[MacRiski]

Howdy All...hope to get a little help setting up Time Machine on my daughters MacBook AL before she heads off to the University. Not the whole disk, just the basics whatever that might be

With the help over at the Mac Notebook forum, I've managed to make a backup Install DVD, a bootable OS X Install on a 10 GB partition (of 500 GB portable HDD) and the same on a 8 GB flash drive. That should handle any major breakdown

I'd like to set up Time Machine so everytime she plugs in her 500 GB portable HDD it would make a backup of the necessary files, such as her papers, notes, pictures, etc.

I am completely a noob with OS X and am feeling my way around. I just wish my daughter understood the value of good backups but that day will come. Until then, it's ol' Dad trying to cover the bases...

but only with some help

[ibook_steve]

Attach the drive, turn on TM in System Preferences, and select the drive. It's that simple. Whenever the drive is attached, TM will do its thing. You can force a backup by turning on the TM status menu in the menubar and selecting Back Up Now.

Steve

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

Attach the drive, turn on TM in System Preferences, and select the drive. It's that simple. Whenever the drive is attached, TM will do its thing. You can force a backup by turning on the TM status menu in the menubar and selecting Back Up Now.

Steve

Morning Steve

Do you think 470 +/- Gb is enuf for a full backup of her HDD? How often should she backup using the whole HDD?

I was thinking more along the lines of just what would be necessary. I guess where I get cornfused is the OS X layout of what goes where, etc.

[OreoCookie]

Time Machine is doing all this automatically: it backs up every hour and deletes superfluous backups. The only thing you need to ingrain in her is to connect the external harddrive, nothing else, there is no need to do anything else.

The 500 GB drive will be large enough unless she fills up her internal harddrive (which I doubt). The backup drive should at least be twice as large as the data it is supposed to back up.

[MacRiski]

Nice handle...OreoCookie Is that double stuff or regular?

So I shouldn't worry about backing up the system files along with Time Machine to save space, just take the easiest no-brainer route? That would be what my daughter can handle

Her HDD is 250 GB, so the remaining 475 GB on her portable drive is close to 2x. I'll check after semester 1 She's only using 25 GB going in...is there a word for study odometer?

Now make sure to pick a time period each day/week to plug it in. She does have the habit of always making a copy of her working files on a flash drive for a second.

[OreoCookie]

No, just tell her to plug in the harddrive when she comes home, just like she would plug in her power adapter. That's all. No schedules, no nothing, keep it as simple as possible. With 25 GB of used space, a 500 GB backup drive is plenty.

[MacRiski]

Sounds like a plan to me My thanks to All.

Guess I always plan for the worst possible conditions...must be my Windows background

Getting her ready for school with her Mac has changed my ways...now to find some $$$$ that she's not spending