Time maching Restore everything?

[Bilalo]

Hello

I have a few questions:
1. Does time machine restore everything it backed up including all the applications in the laptop as well as their licensing, files, all the games and the saved data, all the folders and etc? and will they go back to their place so each folder in the correct place and so on?
2. Will it also save all the settings of my laptop, permissions, login credentials, etc??
3. Why are backups bigger than my overall laptop HD. My laptop is 500 GB and overtime the backup is becoming bigger. Yes I know that it adds everything new but if i want to restore the backup to my laptop and its only 500 gb and my backup is say 700gb, what will it restore and what wont it restore? Shouldnt the backup just erase what I erased from my laptop and replace it with whatever thing new I added?
4. Is there a way I can make a new backup in order to reduce the size of the backup from say 700gb to 400gb which is hwo much im using in my laptop at the moment since I just want the stuff that are momentarily on my laptop.

Thank You

 

[mtngoatjoe]

You really should read through some of the other Time Machine threads. You'll get a very good idea of what it's doing.

1. Does time machine restore everything it backed up including all the applications in the laptop as well as their licensing, files, all the games and the saved data, all the folders and etc? and will they go back to their place so each folder in the correct place and so on?

Yes. Your machine will be in the exact same state it was as of the last backup (which usually happens every hour).

2. Will it also save all the settings of my laptop, permissions, login credentials, etc??

Yes.

3. Why are backups bigger than my overall laptop HD. My laptop is 500 GB and overtime the backup is becoming bigger. Yes I know that it adds everything new but if i want to restore the backup to my laptop and its only 500 gb and my backup is say 700gb, what will it restore and what wont it restore? Shouldnt the backup just erase what I erased from my laptop and replace it with whatever thing new I added?

Time Machine is an incremental backup. As your TM disc fills, older items are deleted from the backup. But when you Restore from Backup, TM only restores your machine to the last backup.

4. Is there a way I can make a new backup in order to reduce the size of the backup from say 700gb to 400gb which is hwo much im using in my laptop at the moment since I just want the stuff that are momentarily on my laptop.

You can repartition your disc and start fresh. But honestly, just leave the disc alone. If you need to do a full restore, you'll be fine. If you just need a file that was deleted months ago, you'll be fine. But if your backup disc is too small, then you can't go very far back in time.

Apple has a small video in Time Machine here: http://support.apple.com/kb/VI29
It's from 2012, but it might be useful. After that, go to YouTube. You'll find a lot there.