Comments on: Time Machine Scheduler

By: Juston

Juston — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:14:01 +0000

Actually, I did use the plist hack first, which worked well for me, but now I’ve decided to go back and change it from 4 hrs to 8 hrs. I just don’t need the frequent backups, and I also dislike installing third party software that consisting runs for some reason. I suppose I just got annoyed at stuff like that hogging up my ram on my old PC. It’s not a big deal on my macbook, but it’s an old habit. I also tried a version of time machine scheduler, or a similar program, for a few days just to see…I got your result of random backups at uneven time intervals. So I went back to hacking the plist.

By: Scotttttttt

Scotttttttt — Sun, 25 May 2008 02:03:12 +0000

I am using Time Machine with a NAS device. One solution I have seen is to create a sparsebundle on a local drive, copy it (using rsync) to the NAS device, delete the local copy, and then backup to that location. By setting the maximum size on the sparsebundle to be less than the size of the external drive (or NAS), you can prevent the drive from completely filling up. More details are available at: http://www.readynas.com/?p=253.

By: Dan Derrico

Dan Derrico — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:17:31 +0000

Time Machine will be improved with time — no pun intended. Jake, how big is your internal hard drive? I think they recommend an external HD of 2x the internal drive,

If your computer is new and under warranty, or if you just installed Leopard, a lot of these questions can be answered by free Apple phone support at 1800-APL-CARE, They can walk you through it.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:10:40 +0000

My File vaulted user folder will not show up in Time Machine. I can view prior versions of my applications and everything else but the history folders go black when I try to find prior versions of documents from my user folder. Any thoughts?

By: Stephanie Guertin

Stephanie Guertin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:33:32 +0000

@Jake S - That’s kind of a long answer for the comments thread here - you might have better luck if you head over to our forums (the community link at the top of the page) and ask there.

@Srinivas - Functionally, no. (It might be hackable, but you won’t want it if it is.)

By: srinivas maharaj

srinivas maharaj — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 11:54:11 +0000

is it possible to install leapord on a mac mini with 256 mb RAM?.

http://applenewsntips.blogspot.com/

By: links for 2008-01-05 « kobak del.icio.us könyvjelzői

links for 2008-01-05 « kobak del.icio.us könyvjelzői — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:21:33 +0000

[...] Time Machine Scheduler - The Apple Blog hasznos kis leiras tima machine hasznaloknak. Igen, jelenleg nalam is fut tesztkent. (tags: backup leopard osx appleblog timemachine) [...]

By: links for 2008-01-05 at kobak pont org

links for 2008-01-05 at kobak pont org — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:20:56 +0000

[...] Time Machine Scheduler - The Apple Blog hasznos kis leiras tima machine hasznaloknak. Igen, jelenleg nalam is fut tesztkent. (tags: backup leopard osx appleblog timemachine) [...]

By: Jake S

Jake S — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:26:02 +0000

Hello, I’m new to the Apple Mac interface and I have to say I enjoy it very much to be honest with you. As soon as I plugged my iMac in and switched it on. It was bye bye to my old PC and out that went through the window and nicely landed in the pile of trash in my drive.

Now onto my question. Would it be possible for anyone to give me some useful advice for when im setting up my Time Machine on my iMac. I am using a 320gb External Harddrive as the backup drive.

By: Peter P

Peter P — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:29:56 +0000

Over the holidays I decided to use RAID on my drives. After I got the H/W configured the way I wanted, I just reloaded a fresh copy of Leopard and then recovered everything else from Time Machine. I went to bed to let it do its thing and when I got up in the morning, my system was fully reloaded with all my user accounts, data, iPhotos, Mail, etc. The only difference is now my disk drives are bigger, faster, and mirrored. I am sold on the product, but would also like to see more configurability in it.

By: jen_chan, writer SureFireWealth.com

jen_chan, writer SureFireWealth.com — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:59:32 +0000

Thanks for the tip! I haven’t really explored that feature yet since I’ve gotten so used to the old school ways of backing up my files (i.e. burning them on blank cd’s). But I appreciate articles like yours giving us a heads up.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:58:15 +0000

Scott, Time Machine will (eventually) use all the space that is available on a backup volume. The only way to limit it so it didn’t use the entire drive would be to partition the drive and use one partition for Time Machine backups and the other for whatever other stuff you want to store on the drive.

By: Patrix

Patrix — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:51:00 +0000

Dan, Time Machine includes external drives in the backup quite nicely. There is just one point you should be aware of: If you have aliases pointing from your main drive to an external drive, they will be backuped as is and still point to the original file/folder even when you access them on the Time Machine volume. So if you want to browse/restore data from an external drive, you MUST navigate through the /Volumes/… hierarchy inside Time Machine to get to the backup(s)

By: Scott H

Scott H — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:33:58 +0000

Thanks, Chris, for both tips. I really didn’t see the folder exclusions–I guess it’s possible to make an interface so simple the user assumes features aren’t there.

Is there any way to limit how much space Time Machine eats up on a drive, or does it just swallow it whole as it adds backups?

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:50:57 +0000

Also, if you really want to backup just once a week then you could turn automatic backups off (slide the main switch to Off in Time Machine Preferences) and manually trigger backups once a week by ctrl-clicking on the Time Machine dock icon and selecting the “Backup Now” menu item.

By: Dan Derrico

Dan Derrico — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:50:21 +0000

I would also like to tell Time Machine to include folders on an external drive for backing up. All of my music and photos are on an external drive and Time Machine is not dealing with this. Or is it?

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:49:37 +0000

Scott H:

Time Machine can exclude folders just fine… go to Time Machine Preferences, click on the Options button and a sheet drops down. Click on the “+” button and use the file picker to choose whatever folders you want excluded.

By: Scott H

Scott H — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:52:27 +0000

For some of us, a weekly backup is more than sufficient. I wish we could pick longer intervals like that. Also, I wish Time Machine had a way to exclude folders, instead of entire drives. With a tiny bit more flexibility, they could’ve designed a backup for nearly all of us, instead of just those who don’t care what gets backed up and how often.