Can Time Machine be disabled?

I just got a new Macbook (refurb - early 2009 - 10.6.1) and choose not to use Time Machine - ever. Although I've turned it off in System Prefs, it drives me nuts to get the "would you like to use ..... for Time Machine" for every one of my 5 partitions on one external and 4 on the other.
Is there a way to disable it permanently?

Barbara Daniels1 wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions; I do backup regularly using SuperDuper and/or CCC. That results in having two (2) bootable clones which Time Machine is incapable of. Therefore, I view it as quite useless - why back up if I can't boot from it in an emergency? I also copy my important files, photos, etc. to two (2!) externals AND, occasionally, I burn a DVD with those.
As for the macworld link, I looked at it and it seems that I have to enable Time Machine before being able to turn off the "helpful = annoying to me" question. Unless I'm missing something, I understood that to mean that Time Machine would indeed run - I just wouldn't get the question.
no that's not right. that link is exactly for the situation you are in. when TM is not enabled and gives that popup for every hard drive in sight. if you do enable TM then it doesn't give those popups so there is no need for such procedure at all.
I would like to get rid of Time Machine permanently.

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Can Time Machine be disabled permanently?

I'm in the middle of partitioning a brand new external hard drive (compliments of LaCie - the original (500 GB) had a faulty FW port; they replaced it with a refurb which had a defective on/off switch, so they just sent me a brand new 1 TB model - nice!!); in any case, I choose not to use Time Machine (I prefer a bootable clone) and I've now been prompted (annoyed) with the "do you want to use this for Time Machine" several times; it happens every time I wipe a partition for instance. I have never enabled Time Machine; it's never been turned on or otherwise activated.
Is there a way to stop Time Machine from asking me/disable it permanently?

Barbara Daniels1 wrote:
Basically, I don't need or want an hourly backup - if it could be set to backup once a week at most I'd possibly use it;
Time Machine is set to automatically back up every hour, but if you would like to change it, you can use the following Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) command:
You will need to authenticate as an administrator, since this command is run under a "sudo." The time interval is measured in seconds, so you can enter any time you wish there; just make sure it is in seconds.
The ex. by default, Time Machine backs up every 3600 seconds (every hour.) <integer>3600</integer>
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 3600
Like wise you can manually edit the plist
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto.plist
You can check my math but I believe once a week would be 604800 seconds.
Hope this helps
Message was edited by: leroydouglas

Can time machine and carbon copy cloner use the same backup drive?

Can time machine and CCC use the same esata backup drive?

Yes, but you will need to first partition the drive so that TM and CCC will backup to their own respective volumes. This way the CCC volume can accommodate a bootable clone.
Be sure the TM volume has adequate space. A TM backup volume should have about twice the capacity of the volume it backs up.

Can time machine be used to back up one external drive to another external drive?

I use the photography program Lightroom to organize and develop digital photos. All my photos are stored on my iMac internal drive. The internal drive is almost full so I want to move my photos to a new external drive. At present, I have an external drive devoted to backing up my iMac using time machine. I have no need to change this arrangement. I would like to use a new external drive to serve as the primary location for my pictures, which I will move from the internal drive. Then I would like to backup that drive to a third external back up drive. Can time machine be used to automatically back up the second drive to the third drive as well as for continuing to provide ongoing backups to my internal drive as it is currently doing?
Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Jeffery t wrote:
Thanks for the links, but I don't see in the pondini links, the scenario I am asking about.
Time Machine can easily back up multiple internal and/or directly-connected external drives and partitions simultaneously (but Time Machine cannotback up data that's on a network).
From the first link.
Jeffery t wrote:
... Please note that my iMac internal drive is backing up to external drive number 1 using time machine. I want my pictures on external drive two and those backed up to external drive three. So are you saying that if I have 500 GB of pictures on drive number 2, I will need a third drive that is at least 1 TB?
the confusion starts in your above statement...
There should be Only One Time Machine Drive.

Can time machine back up an imac and an external hard drive?

I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
Regards
Toekoms

toekoms wrote:
I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
yes, given enough space on the destination drive (your library may grow over time). also, the drive needs to be connected directly to your Mac.
you might want to make sure the drive is not excluded from TM backups by checking in system preferences > time machine > options.
also, as for moving your iTunes library, see this read for tips/instructions.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

If my backup HD is not large enough, can Time Machine use more than one destination HD?

Hi, I have about 0,8 Tb on my Mac + 0,9 Tb in an external HD + 2,5 Tb in another external HD.
I have plenty of other HDs with 1-2 Tb that I could use as backup. Can I use them in Time Machine? Can Time Machine split all the data from my Mac and source HDs in more than one destination HD? I would love it if I could avoid buying large 6-10Tb HDs; they are still expensive... I'll appreciate your kind inputs!

Technically, you could store parts of your backup on different drives, but it would require you to be constantly changing the items excluded. It is designed to be a single backup, which you can do the entire backup to more than one drive.

Can Time Machine be used to back up iTunes?

I use Time Machine to back up my computer, and recently used it to set up my new computer. But I always exclude iTunes because my current library is at 1.41 TB, running off an external drive. I would like to make a regular back up of our iTunes library, say every week or so. That's why the DVDr route is not appealing, it's not fluid enough. Can Time Machine be used in this way? If I set up another dedicated external, and set it up with TimeMachine, but told it to exclude everything except the iTunes external, and made sure I did this every week, would it work? Thanks.

I'm not sure I understand your question, but there's no reason why you should treat the iTunes library any differently than other data for backup purposes. The first TM snapshot that includes it will take a long time and a lot of space, but once that's done, the files won't change and therefore won't need to be copied again.

Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?

Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?
I have a iMac with 10.7.4

I want to back up the data on the external Hard Drive that is attached to the Time Capsule to the Tim Capsule using Time Machine.
Thanks for the clarification. Unfortunately, that will not work. You will need to connect the drive directly to your Mac if you want Time Machine to backup the drive to the Time Capsule.

Can Time Machine restore to a new internal HDD?

hi all, i've got a 1tb external drive that's exclusively used by Time Machine. the 1tb drive is connected to my 500gb mac mini. i've been running time machine for 6 months now daily, i just wanted to know if it was backing up everything on my 500gb drive or not. how can i check that it's working properly?
also, does anyone know how i'd go about restoring my mac mini in case i had to replace the 500gb hdd? can time machine restore everything if i needed it to? if i bought a new HDD tomorrow for example, how could i get my system running back to where it was running today with all of the current settings and files etc? is there any way for me to check that Time Machine will actually restore OS X, all my videos, music and my work should the HDD actually die?
is there an apple link i can read?
thanks for any help.

To answer your question about replacing a hard drive and recovering what was on your old one ...
Yes, Time Machine was designed for that. You may have one of two scenarios:
(1) Your hard drive is replaced by the Apple Store or another Apple repair shop, in which case they usually restore it with the operating system you had before and configure it so it has a new system with no users set up; the first time it starts up it runs Setup Assistant. When Setup Assistant runs, you select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup. It will then automatically restore your entire hard drive to the newly installed one. Everything will be just as it was with the old drive. Exceptions: you MAY have to enter user keys for software like MS-Office and Adobe Photoshop. and you MAY have to reinstall your printers and scanners.
(2) If the hard drive is replaced but no operating system or anything is put on it, you need to boot from your Install-OS-DVD and install a new operating system on the new drive. Then, on the first reboot, Setup Assistant runs and you can follow the instructions from (1) above.
A good informational site about Time Machine is here: http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
How do you know that your Time Machine backup is a good one? You can peruse through all the backups by running Time Machine and manually inspect that the files in those key folders (photos, music etc.) are all there and have the right sizes. You can "test recover" selected folders to a scratch location just to check that it works. I suggest you obtain another external drive and use it to make a "clone" of your internal drive using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. This is like a second backup, a failsafe in case, say, your Time Machine drive were to fail. This is not unheard of, since a power failure could cause both your internal drive and Time Machine drives to crash at the same time. The "clone" should be unplugged and stored separately to avoid this issue. You can update the clone, say once a week or once a month.

Can Time Machine NOT backup USB exFAT drives?

Hi folks. So I partitioned my seagate freeagent drive using exFAT so I could swap it back and forth with Windows. I went to setup time machine and I see the drive is excluded and I cannot remove it from the exclude list. Can time machine not backup that partition type? If not, what can I use that will be usable with both windows and os x and allow me to back it up with Time Machine? Thanks.

For fat or ntfs, you have to use something like Winclone to clone those partitions as a backup, but I have not tested winclone in Lion to see if it still works

Can Time Machine be used as a normal router?

Sorry my ignorance on this type of Apple's products.
My question is simple:
Can Time Machine be used as a router? I know it backs up files, but I'm not sure about this function.
Thanks in advance!

Yes, it does function as a "normal router".
In addition to its ability to function as a "normal router" (ie a device to share a cable/DSL internet connection) the Time Capsule will also:
1. function as an a/b/g/n wireless access point
2. network attached storage device, for Time Machine backups as well as general purpose file storage
3. point of attachment of one or more USB printers, which can be shared with all computers on the network
4. point of attachment of an external USB hard drive, for storage space additional to the built in hard drive

Can Time Machine write to a Disk Image on a Time Capsule?

I just inherited a Gen 1 Time Machine (500gb). I have three Macs on my network. In my current set up I have an external 500gb drive split into three equal partitions, one for each Mac.
I know I cannot partition the TC HD, but I also know I can create one or more Disk Images.
Question: Can Time Machine write to a Disk Image on a Time Capsule?
Thanks.
MotionMan

I know the backups will not mix.
One of the Macs is a MacBook that only hooks up to the network every couple weeks. Before I partitioned my existing TM backup disk, the TM backups of the other two Macs were filling the disk. When the MacBook then tried to make a backup, the oldest backups of the MacBook would drop off.
So, the other two Macs had backps for months, but the MacBook ended up with much less. That is what lead me to the 3 partitions, so each Mac had an equal space for their backups.
Odd that there there is no good solution for this.
MotionMan

Can time machine make an external HD bootable?

Hi,
I'm not really familiar with Time Machine, and I really want to make a copy of my HD onto an external HD, so I can boot off of it in the case that my computer goes haywire. Can Time Machine make my external HD bootable? Or, would one of those other programs (CCC or SuperDuper) be better suited for the task?
Thanks!
-Dan

use Superduper or CCCloner for that. Time Machine backups are not bootable. You can create a bootable drive from a TM backup but it's a lengthy process. You need to boot from the install DVD and use the system restore utility from the utilities menu. plus you'd need an extra external drive.

HT201250 Can Time Machine backup files stored on external hard drive

Can Time Machine back up files that are stored on external hard drive and save them on a different external hard drive?
I have my pictures stored on an external hard drive connected to my iMac. I want to make an exact copy of the pictures folder on a separate external hard drive. Can Time Machine do that?
If yes, how?
If no, what's a good way to create a mirror of the folder on External Hard Drive #1 (the original) on External Hard Drive #2 (the backup)?
I am not opposed to manually copying every couple weeks or month, but (1) it's less convenient and (2) I got an error message the first time I tried this saying the files couldn't be copied because some of the files being copied had the same name as each other (not exactly that, I'm at work and don't have the message in front of me right now, but that was the gist of it).
Thanks!

1. Yes, if both drives are formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
2. Reformat the drives if needed, open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and remove the drive with the pictures from the list of items set to be excluded.
(110331)

Can Time Machine back on one external hard drive (work files) to another external hard drive (back up)?

Can Time Machine on a Mac Book Pro 10.5.8 back up an external hard drive (working files) to another external hard drive (WD dual backup)?

I have Mountain Lion here ready to upgrade, but I'm scared of what will happen - there's always something when you upgrade, but I guess that's for a different post!
Yes, it's a different post, but let's make a comment any way.
Your power pc apps will not work when you upgrade to Mountain Lion. You will have to replace all the apps you use.

Can Time Machine be disabled?

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