Time Machine is Apple's built-in backup software. Time Machine was first introduced on OS 10.5 Leopard.
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What are the downsides to using time machine?
I hear a lot about the good aspects of using Time Machine, particularly the fact that it's so easy to use that people actually do backups!
What are the downsides to using Time Machine compared to ...
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11answers
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How to fix slow Spotlight and Time Machine after upgrading to 10.7.5?
Since updating to 10.7.5 both Spotlight and Time Machine are very slow.
To index a normal system drive Spotlight calculates to need several days.
As a result Time Machine takes up to an hour or more ...
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6answers
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How can I manually delete old backups to free space for Time Machine?
I use a Time Capsule for backup and now I want the drive to back up data from an extra Mac. But the drive is filled up with old backups from Mac 1. There simply is not enough space available for the ...
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4answers
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Upgraded to Lion: Time Machine spends a LOT of time indexing backup
I upgraded my MacBook Pro to Lion and one of the problems I've had is that Time Machine keeps running and running, and the fans go on.
This usually seems to be in the state where it indexes the ...
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3answers
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How can I “clean out” my Time Machine backups if Time Machine won't backup because the disk is full?
When Time Machine tries to make a backup, it informs me that it can't because the backup disk is full.
What it's mostly full of (about 700GB of 1TB) is prior backups of the same machine. Time ...
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3answers
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Why is “Verify Backups” in the Time Machine icon menu disabled?
I learned in Upgraded to Lion: Time Machine spends a LOT of time indexing backup that if I hold down the option key and click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, the "Back Up Now" menu item changes ...
12
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3answers
517 views
What is time machine backing up?
Is there a way to find out what time machine is backing up?
My time machine has been running fine, but it suddenly started to back-up 20GB a few days ago when I have not changed that much since last ...
12
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1answer
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How to disable or delay “Time Machine hasn't backed up your computer in x days” message?
Mountain Lion has a very useful feature where it can alternate between multiple backup destinations. I use this to back up to both a network share at home and an external drive I keep offsite. Because ...
11
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4answers
579 views
Upgrade time machine storage?
I'm going to buy 2T external HDD to replace my already full 1T HDD external. I want to keep the time machine backup data. In this case, is it just OK to copy all the time machine backup data in 1T HDD ...
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2answers
297 views
Does Time Machine run backups even when no account is logged on?
Does an account has to be logged on to trigger the Time Machine backup, or does Time Machine run without any session active?
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5answers
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Is there a bash command to check to see if Time Machine has finished backing up?
I'm writing a script that will rsycnc my Time Machine directory to a remote server using ssh. I've switched from a shell script to an AppleScript and then back to an Apple script and I don't really ...
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6answers
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Time Machine backup is slow. How can I speed it up?
My time machine is backup is very slow. Connection is FireWire 800. Transfer is around 5 Mb/s or 0.5 MB/s, which seems slow. I've seen plenty of mention online of very slow Time Machine backups. What ...
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4answers
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On Lion, what files are excluded by rule from a Time Machine backup?
In addition to whatever files I may choose to exclude, what files does the system exclude by rule or classification?
It might make sense not to backup Trash or Caches, but I'm looking for a way to ...
9
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2answers
6k views
With File Vault ON are time machine backups encrypted?
I have been using time machine to back up to a wireless external drive since I got my mac. Today I used filevault to encrypt my hard drive.
Will this affect how Time Machine backs up my files?
Will ...
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2answers
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Can Time Machine volumes be easily encrypted with FileVault 2?
Now that File Vault 2 can encrypt the entire disk and encrypt external drives, can I have a fully encrypted Time Machine volume?
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3answers
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Can I select only a few specific folders to back up with Time Machine?
Can I select to backup only few folders with Time Machine ?
If there is not an "official one", does somebody know a trick to do it?
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3answers
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Can I restore a Snow Leopard backup onto a Lion machine?
So I am a little confused and slightly worried, and I was wondering if someone could answer this.
I have a Time Machine backup saved on an external HD for my Mac mini that is running the latest ...
8
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1answer
480 views
How to force a Time Machine deep traversal?
After a few kernel panics and an accidental hot-unplugging of my Firewire Time Machine drive, I'd like to make sure that my Time Machine exactly matches my Macintosh HD, much like rsync -a. Is there ...
8
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2answers
4k views
Time Machine keeps asking to create new backup?
Every time a backup completes I get this message -
'Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.'
I am backing up to ...
8
votes
1answer
288 views
Will Apple's Mac Remote Wipe delete items on external disk?
With all the news about remote wipe I am wondering if having a backup on an external disk that is connected to my Mac is OK. Or if someone did a remote wipe, would they wipe that disk as well?
8
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2answers
1k views
How can I use my existing Time Machine drive on the network?
I have an external HD that I've been using as a time machine for my MBP. Here's what I want to do:
attach the drive to my desktop machine
configure time machine on my MBP to use the drive as a time ...
7
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3answers
2k views
How to see what files were changed in TimeMachine?
I tried TimeTracker, tms and timedog but none of them works with OS X 10.6
Any suggestions?
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5answers
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Any way to get Time Machine to backup to Amazon Simple Storage Solution?
Just curious if it is at all possible to have Time Machine backup to the 'cloud' using Amazon Simple Storage Solution. I've setup Time Machine to work over the network before to unsupported volumes ...
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3answers
2k views
How do I eject the Time Machine backup drive automatically after each backup?
How do I set Time Machine to eject my external Time Machine backup drive automatically after each backup?
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4answers
8k views
How to make Time Machine backups over network without OS X server?
At our institute, we have several Macs (from 10.6 to 10.8) but not one is running a server version. In the one running 10.8 there are 4.5 TB of hard-drives from which 2 x 2 TB are raided together ...
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7answers
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Time Machine: “Enter Time Machine” menu command does not do anything
I have Time Machine running on an external hard drive and it reports happily that it is doing backups and I have no reason to doubt it.
But when I try to look at the backups by clicking "Enter Time ...
7
votes
3answers
804 views
TimeMachine with multiple disks (one at a time)
I have backed up my Mac to an external disk using TimeMachine. When I plug in a different external disk the Mac still expects to backup to the first disk. Is it possible to backup to two external ...
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2answers
805 views
Time Machine backup format
Is the format of Time Machine's backups documented, or standard? Can I extract the files with a non-Mac system?
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3answers
5k views
Merge Time Machine Backup
Is it possible to merge to Time Machine Backups?
When I look inside the sparse-bundle which Time Machine generates then I see that the folder-structure ordered by dates. So theoretically I could copy ...
7
votes
1answer
14k views
Why can't I access the Time Machine backup .sparsebundle file on my new computer?
I've been at this for a solid 6 hours now, hoping like heck someone here can help me.
I've had a Time Capsule for nearly 2 years, consistently backing up two different laptops in my home using Time ...
7
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4answers
2k views
Why is Time Machine over-stating the amount of data that needs to be backed up?
I shuffled my home directory around and moved it back to my spinning platter drive in my MacBook. Ever since, Time Machine has been running my machine hot (the fan comes on when Time Machine starts ...
7
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1answer
228 views
Time machine is not including new directories in its backup [closed]
My Time Machine is going for a year quite strong, but I recently noticed it is not including new directories in its backup. Basically new directories are being excluded by rule or error and I'd like ...
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6answers
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Encrypting/protecting Time Machine backup drive?
How do you guys secure/protect your Time Machine backup drive? Even though it's an external drive, it's still susceptible to physical theft though. What do you guys do for precautions?
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4answers
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Can I simply manually delete individual Time Machine backups from the Finder or command line?
I have moved from a Mac running Snow Leopard to a new Lion machine. Since there was a lot of cruft on the old machine, I set up the new one from scratch, only copying the data over I need. I still ...
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4answers
1k views
Is it okay to install OS X on an external drive, and then install that drive as an internal drive?
My internal drive is suffering hardware failure, so I bought OS X Snow Leopard (to upgrade my iMac from Leopard), a new drive, and a cheap external USB 2.0 enclosure. My plan is to install a clean ...
6
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2answers
1k views
What does Time Machine back up?
Does Time Machine backup system files, kernel files and other OS-related files?
I have corrupted system drivers and files and I want to do a fresh install of OS X but I also want to back up my ...
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votes
3answers
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How can I use an existing Time Machine backup with my new computer?
I've just replaced my existing MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Air. I've got 18 months of Time Machine backups from the old computer. I'd like to configure my new computer to use the old computer's ...
6
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4answers
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How do local TimeMachine backups work exactly?
Since Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) TimeMachine performs local backups to /.MobileBackups if enabled (tmutil enableLocal, default enabled on portable macs).
The different types of backups are color encoded in ...
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1answer
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Why are some backups grey and others purple in Time Machine in Lion?
I started Time Machine for the first time in Lion (you know, to make sure everything was working properly), and I noticed something odd – on the timeline on the right side of the screen, some backups ...
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6answers
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Backing up a Boot Camp partition
I see in the Time Machine options that my Boot Camp partition is excluded. I haven't even tried to remove it from the list of exceptions since I have read that Time Machine will not work with NTFS ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
huge Chrome Time Machine backups
My 1TB Time Machine drive just filled up, apparently due a bug in Chrome. Since this issue has been open for a year and a half, I don't expect that Google will fix it any time soon.
Can anyone offer ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
Can Time Machine back up to an external HD connected to another Mac?
Is it possible to use Time Machine to back up to an external hard drive connected to a Mac on same wifi network?
6
votes
5answers
560 views
Is there a limit on the number of Macs that can use a single 2TB Time Capsule?
I am looking at buying a few of the 2TB Time Capsules for our office, where we have about 20 unibody MacBook Pros with 128GB SSDs.
Is there a limit on the number of Macs that a single 2TB Time ...
6
votes
2answers
193 views
Prompt When Ejecting Time Machine Drive
Whenever I eject the external drive that I use for Time Machine, I get this prompt:
However, in actual fact, this particular drive has got only ONE (1) partition, so it's rather annoying that I ...
6
votes
1answer
168 views
Does Time Machine Copy Renamed Files?
Okay - so I have a relatively simple question but can't find a clear answer.
Say for instance I have a large video file in FolderA named something.avi. Time Machine then makes a pass and backs this ...
6
votes
2answers
185 views
Where does System Preferences store the name of the Time Machine Destination
I am trying to create a script to determine the destination of time machine on a number of computers I manage. It shows very clearly via Time Machine Settings in System Prefs. I need to be able to ...
6
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1answer
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Why is mds using so much Real Memory?
I notice that mds is almost always on top for use of Real Memory. I wouldn't mind if this wouldn't be also the case when Free Memory runs out.
Usually mds uses over 600MB on a system with 4GB (I ...
6
votes
1answer
243 views
Finder too optimistic about free space?
Below is a storage overview from "About this Mac" on Lion, running on a Macbook Air.
It says: backups 71.07 GB. No data is in the "Other" area, which seems a bit weird, because I have at least 20 GB ...
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2answers
2k views
Why is my Time Machine backup failing to fire at the hourly interval?
At some point after upgrading to Lion my Time Machine backups have stopped firing on the hourly interval. It works manually, but not automatically. It also works first thing in the morning when I ...
6
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2answers
2k views
Cannot “Enter Time Machine” from Mountain Lion
Upgraded to Mountain Lion yesterday. Time Machine backups continue to run without any reported errors. (Backups are to a HD shared by a Lion Server on the network).
Problem is When I choose Enter ...
