Time Machine: Backup versus archive?

Hello All,
Still learning much and have searched online through google as well as the support discussions, but can exactly what I am looking for.
I did my first time machine backup (or is it archive?) today.
What I would like to do now is remove the old pics, music, and docs I don't really need everyday. BUT if I do that when time machine does another backup (or archive?) am I correct in that the files I deleted from my mac HD will be gone from the new copy put in the TM backup?
What is the difference between and archive and backup?
How can I update my backups rather than replace them? Meaning, how I just update the stuff that's new from the last backup and keep the old stuff there?
Thank you for any input. I apologize if this is an "elementary" question, but I have been searching for about 1hr and I am done.
S

dwb wrote:
There is one very simple rule about TimeMachine - if you want to guarantee that a file remains on your TimeMachine backup do not remove it from your computer's hard drive. TimeMachine backs up changed files every hour for 24 hours. At that time it culls the hourly backups to make a daily backup.
Do you know specifically how this is done? For example, say TM does a backup at 1PM and I create a file. When TM does it's next backup at 2PM the file will be there. Afterwards I delete the file. (So it doesn't show up on the 3PM backup.)
When TM purges unneeded backups from the external drive, does it "flatten" the entire day or just delete all of backups except the last one? By "flatten" I mean merge all of the files from that day into a single "daily backup"? If it did, then the file that existed for only a short time (i.e. it only appeared on the 2PM backup) would still be on the daily backup, with a timestamp that showed when it was last modified.
Then the same flattening approach could be used for weekly and monthly instances as well, thus ensuring that ones data is never actually deleted.
I can see some good reasons why it should be done that way, but also a lot of reasons why it shouldn't be done that way! For example, I have a lot of temporary files from virtual machines that I wouldn't want kept past the end of the day, yet my proposed technique would keep them... forever.
(Btw, I generally buy whichever drives seem to be least expensive. WD has the advantage that their drives are 4K sectors while most are 512-byte sectors and there are a lot of advantages to the larger size. I typically try to buy Hitachi or Samsung drives, although every manu has bad batches occassionally. I just put four 1TB Hitachi drives into my Linux file server in RAID10 configuration and they've been doing fine. I typically buy from NewEgg as they usually have good prices, especially if you wait and buy them on sale -- I got my 1TB/7200rpm/3.5" drives for $49. I use an RSS feed to keep my eye on certain technology.
The macally FW800/USB2 enclosure I bought to use with TM on my wife's iMac causes her machine to lock up sometimes when it comes out of sleep but I don't have any problems with it on my MBP. Other macally enclosures with the same drive in them are fine on her iMac, such as the FW400 unit; I figure it must be the hardware on the iMac that has a problem with the chipset in that particular external enclosure.)

Similar Messages

Can I turn off Macbook while Time Capsule is archiving Time Machine backup to a USB drive?

My Time Capsule is archiving my Time Machine backup to a USB drive attached to it. I have initiated this process on my macbook (on the same lan with the Time Capsule), on which I am monitoring the archiving progress on the Airport Utility. Still almost a couple of days to go... Can I turn off my Macbook, or will that interrupt the process of archiving?

If LaPastenague is willing to do a "test", then we will all know more.
Opened my big mouth.
The archive is happening.. I turned off the computer it was setup from.. running Mavericks and latest utility once I got it started. I have been checking from v6 utility on Mountain Lion.. and it is excruciatingly slow. But is running.
I can check the progress but v6 utility is utterly and completely useless.. it continually shows the same numbers.
v5 utility does show it is crawling along.
v6
20min later..
Look, look, there is a tiny blue fleck in the progress bar!!
v5 utility shows the actual progress. Actually tells you total and amount backed up so far.
Amazing how advanced v5 utility is over v6.
The estimate of 10hours is probably correct at the present rate of progress. I suppose for 500GB, around 50GB/hr is about what we expect from TM backups etc.
I will post another picture in an hour and probably kill it then before I die of watching paint dry.

How do I archive only the last Time Machine backup?

Hi everyone
So i've done a "clean reinstall" of Lion and restored some of my files manually from TM backup located on an external hardrive by dragging them over via Finder. Now I want to delete all old TM backups on my ext hardrive and only save the last backup (the one I did before the Lion reinstall).
If I save the latest TM backup folder (named ~/Backups.backupdb/~/2012-04-11-233905) and delete all the older ones – would that save my entire last backup? Or does that folder contain aliases to other files in previous backup folders? i.e. does the last created Time Machine backup folder contain all files from the last backup?
Please help.

Linc, you don't seem to understand my problem – i want to start my TM backups from scratch from my "new" computer and archive the last backup I did on my "old" one. I don't need all the other backupped versions from my "old" computer – just the last backup which I want to archive.
My question is still:
Is there a way to archive my entire last backup (and delete all the previous ones)?

OK to scan archives in Time Machine backups with antivirus?

Without my knowing it, my antivirus program (VirusBarrier) scanned my Time Machine backups. Since I had it set to scan archives (such as zip files), it would have decompressed them, which I'm concerned might modify them somehow. And since Time Machine backups should not be changed, would scanning archives cause the Time Machine backups to become corrupted or less reliable?

I'm not familiar with VirusBarrier but if you manually run a backup (click symbol on top menu and say run backup now), do you get any errors or delays? If you want to be safe and don't mind erasing the disk and doing another full backup, then I would say go for it. If you want to keep it because it has your only path back to ML or something else you could need, then just verify that it is running "OK" for now.
You can always try to retrieve something really old from it to verify you can.

Can a time machine backup also be used for archive storage?

Can the same time machine backup drive also be used for archive storage from another Macbook?

The way TimeMachine works you can guarantee that anything on your computer now will be backed up and archival copies kept. But there are two caveats. First, TimeMachine trims backups. For 24 hours they are hourly (approximately). Then the most current will be trimmed and a week worth of daily backups will be kept. Then the week will be trimmed to the most current version and the weekly backups will be kept until the drive is too full. At that point the oldest weekly update(s) will be erased to make room for the next hourly backup. When trimming occurs, files that were backed up but are no longer on your computer will be trimmed. This is the second caveat.
Since this trimming is automatic rather than under your control TimeMachine isn't a good archival backup system. Two programs that I can recommend that do have true archival ability are CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync. Both allow you to decide what gets archived and how many archival periods to allow.

Defrag an old Time Machine backup to save space for archiving?

I'm aware of all the reasons not to defragment an OSX volume, as well as Time Machine volumes, but hear me out on this one...
I bought a new iMac and will be starting a brand new Time Machine backup. I would like to keep the old Time Machine backup around just in case I need access to some old files. I will not be adding anything further to this old backup, and I will not be using this old backup to restore any system. I will only be browsing and restoring files from this backup, but only rarely. I have removed (via the Time Machine interface's "Delete all backups of...") a number of large files and unecessary directories to reduce the backup size. I then ran the hdiutil compact command to reclaim free space from the sparsebundle.
I read, however, that the hdiutil compact command will only delete unused bands of the sparsebundle, and that defragmenting the contents of a sparsebundle will likely produce more "empty" bands that can be removed with another run of compact to further free up space.
Will it be okay to defragment the sparsebundle under these circumstances?

I've looked over Pondini's site and it's an awesome resource. I've learned a lot from it over the years. But my specific question isn't answered there.
The Time Machine software is complex and I understand that there's a lot of things to know to keep it running smoothly. However, my particular situation isn't commonly discussed. In scenarios not involving Time Machine, defragging a sparsebundle before running hdiutil compact is known to help free up more disk space by creating more unused bands within the sparsebundle that can be removed by compact. Makes sense. Why would this affect Time Machine's process? And could it be that it won't cause a problem for a sparsebundle that will only be used to browse and restore files? ... As opposed to a sparsebundle that one intends to continue backing up to? Are there defregmenting options that I should avoid, or be sure to use?

Finder crash upon login with one account, better to copy files to new account or use Time Machine backup?

The finder crashes when I login to my old account. Briefly my problems started with iPhoto crashes and eventually to finder crashes. The finder would crash when I would try to transfer picture files from one directory to another. I'd deleted com.apple.iPhoto.plist as well as com.apple.finder.plist but these did not help. The crash is characterized by there being no menu items on the top left, but with dock icons which cannot however be clicked, and I can only resort to a hard reset to get back to the login window. I created a new admin account -- this one works -- but cannot decide whether I should just transfer files from the old account to the new account (as described somewhere in the archived support) or whether I should "go back" in time to when the system was working well (about December 2012 was the last "good" Time Machine backup -- I did a backup in February, but that was when I was already having problems). I am afraid that if I transfer certain files (especially the picture files and iphoto files) to the new account, I might cause the same problem on the new account. Any suggestion as to how to resolve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Transfer files off the machine to a external storage drive and disconnect, that way you can do anything you like.
TimeMachine may fail to restore if your drive is corrupted and can't be easily verified if your data is truly on it or will restore.
Most commonly used backup methods
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
For Snow Leopard Speed Freaks
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Can I select certain drives only for Time Machine backup?

I have several internal drives and several external drives connected to my MacPro desktop computer. If I backup everything in all of the drives using Time Machine, the capacity on my designated external drive for Time Machine backup will soon be filled. Is there any way to selectively backup via Time Machine from only designated drives, not all drives connected (internally or externally) to my computer? Is so, how can that be done? I assume that Time Machine will start deleting data when its capacity is exceeded. If that is so, and I remove the designated Time Machine drive at that point and replace it with a new drive, will the removed drive thereafter be able to be reinserted and the prior material read and transferred as needed? Is there any way to utilized Time Machine after I insert the replacement drive to only archive new material saved after the switch of drives?

Yes, mount the drive by opening a new Finder window and clicking on your base station's name in the left column that says 'Shared'. Then double click on the drive name to mount it on your desktop. From there, open Time Machine prefs and select that mounted drive as your backup disk. Time machine will then back up to it. Theoretically.
If you want that disk to automatically mount every time you login to your computer, go to Sys Prefs Panel and select 'Accounts'. Then click 'Startup Items'. From there, drag the mounted drive's icon from the desktop in to that startup items list. It will then auto-mount from there forward.
I have had many problems backing up this way with Time Machine. It will, 9 times out of 10, fail over a wireless backup with an Airport Extreme Gigabit base station and a 1TB Western Digital My Book. Nothing seems to fix, so I have given up. When TM is finally fixed - I will use it. Until then, it's junk software as far as I'm concerned.
But - best of luck. The instructions above are how it's 'supposed' to work..

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

It must have found the old backup corrupt.. so you will more than likely have little choice. You can archive off the old backup if it is still useful.
You can also verify it. See A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
He also has some info on this problem. eg C13.

HT5096 I need to transfer a time machine backup to a new drive. It keeps failing.

I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I was using for Time Machine for both a MacBook and an iMac. The iMac sparse bundle became corrupted earlier this spring and I was unable to delete it, so I need to reformat the TC. First, however, I need to move the TM sparse bundle for the MacBook to a new drive that I have set up just for TM for the MacBook. After reformatting, I plan to only use the TC for the iMac. I tried moving the sparse bundle tonight to the new drive, following directions listed in several places on this site and on Pondini's site. However, it failed. I am going to guess that it failed b/c I was not hooked up to the TC via ethernet. (I was on WIFI). The new backup drive is a 2TB external that was plugged directly to the MacBook. So, now I have connected them via ethernet. I am again reparing the TC volume using Disk Utility, just to make sure all permissions, etc, are ok before moving. Will I be able to move this file to the new drive easily, or should I plug the new drive directly to the Time Capsule and move it that way (while MacBook is connected via Ethernet).
Alternativey, is there a way to just archive that sparse bundle for the MacBook before I erase the drive?
FYI I am still running Snow Leopard on these machines, but trying to clean up the time machine backups today before installing Lion and moving to iCloud, so time is of the utmost importance here.
Thanks so much!
Kat

OK, this has now failed twice. I repaired the drive using DU and there were no problems (even though it took 2 hours to go thru everything to verify). Right now, the MacBook is connected via Ethernet to the TC. The new TM drive (WD 3TB external, USB 3.0/2.0) is attached to the MacBook via USB. I really need to keep this TM backup for the MacBook and also need to erase the TC. How can I accmplish both? I thought that there was a way to archive a TM sparse bundle?

How can I tell if my Time Machine backups are encrypted?

Hi - I would really appreciate it if someone could help me find out if my Time Machine backps are actually encrypted.
I know that there is an 'encryption' option when choosing a disc for Time Machine to backup to, but the problem is I cannot remember whether or not I actually ticked it (as it was a couple of years ago).
Other info that might be helpful:
- The disk I use Time Machine to backup to is actually a Apple Time Capsule
- I do have FileVault2 enabled on my mac
- I have never encrypted the Time Capsule disc itself (via Disk Utility or anything similar)
- One possible clue might be: When I go into Time Machine preferences, and click on 'Select Disk...' (as if to choose another disk to back up to), and select the disc that Time Machine currently backs up to (i.e. the Time Capsule disc), it does show an 'Encrypt backups' checkbox at the bottom of the window... however this checkbox is unchecked and also greyed out.
Thanks in advance
a_quinn

a_quinn wrote:
- Because I originally created this Time Machine Backup (to the Time Capsule) back in my 'OS X Lion' days,
I wondered; you posted in the Mountain Lion forum, but your profile still says Lion.
that means that my backups now (and moving forward) will continue to be un-encrypted
Correct (as of now, anyway). You cannot encrypt existing network backups. I doubt that will be available in the future, and would take forever.
- The only way to encyrpt my backups now, moving forward, is to remove this Time Capsule disc (from Time Machine Preferences), and start all over again ensuring that I check the checkbox next to 'Encrypt Backup' when selecting the Time Capsule's disc to backup to.
Well, in theory it's possible, but would take forever, squared.
You could archive the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, per #Q6 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule).
Then delete the original, start a backup with encryption, and as soon as the encrypted sparse bundle is created, cancel the backup.
Mount the sparse bundle, open the disk image, and delete the Backups.backupdb folder inside it.
Connect the USB drive to your Mac, mount that sparse bundle, open its disk image, and copy the Backups.backupdb folder to the one on the TC.
Depending on how large the sparse bundle is, that could easily take a couple of days, at least, even connected via Ethernet.
Just for testing one day, I encrypted a very small set of existing test backups on a F/W 800 drive - 6 dated backups using a whole 12 GB. Took an hour.
An alternative would be, just do the "archive" and keep the USB drive "on the shelf" for a while. You can always connect it to your Mac and access those backups via the Browse Other Backup Disks option.
Trying to keep a couple of years worth of backups usually isn't a good idea. It's a very complex structure, so the odds of damage increase, it takes much longer to populate the TM browser, and it works slower and slower, and if you didn't need something for 6 months, are you really going to need it in 2 years?

USB drive attached to Airport Extreme as a time machine backup?

I have a WD 750gb external USB drive that I was using as a "time machine" with my iMac. My Airport Extreme has a USB port and I want to move the WD over to there, but continue to use it as time machine. Possible to do this? If yes, then how?
Thanks much

You can, but Time Machine uses a disk image file for the Time Machine archive (instead of a folder) when a network drive is used. Therefore, you may have to start your Time Machine archive over again.
If you have one Mac to back up with Time Machine, it is better to leave the drive attached directly to the computer over USB. Your initial and hourly Time Machine backups will complete faster.

What happens if you Time-Machine backup an encrypted file-vault HD?

This is related to my previous post - but deserves special mention for those people who are using time-vault AND Time-Machine.
My question is this: If the backup of my Hard-drive is encrypted, and I then reinstall from backup, what will this situation likely produce?
This is what I have done. I also Archived and installed my Mac prior to installing from my Time-Machine backup.
I now have an error message that displays the following message at the login screen:
"Unable to log into the file-vault account "......." at this time. An error has occurred."
My password IS CORRECT. I have not changed it, and the log in window does accept my password, but it doesn't progress any further than the error message I gave above.
I'm wondering if the encryption process of file-vault is linked directly with the original installation I had of Mac OS-X before I Archived and installed.
Any thoughts/knowledge/Insight?? I want my old Mac back! (I don't recommend using file-vault). Any body else had this problem or can see what is happening to me here?
Thank you
Greg

I just did a backup, moved a folder with 600mb of images into a different folder, and did another backup. The free space on the backup drive dropped by the size of the folder's contents. The backup copied the files as I watched in System Preferences, and it looked like it was really copying the files to the external drive again. It looks like Time Machine isn't as smart as I hoped in this regard.
Still - I'd think the wasted space is only in the every-hour-for-the-last-24-hours bucket of Time Machine. I'm guessing the every hour backups are like a sliding window, where a backup that's 24 hours old drops out every hour rather than all the hourly backups getting wiped at midnight and starting over.
Regardless, only one version of the moved folder will eventually be stored as the daily backup for that day. I don't have proof, but that's what I think.
So, if you've moved a bunch of folders around or renamed them, the extra copies of the same exact files should drop off within 24 hours.
That's my interpretation, but I'm in no way positive!! The lengthy Ars review didn't offer an answer to this question.

Deleting time machine backup files from old time machine disk

I have an external USB HD that USED to be my Time Machine backup disk. I have replaced it with a newer FW HD and use the old one for archiving files, disk images, etc. The old disk still had 100gigs of backup files on it from time machine. To free up space, I thought I'd drag a few months of backups off the old dick into the trash. This worked. But I can't empty the trash. When I go to put the backup folders BACk on the USB disk, I get an error. So they are stuck in the trash.
Any help? Thanks.

I have always understood that there is no need to delete backup files from Time Machine. Once it reaches 'full' it begins to delete them sequentially of its own accord.
Good policy to check out Pondini's comments.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.htm
Or type Pondini into Google for a broader selection of his offerings.

Time Machine backup on new Mac - but too big?

Hi,
I am the current owner of a Macbook and i use 160GB of my harddrive. I am contemplating on buying a Macbook Air 11" with 128GB "HD", but I am hesitant, since I don't know how the computer would handle having to start up from a Time Machine-back up made from my Macbook, that would of course be larger than the Macbook Air has capacity for.
Is it even possible?

firemandan900 wrote:
I just had to replace my 13" Macbook Pro through warranty. When I first turned it on I selected to restore the computer from my time machine backup and after several hours it finished successfully with the exception of Ilife which on the restore had to be updated before it would open the restored databases. The other issue I am having is that timemachine is no longer working. I would prefer to have timemachine backup to the existing archive structure it created on the old machine but right now it just says it can not find the volume. Is there a way to keep using the existing backup
If there's room, TM can start a new set of backups for the new Mac on the same disk or Time Capsule. But it will make a new, full backup of the new Mac, so if your TM disk/partition isn't at well over twice the size of the data it's backing-up, your best bet will be to erase the drive with Disk Utility and let TM start over.
There's a downside to that, though. TM on the new Mac won't delete the oldest backups from the old Mac when it needs room for new backups.
Instead, it will delete the oldest backups from the new Mac, leaving the old backups "stranded." Without erasing the TM disk/partition, you'll have to delete the old backups one at a time, via the TM interface, which is quite tedious and time consuming. See the instructions in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.
or do I need to delate the archives and start a new archive?
That's probably your best option.

Time Machine: Backup versus archive?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for