Time Capsule/Time Machine. Can I ... ? Recommended?

So I just got a Time Capsule to have a back-up safety net but have a few questions about what I can and cannot do with it that don't seem very clear in the manuals I have seen.
Briefly, I am using it to back up my iMac and store some files that are rarely accessed, mainly about 16GB of stock photos I use for design work (good idea?). My questions are:
1. I don't really need/want a backup every hour as not much changes on the machine while at work and when at home I'll bring files to work on from the office on my desktop and I don't need a copy as I'm just working on them for the evening and then they are gone. Ideally I would like it to backup at once a night around 11PM when I go to bed. Is this possible to set up in Time Machine?
2. Does it only delete old files only when the drive fills up or will it clear out older files after a certain time period?
For example: If I make an edit to a 50MB Photoshop file at the beginning of the month and don't touch for 2 months will it assume I don't need the oldest version at a certain point or can I tell it to, as I don't want to fill up the drive with files I’m not planning on going back to. I'm pretty OCD about streamlining things and not holding on to excess files so if it's possible to tell it to delete after a certain time period that would be ideal.
Finally, I know it can work as it's own wireless router but mine is connected with the original router I had. Has anyone had issues with using it just as a router? I figure I could sell the older router on Ebay to offset the cost of the TC. It works great as is and I have noticed a slight speed increase. Just wondering if I should leave well enough alone or go for an easy $20.
Any and all information on these subjects is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Thanks for the helpful points.
There are some files that I NEVER want erased... So, I put them on the Time Capsule disk and also another external disk. This way I have multiple copies.
Time Machine is nice but when the disk is full of TM backups, it starts removing items in the TM backups... That's fine as long as we know this is going to happen.
By having other files and folder backed up on the TC drive that were not put there by Time Machine, I am assured those files will be there forever, unless something happens to the drive or I remove them.
A person could also make a disk image, say 100 GB, and add your own personal files to this disk image. This way you would always have 100GB container available for things you never want to lose.
Time Machine would never be able to change the size of the above container so you wouldn't have to worry about the container shrinking due to TM usage.
Joseph Kriz

Similar Messages

Time machine can not access time capsule after upgrade from snow leopard to mountain lion

Two days ago I upgraded my 2009 17" MBP from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion. That evening my time capsule/time machine combination worked fine and did an incremental backup of about 12 gigabyte. Yesterday - only one day later - the time machine backup did not work anymore.
It appears that the system can not find the time capsule - even though it shows the remaining free space on the time capsule (so it did find it after all).
The message is always the same:
Time Machine can not complete the backup "Time Capsule"
The image of the backup volume "/Volumes/Data/Pauls MacBookPro.sparsebundle" is not accessable (Error -1).
I also can not delete the backup image on the time capsule since it is read-only. And I do not want to format the time caspsule yet since my wife's MBAir is also using the same time casule.
I tried out all kinds of suggestions (hard and soft resetting both the MBP and the TC, entering the password again, setting the TC up again) all to no avail. No backup is possible anymore.

Mr. Zooot wrote:
Time Machine can not complete the backup "Time Capsule"
The image of the backup volume "/Volumes/Data/Pauls MacBookPro.sparsebundle" is not accessable (Error -1).
I also can not delete the backup image on the time capsule since it is read-only.
Sounds like you got this message earlier:
If so, see #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Offhand, I don't recall anyone not being able to delete one via the Finder (but most were only backing-up one Mac, so just erased the disk).
You may have to wait for that message to appear again (24 hours later), or you might try holding Alt/Option with the TM icon in the menubar, and select Verify Backups if it will let you.

Time Capsule and Time Machine can't back up

Time Machine can't backup my Mac Book Pro with Time Capsule and show me a window with this error: "Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk image "/Volumes/German-Time Capsule/German's MacBookPro_001f5be7ffd1.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error-1)"
I can't back up and I can't access to my old backups via Time Machine.
What can I do to solve this problem. Here in Argentina, nobody at Apple knows what to do with this problem.

The best guide to Time Machine and the Time Capsule on the internet is linked at the Time Capsule main forum page.
You can also click here to locate Pondini's Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries to an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the externa

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives. Is this possible? Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?

I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
That is fine and recommended.. use the fastest disk you can afford.. ie Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2.
In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
You must have backups on a different disk .. otherwise it is pointless.
Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
No.. you can buy special USB and Thunderbolt external drives that support RAID..
BUT that is still not a backup.. let me show why.. you make a silly move and corrupt your file in aperture.. it is not that rare.
Raid will corrupt all copies of the files.. it is replicated across all disks.
Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
Alway, always consider RAID system one disk.. backup onto another disk.. and if the photos or movies are at all important to you.. ie your family .. make another copy and store in a relatives house.. There is no such thing as too much redundancy.

The error that I am getting is this "Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to." Any ideas on the fix for this?

The error that I am getting is this "Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to." Any ideas on the fix for this? When I go to the Time Capsule my Macbook Pro shows that it is locked, I think I did something wrong, but can't figure how to unlock it to see if that fixes it.

As far as we know, Time Machine cannot write to a disk image. It needs to write directly to the Time Capsule disk.

"Time Machine can't back up - sparsebundle error 1" question

Hi,
I'm getting the "Time Machine can't back up - sparsebundle error #1" message, and am trying to see if the fix posted below is the answer:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2048
So, when I installed Time Capsule, I gave it a password ("network password").
Fairly recently, I renamed the Airport. Now the Airport disk password and Airport base station password are the same as the network password, and the Airport network password is different.
Is this what the Apple support message I referenced is getting at? Are these passwords supposed to be the same... ???
Thanks for any help,
reluctantuser

I'm not sure what you mean by "We also used the Time capsule as a hard drive for backing up." after you've already mentioned that you use Time Machine to back up three Macs to the Time Capsule.
Check this Web page for advice on the space issue.

HT201250 I disconnected My Passport by mistake, and now Time Machine can not find it. Although connected, it does not appear in the My Devices section of Finder. What do I do?

I disconnected My Passport by mistake, and now Time Machine can not recognise it. It no longer appears in the My Devices section of Finder. What do I do?

Hello rjhc49,
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.

Time machine can't find wireless device despite strong Wifi connection

Every time I try to set up time machine, whenever it tries to find a wireless device it says "Airport Utility was unable to find any Airport wireless devices. Make sure the Airport wireless device you want to set up is plugged in and in range of your computer, and then rescan again." I already have a perfectly strong connection to my router so why does it keep saying that it can't find a wireless connection?

Bernard778 wrote:
I have the very same problem. MB recognizes my 2TB Verbatim when connected directly via USB and Time Machine goes to work. When I connect the HDD to my router, my MB sees the HDD in Finder, but Time Machine can't find it ("Airport Utility was unable to find any Airport wireless devices. Make sure the Airport wireless device you want to set up is plugged in and in range of your computer, and then rescan again.").
@Pondini - this is not a time capsule, I have a HDD on my WiFi network.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
You have two problems with this setup.
First, Apple doesn't support backing-up that way. See this Apple article: [Disks that can be used with Time Machine|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html].
Second, backups done locally (when the HD is connected to your Mac via USB) are placed in a Backups.backupdb folder at the top level of the drive. When they're done over a network (Ethernet or WIFI), that folder is inside a +sparse bundle,+ and you can't easily switch between the two.

(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.

Time Machine can no longer write to drive

I have been using Time Machine to back up my iMac G5 for over a year. About two weeks ago the computer started acting really strange so I actually restored the entire system from my Time Machine backup. Everything was working great until today. The external hard drive that I've been using all this time is suddenly "read only". How do I change it back to "read/write" so Time Machine can access the hard drive properly?

BobMeister wrote:
I have been using Time Machine to back up my iMac G5 for over a year. About two weeks ago the computer started acting really strange so I actually restored the entire system from my Time Machine backup. Everything was working great until today. The external hard drive that I've been using all this time is suddenly "read only".
It's very important to know exactly what you or the computer was doing just before this happened. Usually, things do not happen on their own.
How do I change it back to "read/write" so Time Machine can access the hard drive properly?
Changing it back when it's not clear why it changed in the first place is not always a good thing to do for several obvious reasons.
Right-click on the TM drive icon and select "Get Info"
Under Sharing & Permissions, you should see:
Your name (Me) Read & Write
(unknown) Read & Write
everyone Read only
Post back what you see and we can attempt to proceed.

I have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8 and want to restore my i photos from time machine. can not find iphoto libary in time machine, can"t not find home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine

i have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8, and want to restore my i photos from time machine. Can not find i-photo libary in time machine, can't not find > home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine. Please help.

On my HD it does not say ,restore, in yourname -pict. Iphoto lib.,
On the time machine, it , yourname etc, oes not show up at all.
Only right side of TM, your name etc. does not show.

Time Machine can't copy my hard drive

Time Machine can't copy my hard drive, it says that it can't complete the safety copy because an error occured when files were copied to the safety copy. Does anyone recognise this problem? All I could find in System notifications about Time Machine is this: "localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)"

John Galt wrote:
... Are you unable to select the external HD as a backup device?
pres92 wrote:
that's the problem -- my hard drive ("startup disk) is not listed, so I can't select it.
The reason is that the startup volume is not a valid selection for its own Time Machine backup.
The only drive listed is the Time Machine external drive. Obviously, I don't want to back up the time machine drive.
By default, a Time Machine backup volume is excluded from being backed up.
The appearance you describe is correct, otherwise I'm completely misunderstanding your problem.

HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

Back up with time machine can't finish, because volume with sparse bundle already seems to be in use

I have problems with time machine. The message I got (in Dutch) is "Het schijfkopiebestand '/Volumes/Back up schijf/iMac van Gerard.sparsebundle' dat voor de reservekopie wordt gebruikt, is al in gebruik." The sparsebundle seems to be in use so Time machine can't finsh back up process. Any idea what I should do to fix this? I'm using time machine over a wireless netwerk, backing up on a NAS form Lacie, connected to the netwerk via airport extreme. Ik normally works well.
regards,
Gerard

http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

Time machine can not select my internal hard drive any more.

Hi all
Time machine can not select my internal hard drive any more. I only can back up external disks. Does anyone know how to fix this?
All answers are much appreciated

I don't know the answer but I have the same thing happen. I have two external drives I use for backup. Sometimes it can see one and sometimes another. Then sometimes it can't see either one. I will take one out for a while then plug it back in and then it may see it. Maybe it's a cable issue or something but I will be curious to hear what someone more knowledgeable says.

Installed GoFlex 1.5 TB external drive on my iMac running OS X 10.7.4 and error says Time Machine can't create a backup folder. Any solutions?

Installed GoFlex 1.5 TB external drive on my iMac running OS X 10.7.4 and error says Time Machine can't create a backup folder. Any solutions?

Well, to unmount the drive, you can use the Terminal application.
Start in Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
When the Terminal window opens, type - without the quotes and with the space at the end - this:
"diskutil unmount "
Then drag the icon of the unmounted drive from the desktop into the Terminal window - the drive location will be added to the end of the command above. It should look something like this:
diskutil unmount /Volumes/volumename
Then press enter (return).
That should unmount the drive. Now you can try the Time Machine process again with perhaps a different interconnect cable for the GoFlex.

Time Capsule/Time Machine. Can I ... ? Recommended?

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