Time Machine Background for my desktop or screen saver

How can I use the vortex time machine background for my desktop or screen saver background?
Thanks

Hello,
In short....you can't. You can use the static image as a wallpaper or slideshow ScreenSaver but you cannot use the "Vortex" engine for the animated Time Machine effects. It appears that the "Vortex" engine is part of the Resources for the Finder application itself as evidenced by the related files and images found in the Finder application Package. I don't know if anyone could create a "hack", utilizing the existing resources, to make a ScreenSaver file or not. I have zero experience with ScreenSavers. I just use them.
I know that there are interesting integer parameters in some of the "Vortex" files but I do not have the "bullocks" to experiment with them.
Sorry.....
pw

Similar Messages

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?
Has Apple recently up-dated my OS (Lion) such that every time the screen saver starts it disables Time Machine. I have to switch-off the computer and re-start in order to undertake a back-up. I have now switched of all screen savers.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

External HD Time Machine partition shows in Desktop but not in Finder

I have a External HardDisk with two partitions, one for Time Machine and other for Data.
Until now when I power on the disk two icons appear on my MacBook, one Orange with a USB logo for the Data partition and other Green with Time MAchine logo for the Time MAchine partition.
Suddenly when I power on in FInder I can see only the Data Partition. while in Desktop I can see both, but now the Time Machine Partition is orange with the USB logo (just like the Data partition).
On the other hand everytinhg seems to be workning, I can acces both partitions and Time Machine apparently works Ok, but don't know if something is happening in the background, and I have all my data in that Disk!!!!!

David Casillas wrote:
I can see and use both partitions, but in Finder under DEVICES only DATA partiton shows.
If a navigate in Finder to MacBook for example I can now see both partitions.
Excuse me if my explanation of the subject is not clear. Here is a screenshoot of what happens. In the left you can see the Finder window with just Data Partition, on the right Desktop with both.
If you haven't yet, from a Finder window's menubar, select +Finder > Preferences > Sidebar.+ Un-check the +External Disks+ checkbox, wait a moment, then check it again.
Try going to TM Preferences, de-selecting the drive (select "none"), waiting a moment, then re-selecting it.
Try deleting the file <your home folder>/Library/com.apple.Finder.plist and either relaunch the Finder (from the +Force Quit+ menu) or Restart.

Lion disable time machine background animation

when screen sharing to a Mac in Time Machine, the animated background grinds the screen to a halt.
I have tried this tip:
http://hints.macworld.com/comment.php?mode=view&cid=117454
but my Lion's time machine background still animates. Is there a different solution for Lion?

I just posted a similar question in the OS 10.8 section: https://discussions.apple.com/message/20848493#20848493
Have you had any luck in turning off the background animation?

Can I use a single external drive to maintain time machine backups for two Mac computers?

Hello
We have an older mac mini and macbook air. I have one Western Digital external USB drive. Can I use the same drive to hold and maintain time machine backups for both machines?
I already have the macbook air time-machined on the WD drive. I now want to backup the mac mini onto the same drive. Is it going to over write the time machine backup or is the software smart enough to maintain two separate files, partitions, whatever it does..?

It will maintain separate backups. Note that it's generally advisable to use separate drives for best practice backup, but yes, it will work for both computers, provided you have enough space (need generally 2-3 times the total used file space for both Macs).
Matt

Background for eacth desktop

When I set background for desktop, all of others are showing with thesame background image. I read in user guide that one can set different background for each desktop. Is it true? Am I missing anything?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Create a background set.
You need 4 images, ideally cxropped and scaled to 800x480
rename them myimages_01.jpg, myimages_02.jpg etc...
create a file that identifies your image set, for example.
.myimages.desktop << Note the dot at the start
In the file you need the information
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Background Image
Name=myimges
Hidden=True
X-File1=/home/user/MyDocs/.images/myiamges_01.jpg
X-File2=/home/user/MyDocs/.images/myiamges_02.jpg
X-File3=/home/user/MyDocs/.images/myiamges_03.jpg
X-File4=/home/user/MyDocs/.images/myiamges_04.jpg
X-Order=01
Stick all the files in N900 images folder.
If you create the file on a PC then you might have trouble naming it .images.desktop on a PC, so you will probably need to rename it after you transfer it to you N900.

My Time Machine Strategy for both iMac and MacBook...

1) Get 1TB external drive, format as HFS+ (including the Gizmodo hint about reformatting Fat32 drives properly by setting GUID Partition table)
2) Attach external drive to MacBook directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
3) Attach external drive to iMac directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
4) Attach external drive to my Mac Mini (running Leopard)-don't run Time Machine
5) Point the iMac and MacBook to the networked drive for future incremental Time Machine backups, by mounting the external drive permanently attached now to the Mac Mini as a shared drive.
This way, I get the tedious original backup thru direct connection-native Firewire speeds, then rely on the networked wired (iMac) and networked wireless (MacBook) connections for the incremental backups (which, given our usage, isn't that major on an hourly or daily basis)
Anyone tried something like this successfully?

If you have tried the fixes in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting, specifically #C12 and nothing helps, then it is time to let one of the genius types at an Apple Store take a look.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
If you cannot take the Time Capsule to an Apple Store, contact Apple Support directly.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
Peace
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

Time Machine backup for old computer has been named for new computer

On my new Time Capsule, I backed up the entire disk from my older computer. While consulting with a live help technician for an unrelated problem, he had me reset the Time Capsule using the newer computer. To resume use of the Time Machine backup from my older computer, I had to gain permission . . . and subsequently discovered the reason why. Reseting with the new computer caused the backup volume to be renamed with the new computer's name.
Sooo, 1) how do I correct the naming error, and 2) will further confusion occur when I then go to back up the new computer?

It may or may not ask you to reformat the disk when you set it up as the backup for that new computer. If it does, I think you can cancel it.
What I would do is open Migration Assistant, then import your applications/documents/etc. onto the new computer, and then use the Time Machine disk for backup (formatting it if it asks you to).
You'll at least have recent files and stuff like that, which may not be as good as an incremental history but at least it's something.

How to select correct time machine backup for migration assistant

We have two MacBooks backing up to one Time Capsule using time machine: let's call them H and R.
I have had to reinstall Leopard on Macbook H and am now trying to restore using Migration Assistant.
Migration Assistant finds the Time Capsule and identifies that there are two Time Machine Backups, but doesn't give an option to select the one to use.
Whenever I click 'Continue' it does the 'Checking time machine backup' (for hours), then brings up the data to restore, but every time it comes up with the data and settings from Macbook R.
How can I tell Migration Assistant which Time Machine Backup I want to use?

Brilliant. That was it.
I used the other MacBook to run Disk Utility on my backup volume and repaired it: #A5 is bang on.
Then, Setup Assistant saw both backups and let me select the one I wanted. It's now transferring my stuff.
Very relieved and extremely grateful.
Your apple tips should come with every mac and time capsule.

HT201250 I accidentally didn't save a document on my desktop--a report. Can I go back with time machine and recover my desktop and save the file?

I accidentally didn't save a document on my desktop--a report. Can I go back with time machine and recover my desktop and save the file?

If you saved it at least once, then time machine should have a copy of the document at the state you last saved it. I'm guessing tha's not the case however or the copy of the file would still be on your Desktop.
If you never saved it a single time, yet closed the window and dismissed the warnings about an unsaved document, then you are out of luck as far as I know.

Exporting an album to desktop and screen saver

I have a MacBook Pro running on 10.10.2 and iPhoto 9.6.1. I would like to use my own albums for desktop and screen saver. Was not able to find instructions listing the steps to follow to move albums. Can you help?

You first have to select a theme (like Origami or Reflections) in the sidebar of the System Preferences > Desktoo&Screensaver preferences panel.
Then set the source for the photos to be used to one of your iPhoto events from the "Source" pop-up. It may take some time for your iPhoto Library to show in this menu, when you click Photo Library: Or pick directly one of the "Recent iPhoto Events". Just make sure, the event you want is the last one you viewed in iPhoto.

My macbook pro's desktop and screen saver is not responding

My mac book pro when started pops up a window which shows desktop and screen saver and it becomes nonresponsive, eventhough it is force quit it pops again and keeps searching for something .

You have to take the computer to the Apple store to have it checked out.
Genius Bar reservation:
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

HT2490 my desktop and screen saver option is no longer available in the system preferences. meaning it is no longer listed. how would i go about getting it back?

my desktop and screen saver option is no longer available in the system preferences. meaning it is no longer listed. how would i go about getting it back?

If you used system cache cleaning software it can mess up Apple software. Stop using such software. Remove Mackeeper if present using these directions:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3691
If you started typing something in the search field of the System Preferences, it might be hiding. Quit and reopen System Preferences to be sure it isn't hiding because it is searching for another panel.
Lastly, if none of the above apply, go to your hard drive -> System -> Library -> PreferencesPanes folder and see if it is hiding there. If it isn't, get your 10.5 installer disc that installed 10.5 on your Mac, and restore it with http://www.charlessoft.com/ 's Pacifist, and then run the 10.5.8 combo update to ensure the version matches the operating system.

Stop iPhoto files from appearing in desktop and screen saver.

I have pictures in IPhoto that I want to maintain the security and restrict access. The photos are confidential. The problem is that the files show up in screen saver and desktop. In OSX.5 how do you remove iPhoto files from desk top and screen saver? or prevent desktop or screen saver from accessing the files?

Walter:
You'll need to put them in their own library and put the library in a password protected (disk image) dmg file big enough to hold the library. You can use iPhoto Library Manager to quickly move between libraries after opening the disk image.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Time Machine Background for my desktop or screen saver

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for