret folders and you can open them by ctrl-clicking the icon and selecting "Show Package Contents". Most applications are packages too. What's the advantage of them? They keep everything neat.

As far as I know, Packages are simply folders, so Time Machine will only modify the bit within it that needs to be modified.

BTW, Time Machine only records the changes - it doesn't duplicate the file every time you back up.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was fooled because the library looks like one big file when I got info.

Greg
 
Yep

I plug my laptop in intermittently and it works just fine. I , of course, don't get those hourly backups, but a few times a week is enough for me.
 
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