Can time machine be told to selectively backup applications and folders?

I need to perform a backup of the drive so that I can do a complete reinstall, however I cannot see any way to manually backup things like iTunes, it's library and settings, and a selection of installed programs such as say, adium, which has chat transcripts (not limited to that app and probably a bad example)
A reinstall through time machine is not an option, since from what I can see the basic install takes a disk image so the problems I currently have would be restored (self inflicted, deliberately, too long to explain but part of learning thingy)
If it's not possible in Time machine is there an alternative program or even a way to do this manually? I don't mind a little work.
Thanks!

It doesn't have an option to easily select only specific directories or files. It only has the option to exclude files & directories. (It's function is to backup everything initially, then backup anything that has changed since it's previous backup.)
However, unless your self-inflicted problem is in an issue with something in your user accounts folders, you can bypass restoring it you do a re-install followed by a Time Machine restore.
When you install Snow Leopard, you'll see the "out of the box experience" (the welcome video, followed by the country selection, owner registration questions, etc..) Part of the OOTB is the "Setup Assistant" which will ask if you want to migrate from either another Mac, disk, Time Machine backup, Time Capsule, etc.
If you tell it you DO want to migrate/restore from a Time Machine it will selectively offer a few categories of things to restore. These include user accounts (all or nothing... you can't restore one account but ignore others), applications, and system settings.
This means you could do a re-install, then restore your user accounts -- even your applications if you want, without restoring other parts of the OS (for example if you think your system settings are damaged you can choose not to restore those.)
Lastly... you could opt to restore nothing at all and just re-create a user account. If you right-click on the Time Machine icon down in the dock, one of the options is to "Browse Other Time Machine Disks..." By clicking this you can open a backup and individually decide which files to restore -- being as selective as you wish.
Message was edited by: Tim Campbell1

Similar Messages

Time Machine Doesn't Seem to Backup Titles and Keywords in iPhoto

Hi
I have just noticed that Time Machine does not seem to backup certain metadata attached to the photos. Do you know if I am doing something wrong here?
Using iPhoto version 7.1.5.
Thanks
Adam
Message was edited by: Adam Lippiatt

Someone was doing manual backups of their photos and I said - 'why don't you just use time machine'. I assumed it kept everything - but I thought I would check.
What I did
1. Opened iPhoto in Finder
2. Entered Time Machine
3. Found an example Photo I wanted to Restore (I chose a photo with a different Title to the 'name' of the photo (given to it by the camera) and one with a keyword).
4. In Time Machine I could see the correct Title, but not the Keyword.
5. Selected it > Restore
6. Photo restored after giving a 'Duplicate' warning. Photo restored only has the 'name' but not the Title or the Keyword.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Adam

My Fantom backup drive is failing. I want to copy the time machine contents to a new backup drive and continue on as if nothing has happened. Can I do this and if so how? I have intel iMac running Mountain Lion. Fantom Drive via Firewire 800.

My Fantom backup drive is failing and I have to send it in for warranty repair. Before I do that I want to copy the time machine contents to a new drive and then use it for the backup, continuing on as if nothing had gone wrong with the first drive. Can I do this? Is it as simple as duplicating the first drive and replacing it with the second? New drive arrives Tuesday PM and both drives have dual firewire 800 ports.

I have used the Disk Utility to verify the contents of the backup drive so I don't think I have any corrupt files. The drive just takes a minute or so to spin up to speed. If I turn it off and then back on, it beeps at me for a few seconds and then starts it's slow process of trying to spin. I think it's a power problem not a data problem. I have my fingers crossed that it holds on until Tuesday PM when the new drive arrives. I'm thinking that my two options are to duplicate the bad drive or partition the new drive and put the old backups on one partition and start afresh on the second partition. Any input?
And thanks to both of you for the valuable information so far!

Can Time Machine back up a failed hard drive, and how long will it take to prepare?

1. The hard drive in my 2009 MBP has failed. My Time Machine external drive failed about three weeks ago, and I don't know if I'll be able to restore from it. Is it ever possible to backup a failed hard drive with Time Machine? The machine boots, it just comes up beach balls if I use any applications for very long.
2. I'm trying to back it up right now. I have Time Machine running to a new external drive. It has been stuck on "preparing backup" for about 20 minutes. Everyone says that preparing a first backup takes some time, but no one says if "some time" is 15 minutes or one hour or more. What is a typical length of time for preparing first backup? At what point should I walk away?
If it's not worth trying to back this drive up myself anymore, I'd love to just drop the thing off and get the hard drive replaced -- but if it's worth doing, I'll take the extra day to back up what I can.

You might have better luck using a clone.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods

Can time machine work if i don't have and don't connect an external hard drive to it?

will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?

thebunnys wrote:
will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?
Yes, if you partition your internal hard disk into at least two volumes, and use one of them to run Mac OS X from, and the other for TM backup.
This method protects against directory damage and mistakes. However, it offers no protection in case of hard drive failure. Since all hard drives fail sooner or later, it's much better to use an external hard disk for Time Machine.
Optimally, you should have at least two working, up-to-date backups, made with different methods (eg, a Time Machine backup and a Carbon Copy Cloner backup).

Can Time Machine Backup a Folder within my Hard Drive

Hi
Can you advise, when I go into Time Machine it only gives me the option to backup my internal drive, is there any way I can tell it to backup my Jobs Folder only, this folder is on my external which also has other folders on it I dont want backed up?
Many Thanks

If you mean you want Time Machine to back up that one folder and nothing else, then Thomas is correct; use another app.
But if you mean you want to back up your internal HD and that one folder, then yes, TM can do that, if the external is formatted properly.
In TM Preferences > Options, the list is of things not backed-up. If your external disk is listed there, in gray, then it's not formatted right and TM cannot back it up. You'd have to copy the data off somewhere temporarily, reformat it, and copy it back.
If it's listed in black, select it and click the minus sign at the bottom. Then click the plus sign and exclude everything on that drive that you don't want Time Machine to back up.

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.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.

Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
          Destinations:
                    Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 999.86 GB
                    Total number of backups: 64
                    Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
                    Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Too small
                              Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
          /sbin excluded from backup!
          /usr excluded from backup!
          /System excluded from backup!
          /bin excluded from backup!
          /private excluded from backup!
          /Library excluded from backup!
          /Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

It must have found the old backup corrupt.. so you will more than likely have little choice. You can archive off the old backup if it is still useful.
You can also verify it. See A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
He also has some info on this problem. eg C13.

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 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

Can time machine backup internal hard drive and external hard drive?

Hi, I have an iMac that I recently bought Leopard for specifically for Time Machine, which I heard rave reviews. I have a 160gb internal drive that I use for the OS and a 750gb external drive that I use for storing all my media (pics, music, movies). I recently bought an additional external hard drive, capacity 1tb. The original intention was to backup both my internal drive and my external drive to the new 1 tb drive through time machine.
When I go into the Time Machine preferences/options, it lists that the 750 drive is not to be backed up and I cannot remove it from the list. I called Apple support and they stated that you cannot backup an external drive through Time Machine which I think is ridiculous.
Both drives are connected to the computer via Firewire. Is there something I'm not doing right? Does anyone have a possible solution?
Please help as I incredibly annoyed with Apple if this is actually the case. Thanks

Andrew Graceffa wrote:
Hi, I have an iMac that I recently bought Leopard for specifically for Time Machine, which I heard rave reviews. I have a 160gb internal drive that I use for the OS and a 750gb external drive that I use for storing all my media (pics, music, movies). I recently bought an additional external hard drive, capacity 1tb. The original intention was to backup both my internal drive and my external drive to the new 1 tb drive through time machine.
When I go into the Time Machine preferences/options, it lists that the 750 drive is not to be backed up and I cannot remove it from the list. I called Apple support and they stated that you cannot backup an external drive through Time Machine
they told you that?! unbelievable. that's quite false. TM will back up any directly attached drive (external or internal) provided it's properly formatted. it has to be formatted mac os extended. how is your drive formatted?
which I think is ridiculous.
Both drives are connected to the computer via Firewire. Is there something I'm not doing right? Does anyone have a possible solution?
Please help as I incredibly annoyed with Apple if this is actually the case. Thanks!!!
Message was edited by: V.K.

Can anyone help me?Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to... An error occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk. What is the problem? I've made no changes.

I recently starting receiving the error message "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to... An erro occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk. I have had no problems backing up my MacBook Pro 2011 to my Western Digital My Book Live through a Linksys EA4500 router until recently. I've made no major changes. I've ran a diagnosis on my back up drive with no problems. The Time Machine back up starts, but about after about 5 to 10 minutes I get the error message. I can see the shared drive in Finder. The light on the drive blinks while it starts the back up. I can see the shared folders on the networked drive. The backup process starts but for some reason it just stops. Can anyone help?

You can't repair a network volume in Disk Utility.
Backing up to a third-party NAS with Time Machine is risky, and unacceptably risky if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want, and I also know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
If you want network backup with Time Machine, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS for backup, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple.)

Can Anyone Tell Me Why Time Machine Won't Create A BackUp Folder for a Programed Backup?

Does anyone know why my Time Machine is NOT creating a backup folder on and regular scheduled backup? Just recently I downloaded the Time Machine Editor and it said to turn off the regular Time Machine (ON/OFF) switch, and just run off the TM Editor. However, at 1am in the morning, it comes up with the error saying it can't create a Backup Folder. I'm sure this is a simple solution but I really don't know how to handle this... Would appreciate any and all help in this matter... Thanks, Gary

Were you already backing up with Time Machine - ie, did you have an existing backup folder on the drive before you started using Time Machine Editor? If not, you probably need to do at least one full backup with TM, and then start using TME to schedule backups.
Matt

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 told to selectively backup applications and folders?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for