First backup messed up?

Question

I set up my TC pretty quickly. Went to TM, chose to exclude a downloads file and users/myname/library/FileSync (because this holds the sparsebundle that is my local iDisk copy), clicked to change disks from my old TM backup HD.
During the backup there appeared on my desktop a Disk Image with a folder in it labeled "Backups.backupdb" which seemed odd to me. And in the TC icon on my desktop was a sparsebundle image, which also seemed weird to me. Not what I was used to in my old TM backups.
After the backup, the Disk Image disappeared, but the TC icon remained with the sparsebundle image in it. Odd.
I went to erase the external HD connected to the TC, which held my old TM backup. It started to erase it (in disk utility) but stopped, telling me that FileSync was in use. So I ejected that disk, connected it directly to my MBP (OS 10.5.2), and erased it.
Then the disk image reappeared with that folder labeled Backups.backupdb, and in that a folder labeled Cherry Donald’s Computer, and in that folder with dates and times and all the stuff I was used to with my old TM backups.
So what is happening? Why is there a sparsebundle image in the TC icon? Shouldn't the folders that are in that Disk Image be in the TC icon, and the Disk Image not be there at all?
Perhaps I should not have excluded users/my name/library/FileSync? Perhaps I should have excluded only the sparsebundle INSIDE sers/my name/library/FileSync, which is the local copy of my iDisk.
Any advice?
EDIT: Okay now after the latest backup, the Disk Image is gone. Still, the sparsebundle is in the TC icon, rather than a bunch of folder with dates and such. Is this how it is supposed to be?
a second EDIT: Okay, now I opened the Time Machine application, just to see that I could go back in time, and the Disk Image appeared again, and is there now. So it disappears after a backup, then reappears if I open TM and look around.
Message was edited by: EddieT
Message was edited by: EddieT

Answer 1

What I was referring to is the Sparse Disk Image Bundle file that is in users/user name/library/FileSync/. This is there if you have an iDisk and if you manually sync it. Unfortunately, this is backed up in its entirety each time TM works (unless you choose to exclude it, which I did). So that should you go back in time in TM, you simply come across this entire sparsebundle. You can only restore the entire thing, or nothing, not individual files within it. What I mean is, you cannot open it in TM and pluck individual files to restore. This has been discussed in other threads here, and I think it is a major disadvantage of TM. I keep almost all my documents on my iDisk, so that I can work on them from two locations. I would like to back up the files there with TM so that I can go back and see individual files in the iDisk, but as I said, it is an all or nothing proposition.