Lion Time Machine to Be Used in Snow Leopard

Hi. My iMac is back now after the GPU was damaged (after installing Lion). I downgraded to Snow Leopard but my Time Machine was saved in Lion can I restore this to my Snow Leopard? Would it be compatible and the restore would be flawless? Thank you in advance.
Gbu,
Alvin

No.

Similar Messages

Unable to import or copy photos from a time machine back up saved from snow leopard into iPhoto now running on lion

unable to import or copy photos from a time machine back up saved from snow leopard into iPhoto now running on lion

The correct method of restoring photos from Time Machine is to restore the entire library.
The way that TM backs up files makes nearly impossible to go into the backup via the Finder and recover individual files. So you will have to restore a library that contains the photos you need being sure to select the option to keep both versions.
Then open the restored library and export those photos you need. Open your original library and import those photos. After that you can delete the recently restored library.
OT

Time Machine Not Recognized After Clean Snow Leopard Install

I've searched for this particular question.
I was unhappy with Snow Leopard dragging. I wanted a clean install. I did not have the original snow leopard installation for my computer, so I got a different snow leopard DVD. This has apparently caused problems with time machine.
The clean install in complete. I am now ready to migrate my Time Machine backup onto my iMac24". However, Time Machine is not recognized--at least not in the way I want.
When I plug my time machine HD into the USB, snow leopard asks if I want to use this for future back-ups. I decline, because I specifically want to restore what has already been backed up. The HD is visible as an external device--and I can in fact see the raw data of my time machine backup stored in folders.
However, when I enter migration assistant, time machine is invisible. On the page where I am expecting to select time machine, I instead get a perpetually spinning circle icon.
I suspect time machine is "linked" to the prior snow leopard operating system, rather than to the computer ID. Obviously, this is a bit of a mistake on my part. However, I'm already into the breech and I've got no choice but to go forward.
Please advise how to redirect my time machine to its new master (same computer, different snow leopard registration)?
Thanks so very much.

Retail disk? Yes, it was the snow leopard CD.
I used a single license snow snow leopard CD install the first time around, when snow leopard was first released. At at that time I "upgraded" my system from leopard.
This time, I used a different physical disk with snow leopard with a family license. This time I did a "clean" install in which I first erased my hard drive using disk utilities.
There were no problems with the installation.
As I say, my time machine hard drive is "recognized" by the computer as an external drive. It just is not recognized when I utilize the migration assistant. It is also "recognized" as a time machine, but only as a potential time machine for prospective use to update going forward, whereas I want it to open up as a time machine for my iMac that I just wiped clean yesterday.
Thanks for your assistance.

Have a New MBP with Lion preinstalled. Need Snow Leopard instead. Have time machine from old computer running Snow Leopard as well. PLEASE HELP!!

I have a brand new Macbook Pro with Lion preinstalled. I haven't even turned it on yet. I desperately need Snow Leopard because my music software is not Lion compatible yet. I also have a Time Machine backup from my old Macbook that is currently running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. How can I get Snow Leopard on my new Macbook Pro? Also, will Time Machine replace the applications on the new Macbook Pro with the older versions I have in the backup or how exactly does that work? I've been staring at the box for 2 days now worried I won't be able to use any of my software. PLEASE HELP ME!

It depends on the build of your machine; normally, no Mac can ever boot from a system older than what it came with. However, there are exceptions: right around the time the new OS is released, there may be some machines which will be able to run both OS's. Here is some information on software builds:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159
You may have to call Apple to figure out if you can use SL on yours or not.

I want to use two separate Lion Time Machine backups and use them to create two separate profiles on one new computer

This is something I need to do temporarily but I must do it.
I have an iMac 27 (end of year 2009) I5. It has 1 TB internal and I want to replace it with a 2 TB internal.
I have time machine backups on an external hard drive that has been connected via Firewire.
I have another iMac (my son's)Imac 24 Intel Core 2 Duo that has it's own separate Time machine backup to it's own separate firewire connected external drive. Both machines are completely up to date with the latest version of Lion and all other necessary software updates.
When the internal hardrive is replaced - I want to use my latest time machine backup to create one profile on the imac and then use my son's latest time machine back up for a second profile. The end goal being to have everything from my current set up ie: apps, documents, itunes, etc existing in one profile and everything in my son's current set up existing in the other profile. We can both be administrators for the time being as well. I should note even though we both have some of the same apps, we both also have other apps that the other does not.
My profile will be using about 900 gigs of total space.
My son's profile will be using about 250 gigs of total space.
This is temporary until the new iMac is released. Then I will want to transfer my profile to that leaving my son's intact on the iMac 27 I5.
I realize that during the temporary period that Time Machine will be making backups of this entire two profile setup, which I am now understanding as I write this will create a new issue for me when I want to transfer only my profile to the new computer as well. But one bridge to cross at a time, I guess.
I need to do this because we must bring his current computer to my father - as his iMac G5 is inoperable. We have been doing this round robin hand me down in our family since IMac DV special edition :-)
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. And any other suggestions as well.
Thanks very much.

Hey Shootist000, Thanks for the replies. First off, I am actually okay if we both have each other applications so I am not concerned about that. It is still unclear from what you have said as to whether I can in fact, use these two separte time machine backup to create two separate profiles on the new hard drive. If that in fact can be done, then - will it create two copies of the apps we both have in the ROOT of the drive as well as placing all the ones we each have separately?
And reading your second reply, makes me think that maybe the partition is the way to go to begin with and then down the road - after I am in the new iMac, I could reformat the iMac 27 with only one partion and restore my son's latest back prior to the reformat thus giving him full access to the 2 TB of the drive.
If this is still making sense, does this mean :
replace the 1TB with a 2TB - but have it partitione - 1.5 TB & 500 GB.
Install(Restore using Time Machine) my latest back up prior to the 1.5 partition
Install (Restore using Time Machine) my son's latest back up prior to the 500 gig partition
Lastly, in order for us both to be using the partioned computer - I am assuming Switch user can no longer be used - so would we need to restart and select our respective partions in order to use the computer? And if so, how would we each be able to be using time machine to back up - two separte external hard drives - with each one dedicated to only one partition? Or ?
Thanks so much.
Ironically, I am only trying to do this so that I don't need to manually install all his apps, setting, games, blah blah for this temporary period. :-)

Time machine and backward compatibility to Snow Leopard

Please bear with a long background explanation but I am not sure what is relevant. I have two Mac notebooks both backed up using Time machine to separate USB Hard drives. I upgraded to Lion on both machines but decided to revert to Snow Leopard on the MBAir (instability in one application that I use a lot). I backed up the MBA using time machine to the USB drive and did a second backup to the NAS. I then erased the MBA hard drive using Disk Utility and tried to reinstall Snow Leopard using the "MBA Software Reinstall Drive" (a USB flash drive). Following the instructions that came with the drive didn't work and neither did the (different) instructions in the user guide. I then tried using the Recovery drive on the MBA and Disk Utility to install SL. I did some thing wrong (but I am not sure what) and it told me I could not install SL to the same drive. Eventually I got the OS installed from the USB flash drive.
Perhaps foolishly I left the USB backup drive connected to the MBA during this process. When I had fininshed the OS installation I looked for the Backup drive and couldn't see it. I checked Disk Utility and it showed the drive but did not recognise the name of the partiton and said the partion was not mounted. It would not mount the drive and had no options to repair or verify disk. There was some other information but I did not make a note of it. I tried to read the drive on the MBP and it opened for about a mintue and I could see the files but then it disappeared from the MBA - same story. I tried to repair disk in Disk Utility but it said there was no problem with the disk.
This morning, I connected the drive to the MBP (NB running 10.7.2) again to see if I could see what the problem might be and the backup files were back and presumably accessible.
OH! I just reconnected the USB drive to the MBA (running 10.6.8) and got a message saying (the dialogue box has disappeared) something like: it could not read the disk because it was written in 10.7.2. I guess that is the explanation but where do I go from here? It is not at all helpful to do all the backups and then find they are not backward compatible.
Is there a way for me to get the MBA to access the Time machine backup via another computer? Or can I do use a different method to access the data?
NOPE. Its happened again. I just reconnected the Backup Drive to the MBP (running 10.7.2) and now I can't see the disk. Disk Utility shows the partiton as unmounted and once again it won't mount. This time there was a repair option and I clicked it and got the following error messages: "Disk Utility stopped repairing 'disk3'" (it seems to have given it this name) In the 'Details" it said
Invalid Volume Header @ 0: incorrect block type
Invalid Volume Header @ 999539297792: I/O error
disk3 is not a CoreStorage volume
Error: Storage system verify or repair failed.
I don't know if this is an OS problem or a disk problem or both. Any thoughts?

I would say disk problem.
If it were mine, I would reformat it and see if that corrects the problems.
If not, it is time to send it to recycle.
Allan

Will it work to recover from a Time machine data backed up under Snow Leopard?

Hello,
Mine a Mac Book Air that has 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and RAM: 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3.
I have time machine back up on an external HD.
Once I install the Lion os, would I be able to use the backed up data under Snow Leopard to an external HD if any eventualities on a later date? Data such as photos in Aperture library or folders with Mac version of Windows Office 2008.
[The time mechine backed up data was under Snow Leopard and my Mac Book Air now has the Lion OS]
I understand as soon as I upgraded to Lion I should create a new back up with time mechine but in case if that is not done......
I hope your understand What I mean..
Regards

What you propose should work. There could be problems with data for applications such as Mail where the application version and format of the data changed in Lion.

Time Machine will not backup after Snow Leopard.

Pertinent information:
Macbook Pro pre-aluminum body
Time Machine backing up over network to a ppc mini with 500 gb external drive.
This worked fine with Leopard for over a year. I installed Snow Leopard last week and this is the first time I got a chance to try a Time Machine backup. Doesn't see to want to backup no matter what I do.
I tried:
- Renaming the sparsebundle
- Disconnecting/reconnecting the external drive.
- Re-selecting disk in Time Machine config and nothing works.
- Even ran Verify Disk and Repair Disk on the external drive. Found a header error, but Disk Utility said it was minor and fixed it.
It seems that Time Machine isn't even trying to figure out what needs to be backed up. Here is the log. Below this snippet of the log I will post some of the other things I see...
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:31 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Starting standard backup
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:31 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Backup
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:31 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Backup
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:31 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Warning: Destination /Volumes/Backup does not support TM Lock Stealing
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:31 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Warning: Destination /Volumes/Backup does not support Server Reply Cache
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:33 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Disk image /Volumes/Backup/mbphome_001ec2038641.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of mbphome
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:34 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:36 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:38 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:47 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:47 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Backup canceled.
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:47 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -138; status: -36; dissenting pid: -1)
09/12/2009 - 7:01PM Sep 12 2009 7:01:48 PM com.apple.backupd[5688] Ejected Time Machine network volume.
Notice the:
Destination /Volumes/Backup does not support TM Lock Stealing
and:
Destination /Volumes/Backup does not support Server Reply Cache
Does anybody know what that means?
I also see this maybe every third time I try a manual backup. There are many more lines, I'll post a few for you to get the gist:
09/12/2009 - 6:49PM Sep 12 2009 6:49:36 PM com.apple.backupd[5560] Error: (6) getxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb/mbphome/2009-08-16-173353
09/12/2009 - 6:49PM Sep 12 2009 6:49:36 PM com.apple.backupd[5560] Error: (6) getxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb/mbphome/2009-08-20-192750
09/12/2009 - 6:49PM Sep 12 2009 6:49:36 PM com.apple.backupd[5560] Error: (6) getxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb/mbphome/2009-08-27-220252
09/12/2009 - 6:49PM Sep 12 2009 6:49:36 PM com.apple.backupd[5560] Error: (6) getxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb/mbphome/2009-09-09-013744
Can't really find any info on any of these errors. I search through discussions and it doesn't seem that anybody is having the same problems as I'm having, seems they are having different problems.
Thanks in advance for any kind of information you can provide on this problem.

Unfortunately a "full reset" didn't do it. The log looks almost exactly the same...
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:47 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Starting standard backup
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:47 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Backup
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:48 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Backup
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:48 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Warning: Destination /Volumes/Backup-1 does not support TM Lock Stealing
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:48 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Warning: Destination /Volumes/Backup-1 does not support Server Reply Cache
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:50 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Disk image /Volumes/Backup-1/mbphome_001ec2038641.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of mbphome
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:50 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of mbphome/Backups.backupdb
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:52 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:54 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:54 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:54 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Backup canceled.
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:55 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Ejected Time Machine disk image.
09/12/2009 - 11:26PM Sep 12 2009 11:26:55 PM com.apple.backupd[1141] Ejected Time Machine network volume.
Still confused over the "does not support TM Lock Stealing" and "does not support Server Reply Cache"? Are those the possible causes? I'm really at a loss cause like I said in my reply before, Time Machine just always worked.

Flash, Adobe Air, Time Machine, Safari not working with Snow Leopard

Really need some help with this.
Did an archive and install of Leopard then installed Snow Leopard. No problems yet.
90% of Video sites would not work. Uninstalled and reinstalled Flash. Uninstalled ShockWave, could not reinstall with 10.6.1.
Attempt to install adobe air, received this message: "couldn't write the application to hard drive - please verify and try again." performed verify disk, disk permissions, repair permissions all ok.
Attempted to install Air again, same message.
Tried to use Time Machine to open Safari from a week ago, received message: I did not have permission.
Using Macbook Pro, 2g memory, 80g hd, with 42g free.
Backed up on ext. HD,
Oh, one more, getting a lot of spinning wheels when using Safari that causes a lockup and hard re-start.
I have an expensive piece of software that uses adobe air and I create videos for my business and I'm not able to do so now.
Can anyone give me any ideas what I can do.
Thanks,
Z

After a couple of days of problems with Snow Leopard and flash, safari etc... I figured out the problem is with my account.
I created a new admin account and everything seems to be working. Well almost.
a couple of things I've noticed are right clicking on dock icons does nothing, no option to quit or keep in dock.
Apple Techs', had me change my account months ago to fix a problem with safari crashing. It didn't really work and more problems resulted.
*So now my big question is: How do I move need items over to the new account.* I don't want to move everything over as I might bring what caused the problem in the first place.
What I need are several apps,(like ilife, iwork, firefox, devonthink, 1password etc.) downloads, desktop, docs, files, and book marks.
*What is the best way for me to do this?* Is there anything I need to do re: Snow Leopard on the new account?
I feel like I have a new and functioning Mac again just around the corner.
Looking for your help, thanks,
Z

Entering Time Machine - slow after update to Snow Leopard

Entering Time Machine via the icon in my top menu bar has never been fast. However, last week I moved from Leopard to Snow Leopard (since fully updated). Tonight I needed to restore a file from yesterday's backup, so I selected "Enter Time Machine." The "universe" with the timeline along the right loaded, but several minutes passed and I was still not able to use the arrows at the lower right to move backwards in time. Nor would the timeline at the right show any date markers other than "Now," "Today," and "January 2010" and "January 2009." I let it sit for several minutes with no apparent progress. Even the "cancel" button took nearly 60 seconds to function.
As an alternative, I tried running the Time Machine application from my apps folder. It was slower to bring up the "universe" but did, after a couple of minutes, get me to a window with a functional timeline.
Any idea what the problem might be? I feel like entry into my Time Capsule has gotten slower and slower, but tonight was really egregious.

It does take a while over a network; there's a lot of "setup" that seems to be required.
You might try the things in #E4 of [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine white background after installing Snow Leopard

Hello,
I need bit of advise regarding Snow Leopard Upgrade. I recently upgrade mac 10.5 to 10.6 (Snow Leopard), when I do my normal backup using Time Machine, the background is white. I have restarted my Macbook and also read some of the Mac Forums. I've even followed the steps read in one of the post.
If Barry's suggestion doesn't work, try these:
Do a Repair Disk (not permissions) on your TM drive, via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
Re-select your TM drive via TM Preferences > Change Disk.
If you're using Spaces, try disabling it, at least temporarily.
If you have any sort of video out cable, especially HDMI, try disconnecting it, at least temporarily.
Do a "complete reset" of TM, as in item #B3 Time Machine - Troubleshooting User Tip
However that doesn't work either. Could it be a bug or if there's something I should do to bring time machine back to normal? I like the warp !!!! Thank you

Mark Apple Mac Book wrote:
Hello,
I need bit of advise regarding Snow Leopard Upgrade. I recently upgrade mac 10.5 to 10.6 (Snow Leopard), when I do my normal backup using Time Machine, the background is white. I have restarted my Macbook and also read some of the Mac Forums. I've even followed the steps read in one of the post.
If Barry's suggestion doesn't work, try these:
Hi, and welcome to the forums. That was me.
Since then, we've learned that this can be caused by a corrupted Finder preference file, so delete the file:
+*<your home folder>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist+*
and try again. You'll have to Restart the Finder (use the Force-Quit) menu, and re-enter it's preferences.

(Non-Time Machine) backup software recommendations for Snow Leopard

I have been a long time user of Retrospect Desktop backup software, up to and including version 6.1. It has saved my skin at least twice when I've had catastrophic hard drive failures. I've been using 6.1 successfully in Leopard, under Rosetta. However, as I prepare to upgrade to Snow Leopard, I discovered Retrospect 6.1 will incompatible. According to Roxio:
+Snow Leopard stores some files, including some applications and all files in the /System/ directory, in a compressed format. Retrospect can only restore files in their uncompressed format. This means that a complete OS restore will require an additional 4-5 GB of available storage space on the destination. When /System/ files are restored uncompressed, the Mac OS X may complain about certain files, such as fonts and kernel extensions, not being installed properly.+
Naturally I thought about upgrading to Retrospect 8, which is supposed to be compatible with Snow Leopard, until I read the disaster stories of bug-ridden unfinished Retrospect 8.0 software being released as golden master without a manual. These inexcusable problems persisted through 8.0 and 8.1. Version 8.2 is in beta and addresses restoring from previous version backups and PowerPC compatibility, but it remains to be seen if Roxio will salvage Retrospect and return it to a position of respectability. (Too bad EMC bought Dantz years ago.)
In any case, I'm now looking for other backup software. I need software that does incremental backups, can restore the system to a previous state existing at the time of a given previous (not necessarily most recent) backup, and supports user-defined rules for file inclusion/exclusion, as well as automated scripts. Automatic verification of the backup by comparing original files to the backed-up version (like in Retrospect) is nice, though probably unnecessary most of the time. Time Machine is nice but in my experience doesn't support some of these features and I'm not entirely comfortable relying on Time Machine alone because I've encountered some problems in the past where my backups were lost.
I'm considering Carbon Copy Cloner, but not sure it does true incremental backups and can restore the system to a state that existed at the time of a previous -- rather than most recent -- backup. Also considering Intego's Personal Backup and ProSoft's Data Backup 3.
I would love to hear any recommendations you might offer regarding these or any other backup software solutions.
Thanks.
Message was edited by: Anthony M Kassir MD

In any case, I'm now looking for other backup software. I need software that does incremental backups, can restore the system to a previous state existing at the time of a given previous (not necessarily most recent) backup, and supports user-defined rules for file inclusion/exclusion, as well as automated scripts.
Time Machine can do all that except the scripts - I'm not sure what you're wanting to script - and it doesn't have rules for exclusion, but does let you exclude any items you specify. From the sounds of it, though, you're trying to make your backups more complex than they need to be. Keep it simple and there's less chance for something to go wrong.
I'm not entirely comfortable relying on Time Machine alone because I've encountered some problems in the past where my backups were lost.
You shouldn't be comfortable relying on any single backup program. Backup software is still software, and as such can have bugs and suffer failures. For optimum safety, you should use two different backup programs to maintain a minimum of two separate backups.
I'm considering Carbon Copy Cloner, but not sure it does true incremental backups and can restore the system to a state that existed at the time of a previous
CCC does do incremental backups, but restoring to a specific state might not be entirely possible. When a file is added, it is simply added to the clone when CCC runs its next backup. There's no way to know which files were added when, AFAIK. When a file is removed, it is moved from its old location in the clone to an identical path inside a dated folder in the same location as the clone.
Personally, I rely on a combination of TM and CCC. I keep one backup with TM, which lets me go back to any time I want. I also keep several CCC clones of just my user folder (everything else is easy enough to recreate if necessary), with one of them in the safe deposit box at the bank at all times.

Missing Spaces and Time Machine dock icons (Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade)

I noticed on my MacBook (Leopard to Snow Leopard upgrade) that it has icons for Spaces and Time Machine in the dock to the left of the divider. These are missing from the dock on my iMac that I upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard. They are both System Preferences with no option for adding to the dock in the Preferences and the Preference icon in "Show All" in System Preferences is not selectable. I located them in System/Library/PreferencesPane but dragging the preference pane file to the dock doesn't work. I did a Show Package Content but did not see anything in the folder that could be dragged like an application. I can put it on the right with the stacks but is there a way to add a Preference to the dock on the application side?

Time Machine is in your Applications folder and Spaces is in your Applications/Utilities folder. You can drag them to the dock from there.

Gmail Offline and Time Machine on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Hi
I am considering downloading my whole Gmail inbox (7GB) to use as Gmail Offline ...in Firefox, because it doesn't work with Safari - btw, any ideas when and if it will?
But my worry is how Time Machine is going to react to this - will it back up incrementally, or just make 7GB backups every time there's changes?
If I lose my laptop (or if someone steals it) will they be able to hack the Gmail Offline to reveal its contents?
Also, if I lose my external, Time Machine hard-drive, will someone be able to access my Gmail Offline without knowing my password?
Is it encrypted, or just a simple password?
Thanks!

Unobtrusive wrote:
But my worry is how Time Machine is going to react to this - will it back up incrementally, or just make 7GB backups every time there's changes?
That depends on how Gmail stores it's data. Some 3rd-party mail apps (such as Entourage and Thunderbird) keep everything in one big file or database. Those are backed-up in full anytime there's the smallest change. AppleMail keeps each message in a separate file, so only the ones that change are backed-up each time.
There are some workarounds. You can exclude the database from normal Time Machine backups, and write an Applescript or Automator workflow to copy the database periodically to a file that's included. Or put a separate partition on your Time Machine drive, and have it copy directly to that. You can run it manually, or use an iCal event to trigger it.
If I lose my laptop (or if someone steals it) will they be able to hack the Gmail Offline to reveal its contents?
Also, if I lose my external, Time Machine hard-drive, will someone be able to access my Gmail Offline without knowing my password?
Unless you encrypt them, yes. Most likely, though, anyone who steals either is going to resell it for the value of the hardware, not your emails.
Is it encrypted, or just a simple password?
Time Machine backups are not encrypted, and have the same password requirements as your Mac. The average thief won't be interested, and likely won't know much about Macs (and you can't read Time Machine backups with a PC).
But it's not difficult for someone with Mac expertise to get at either, unless they're encrypted.

Time Machine problems since upgrading to Snow Leopard

After Time Machine completes the backup I'm unable to do anything! Icons on the desktop disappear. I'm not able the drag the backup drive to the trash. I reboot and it says it did the most current backup but when I enter Time Machine it doesn't recognize the latest backups. Even though the dates appear showing they were backed up you can't access them.

Barry I tried you recommendations except the OS X 10.6 install and it didn't work.
I did come across this in another apple support area:
The most common cause is the TM drive (but not a Time Capsule) not being formatted correctly (even, on occasion, if TM formatted it!). Use Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) to verify the setup:
First, select the second line for your internal HD (usually named "Macintosh HD"). Towards the bottom, the Format should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled), although it might be Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).
Next, select the line for your TM partition (indented, with the name). Towards the bottom, the Format must be the same as your internal HD (above). If it isn't, you must erase the partition (not necessarily the whole drive) and reformat it with Disk Utility.
Sometimes when TM formats a drive for you automatically, it sets it to Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled). Do not use this unless your internal HD is also case-sensitive. All drives being backed-up, and your TM volume, should be the same. TM may do backups this way, but you could be in for major problems trying to restore to a mis-matched drive.
Last, select the top line of the TM drive (with the make and size). Towards the bottom, the Partition Map Scheme must be either GUID (preferred) or Apple Partition Map for an Intel Mac. It must be either Apple Partition Map (preferred) or GUID for a PPC Mac. If this is wrong, you must completely erase the disk and reformat it. See item 5 of the Frequently Asked Questions User Tip at the top of this forum.<<<
Barry, I've noticed that my hard drive is indeed "Journaled" and my backup drive is "Case Sensitive, Journaled." So therefore I'm presuming I do in fact need to erase my backup drive and reformat it. Am I correct in this assessment?

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