Time Machine

[rasmusDoh]

Hey

Never had a Mac and currently waiting for a new MBP!

Meanwhile i'd like to know what to do with Time Machine, when i get it.

Think the concept of Time Machine is brilliant - nothing like the annoying self-selecting of files to backup on a PC.

Anyways, since i don't like the 18 months issue with the Time Capsule i think i should just get an external hd - probably an Iomega 500GB with FW800! Will only be using that drive for Time Machine as i have another one for extra storage.

How will this work out? Do i just plug in the FW cable whenever i'm at home and Time Machine just automatically (after setting it up the first time ofc) starts backing up - and continues to do so in it's intervals until i unplug it at some time to take the laptop with me somewhere else?

Will this work out fine? Of course i won't get / have as many "new backups" on the drive, but would that matter much?

Also can i just plug out the FW cable whenever i want and have Time Machine figure out itself to stop backing up? Would be a bit annoying if you'd have to sit around for a bit, waiting for Time Machine to finish the current backing up, everytime you wanna go somewhere!


Hope you can help me out here!

 

[BrianMR]

Its pretty easy, you can just leave it plugged in all the time or only plug it in a little bit each day. I do SuperDuper backups at home and TimeMachine from the office. At the office I usually just plug the FireWire cable in, fire off the TM backup in the menubar, and then eject the drive when its done. I don't catch every file revision imaginable, but its totally sufficient for my needs.

My LaCie drive is wheezing, so I am shopping an OWC Elite-AL Pro drive to replace it at the moment, before it dies.

 

[spinnerlys]

How will this work out? Do i just plug in the FW cable whenever i'm at home and Time Machine just automatically (after setting it up the first time ofc) starts backing up - and continues to do so in it's intervals until i unplug it at some time to take the laptop with me somewhere else?

Yes, don't forget to eject the HDD via Finder first.

Will this work out fine? Of course i won't get / have as many "new backups" on the drive, but would that matter much?

It would matter, if you create something important while away, and it gets lost due to whatever cause. Then there will be no TM backup of that file.

Also can i just plug out the FW cable whenever i want and have Time Machine figure out itself to stop backing up? Would be a bit annoying if you'd have to sit around for a bit, waiting for Time Machine to finish the current backing up, everytime you wanna go somewhere!

You can stop the backup process via the Time Machine icon in the Menu Bar. Just removing the drive without stopping the backup process and without ejecting it properly might corrupt the partition table and thus the drive needs to be recovered with some kind of software.

 

[Jon-Luke]

I have an external drive plugged into my wireless router at home via USB (its an Airport). And time machine happily backs up in the background every hour, I hardly even know its there... But you can also do this by plugging in via USB or Fire Wire - its all pretty seamless.

 

[DoFoT9]

Anyways, since i don't like the 18 months issue with the Time Capsule i think i should just get an external hd - probably an Iomega 500GB with FW800! Will only be using that drive for Time Machine as i have another one for extra storage.

brilliant idea

How will this work out? Do i just plug in the FW cable whenever i'm at home and Time Machine just automatically (after setting it up the first time ofc) starts backing up - and continues to do so in it's intervals until i unplug it at some time to take the laptop with me somewhere else?

its literally as easy as that!

Will this work out fine? Of course i won't get / have as many "new backups" on the drive, but would that matter much?

nope as long as your fine with it then its fine with it

Also can i just plug out the FW cable whenever i want and have Time Machine figure out itself to stop backing up? Would be a bit annoying if you'd have to sit around for a bit, waiting for Time Machine to finish the current backing up, everytime you wanna go somewhere!


Hope you can help me out here!

nah you will either have to wait for it to fully backup, or stop it through system prefs (or the menu bar item). if you just pull it out, you might corrupt the drive.

 

[Moocher]

Time Capsule comment

I've had a time capsule since they came out with no problems. I was aware of and concerned about the heat issue from the beginning, so I raised it up with some small plastic furniture carpet protectors and aimed a USB fan, which I plugged into the TC, at it, blowing air across the top and bottom. If I was going to buy a new one I would also remove the rubber cover on the bottom for better air flow. It works great, is absolutely worry-free, and requires no fiddling. I will probably put a larger HD in it soon and I'll take the rubber off then.


Mooch

edit: this is the fan I use
http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-M...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267614588&sr=8-1

 

[DoFoT9]

I've had a time capsule since they came out with no problems. I was aware of and concerned about the heat issue from the beginning, so I raised it up with some small plastic furniture carpet protectors and aimed a USB fan, which I plugged into the TC, at it, blowing air across the top and bottom. If I was going to buy a new one I would also remove the rubber cover on the bottom for better air flow. It works great, is absolutely worry-free, and requires no fiddling. I will probably put a larger HD in it soon and I'll take the rubber off then.


Mooch

highly recommended our family TC died rediculous design. not impressed at all.

but yea, taking the rubber off is a pretty good idea.

seriously though, how hard is it to use an external PSU!

 

[rasmusDoh]

Sounds nice!

Thanks for your help!

 

[Hal Itosis]

Never had a Mac and currently waiting for a new MBP!

<snip>

How will this work out? Do i just plug in the FW cable whenever i'm at home and Time Machine just automatically (after setting it up the first time ofc) starts backing up - and continues to do so in it's intervals until i unplug it at some time to take the laptop with me somewhere else?

Note that Time Machine wants the backup volume initialized with the "HFS+ journaled" format. If the FireWire disk you have is formatted with some other filesystem, you'll either need to reformat it as HFS+ (which entails erasing its contents), or... create an HFS+ disk image to act as the storage medium. [i don't think Time Machine *automatically* creates the latter (image file) unless the target drive is a Time Capsule device.]

 

[xlii]

I use time machine. My internal laptop drive is 500GB of which I now have 400GB on it. My Time Machine drive is 1TB. I would suggest you get a time machine drive at least 2 times the size of the drive you want to backup.

When to backup is up to you. I only plug in after I've put files on my disk that I don't want to lose... for me that's every 3-4 days. For others it could be on an hourly basis that they need to do their backups.

I've restored 2 times from my time machine and it does work if you should need to use it, and it is so easy to use... even a caveman could do it.

 

[rasmusDoh]

Alright, i'll get a pretty large drive then - thanks for the heads-up!

Now that you say that it's so easy to "restore" from it i have a question:

It's not like that Windows crap where a restore seems
to f**k up your computer pretty often? The way i understand it just copies over the backup file - not the OS = Snow Leopard!? Or does it?

Also, is it also so simple that i - after setting it up the first time - just plug in the HFS+ formated drive and then Time Machine starts backing up it self? Or do i have to press a button inside the app for it to start?

 

[Hal Itosis]

Time Machine -- Frequently Asked Questions​

 

[DoFoT9]

Alright, i'll get a pretty large drive then - thanks for the heads-up!

Now that you say that it's so easy to "restore" from it i have a question:

It's not like that Windows crap where a restore seems
to f**k up your computer pretty often? The way i understand it just copies over the backup file - not the OS = Snow Leopard!? Or does it?

hmmm. not sure. i thought it restored everything. if you do an archive and install it reinstalls the OS but keeps all ur crap.

Also, is it also so simple that i - after setting it up the first time - just plug in the HFS+ formated drive and then Time Machine starts backing up it self? Or do i have to press a button inside the app for it to start?

correct! it might take 1/2minutes for TM to backup, but yup its all automated.

 

[xlii]

hmmm. not sure. i thought it restored everything. if you do an archive and install it reinstalls the OS but keeps all ur crap.


correct! it might take 1/2minutes for TM to backup, but yup its all automated.

If you just tell it to restore it will restore everything. But if you enter time machine and highlight what you want to restore, it can be as small as 1 file.

 

[DoFoT9]

If you just tell it to restore it will restore everything. But if you enter time machine and highlight what you want to restore, it can be as small as 1 file.

ahh great thanks