Difference between Time Machine and Backup

Besides the fact that to backup more than 100MB of data using Apple's Backup software you have to have a .Mac membership, what is the difference or pros and cons of using Time Machine vs. Backup for restoring lost or damaged files to their original location? Which one is easier and better for this or are they the same? Time Machine you can go back to a previous system state in case a newly installed item has created an issue, but can't you do the same thing by just uninstalling the item?

Time Machine and Apple's "Backup" are actually quite different. "Backup" creates archives which you can't read directly, and allows you to backup to optical media and online .Mac iDisk, as well as hard disks. You create "plans" for various folders or types of data that you want to backup, such as your Personal Settings, Documents, Photos, entire iLife, whatever. "Backup" typically makes an initial full backup and then does incremental backups after that for speed.
Time Machine you would typically use to backup your entire drive, and it saves files that are directly-readable. It doesn't backup to optical media like DVDs or to the iDisk.
The two apps are actually complimentary. You should backup your iTunes, iPhotos, etc to optical media periodically and save these disks off-site, like in a safe-deposit box. If want to keep your Personal Settings, Keychains, etc handy on a USB flash drive you can do that with "Backup" too. Backup allows you to set up custom backup plans that work for you. You can choose how often you want to backup to various destinations.
It is also good to use a cloner that makes bootable clones as well, such as SuperDuper! or CCC, so that you can restart immediately from the clone if your main drive won't boot.
I use all 3 methods, and actually used all 3 methods to restore my system just yesterday (after learning that the Leopard Graphics Update causes 12" Powerbooks to crash whenever attempting to use the DVD Player.app). I recloned my internal drive from bootable SuperDuper! backup that I had made before the Leopard Graphics Update (and then reapplied the 10.5.2 Combo and iLifeSupport), used Time Machine to restore more recent files, and then "Backup" to restore recent Keychain changes.

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What's the difference between time capsule and time machine?

What is the difference between time capsule and time machine?

See Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.

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The only thing i know is that both of them can share and backup files among different computers.
is that correct?
I'm still not quite understanding the exact functions of them
so your help and explanation will be highly appreciated.!!
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Did i do something to cast your anger upon me o mighty Camelot, backed up bypterobyte?
Not at all, Mark - at least not in my case. I'm sorry if it came over that way. I was just saying that there's a slew of differences between Time Capsule and Mac OS X Server - it's almost unfair to put them in the same bucket.
Yes, Mac OS X Server can act as a backup destination for Time Machine clients, but it can also do a lot more than that. To be fair, it wasn't clear from the original post whether the focus was on backups alone (in which case the two are reasonably similar), but my point was that Mac OS X Server is a whole different animal. It's like comparing a Smart Car and an RV - both will get you from point A to point B, but the RV has bathroom, shower, beds, satellite TV, a kitchen, etc.

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Is there a difference between Time Machine & Backup

I just bought a new MacBook running Leopard, I had Backup and still do and now I have Time Machine. I have a G Drive 250 GB external hard drive. Which app should I be using Time Machine or Backup?
Is one better then the other? do they work in conjuction with each other?
The reason I ask is my girlfriends kitten spilled a glass of water on my old (6 months) MacBook and fortunately the friendly folks at my local apple store were apple to retrieve all my info off of my hard drive. Going forward I want to make sure I'm better prepared backing things up.
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Try this: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307050

Time machine and backup

I have a quick question. I'm pretty new to macbooks. I just recently bought a macbook pro 13" and hooked it up to an external harddrive. I used Time Machine to backup the entire system. I take a lot of pictures so I've used up about half my hard drive capacity. My question is....can I use the same external hard drive just to store pics and also as Time Machine? Or...do I have to buy another external hard drive to just store pics?

Time Machine works best if it has its own, exclusive space. If you want to put other things on the same drive, partition it. See #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
But before you do that, how are you going to back up those pictures? If they're in the same partition as your backups, Time Machine cannot back them up. If they're in a separate partition of the same drive, when you tell Time Machine to back it up, it will send you a message reminding you that it's not a good idea to have your originals and backups on the same physical HD. When (not if) it fails, you risk losing both copies.
If your pictures are valuable, yes, get another drive for them. Format it for a Mac, per #1 in Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks. External HDs are excluded from Time Machine by default, so go to Time Machine prefs > Options, select the new drive, and click the minus sign at the bottom to remove it from the exclusions box. Then Time Machine will back it up along with your internal HD.

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Update: Finally...
At least for the Promise Pegasus R4... but I noticed on other threads that WD drives are also acting up too so this might work with them too.
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Conflict between Time Machine and Intego VirusBarrier X5?

Ok, so I was fiddling around tonight after I had some trouble. I got stuck in Time Machine and could only get out by holding down the power button. In Time Machine, I could do nothing--could not look at backups, could not cancel out. The starfield moved, but no activity from the application. Moreover, using the power button I could not quit or shut down normally, only holding the button down worked.
Ran maintenance scripts and repaired permissions. Same problem. Finally, I turned off real-time scanning for the new version of Intego VirusBarrier. That seems to be the trick. Looks like a problem there.

I understand the majority opinion, but having lost a mac hard drive to a virus in 1987 and having recently spent a week cleaning my secretary's pc of a host of malware and viruses, I'm going to be a cautious user and run Intego.

Differences between Time Capsule and Airport Extreme re Time Machine?

We are [told|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2299608] that a "USB drive connected to a recent dual-band Airport Extreme may work as a destination for Time Machine backups," but that "... it's not supported by Apple."
With regard to Time Machine, what are the relevant differences between a Time Capsule and an Airport Extreme acting as a USB disk server, e.g. protocol used, size limits, server limitations, etc.?

+We are told that a "USB drive connected to a recent dual-band Airport Extreme may work as a destination for Time Machine backups," but that "... it's not supported by Apple."+
A bit of clarification. For the record, Apple says that you cannot do this in this Support Document. I haven't seen a similar document for Snow Leopard, but I'm sure it's out there. You will receive no assistance from Apple in the event of any problems.
Despite this, some users have tried this anyway. Some report success, others report some success and yet others report no success. We've also seen a number of recent posts from users who say that it worked for them for a time...several weeks to several months...but they are now experiencing problems.
Having experienced the latter myself first hand, my opinion would be that it would be unwise to even consider Time Machine backups with the AirPort Extreme unless you have another backup strategy already in place.
The Time Capsule was designed to work with Time Machine backups. The AirPort Extreme was not. The answer may be that simple.

Behaviour's difference between Time Capsule and Airport Extreme + Ext HDD ?

Hello !
I would like to know if there is any behaviour's difference between a Time Capsule and an Airport Extreme base station + External HDD ? For instance, once Time Machine configured, have I to mount manually the drive connected to the Airport Extreme to trigger the backup ? Or once my wifi is up, TIme Machine detects the Airport Extreme base station, the hard disk, and triggers the backup ?
Regards,
Mr Lejeune

Theoretically there is no difference between the two. In reality there are two differences. First, Apple does not officially support Time Machine backups on a drive connected to the AEBS. If you run into technical difficulties you'll get no help from AppleCare techs nor from an Apple genius. Second, my experience suggests that it is a fragile backup backup system. My wife is using a TC at work whilst I have a base station and hard drive connected to it at home. Both of us have MacBooks, have the same software, and have the same basic habits. In a three month period I experienced frequent stalled backups - the last one fatal. After numerous attempts to get the backup going again I was forced to format the drive and start over. When I started over, having verified that the backup was working again, I abandoned TM and began backing up wirelessly using ChronoSync. My wife had fewer stalled backups (not none, but fewer) and thus far, nearly a year later, she has never had to format and start over.
In theory, wireless backup with TM is a great idea but its execution presently leave something to be desired. Frankly, while I am using TM to backup to a tethered hard drive and I'm beginning to trust it despite being a version 1 product, I wouldn't rely on TC and TM as my sole backup scheme.

Sharing a Time Capsule between Time Machine and Data Storage

I currently have a MBP with a 120 GB hard drive that is busting at the seams. I have a 500 GB time capsule which I use Time Machine on. I am going to move iphoto and itunes libraries onto an external drive and I was wondering whether I can share the Time Capsule between TM backup and being an external drive. It currently has more than 325 GB available. Appreciate any advice.

alastairandnicole wrote:
Sorry, I'm not that Mac literate. My plan was to connect the WD Book external hard drive by USB to the Time Capsule so that it will wirelessly mount. Will TM back that up automatically?
No TM will not back up network drives. as I said it has to be directly attached. if you attach the drive to the computer instead of the TC, TM will back it up.

Solved: Time Machine and backups to regular NAS

I recently purchased a Synology DS-107+ NAS (1TB) and have been able to get Time Machine working with it. If you are interested, follow this link: http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/07/15/os-x-time-machine-backup-to-synology-ds1
Throughput via wireless (AEX) comes in between 5-7MB/sec.

Are you aure they are not local snaphots?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
You can read more about that here...
http://pondini.org/TM/30.html

My Time Machine and backup drive are not recognized and do not work after this update...is there a way to fix this?

After I upgraded to Yosemite, my MAC Time Machine backup drive is no longer recognized and the process freezes when I try to re-install the drive from the drive's software. Is there a way to fix this?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Difference between Time Machine and Backup

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