Should I use time machine to backup server?

moving from 10.4 server running on an emac, to a 10.5 setup on a mac pro tower, 2 500gig hard drives. I used to use silverkeeper as an automatic backup utility, I am wondering if it is a good idea to use time machine. I like the idea of being able to go back in time to restore users files, or take the system back when something gets messed up. Any suggestions? I have about 100 users with home directories on server. Clients are mostly running 10.4 with some 10.3. I am not talking about allowing clients to time machine to server, but rather backing up the entire server to the 2nd drive using time machine.

I think this is a controversial topic.
Apple certainly doesn't support it. Apple omits a bunch of key folders depending on what you use your server for. For example, Time Machine does not backup /var/spool which is where the mail store is located. Additionally, Time Machine does not back up logs.
These exclusions can be seen, and commented out, here:
/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.pli st
I personally comment out the exclusion of /var/spool and additionally any logs. I also set ServerAdmin to roll my logs so that Time Machine isn't constantly backing up the same log file for more than 7 days.
Of course, you must re-verify that your changes are in place after any software update.
Once I made these changes, I've been very happy with the use of Time Machine to backup my server.

Similar Messages

Can I use time machine to backup on my server HD?

I've mac Leapard with Time Machine but never made use of it because:
- I don't have and don't want to have an external HD.
- Don't have Time Capsule, and cannot afford it.
Yet I was wondering if it was somehow possible to use Time Machine, to backup directly to my server (online) for example.

-(.)^(.)- wrote:
Time Machine backups are NOT supported for NAS devices except Time Capsule or a USB HDD connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station. All other options are hacks.
I would add that even if a network drive were available, unless it was formatted HFS+ with either GUID or APM depending, it would not be acceptable anyway for TM.

HT201250 Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Time Machine can back up to a server. The drive or partition used still needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
(65169)

Using Time Machine to backup a iMac G5 and restore to an intel iMac

Is it possible to use Time Machine to backup my iMac G5 and restore my backup to a new intel iMac?
The reason being is that I my mother-in-law's company bought her a new intel Mac and she wants to trade with me since she only uses her Mac for e-mail, photos and accounting software.
I was thinking of making sure her data is preserved by using the migration assistant to transfer her data to my iMac G5 and then using my time machine backup to restore to her intel iMac. I have concerns about this method after reading about the intel/powerpc issues with time machine. I also have concerns that perhaps the version of MacOS 10.5 installed to my iMac G5 will not be optimized for intel.

Well, not entirely. You cannot install or restore a PPC version of OS X to an Intel Mac because the PPC system will not work on an Intel Mac. You can copy your personal files, most preference files, and third-party applications (although it would be preferable to update all PPC-only apps to universal binaries which perform better on Intel machines.
Another possible concern is if your mother's company is transferring the ownership to her or simply purchasing the unit for her to use. In the latter case the computer belongs to the company, not your mother. She cannot then give it to you because it isn't hers. This problem should be resolved beforehand because the company may one day want the computer back.
Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
For FireFox:
/Home/Library/Applications Support/FireFox
/Home/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
Credit goes to another forum user for this information.

Is there a way to use Time Machine to backup my Macbook Pro to an external drive connected to my iMac?

I recently purchased a Seagate Goflex Desk 2TB and I've already used Time Machine to backup my iMac running 10.5.8 to the drive. Is there a way to backup my Macbook Pro running 10.6.8 to the drive using Time Machine while the drive is still connected to my iMac? Any help is appreciated!

Choose Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu, provide the first computer's IP address, log in, and set it up in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
(59008)

My Seagate external 250GB hard drive ejects improperly without command. I am trying to use Time Machine to backup my macbook via usb cable... I keep getting the message that the disked ejected improperly... Any solutions...

My Seagate external 250GB hard drive ejects improperly without command. I am trying to use Time Machine to backup my macbook via usb cable... I keep getting the message that the disked ejected improperly... Any solutions...

You are not alone. Thousands have this problem, on various models of Macs. Short answer, it has something to do with the disk going to sleep (possibly?). You can't do anything about it and Apple won't address the problem. Maybe you should buy a time capsule. Just keep giving them money and use their proprietary equipment.
For a more complete answer, see this thread (all 65+ pages of it with NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT... except for some 3rd party solutions that sometimes work, sometimes don't): Disk Drive ejecting itself

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme? I used to be able to but now time machine will not recognize my hard drive to select as a backup when plugged into my airport extreme. I'm not sure what happened or changed. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

First thing to do is go to the Pondini tips page, then follow the link to his full TM site for all the details.

Using time machine to backup Logic Projects

Hi
I was wondering if it is possible to use time machine to backup my Logic Projects. I have a seperate internal drive that I use to keep all my user data on, like my Logic projects. I want to use time machine to back up these projects onto a external firewire drive.
Can timemachine only backup your systems drive and therefore I would need to have my Logic projects based stored on it?

Yes - time machine can back up any drive. I am using 3 drives: system drive, a USB2 drive for Time machine backups and a firewire 800 drive for Logic Studio projects, instruments, samples, audio, etc. TM backs up my system and FW drives to the USB drive.
Time machine options (in system preferences) allow you to exclude/include drives so you just need to set it to include your second internal drive.
The only thing I'm not sure of is whether this effects the loop browser. Oddly, when I was experimenting with using aliases for Apple loops, Logic actually found the TM backup files when it couldn't locate the original GB loops! After some file moving and index deleting I cleared all loops but now I have duplicate entries again in Logic - possibly due to TM, but I have not verified this.
-Scott

Should I use Time Machine?

I have a new Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB external hard drive. I also have an old PowerPC iBook G3, with a 40GB hard drive and a dead logic board. I can still access the iBook's HD by hooking it up to my current MacBook and starting it up in Target Disk mode. My current MacBook has a 120GB hard drive, which is getting full.
This is the first time I've ever used external storage. What I would like to do is:
a) copy the contents of the iBook's HD to the external HD;
b) back up the contents of the MacBook's HD;
c) free up some space on the MacBook's HD.
My questions:
1. Do I need to format the external drive before doing anything? If so, am I right in thinking that I should do this in Disk Utility > Erase, and choose 'Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)'?
2. If I do this, do I need to worry about the files that were already on the drive when it arrived from the manufacturer? (I might keep the User Guide pdf, but everything else seems to be .exe files, or files for which there is no default application specified to open them.)
3. Do I need to create a partition on the external HD for the contents of the old iBook HD?
4. Will Time Machine work on a partitioned external HD?
5. Should I use Time Machine to back up the contents of my MacBook, or do it manually? The things that I'm most concerned to back up are my photographs. However, these are also the files which take up the most room on my MacBook HD (I shoot in RAW - lots of 10MB+ files), so are the obvious candidates for files to keep on the external HD in order to free up space on the MacBook. If I back up using TM, then erase some photos from the MacBook hard drive, will TM then erase them from the external hard drive as well - either immediately or when the external hard drive fills up - or will they be safe forever? Sorry, I'm not entirely clear how TM actually works...
I'm a real novice here. Advice on any or all of the above will be much appreciated.
Michael

GoonInChief wrote:
My questions:
1. Do I need to format the external drive before doing anything? If so, am I right in thinking that I should do this in Disk Utility > Erase, and choose 'Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)'?
If it's not HFS+, it needs to be formatted to HFS+ (Mac OS Extended - Journaled) via Disk Utility. All data will be lost. See Answer 4.
2. If I do this, do I need to worry about the files that were already on the drive when it arrived from the manufacturer? (I might keep the User Guide pdf, but everything else seems to be .exe files, or files for which there is no default application specified to open them.)
If you want to keep the files, copy it to another location.
3. Do I need to create a partition on the external HD for the contents of the old iBook HD?
If you want to.
4. Will Time Machine work on a partitioned external HD?
Yes, but it needs to be formatted HFS+. If you are creating a separate partition, you use a GUID partition map for an Intel iMac (APM for PPC).
5. Should I use Time Machine to back up the contents of my MacBook, or do it manually? The things that I'm most concerned to back up are my photographs. However, these are also the files which take up the most room on my MacBook HD (I shoot in RAW - lots of 10MB+ files), so are the obvious candidates for files to keep on the external HD in order to free up space on the MacBook. If I back up using TM, then erase some photos from the MacBook hard drive, will TM then erase them from the external hard drive as well - either immediately or when the external hard drive fills up - or will they be safe forever? Sorry, I'm not entirely clear how TM actually works...
Absolutely NOT! TM is not for archiving. You delete files are NOT safe forever.

Where did this backup window come from on my desktop. I have always used time machine to backup to an external disc and within the last 2 weeks, this backup window keeps appearing. Where did it come from? Thanks for any help

where did this backup window come from on my desktop. It specifies personal data & settings and tells me when the next backup is scheduled [which I never set up]. I have always used time machine to backup to an external disc and within the last 2 weeks, this backup window keeps appearing. Where did it come from? Thanks for any help

To check your S.M.A.R.T status open disk utility and click on your drive and then click on the info icon.

How to use Time Machine to backup a disk image

I have my iPhoto libray in a disk image in the shared folder so that it can be shared by two user accounts. Is there a way to use Time Machine to backup the mounted image? I don't want to backup the entire disk image file every time there is a change in iPhoto (over 200GB!). I'd like to just backup the changes, but so far, it doesn't seem to work?

There is no way to back up a mounted, writable disk image with Time Machine. If you want to keep data on a disk image, the best option is to convert it to a sparsebundle, which consists of many small files instead of one big file. It will be backed up much more efficiently, but only when not mounted.

Using Time Machine to backup a production file server

Does anyone have any recommendations for using Time Machine to back up a production file server? Right now we have an Xserve G5 with two internal 750GB drives in a RAID1 as our main file share to about 25 users, and a large external FW800 Guardian MAXimus drive to hold our backups. Our current backup system is a custom-written version of Mike Rubel's backup system -- http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/ -- incremental backups done with rsync and cp with hardlinks exec'd via crontab, which seems to be very similar to what Time Machine does. Unfortunately, I've been finding it difficult to find any tech specs on Time Machine as far as:
* CPU and IO priority - This is a production file server, so I'd prefer to keep this from sucking power performance from the users. Just how much CPU, and more importantly IO, should I expect it to eat?
* How often it does a backup - The best answer I've found is "always", but I wanted to know if there was a more concrete response for this. Does the system hook into the kernel to see whenever a file gets written out so it doesn't have to continually scan the entire drive?
* Command line restoration - Are there any good utilities for recovering via SSH, or am I going to have to VNC to the server and do the BS magic flying screen just to restore a file?
Message was edited by: Gabetax

For mine I have 3x500GB drives in the server, two are RAID mirror and the third is time machine backup. I just turned on time machine in system preferences and set the backup drive, and after an hour it made the first backup.
Seems to work perfectly although I have heard a couple of rumours that the mail server causes the backup to grow forever, but havnt checked this. Im staging another machine, so perhaps will try this to make sure!
I am expecting the backup will only be useful to a system administrator, and am not sure how a user logged into a shared directory account (i.e 'roaming profile') would access the backup, and somehow suspect they wont be able to just seamlessly use the slick interface as if the backup were their own.
On a 2x2Ghz G5 it didnt seem to use the full load on either the CPU or the disk the first time it was run (copied at about 9MB/sec throughout). The incremental backups are very fast, and are often completed before I realise they have started. I gather it uses Apple's own spotlight API to find changed files, so isnt like an rsync which scans entire volumes. Worth checking the exclusion filters though, no point backing up any large cache/log files you may be storing.
James

Can I use Time Machine to backup to partition on external drive and a Time Capsule?

Trying to plan in advance...
I was wondering if I can (with a laptop) use Time Machine for both:
1. Creating Time Machine backups on a partiion of an external drive. My plan was going to create 2 partitions: one to be used for Time Machine backups of another external hard drive (that holds all of my media) and then the other partition was going to be a bootable clone of my internal drive (totally separate from Time Machine)
and
2. Also use Time Machine for my Time Capsule, to create Time Machine backups of my internal drive.
Is this possible? I had heard that you can't use TM to make backups to a partition on an external drive, AND use it for another drive (like Time Capsule) at the same time. But I would think that this should be possible-
Thanks everyone-

Yes you can, and if you are using Mountain Lion it's easy.
If you are using Snow Leopard (as in your profile - this is the Mountain Lion forum), you have to manually select the backup volume each time. Tedious, but possible.
Read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ on that subject: "Rotating" Time Machine backup disks

How do I use Time Machine to backup a network drive

Let me clarify up-front... I DON'T want to use my NAS as my Time Machine backup drive. I want to backup my NAS to another drive using Time Machine. Here is my current configuation:
iMac 27" with 2TB HD backed up to a Firewire Drive using TM. I swap out an exact duplicate of that drive once-a-month and keep one of these drives off-site for disaster recovery.
I want to add a 3TB NAS drive for all of my media. But I'd like to backup ALL of the media on that NAS the same way that I backup the iMac, with TM -- routinely swapping out 3TB backup drives and keeping one off-site for disaster recovery.
In a perfect world, I could do this in the cloud. But transfer speeds and cost preclude me from choosing that option.
Here are my questions:
1) Can TM work on the 3TB NAS, standalone, to allow it to backup to that set of new 3TB backup drives?
2) I currently have a brand-new Hitachi 3TB HD in an older PowerPC Mac Pro. Could I fire that up and share it on the network as an NAS? I know I could run TM off of that configuration. But, I think that I would be compromising speed and performance vs. the new NAS drives out there. Am I wrong? Also, I'm not sure if that configuration would allow me to stream reliably as a UPnP server.
I know it's a long-winded request, but I would really appreciate the insight of others who have possibly solved this problem. Thanks!

Time Machine will only back up internal and directly connected external drives. It will not back up a network attached storage device. You'll have to use some other software to back up the NAS.

HOW CAN I USE TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP ONLY PART OF MY FILES ON EXTERNAL D?

Hi, I am using time machine to back up all my files at the moment. but I want to get rid of video and photo material from my laptop and keep it on the external hard drive to which the time machine backs up my stuff.
how can i do this without losing the video and photo files permamnently?
thank a lot!

nefsi wrote:
doesn't time machine back up my files on the External hard disk?
By default, Time Machine backs-up almost everything on your internal HD to your External HD. It can also back up things on an external HD, if you want it to.
What I would like is, to find a way so that I could back up everything, but not have all the videos and photos I do not use often, on my laptop. instead I want to put them on the external hard drive and have time machine update all the other files.
Yes, you can do that, but there are two considerations:
You should partition the external HD so the TM backups are in one partition, and the other files are in the other partition. A partition (also called a volume), is treated like a separate disk for most purposes. See #3 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
You should find another way to back-up the videos and photos in that other partition, such as archiving them to CDs/DVDs.
In other words, can Time machine back up only some of my files?
Yes. You can exclude things from Time Machine. See #10 in the FAQ Tip. If you partition your TM drive, the other partition on it should be excluded automatically; but if it isn't, you can easily add it to the +Do not back up+ list in TM Preferences > Options.
For detailed instructions on making another partition on your external HD, see #6 in the FAQ Tip. It shows how to add a TM partition to a drive that already has other data on it, but the procedure is the same.

Should I use time machine to backup server?

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