Can a time machine backup also be used for archive storage?

Can the same time machine backup drive also be used for archive storage from another Macbook?

The way TimeMachine works you can guarantee that anything on your computer now will be backed up and archival copies kept. But there are two caveats. First, TimeMachine trims backups. For 24 hours they are hourly (approximately). Then the most current will be trimmed and a week worth of daily backups will be kept. Then the week will be trimmed to the most current version and the weekly backups will be kept until the drive is too full. At that point the oldest weekly update(s) will be erased to make room for the next hourly backup. When trimming occurs, files that were backed up but are no longer on your computer will be trimmed. This is the second caveat.
Since this trimming is automatic rather than under your control TimeMachine isn't a good archival backup system. Two programs that I can recommend that do have true archival ability are CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync. Both allow you to decide what gets archived and how many archival periods to allow.

Similar Messages

Defrag an old Time Machine backup to save space for archiving?

I'm aware of all the reasons not to defragment an OSX volume, as well as Time Machine volumes, but hear me out on this one...
I bought a new iMac and will be starting a brand new Time Machine backup. I would like to keep the old Time Machine backup around just in case I need access to some old files. I will not be adding anything further to this old backup, and I will not be using this old backup to restore any system. I will only be browsing and restoring files from this backup, but only rarely. I have removed (via the Time Machine interface's "Delete all backups of...") a number of large files and unecessary directories to reduce the backup size. I then ran the hdiutil compact command to reclaim free space from the sparsebundle.
I read, however, that the hdiutil compact command will only delete unused bands of the sparsebundle, and that defragmenting the contents of a sparsebundle will likely produce more "empty" bands that can be removed with another run of compact to further free up space.
Will it be okay to defragment the sparsebundle under these circumstances?

I've looked over Pondini's site and it's an awesome resource. I've learned a lot from it over the years. But my specific question isn't answered there.
The Time Machine software is complex and I understand that there's a lot of things to know to keep it running smoothly. However, my particular situation isn't commonly discussed. In scenarios not involving Time Machine, defragging a sparsebundle before running hdiutil compact is known to help free up more disk space by creating more unused bands within the sparsebundle that can be removed by compact. Makes sense. Why would this affect Time Machine's process? And could it be that it won't cause a problem for a sparsebundle that will only be used to browse and restore files? ... As opposed to a sparsebundle that one intends to continue backing up to? Are there defregmenting options that I should avoid, or be sure to use?

Restore using Time Machine to new hard drive, but last "full" backup was 2012. how do I restore the rest of the Time Machine backups, particularily IPHOTO libraries for each user?

Restore using Time Machine to new hard drive, but last "full" backup was in 2012. How do I restore the rest of the Time Machine backups, particularily IPHOTO libraries for each user?
I entered Iphoto for my user and only photo up until 2012 were in the library. I thought the restore would do the incremental Time Machine backups too.....
Running 10.8.2

It usually means you are running Mavericks but have an earlier version of iPhoto. Open the App Store and upgrade your version of iPhoto to the Mavericks version.
The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.
iWork and iLife for Mac come free with every new Mac purchase. Existing users running Mavericks can update their apps for free from the Mac App Store℠. iWork and iLife for iOS are available for free from the App Store℠ for any new device running iOS 7, and are also available as free updates for existing users. GarageBand for Mac and iOS are free for all OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 users. Additional GarageBand instruments and sounds are available for a one-time in-app purchase of $4.99 for each platform.

How do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved from old computer and system

how do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved off old computer and system. It's not letting me open the folder???

Once again here's how to restore an iPhoto Library from Time Machine:

Back up and access problems on MacBook Pro 15 2.2Ghz Yosemite 10.10.2 cannot finish time machine backup on My Passport for Mac, and cannot recognize LaCie quadra H2

New MacBook Retina Pro 15.4 inch with 2.2 Ghz and running Yosemite 10.10.2 will not recognize LaCie Quadra H2 disk. Also will not complete Time Machine Backup onto My Passport for Mac which it does recognize. Plenty of disc space both externals.

If you choose to use garbage such as "Intego VirusBarrier" you are going to need more memory, a lot more. I suggest you uninstall it according to its instructions, and evaluate your Mac's performance without burdening it with completely useless junk. As long as Intego remains active, your Mac will have few resources remaining to do anything else.
Using Intego's "Virus Barrier" and "Net Barrier" products on a brand new Mac containing nothing but one minimally configured user account resulted in performance degradation so severe that it became nearly unusable. No knowledgeable Mac user would consider using it even remotely tolerable.
Intego should only be uninstalled using the uninstaller included with it. Don't use anything else. A successful uninstallation will result in the following:
After that, restart your Mac. Other Intego components will remain but they will be inert and will not affect your Mac's operation.

Time Machine backups during sleep using Power Nap

My Time Machine only saves local snapshots while sleeping, but I was expecting full backups instead.
Power Nap while plugged into a power adapter, provides the ability to continue saving regular Time Machine backups even if your mac goes to sleep. The dialog as shown in Preferences/ Energy Saver/ Power Adapter, states;
"While sleeping, your Mac can back up using Time Machine and periodically check for email, calendar, and other iCloud updates."
The term backup implies that Time Machine will write to your designated Time Machine drive (assuming it is connected and available) as opposed to simply creating a snapshot. Time Machine backups show as purple checkmarks/timestamps in the Time Machine "browser", and snapshots show as white checkmarks. The difference is that snapshots are written locally (not to your external drive) and are only temporary in nature - they are not true back ups.
I am running a Macbook Air 13" (mid 2012) with Mountain Lion 10.8.4, so it is Power Nap compatible. I am also running an Apple Wireless network using the new 802.11ac 2TB Time Capsule. The Time Capsule is my designated Time Machine drive, it has plenty of free space and contains no other data. My network is correctly configured to Wake for Wi-Fi network access (which actually works to my suprise), and my Macbook Air is always connected to power. Despite all of these factors, reviewing my Time Machine records always indicates that only snapshots (white checkmarks) have been recorded every hour, and proper backups (purple checkmarks) are only done when the machine is awake. This does not sound like the "back up" that was promised with Power Nap. Are my expectations mistaken, or is there something else I should be doing?

EEaudio08 wrote:
There is a popup dialog that shows up when backing up wirelessly to the AirPort Extreme's connected HDD. I'm not quite sure why it does this during wireless backup, because on my 17" MBP, I also only see the icon spinning in the menu bar.
If I could shut off that dialog, that would also solve some problems.
Aha! Thanks. A popup would definitely be more intrusive then the menu icon.

How can I delete all the Time Machine backups to make room for more? And how do I force the trash to empty?

I moved a bunch of my husband's files from his Macbook (which is dieing) to my iMac. I created a user for him on my iMac so he'd be able to keep his stuff separate from mine. All is working great except my Time Machine is now unable to backup. The total of used space on my hard drive (including the recently added user's files) is about 420 GB. The amount of capacity of my external hard drive is 999GB. I think Time Machine failed because there was all of a sudden so much more data and a new full backup would be more than the unused capacity of the HD? Regardless I don't need any old backups. I have all my files and all his files. So I moved all the backups from the external HD to the trash. Apparently that's a no no. I can't fully empty the trash now and that is making my iMac crazy slow.
1) Can anyone tell me how to force the trash to empty?
2) Is there a way to delete the whole external HD and start over with a new full backup via Time Machine? In Disk Utility I try to erase the partition and get an error "Volume Erase failed with the error: Couldn't unmount disk." Then I try to Unmount it and get another "Unmount failed. The disk Backup iOmega could not be unmounted. Make sure that all applications and files are closed on this disk." I turned off Time Machine and tried again but with the same errors.
The external HD is called iOmega. It only connects to the iMac with USB. Any help is much appreciated!!!!

Try this instead:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup volume from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
4. Click on the Erase button.
You will need to reconfigure Time Machine preferences for the backup.
FYI: Never remove Time Machine backup data except through the Time Machine application. If you aren't sure about using Time Machine then visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things related to Time Machine.

Time machine backup on NAS using WebDav?

Hi, I regularly use Time Machine to backup my mac on a NAS using my home network (Synology instructions are for configuration using the afp protocol). I have been travelling a lot lately and Time Machine backups on my NAS are not a choice. I’m using an external drive as a temporary strategy until back home. Anybody knows if it is possible to configure Time machine to backup on a NAS using WebDav protocol? If so, how to do it?
I appreciate any information / help with this.

Extremely unlikely.
It is possible to use Back to my Mac to back up to a Time Capsule over the Internet, but many folks can't get it to work; even when it does, it's very slow.
I've never seen any posts about it being done to any other Internet destination.

Can the Time Machine backup drive be Internal?

Does the backup HD for Time Machine HAVE to be an external drive?
I want to install an 2nd internal drive into my 2006 Mac Pro and use that as the Time Machine backup for the main boot/storage drive.
An internal drive would save space and eliminate the extra cables and power supply.

Kappy is correct, of course.
But I'd add a strong recommendation that you also do some sort of secondary backups, so if something truly awful happens to your Mac, you don't lose everything.
See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

Unable to restore from Time Machine after an erase and reinstall - MacbookPro cannot access my old Time Machine backup volume. Desperate for help please?

My MacbookPro would not move past the Apple logo and spinning wheel for a number of hours. After trying the numerous suggestions to solve the issue I eventually opted to erase and reinstall feeling confident my Time Machine backups would come to the rescue. After a successful erase and reinstall I tried to restore all my data from my TIme Capsule using Command-R during start up and by using the Migration Assistant. Neither worked and I have received messages to the effect that the backup volumes on my Time Capsule cannot be access because I have entered a wrong password or because the backup volume is damaged.
When I open my Time Capsule in Finder and click on my sparsebundle I get an eror message saying that the disk image could not be opened and that the resource is temporarily unavailable.
Desperate for some help and comfort that many years of personal data have not been lost.
Thank you.
M

When I try to Verify option it says Unable to Verify - Resource temporarily unavailable.
Here is the past of the log screen:
2013-06-09 15:00:00 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:09:01 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:13 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:21 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Attach Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Initializing…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Attaching…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Finishing…
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500: Unable to attach “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:02:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:05:22 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:07:11 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:47:35 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:53:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:55:30 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:56:40 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500:

Idea: Time Machine errors could be used for telling people everything is OK

In the event of catastrophic good luck, abort.
Just a little levity for all those struggling with Time Machine.
Also, for those having "not enough space" errors on the initial backup, I found that if I excluded the two largest directories and let Time Machine do its thing, it didn't complain when those were taken off the exclusion list on subsequent backups.

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. Anyone else seeing this sort of behavior?
Message was edited by: irowboat

Can I time machine backup using 2 separate Ext. HD?

I have a MBP.
I have 2 ext HD.
Can I make a time machine back up on my Lacie ext HD and later make a backup on the WD ext HD?

It is a link that explains 'how to'.
http://pondini.org/TM/34.html

Can a Time machine backup be moved from one hard drive to another.

Hello
There are a few questions tucked away in here...
1
My Mac crashed due to a Kernal Panic (screen was flashing) this was happening over 2 weeks so I decided to restore from Time Machine. During a restore the Mac crashed again. So I aborted the restore. When I sparked up the Mac again the Mac's drive had been wiped So I used the OS Snow disc to restore again. When I went to my Iomega back up drive it's power had failed. The upshot is, is that right now i have lost everything. No Backup and no Mac. My external drive is with a data recovery company. I am hoping that they can access the drive and drop the backups onto another external drive (very expensive). Before I commit to this expenditure, if they are successful in accessing the drive, can the TM backups be moved in that way (from one HD to another) and will my Mac recognise these as backups for my machine and thus successfully restore?
2
If all else fails can my Mac be recovered
3
Once that is done i am hoping that the Kernal Panic is resolved, if not I may seek advice also on this. Right now i need my data..
Thanks for any advice
Mark

Pondini Wrote..
the first folder shown (343775 - rycaft DATA) doesn't belong there. I'm guessing it contains some of the "loose" files that the recovery software couldn't figure out where it came from. And/or, it may contain the system files and folders that are normally hidden on a Time Machine drive.
Hi there, the first folder is where the recovery company dropped the recovered hard drive (root) - In an attempt to put the backups at the 'top of the tree' so TM could see the files i pulled the backups file out of there..so what is left?..... I believe it is other files I had on the BU hard drive before it failed. You can see that I have an apvault on there. This is aperture's internal back up. I have not yet tried installing aperture to see if these files can be recovered into aperture. It's an old vault but the best I can get so far. As you can see though, my Itunes folder seems to be a carbon copy of what was on the original HD. I've included a screen shot of this structure also.
Pondini wrote
Did you get the original Time Machine drive back? If so, it's a very long shot, but if it wasn't tried before, see if you can repair it with Disk Utility, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
funily enough I have requested it and since paying the fee to recover this HD they wont respond to emails or calls requesting (My) hard drive back.....
So i tried right clicking the iPhoto Library and Aperture Library and I cannot see Show Package Contents.
ds store wrote:
Just thought I'd mention this software, if it assists in your TM recovery efforts or not, may have special abilites or assets to recover your files.
http://www.tri-edre.fr/english/backintime.html
Now then.... here is a screen shot from your suggestion.........
Looks like we've cracked it..... after i've stopped shaking I will let you know how i get on.....

Does a time machine backup also restore system files?

In my case, I've deleted a lot of system files including desktop wallpapers and stuff, because I split my drive into two partitions, and started running very low on space on my primary partition. Now, I want to go back to two partitions, but I am unable to. Hence I have to format my Mac to do so. What my question is is this. If I use Time Machine after formatting to restore a backup, does that also include system files, like wallpapers and etc., or only user files? What about my keychain, browser data like cookies and other user data from my applications? Does all of that come back too? If it does, then I think that the other system files might come back too, right? I specifically remember deleting files from the Application Support folder. Also, every time after finishing a backup, my disk takes hours for encrypting the backup. Is that normal?
PS : I use Mavericks.

Malcolm J. Rayfield wrote:
Well, I did not maintain backups before I deleted the files. What then?
Download and reinstall Mavericks from the App Store. It won't delete any user files.
Correction
It should not delete any user files.
The OP should backup before starting this, in case of error.

After upgrade to Mavericks I can do Time Machine backups but I cannot have access to them

After upgrading my iMac 20" (early 2008) from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I can backup with Time Machine and I can see that the copies have been made. But when I enter to Time Machine mode, all these copies in the right bar goes from pink to translucent in some few seconds, and I cannot have access to them.
I have a dedicated external 400GB HD for the copies, formated in Mac Os Plus, and I can go there and open, copy, etc. any file "manually", so, the copies are right (I guess).
Any idea about why I cannot "go back" in Time Machine, although it "sees" the disk, and the copies exist?
Thanks in advance for your help.

After upgrading my iMac 20" (early 2008) from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I can backup with Time Machine and I can see that the copies have been made. But when I enter to Time Machine mode, all these copies in the right bar goes from pink to translucent in some few seconds, and I cannot have access to them.
I have a dedicated external 400GB HD for the copies, formated in Mac Os Plus, and I can go there and open, copy, etc. any file "manually", so, the copies are right (I guess).
Any idea about why I cannot "go back" in Time Machine, although it "sees" the disk, and the copies exist?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Can a time machine backup also be used for archive storage?

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