How do I get Time Machine to ONLY backup my main drive?

I am a video editor that has clients continuously bringing me hard drives to edit from. The problem is that every time I plug in a new disk, I need to disable it in Time Machine. If I forget to disable it, then Time Machine will automatically try to shove it on itself and in the process will wipe out all past versions of my main drive. The ONLY drive that I EVER want backed up is my main drive. I love the feature of Time Machine where there might be some old file I had on my desktop the week before that I deleted and now need back. Well, I can't get it back, because during the process of trying to backup some random drive that a client gives to me, it will automatically wipe out all previous backups of my main drive to try to make room.

All true, and I do not actually use CCC that way. I use TM for my daily backup (actually, I have it set to run every 12hours), and I use SuperDuper for a pair of clones (one offsite) that I manually incremental update weekly or so. I also have CCC for a monthly additional clone that lives in my firesafe when not being updated.
There is an older freeware (or maybe it is donationware ?) utility named Time Machine Scheduler still around, but I do not know how or even if it runs on OS X 10.8, although it runs on 10.7 so may well work fine - it will let you specify a particular time to backup.
The default TM backup frequency can be easily modified from the command line:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 43200
Where the number is in seconds, so 43200 means to kick off a TM backup every 12 hours (the default in the *.plist file is 3600, or every hour).

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How can I get Time Machine to only backup new and changed files?

Time machine is backing up more than just new and changed files and is filling up my back up disk too fast. How can I change it so that it will only back up the new or changed files instead of the whole drive? I used to have my backups go back months, but now it is backing up only a couple days back, since there is no room left on my back up hard drive. Each back up is like 400 gigs, instead of just the amount of the changed or new files.
Thanks for any ideas or help!
kt

Thank you Eric! I did go look at this info and tried to do a full reset of TM and I am still getting full backups of my HD instead of just new/changed files. The weird thing is that I have 9 BU's from over the last 2 days and they all seem to be around 415 gigs and my backup HD is only 750 gigs! I don't get it. It shows that I have around 75 gigs of free space on that 750 gig drive. It doesn't make sense.
So I am having the same problems even after doing the full reset of TM. I am using Mavericks 10.9.5 which they don't talk about in this info.
Does anyone have any further ideas on this? I don't understand how I could possibly have that many full BU's on my HD that is only 750 gigs.
Thank you,
kt

Before downloading lion, i want to backup my computer with time machine and a G-DRIVE Slim. But how can i use time machine to only backup my system once?

Just wondering, how can i use time machine to only backup my system once? Just this once and not on a weekly basis?

Upgrade. My three year old Mac Pro and year old MacBook Pro have no problem. Both seem faster.
And there's your problem reading entirely subjective views on forums, from people that might or might not have decently maintained systems, good operating practices, or whatever....
Strangely, when most companies issue new software, it is because they believe (and believe they have checked) that it is better than the previous version.

How do I get time machine to see my Seagate external drive? I

I continue to have trouble getting the machine to ID an external drive for time machine. I bought a new external, Seagate, installed it and things were fine, until I had to move my computer due to home repairs. I ejected the Seagate as part of the shut down for the move, and when I reconnected everything OS now no longer sees the Seagate.
I have a 2008 Imac with 10.8.4
Current support info does not seem to do the trick. Thanks,

Hello [email protected],
Thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing with your external hard drive. I found an article with steps you can take when an external device is not being recognized.
I recommend following the steps in the section titled "Top troubleshooting tips" in the following article:
USB and FireWire Quick Assist
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

How Do you get Time Machine to work with a network drive?

I have not been able to choose a Drive for Time Machine on a Network Drive. The network drive is active and shown on my desktop. How Do I use it?

Correct. Back up to a network volume (other than Time Capsule) is not supported, so if you want to do it you have to use the command line to set something as shown in the article.
Another option you could do would be to create a large disk image file on the NAS device and mount it on your client and back up to that. You'd use Disk Utility to create a large (say, 200 GB) sparse image on the network storage and then double click it to mount it on your machine and set TM to back up to that. I could show you how to do this in 30 seconds but instructing it over a forum post... not so easy

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

Hi..
Thanks for the reply..
My original I Phone 5 was running IOS 6.12
My I phone 5S currently runs IOS 8..When I upgraded it, it had IOS 7 on it which made the I Photo app compatible with everything below IOS 8...( which the photo app is not compatible with ) so I just connected the I Phone 5S to my computer and thinking the new phone had IOS 7 on it that these was nothing to worry about..I thought all 900 + pictures in the photo stream would transfer but somewhere in the process, I Tunes decides to just go and install IOS 8 which requires that you run a " Photo Migration App" to transfer photos from IOS 7 & below. The problem was is that I didn't want IOS 8 on my new 5S so I thought I wouldn't have to do that part..
Anyway the phone emerged with IOS 8 on it and the only photos that remained were the ones that were actually on the phone..The 900 + I had in the stream didn't transfer because the Photos that works on IOS 7 and below isn't compatible with IOS 8..I guess you have to use the photo migration app that comes with IOS 8 & I phone 6..But I didn't ask to upgrade to IOS 8...It just did it on it's own!
I still have the I Phone 5 Back up that I did just before giving it back to Verizon but if I try to restore the I Phone 5S running IOS 8 those photos in the stream will not go back on the phone because IOS 8 isn't compatible with the I Photos" that ran on IOS 7 and below..
So I have an I Pad mini that runs IOS 7..should I try and erase it...and put that I Phone 5 backup on it and pray the photos that were in the stream come back on it so I can transfer them back to my computer...then erase the I pad mini again and restore it using it's original backup that I have on the computer and the in the cloud?
I know this sounds confusing but I'm at a loss as to what to do..This is what I found ...http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201386
but it doesn't help me..
Steve

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.

How do I get Time Machine to back up my iTunes movies and tv shows?

How do I get Time Machine to back up my iTunes movies and tv shows?

They're backed up automatically unless in a folder in the exclusion list of the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
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HT201250 How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do

How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do?

Uh…you're saying two entirely different things here. If you removed Time Machine from the Dock, it could not be in the Trash. But if you removed it from your Applications or Utilities folder and put it in the Trash, that's a problem.
So, which one did you really do?

How do you get time machine to reset your computer to the specific date you would like?

How do you get time machine to reset your computer to the specific date you would like?

Hey carlleeh,
Thanks for the question. The following resource may guide you through that process:
OS X Mountain Lion: Recover your entire system
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11192
Thanks,
Matt M.

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up?

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up? I have an external drive with data I need to add to my overall back up with what's on my mac. I have a separate drive already active as the Time Machine backup disk. I can see how to EXCLUDE disks, but how do I ADD that new external drive to regular backups?
I have 10.8.5 system on my Mac laptop.

Remove the drive from the list of items set to be excluded. It needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for this to be possible.
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I am running 10.7.5 and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Kathy P's MacBook.sparsebundle" is already in use. what do i do now?

i am running 10.7.5 on an older MacBook and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Kathy P’s MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use. what do i do now?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

How can I get Time Machine to eject drive

Since I installed Mavericks, I can't eject my 1 TB Seagate external Drive that I use for Time Machine. I get a message that it is in use by another program and can't be ejected. I can only eject by "force ejecting". Drive is connected via USB. Time machine appears to be working ok, I just can't easily eject the drive, which makes me a little nervous. If I turn off Time machine and then plug in my drive then it ejects just fine. If I mount the drive with time machine turned on and then turn it off, the disk has to be force ejected. If I have TM turned on when I mount the disk and it is turned on when I try to eject, it has to be force ejected. Any suggestions?

Why won't Apple deal with this? It apparently has been going on in other versions as well. What a pain!

PLEASE HELP! How do I get Time Machine to remove old backups?

It is my understanding that Time Machine will never fill up the drive it's on because it will remove old backups to make room for new ones. It's not doing that for me. The drive Time Macine is backing up to has filled up & will not allow any more to be written to it, so I can't do backups. I don't see anywhere that I can change a setting to fix this problem. It would be VERY helpful if someone would walk me though how to fix this problem. I've had to turn Time Machine off because it's locking up my system trying to write to the drive.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!

Thank you. I've gone there & read what's at the link. I've tried going into Time Machine & for some reason I can only see backups (in Time Machine) that go back to earlier today. However, if I actually look on the disc that I'm backing up to, I see database files that go back to April of this year. I looked earlier today & I saw files that went all the way back to October of LAST year, but I just did a big installation & that must of put things over the edge.
Anyway, I'd like to say that I saw an answer to my problem at Pondini's site, but I've been there looking around since before I wrote this thread asking for help & I just don't see anything that looks like it will specifically help me on this situation.
I'm still stuck.

How do I get Time Machine to ONLY backup my main drive?

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