[Aegis]

Say I've got 700gb data and a 750gb external for Time Machine. It obviously can't fit multiple backups, so will it just tell me that the backup drive is full and redo (or update) the backup to it's current state?

[peeb]

Older stuff will drop off eventually - it will warn you when this happens.

[Aegis]

So, it doesn't make complete serialized backups, it just serializes what changes?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Absolutely. I love SVN!

But I can imagine there are very many Mac users who will gladly use TM but never want to touch something like SVN.

Well, those users probably need to have a decent backup anyway.

Seriously, Time Machine will probably be a force pushing people towards buying external hard drives in order to use it, and that's not a bad thing at all.

[peeb]

Originally Posted by Aegis 

So, it doesn't make complete serialized backups, it just serializes what changes?

The Apple site describes how it works in detail. As does this thread.

[adamfishercox]

Originally Posted by Mithras 

I disagree -- having an internal partition for Time Machine would still keep the "human error" backup -- i.e., allowing you to access previous revisions of documents, or deleted files.

My answer, too.

[Gankdawg]

Originally Posted by Mithras 

2. At least twice the space seems like a good rule of thumb.

I'm going with 1 to 1. Sort of. I ordered my new iMac with a 750 GB drive (I currently have about 400 GB of stuff) and then will use a 750 GB firewire 800 drive for TM. How does TM deal with your Bootcamp partition?

[OliverTwist]

Just curious, how do you guys manage to have 100s of gigabytes of data? Is it ripped DVDs and iMovie/FCP projects? I have less than 10GB total.

Anyway, regarding my earlier question about backing up volumes, I'm relieved to hear that it's possible. If anyone has confirmed it in practice, I'd be interested in knowing. I've already ordered a 400GB drive to back up to. It's important that I ONLY back up the volume - I don't want my main drive backed up at all.

[Gankdawg]

I have video from my digital video camera and old footage and stuff. That's what's taking up a ton of space for me.

[adamfishercox]

Video and Final Cut probably are the biggest contributors.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by Mithras 

Yeah, by default it will back up other attached volumes as well.

I trust that you can turn off backing up of attached volumes? I have two external HDs attached to my iMac (one 320GB, one 500GB) filled with video, and I don't want them to get backed up as well. If TM backs them up too, I'll wind up needing a 1TB backup drive.

Also, on my iMac, I have FireWire and USB2. I take it I'd be best using a FW drive for backup? And what ratio of backup drive size to main drive size is good? 3:1? 4:1? More:1? I have an 80GB drive, half-full, so should I aim for at least 250GB?

[mmurray]

OK so I have Leopard installed on a MacBook and TM running onto a new 750GB external drive. If I have Mail foremost on the MacBook and launch TM then it gives me a nested series of Mail windows and the usual TM interface. But if I look back at my InBox from an hour ago there are half a dozen unread messages from months back ? It should be empty as it is now.

And why does Mail behave like this whereas if other applications are open eg Safara when I launch TM a Finder Desktop window appears with all the older ones behind it ?

I think I will keep cloning with SuperDuper until I have some faith in this.

Thanks - Michael

[washkow]

OK, I have a Infrant ReadyNAS connected over my network, I managed to get it connected to my computer over an AFP connection (by going to finder and then saying "connect to server" and then afp://address.whatnot.whonow). Then I want time machine to backup to that drive, but when I open time machine and go to that select drive box, my AFP is not recognized. Any thoughts on how to solve this?
thanks!

[pvonk]

At home I have used a Mac Mini as the house's backup file server (for my MBP and my wife's PB. From what I've read, TM, if installed on the Mini, can back up each laptop to the Mini's external HDs. However, at work I also have an external HD that I connect when I'm there and do an automatic backup to it each working day. (I use Tri-Backup for the backup software since it can auto mount the Mini's drives, and SuperDuper for special boot drives / yes, I'm a safety kind of guy!)

So my question is, can I have two locations that TM backs up to? Perhaps I'd have to manually switch the "destination" each time I open the MBP, depending on whether I'm home or at work.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by washkow 

OK, I have a Infrant ReadyNAS connected over my network, I managed to get it connected to my computer over an AFP connection (by going to finder and then saying "connect to server" and then afp://address.whatnot.whonow). Then I want time machine to backup to that drive, but when I open time machine and go to that select drive box, my AFP is not recognized. Any thoughts on how to solve this?
thanks!

I thought you'd have to have a "network drive" attached to a Mac that has Leopard installed? Also, I'm curious, how do you have the ReadyNAS formatted? FAT32?

[adamfishercox]

Originally Posted by mmurray 

OK so I have Leopard installed on a MacBook and TM running onto a new 750GB external drive. If I have Mail foremost on the MacBook and launch TM then it gives me a nested series of Mail windows and the usual TM interface. But if I look back at my InBox from an hour ago there are half a dozen unread messages from months back ? It should be empty as it is now.

And why does Mail behave like this whereas if other applications are open eg Safara when I launch TM a Finder Desktop window appears with all the older ones behind it ?

I think I will keep cloning with SuperDuper until I have some faith in this.

Thanks - Michael

It's not broken or anything. Think about it. You can't "Back up" Safari, so it won't move Safari into a backup scenario. Instead, it grabs the Finder Window, which you can back up. In Mail, Address Book, iPhoto, and a few others are the only ones that will enter Time Machine, because they are the only back-uppable apps.

[Dork.]

Here's a stupid question for you all: how will Time Machine back up files that are open?

For instance, I open up an existing Word document at 12:01 PM, make some changes over the course of time and save it at 2:34 PM, and then make more changes over the course of time and save and close it at 4:59.

Time Machine makes hourly backups, but only of the stuff in the filesystem, right? So I will end up with three versions of this file in Time Machine: the original, and the two versions that were saved. Time Machine won't go and, say, make a snapshot of the open file in the condition it was at 1 PM, between saves, will it?

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by OliverTwist 

Just curious, how do you guys manage to have 100s of gigabytes of data? Is it ripped DVDs and iMovie/FCP projects? I have less than 10GB total.

Anyway, regarding my earlier question about backing up volumes, I'm relieved to hear that it's possible. If anyone has confirmed it in practice, I'd be interested in knowing. I've already ordered a 400GB drive to back up to. It's important that I ONLY back up the volume - I don't want my main drive backed up at all.

Ripped DVDs, music, and I keep all my Mac torrents downloads archived in case I need the original installer.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by pvonk 

At home I have used a Mac Mini as the house's backup file server (for my MBP and my wife's PB. From what I've read, TM, if installed on the Mini, can back up each laptop to the Mini's external HDs. However, at work I also have an external HD that I connect when I'm there and do an automatic backup to it each working day. (I use Tri-Backup for the backup software since it can auto mount the Mini's drives, and SuperDuper for special boot drives / yes, I'm a safety kind of guy!)

So my question is, can I have two locations that TM backs up to? Perhaps I'd have to manually switch the "destination" each time I open the MBP, depending on whether I'm home or at work.

I don't think Apple designed Time Machine with users like you in mind. Sorry

[Peter]

I just dont get the point of TimeMachine for laptop users. When would I ever have my HDD plugged in except when I'm at home?
I want the TimeMachine "restore certain files" functionality with me all the time.