Do I really need to use Time Machine?

I have a lot of pictures and videos but I have them all backed up on DVD-R's. And I also back up my data files too. The thing is that Time Machine requires the use of an entire hard drive to itself. I have 3 hard drives (2 internal and 1 external) but I want to use them for storing files, not just backup.

Well you can always get another one for backup purposes. Hard drives are really, really cheap these days. And the time you save by not backing up to DVD-Rs is worth the money if you value your time.
But no, you don't HAVE to use Time Machine. You don't have to back up anything at all. But if you have a hard disk failure, the questions are if you can get your data back, and how easy is that to do?

Similar Messages

Need Help using Time Machine

Hi
I'm trying to make backups using Time Machine but an error occurs "Time Machine can't continue because a problem with a file. The problem could be temporal please try later"
Because I need to have my info backed up tried to copy to another HD so other error "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -41)
I have noted that some files are blocked, but can't be unblocked clearing the mark of blocking, so them can't be moved to the trash basket.
Anybody would help me please?

There is a mark on the icon file. When you access "get Info" of a file one of the attributes is "Protected" I can't remove this mark on it, so I can't remove the file from disck
Thanks for your help

I need to use Time Machine to recover my old Mail Folders

I switched to a different ISP company for my email. When I setup the new account, it removed all my old Inbox and other folders (Drafts) in Mail. I've been using the Apple Time Machine - so I'd like to retrieve the proper file(s) so I can get some much needed DRAFTS in my old mail account.
What file(s) is needed to copy back so I can see my old mail folders? Thanks!

Csound1's comment may have some bearing here.
Although Time Machine backups to a network share are not officially supported by Apple,, a lot of users try it anyway with the AirPort Extreme...an equivalent Apple router with similar features to the Netgear...and they report mixed results.
Works fine for some, not for others. No one can really explain why this is, other than Apple does not support it.
As a test, if you connect the drive directly to your Mac computer, can Time Machine "see" the drive that way?
If Time Machine can see the drive when it is directly attached to the computer, but not see it when connected to the Netgear, then the options may have run out.
Other than trying a post on the Netgear forum to see if any users have been successful with this, I'm out of ideas at this point.

I have not used Time Machine before, but now need to back up to my external hard drive. How do I do this?

Need to back up hard drive due to needed replacement. Time machine is available to back up to external hard drive. Not clear how to do this and then to restore once the hard drive is replaced.

I would not use Time Machine for this task. Rather I suggest you clone to the external drive. You can then boot from the external drive to restore your clone. First, purchase Carbon Copy Cloner.
Clone using Carbon Copy Cloner
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the left side dropdown menu.
3. Select the Destination volume from the right side dropdown menu.
4. Click on the Clone button.
5. When completed select Disk Center from the Window menu.
6. Click on the Recovery HD tab then select the backup drive from the list.
7. Click on the button labeled "Create a Recovery partition for this volume."
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
You now have a fully bootable copy of your iMac's hard drive. When you receive your iMac back after the drive replacement you can boot it from this backup and use Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the backup from the external drive to the internal drive. The process is identical except you will switch the Source and Destination volumes - Source will be the external drive; Destination will be the internal drive.
Because the newly installed drive will most likely have OS X installed you can skip Steps 5-7. You can now continue to use your external backup drive by setting up scheduled backups with CCC. No need to use Time Machine.

Can i install snow leopard on Macbook without using Time Machine?

Hi, I've backed up my files using SuperDuper and made 2 copies of my data on 2 usb sticks. Do I also need to use Time Machine to back up my files aswell, in order to update osx and install snow leopard?? If I've already got my 2 copies of my files on usb sticks, isn't that enough backing up? Any suggestions will be appreciated thanks!

aprilsviv wrote:
Thanks for answering, so did you manage to upgrade your mac with snow leopard without using time machine? I'd just like to make sure I'm doing the right thing.
To clear up some possible confusion, you don't need any backups (Time Machine or otherwise) to upgrade a Mac from an earlier OS version to Snow Leopard. To do that, just follow Apple's instructions to launch the "Install OS X" app on the Snow Leopard DVD, which upgrades the OS to Snow Leopard without changing your user settings, erasing or changing your user files, & so on. It is an easy process & generally works quite well.
The backup(s) are in case something goes wrong, which is unlikely but not impossible. You should regularly be backing up at least your important user files to an external device whether or not you upgrade ("important" meaning anything you can't afford to lose) since hard drives can fail without warning or other calamities might destroy some or all of the data on them.
At upgrade time, bootable clones like SuperDuper! makes are especially good insurance against any unforeseen upgrade problems: if something goes wrong you can just clone back to the internal drive & return to the pre-upgrade state, without having to hassle with installing anything.

If i use time machine on lion 10.7, can i put all my info back on mavericks from the time machine i did on lion ?

Hi everyone, its my first time using time machine, i want to change from lion to mavericks, but i want to know how that actually works, and if i back up my stuff from lion would it match and would mavericks know what am trying to do here !?.... like i want to have all the sime that i do on my lion OSX but On Mavericks OSX

If you are going to install Mavericks on your existing Mac then you don't need to use Time Machine. It's good to have a Time Machine backup but when you install Mavericks all of your personal files/documents are left intact and are unaffected. Only the operating system files and updated applications are modified on your system.
You may want to consider keeping your Lion backup and setting up the Mavericks backup on a new external hard drive.

Want to use Time Machine, what do I need to do?

Looking to free up space on my computer, heard about Time Machine, but, have no clue what it is or how to use it. Do I really need to use it?

Time Machine makes incremental (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly) backups of your internal drive to an external drive. It should not be viewed as a way of saving space on your internal drive, but should be considered part of any backup scheme.
If you're running out of space on your internal drive I would recommend either getting an external drive on which to store data or upgrading your internal drive to a higher-capacity drive. I do recommend getting an external drive of at least 2-3x the size of your internal drive for a Time Machine backup, as well as an external drive using a 'clone' of your internal drive as additional backup.
While all of this (putting in a larger-capacity internal drive, investing in two external drive - one for a Time Machine backup and one for a clone) might sound expensive, drive prices have come down tremendously in the past couple of years and it's a measure of how important your data is to you: hard drives fail and it's best to have at least two backup schemes in place - I prefer Time Machine backups as well as clones. All my drives will never fail at once.
Good luck,
Clinton

HT201250 Do I need to partition my external hard drive if I'm using Time Machine and other storage?

I never used Time Machine before. I was storing select files on my external hard drive as well as using my libraries (IPhoto, ITune, IMovies) directly off of the external hard drive. That hard drive is giving me problems, so I bought a new one. I want to set up Time Machine on this one, but I also want to keep my active libraries on it. Do I need to partition the external hard drive?

You can partition the new drive, just don't make one of the partitons a TimeMachine drive, save a TM for a entire drive with more space than the boot drive as it saves "states" thus requires more room than most people expect.
I highly advise one drive to one drive for backups, and not placing too many backup eggs in one vulnerable hardware basket basically.
Drives are cheap, data is not. Hardware can fail just as often as software, so you need a multiple backup and storage stragedy to protect even against theft and fire.
Most commonly used backup methods

I just purchased Time Capsule today. I ONLY want to use it as an external drive. I do not need it for Time Machine. I can see the TC in my finder, but when I click on a file or video to drag and drop, I get message that TC can't be modified. Help please

I just purchased Time Capsule today. I ONLY want to use it as an external drive. I do not need it for Time Machine. I need to free up room on my computer. As of now, I can't even load updates. I can see the TC in my finder, but when I click on a file or video to drag and drop, I get message that TC can't be modified. Help please!

I agree with Kappy.. passing files and especially via wireless is slow as slow.
Just need to be sure your TC is the new AC model??
And the OS on the computer is Lion?
Have you completed the setup of the TC via the utility? You do still need to get internet via the TC so it has to be plugged into the main router..
Give us the full picture of the network.
Then we can help you get into it.. whether you should put your files on it is another question.

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

HT201250 What is Airport Utility and why do I need to access this in order to backup my iMac using Time Machine...PLEASE??

What is Airport Utility and why do I need to access Airport witeless devices in order to backup my iMac using Time Machine...HELP!!! PLEASE??

AirPort Utility is required to configure an Apple AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule.
Time Machine can use a Time Capsule or a locally connected volume. You only need to use AirPort Utility if you are using a Time Capsule.

Need some help with backing up external hard drive using Time Machine

Hi all, I'm trying to work out the best way to back up multiple iPhoto libraries using Time Machine.
At the moment I have got an iMac and Macbook Pro, both of which have an iPhoto library (with different content). Currently these are not backed up at all. So what I want to do is back both up to an NAS drive, which I know is straightforward.
What I also want to do is create one iPhoto library on an external hard drive that I can use with my MBP, and then delete the iPhoto library on my MBP to free up some hard drive space (it's running slower and slower and I'm hoping that this might help it run quicker).
So, as I want to have the library on two seperate drives in case one fails, what I want to know is whether I could use Time Machine to back up my external hard drive as well as the internal drive of my MBP? Also, would I need to have the external drive connected at all times for Time Machine to "see" it?
I hope that makes sense, all I seem to be doing currently is going round and round and can't work out whether what I want to do is possible or not.
Thanks in advance

If I understand your goal correctly, you're considering using Time Machine as external storage, and it doesn't work that way. Time Machine keeps around what it can, and older stuff gets flushed as the storage available to Time Machine reaches its lower threshold due to the addition of newer stuff. When the older stuff gets flushed is not predictable.
It is possible to have several Time Machine backups aimed at the same target (this can be done with Apple Time Capsule, for instance), though you might want to partition the disks to ensure that the intended amount of storage is available. Different NAS drives have different features here.
NAS is only as fast as your network connection, and that's almost always much slower than the in-box I/O connections; a local disk will be far faster than a NAS disk, just because of the bottleneck that is wired gigabit Ethernet, and most WiFi is slower and sometimes far slower than wired gigabit Ethernet. FWIW.
If your MacBook Pro is old enough and you have $$ but aren't in a position to spend $$$$$ on a newer model, then consider an in-place drive upgrade.
If your network connection is fast enough to transfer the amount of data you're dealing with in a reasonable time, there are also hosted storage options.
You can use a NAS drive as storage independent of Time Machine, and relocate stuff there. (You'll still want to have backups of that data, as NAS drives — even NAS with RAID — can still lose files, become corrupted or otherwise ruin your data day.
As for your performance, keeping about 10% or so free on the disks is the local preference, but it's worth reviewing the performance of the whole system — Performance Monitor, Console.app, etc — to see if there's something else going on, or if your system load and personal performance expectations are exceeding what your MacBook Pro can provide.

Imac has crashed..need new hard drive....had external drive connected...was using time machine.....so...itunes file should be on external drive....how do i import them to my new mac mini?

my iMac has crashed...was told I need a new hard drive.....meantime I bought a mac mini.....I had an external drive connected to the mac....and was using time machine for backups....so....how do i move itunes music files to my new mac mini from the external drive?

Turn Time Machine OFF temporarily in its preference pane. Leave the window open.
Navigate in the Finder to your backup disk, and then to the folder named "Backups.backupdb" at the top level of the volume. If you back up over a network, you'll first have to mount the disk image file containing your backups by double-clicking it. Descend into the folder until you see the snapshots, which are represented by folders with a name that begins with the date of the snapshot. Find the one you want to restore from. There's a link named "Latest" representing the most recent snapshot. Use that one, if possible. Otherwise, you'll have to remember the date of the snapshot you choose.
Inside the snapshot folder is a folder hierarchy like the one on the source volume. Find one of the items you can't restore and select it. Open the Info dialog for the selected item. In the Sharing & Permissions section, you may see an entry in the access list that shows "Fetching…" in the Name column. If so, click the lock icon in the lower right corner of the dialog and authenticate. Then delete the "Fetching…" item from the access list. Give yourself read access if you don't already have it. Click the gear icon below the list and select Apply to enclosed items from the popup menu.
Now you should be able either to copy the item in the Finder or to restore it in the time-travel view. If you use the time-travel view, be sure to select the snapshot you just modified. If successful, repeat the operation with the other items you were unable to restore. You can select multiple items in the Finder and open a single Info dialog for all of them by pressing the key combination option-command-I.
When you're done, turn TM back ON and close its preference pane.

I will be travelling abroad but use time machine and modem at home. Do I need to leave these switched on while away for iCloud to work?

I will be travelling abroad but use time machine and modem at home. Do I need to leave these switched on while away for iCloud to work?

No. iCloud has nothing to do with Time Machine on your computer, and as long as your computer has synched all desired content and settings to iCloud, not only does the modem not need to be switched on, your computer doesn't need to be on either.
Regards.

HT4753 Do I need to turn time machine on to use versions?

My versions is not working. I tried a simple thing like creating a simple text file and saving a couple versions. Then clicking to browse all versions which then get the spinning wheel for a while, then when versions opens, it only shows black boxes with the text "unable to open version".
So one of my questions is do I need to have Time Machine turned on to use this feature? Currently it is turned off.
My machine is brand new with solid state drive and 8GB of RAM.
Thanks.

Drat.
It sounds like the Versions database is corrupted. We've seen that on a few occasions.
It's a hidden folder, so you'll have to be able to see it. Download the free TinkerTool app, per #A3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (Versions isn't related to Time Machine, that's just where my page with directions is).
Once you can see the hidden files, open a Finder window to your internal HD. You'll see a lot of stuff shown in gray that you haven't seen before.
At or near the top should be the .DocumentRevisions-V101 folder, with a red badge. That's the culprit. Delete it (you'll have to authenticate), empty the trash, reset the Finder to hide hidden files, and do a Restart.
Then try your document again (that should re-create the folder).

Do I really need to use Time Machine?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for