turning time machine on and off

[ayres]

hi all, did some searching around and wasn't finding exactly what my need is...

i recently began using time machine on an external hd that i have. i'm amazed that i did not come around to it sooner, as i have way too many duplicated folders of this and that. it really became ridiculous.

anyway, i don't necessarily want time machine to backup every time i plug in my external to my mbp. so to prevent this, do i turn off time machine in system preferences before plugging the hard drive? and then turn on when wanting to back up?

thanks, oh, also, time machine DOES back up iphoto, yes?

cheers,

ayres

 

[simsaladimbamba]

hi all, did some searching around and wasn't finding exactly what my need is...

i recently began using time machine on an external hd that i have. i'm amazed that i did not come around to it sooner, as i have way too many duplicated folders of this and that. it really became ridiculous.

anyway, i don't necessarily want time machine to backup every time i plug in my external to my mbp. so to prevent this, do i turn off time machine in system preferences before plugging the hard drive? and then turn on when wanting to back up?

You can leave it at OFF and use the Menu Bar icon to make a backup whenever you want.

Time Machine FAQ

thanks, oh, also, time machine DOES back up iphoto, yes?

If it is not excluded, then yes.

This is how I backup my important data.
I have one 500 GB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog) libraries and editing documents, one 500 GB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 500 GB HDDs get backed up to one 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
And that 1 TB HDD gets backed up to another 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.
My text documents get backed and synched via Dropbox and also backed up to two HDDs (the two HDDs I clone my two Macs' SSDs to).

 

[ayres]

thanks for the quick reply...

one question about the iphoto question... what do you mean by, 'if not excluded'?

i haven't noticed any 'app exclusion' options in time machine, nor have i noticed any time machine options in iphoto.

oh, and, and concerning your backup strategies, you lost me at, 'this is how i backup...'

i hear ya, though. i have multiple backups of my photography, research, and music.

ayres

 

[simsaladimbamba]

thanks for the quick reply...

one question about the iphoto question... what do you mean by, 'if not excluded'?

i haven't noticed any 'app exclusion' options in time machine, nor have i noticed any time machine options in iphoto.

You can exclude objects via System Preferences > Time Machine > Options.

 

[ayres]

You can exclude objects via System Preferences > Time Machine > Options.

yep, i see what you mean.