Backing up computer with Time Machine

! was trying to do a backup for my Mac OS 10.6.8 so I can upgrade to OS 10.7. I was using Time Machine. After 12 hours, it still hadn't finished, so I canceled it. I have thousands of documents and pictures. Could it just be slow, or do I have to do something else, other than couble click on the application icon to get it started? It displays on the lower right different dates, including Now.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
http://support.apple.com/kb/VI29
Research Apple's Knowledge Base - http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search

Similar Messages

Can I back up computer with time machine on lion then reinstall snow leopard and restore from backup safely

Can I back up computer with time machine on lion then reinstall snow leopard and restore from backup safely?

If your machine came with Snow Leopard or earlier and you have your install disks, yes, you can reinstall SL. However, you will need to erase the entire hard drive so you will lose all your files. Also note that there are some apps (such as Mail) which can't be downgraded "automatically" such as with a restore from Time Machine. Here is some info on TM:
http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

Time Capsule as external hard-drive, as back-up drive with Time Machine

Two questions today:
I understand that I can use the Time Capsule as an external hard-drive while using it as my back-up location, using Time Machine. It has been suggested that to do this, it is best to partition the Time Capsule to prevent the TM program from confusing the files it manages, the data files from the backed-up files. (I hope I got that right.) I believe I read in this forum that one can partition the TC after the fact, and not destroy any data on it. Is this possible? A clerk at the Apple Store in San Francisco told me that I would want to partition, but that it would require that I erase the TC. Which to believe?
Secondly, how does TM create the back-ups? I have used SuperDuper and appreciated the difference in how (and what) it backs up. My example: my first back-up involved having an 80gb external drive attached to my computer and TM backed up both my HD and the External Drive. I then turned off the TM. Today I turned it on and allowed it to back-up every hour as it is designed to do, but without the 80gb External drive attached. When I checked the newer back-ups, they all showed the original configuration of HD and 80gb external drive.
So for it's incremental back-ups, does TM back up new files and updated files without deleting missing files? Is it an additive process? Or does it at some point delete missing files from it's most recent back-up? Or since it recognized that it was backing-up two different drives, it will always keep them separate, maintaining one (80gb External drive), even as it backs-up and changes the other (the HD)?
O.K. a third request. Has anyone published a manual on TM and/or TC with this level of understanding so we can make the most of it's 1 TB storage capacity?
Thanks in advance, LeRoy

LeroyHoward wrote: So, does this mean that TM never deletes a file?
It will when it starts to run out of space and it should likely be the oldest deleted files first.
As I understand it, as long as I have a multi-linked file icon on the TM, I have the original data. And everytime the TM backs-up, it recreates every multi-linked file icon on the previous back-up. Right? So, if you delete a file by mistake, you can go back and find it. But I see a contradiction here. If you delete it on your desktop, shouldn't it be deleted from the back-up of that desktop? We expect it to be on earlier back-ups, but not the most recent one right? So, eventually as the TM fills up and begins deleting earlier back-ups, that data will be lost.
The newest timeline will not point/display the deleted file(s), but it still exists on the backup until the backup drive fills up and needs to erase deleted data.
I'm trying to understand this aspect of the TC and TM, because we want to use it as both an external HD and as one of our back-ups. Any light you can shed on this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, LeRoy
Read Glenn's response to dedicating TC to TM backup and the difficulty in partitioning the TC HDD.
Glenn Carter wrote:
However, this is not an option for Time Capsule users as there is not an easy way of partitioning the Time Capsules’ internal had disk without elaborate effort. In this case, use the Time Capsule hard disk solely for Time Machine backups. Then attach an additional hard disk to the Time Capsules USB port and store additional files there. This added disk will still be available to all Macs that can access the Time Capsule.
This works to share the files on the USB HDD attached to TC, but if you want this drive backed up by TM (and this drive is formatted HFS+), then it needs to remain plugged into the Mac directly for TM to back it up.

Back-up fcpx with time machine on external disk?

Hey there,
I just started with editing in FCPX on a Mac Book Pro, and I'm trying to make a back-up on an external hard disk with Time Machine and I work from my internal hard disk. So every time I'm done editing in FCPX I let Time Machine make a back-up on my external hard disk.
So that seemed a good idea, but when I'm trying to open a project from my Time Machine-back-up, FCPX gives the error: 'The document “CurrentVersion.fcpproject” could not be opened."
Is any one familiar with this problem? I just want to be sure that this way of backing-up my projects is doable. It would be a great help!
Grtz,
Chloe

Opps! The program is Event Manager X. Sorry for the mistake. Google it to get to web site.
When you use "Duplicate Project" from within FCP X it will create an exact copy of your project. Options are included for events used in the project. I select the option to also copy all events actually used in the project. You have to select the hard drive where you want the duplicates stored. I put the duplicate on my backup hard drive. Now I have both the original project and the duplicate project showing in the Project Library. I also have a new event showing in the Event Library called "Clips for .... Project".
Now I want to "hide" my backup (duplicated) projects and events from FCP X so neither of us gets confused and inadvertently messes up the backup project. That's when I use Event Manager X. It will show you a list of all your projects and events on all your hard drives. You simply uncheck the project and events you want to hide. When FCP X opens back up those projects and events will not show up in your libraries.
To restore a backup project you simply repeat the process except check the projects and events you want to return to active status.
This, in my opinion, is a not only a good backup procedure, it's also an easy way to reduce clutter and mess in your workspace by "hiding" projects and events that you aren't using. There's also some evidence that having large numbers of projects and events showing in your library adversely affects FCP X performance.
You can schedule Time Machine to backup at certain time intervals; however, I'm thinking that it's pretty much backing up stuff as you work, so you need to turn it off manually. Not sure about this. Anyone else know how Machine Works?
Good luck,

According to the Genius Bar, my HD is dying. I need help with such things as making a boot disk, making sure back up is complete, etc. I have a White early 2008 MacBook running 10.7.3. It is backed up regularly with Time Machine to an external drive.

I am not a real tech type person. MAcBook white early 2008 running 10.7.3. I know I will need a boot disk to restart the computer after I have installed the new drive. I have purchased a Hitachi 500 G, 7200 RPM to install. The computer is backed up regularly using Time Machine to an external hard drive. I nned to know all the steps I need to do before physically changing the hardware.

Do you have your original drive backed up? Is it still working? If so I'd buy an external enclosure and boot from that. Then format your new drive and use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your old drive to the new one.
If you don't have a backup, I'd buy an external drive, use carbon copy cloner to do a backup, then install the new drive and clone back to it.

How to recover old Back ups made with time machine?

After a recovery with time machine to a very early back up, it completly deleted my old back ups from my back up drive? I had almost everything there. how can i get it back? is there any way?

Hi Patsmith7,
i think I understand what you're asking. You'd like to move the current Time Machine backup to a new HD so that it will never be written over as you continue to use the current HD where the data resides. If that is correct, then just follow the below link which will show you a very simple way of accomplishing this.
If you only want to move a specific date then you will have to follow the same instructions in the link but click on the drop down arrow on the current backup which will show you each instance (date) of the backups. Grab the date that you're interested in and complete the move as instructed in the link to the new HD.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Good Luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

Can I "roll back" entire computer using Time Machine?

I have VMware installed on my computer. Went into Time Machine to replace the users/documents/virtual machine folder with an earlier file; for some reason, VMware didn't recognize the virtual machine file. I went ahead,and restored teh original vm file, and prog still didn't recognize it.
I am used to using the "Goback" rollback program in windows, and thought a complete rollback would restore my original virtual machine file, but am not sure how to do this with Time Machine.
Will Time Machine do rollbacks?
Thanks.
Marc

to do a full system restore, boot from the install DVD, once past the language screen go to the Utilities menu, select "restore from Time machine" and follow the instructions.

Going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drive should I buy to back up computer using "time machine". Have 320 gb hard drive.

I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.

patmc102 wrote:
I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.
Buy an external drive 320G or larger (much larger is preferable). I do not recommend you use TM for this, instead download a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner and make a clone of your drive. Once this is done you have 2 choices, you can download and install Lion on your internal drive just as you planned or download and install Lion to the external clone, the 2nd method allows you to test the Lion install before committing to it. If the clone with Lion is to your liking then just clone it back to the internal.

Backing up macbook with time machine for first time

I tried backing up my macbook for the first time, using time machine, to a new portable external hard drive formatted for p.c. The screen said do you want to erase the disc and i did. It said nothing about formatting for mac, but began to appear to be backing up my computer, and was running for 3-4 hours doing that. I walked away from the computer and came back an hour or two later, and there was a message on the screen saying error, could not create directory. I don't know if this was related to the initial backup, or if an hour later it tried updating the backup and it referred to that. How do I know if my computer is backed up properly. What do I do about the message about the directory. If I don't need this program to update the backup every hour, how do I change that. Also, I have a 1 terrabyte external hard drive on which I store all my raw photography files, can I plug that in and plug in another new external hard drive and back up the external hard drive to the other external hard drive using time machine as well? thanks for any suggestions, this is a little confusing the first time, Virginia

The backup frequency can be changed using e.g. TimeMachineScheduler and I think you can set Time Machine to backup external drives. (System Preferences --> Time Machine --> Options)

I built a website, using iWeb. I backed up daily with Time Machine and OS 10.6. My HD crashed. I replaced the HD and installed 10.5. But now I can't restore iWeb and my domain file. How do I restore my site files on the new drive?

I obviously dont know how to use this forum...my question to the community seems to be the truncated phrase in the title block above..you can scroll thru it to see my whole question....basiclly,.my question is: How do I restore my iWeb domain files which are kept in user>library>applicationssupport>iWeb>domain in my Time Machine date listings...to a newly installed disc. I had a disk crash, removed the failed drive and installed another. I then installed OS 10.5 (I didn't have a copy of my 10.6). Now I'm having difficulty figuring out how to get the iWeb files from the Time Machine external drive used with the 10.6 to the new drive running 10.5...any help muich appreciated....!!
bob in St. Peters Nova Scotia...

Go to to your Users/Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder in the Finder and then enter Time Machine. Go back to the last backup that has the domain file, select it and use the Restore button.
OT

Can I use my time capsule for solely for back up purposes with time machine?

Welcome, yoreilly(Sign out)
New
Your Stuff
History
Browse
Search for:Search
Apple Support Communities > Wireless > Time Capsule
Start a New Discussion in Time Capsule
Subject:

Hi Bob,
Just go back to this issue. Maybe I have not explained my config correctly.
I have Speedtouch router for Internet access connected to a soho switch with 8 ethernet connections on the ground floor. To this switch there are wired 7 Microsoft devices including PCs on both the ground and first floor) and an airport express Wi-fi hot spot (first floor) . My Macbook is wirelessly connected to the AE for Internet access . An HP printer is also connected to the AE.
I would now like to set up the TC as a wifi back up disk for the Macbook using Time machine.
Should I a) replace the AE with the TC or b) can I set TC up seperately ?
If a) can I use the same network Id and password for TC as I had for the AE or do I need to use new ID and password for it?
If b) is there a risk of interference between the TC and AE ?
Probably a) is the best solution as I dont really need the AE if The tC will give me greater functionality but I would like your confirmation of this
thanks
Yvonne

Can you use two Time Capsules and back up both with Time Machine.

My little iMac hard drive (250GB) is quickly filling up with my iTunes library (180GB). I have a 500GB Time Capsule which I use to back up my system via Time Capsule. I would like to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive. If I add the 1TB Time Capsule and use it as my main system back up and wireless router can I use my 500GB Time Capsule as an external drive to locate my iTunes library? Will I be able to back up both my iMac HD and the 500GB Time Capsule to the 1TB Time Capsule using Time Machine or some other method?
Finally if I can do this can I have both Time Capsules running wireless?
Message was edited by: mwheelerk
Message was edited by: mwheelerk
Message was edited by: mwheelerk

Could I simply make a copy and move it between the two Time Capsule on a routine basis say every two weeks or month?
Yes
I know I will have to "point" or "map" the new location of my iTunes library to the external hard drive/2nd Time Capsule. Once that is done wouldn't Time Machine then just find the location and back it up along with all the data on the iMac hard drive?
Since this Time Capsule would be connected wirelessly or via Ethernet to your Mac, it would appear as a network drive. Time Machine will not back up data FROM a network drive. Therefore Time Machine will not back up data on this other Time Capsule.

How can I back up my back up drive with time machine?

Im a rather paranoid person having lost my data TWICE in 2 months and spending £1000 to get it back, so I have 2 external hard drives. One is a back up drive for my internal mac hard drive, and is also used as a second working drive. I want to back up this external drive so that my final (2nd) external hard drive has all the data from my first external hard drive. Therefore I will have 2 backups of my internal mac hard drive, and one backup of my 1st external hard drive.
How can I get time machine to do this? I have the 1st drive set as the time machine back up drive, which it copies my MAC hard drive onto, but I can't seem to find a way of also getting it to then back up my 1st external drive to the second external drive?
Thanks

Ewen wrote:
It's a shame you're busy. I would have been interested to see whether it is compatible with TM in 10.5 or is merely an alternative to Disk Utility type backups.
*Sweet! CCC is a disaster! Every indication was that CCC was doing its job well. It completed and I chose the newly cloned system in System Preferences >> Startup Disk.*
*It booted up fine except... the system resembles "The Fly", after having gone through the teleportation device :-0*
*I'll just list a few examples that off the top, gave me a clue it was FUBAR:*
*1. It booted up to a 10.4 Desktop background and a 10.4 Dock. No shadows, old System Preferences icon, no Stacks.*
*2. "About this Mac" thinks it is System 10.4.10 and Software update prompts me install 10.4.11 update. Also file systems viewed on my both internal HDD and newly created nightmare have some corrupt structure*
*3. TM.app does exist in /Applications but gives the error message shown here.*
*Ouch! I can't believe Bombich is keeping his compatibility claim:*
*http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html*
*Now, the only viable alternative is Disk Utility*.
-mj
[email protected]
Message was edited by: macjack

Do i need to back up applications with time machine?

I received a message that Time Machine was running out of room to back up. I've only used 112GB on my computer, but my Time Machine drive has a capacity of 163GB, so I don't understand why I am running out of room.
Do I need to back up my applications? Is there anything that I can omit from a backup to save space? I already keep all of my photos and movies on a seperate hard drive, and I don't include that in the backup.
Running 10.8.4 on a new iMac.

denisefrombay village wrote:
... I don't understand why I am running out of room.
Time Machine requires sufficient space to keep one complete copy of your entire hard disk's contents, plus additional space for older backups. You are likely to need much more than 163 GB for Time Machine to function as designed. See Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ: How big a drive do I need for Time Machine?
Do I need to back up my applications?
Strictly speaking no, but I would. The way in which Apple (and others) are moving in favor of the download-only method of app distribution, a Time Machine or similar backup has now become the only way to revert to a previous release of an app should a newer one not perform as expected.

Back up problems with Time Machine since I have Mavericks

Since I upgrade to Mavericks Time Machine is not able to back up my MacBookPro.
Not only it is slow but it never ends.
Each time it seems to reach the end of the back up 150 or 200 mb are added to the amount to be saved.
Without end.
Before Maevroicks I had Montain Lion and it was fine.
With my iMac I have no probleme with Mavericks ????

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showning, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Backing up computer with Time Machine

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for