"Time Machine Keeps" doesn't make sense - help.

I'm new to Mac. So forgive me if this is something I'm just way over thinking, but I like to understand stuff and this erks me that I don't understand it.
Time Machine says it keeps:
Hourly backups for the past 24 hours
Daily backups for the past month
Weekly backups for all previous months
What the heck does that mean?
So every hour it back ups whatever has changed on my iMac, right?
Does it also take a daily snapshot and keep those for a month?
Beyond that what is a weekly backup? Is it all the changes I made in a month?
And what really freaks me out is lets say I'm an ametur photographer (oh wait, I am )...... I store pictures on my hard drive, and they get backed up on Time Machine. I don't touch them for over a year or so, and my Time Capsule fills up. Does that mean that because "the oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full" that those old files that haven't been touched in hours, days, or weeks, are the first backed up file to go?
Hoping someone can explain this to me in layman's terms, or with really good analogies.
Appreciate your time.

Read the expert Pondini on how TM works.
http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html
There is a bunch of links on that page to some more technical discussion of what is happening.
This FAQ explains a bit more clearly the hourly, weekly and monthly stuff.
So every hour it back ups whatever has changed on my iMac, right?
Yes.
Does it also take a daily snapshot and keep those for a month?
Yes. The Daily is the first backup of the day.
This is how pondini explains it.
Time Machine automatically "thins" (deletes) backups every time it does a new backup, as shown on the Preference window:
•"Hourly" backups after 24 hours (except the first of the day, which is a "Daily" backup).
So after one day, all the variations on your files are deleted. If you want to recover to version you made a few hours ago it will have to be done on that day.
•"Daily" backups after a month (except the first of each week, which is a "Weekly" backup.)
So you can restore any version of your file, that is part of the first backup of each day for one month.
•"Weekly" backups are kept until Time Machine needs the space for new backups; then one or more of the oldest weeklies will be deleted.
You can restore files saved on the first day of each week, for as long as the backup device has room.
However, Time Machine will never delete the backup copy of anything that was on the disk being backed-up at the time of any remaining backup. So all that's actually deleted are copies of items whose originals were changed or deleted before the next remaining backup. If that seems odd, it is! See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
Honestly even having studied this stuff for a while .. I have no idea what the red bit means.
What is kept long term is Weekly backups. That is the backup of the first day of the week.
When space runs out the Weekly backups will be deleted from the oldest onwards.
But note that anytime you delete a file, that file will also be deleted from the TM backup at some unpredictable time in the future along with all the versions of the file.
The TM backup in the end is supposed to be able to recreate the computer as it is, right now. And to give you some history of file changes for as long as space is available. It is really not supposed to work as an archive of files. Do not expect to find every version of your files or especially files you have deleted on the computer to remain permanently in the TM backup.
Do use clones.. a clone gives you a proper archive of the computer.. make and keep clones and you will be able to recover even files you delete.
See pondini comparison of clones and TM.
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html

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Clean install of Lion and Time Machine Backup: Does it make sense?

Hello everybody,
I have updated from Snow Leopard to Lion over the App Store and now my iMac (the 27" one from last year) seems to suffer from several slowdowns. Quite unusual for a new Mac. So I decided to try a clean install. Of course I would like to keep my data, my programs and stuff. I am doing daily backups with my Time Machine, so this should not be a problem.
But thats my question: Does it make sense to put back all data from the Time Machine from a backup on a clean install? Doesn`t it possibly put back all the old problems with all the slowdowns I experience right now?
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
I hope someone can verify that this would work. Since those slowdowns became really annoying I would give it a try.
greetings
Michael

the_whispering wrote:
So I decided to try a clean install.
I'd recommend against starting with the "nuclear" option.
First, is there a "pattern"? Does the problem seem to coincide with any particular app(s)?
How full is your internal HD? If it's over about 85%, that can contribute to slowness.
Check for directory damage, by Verifying your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
Check for unusual log messages that can indicate a problem. See the tan box in OSX Log Files to locate your system.log, then the blue box there to decipher it, especially the Other Problems section.
If you suspect a problem with your installation of OSX, download and install the "combo" update, per Installing the"combo" update and/or Reinstalling OSX.
If that doesn't help, try installing a fresh version of OSX (that won't disturb anything else), per the same article.
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
If you want to restore everything from your Time Machine backup, all you have to do is start up from your Recovery HD and do the restore. That will erase the HD and copy everything, including OSX, from the backups. Thus, it's unlikely to help, unless you had unrepaired directory problems.
Or, after you install Lion, use Setup Assistant to transfer everything except OSX from your backups. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion. Functionally, that's pretty close to just installing a fresh copy of Lion as above.

New hard disk after time machine restore doesn't boot, NEED HELP

Hi,
I just bought a new hard disk for my computer and it works fine if you just install the OS X, but every time I do a restore from my time machine I received a screen after the boot that tells the following:
"You need to restart your computer, hold on the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again."
This message appears in many languages, I do the restart and the same message comes again every time.
I already tried the disk utility when I boot with the OS X DVD and says that the disk is ok. I also tried a PRAM reset.
The result is the same message.
Does any body knows what I am doing wrong or why is this happens?
thanks for any help

This is a kernel panic. They are often, but not exclusively, hardware related. Some reading for you:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1392
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
If this only happens after a full restore from TM, that might suggest something you are copying back over is causing the problem. You may want to ask in the Snow Leopard TM forums about how to identify the culprit, or do a partial restore that might skip the system files likely to cause a panic:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1342
Good luck!

Hi, im tinkering with mpeg streamclip and its giving me problems because it won't open my ripped dvd files from my desktop. It keeps giving me the same message "no VOB files can be found". Can anyone help me, this doesn't make sense.

hi, im tinkering with mpeg streamclip and its giving me problems because it won't open my ripped dvd files from my desktop. It keeps giving me the same message "no VOB files can be found". Can anyone help me, this doesn't make sense. I also found online that you need Apple Mpeg-2 playback component in order to use mpeg streamclip. Even though I have OS X Lion, should I download the add-on?

You need to convert the VOB files in the TS-Folder of the DVD back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
(unless you are running Lion in which case see below))
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
For the benefit of others who may read this thread:
Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.
And from the TOU of these forums:
Keep within the Law
No material may be submitted that is intended to promote or commit an illegal act.
Do not submit software or descriptions of processes that break or otherwise ‘work around’ digital rights management software or hardware. This includes conversations about ‘ripping’ DVDs or working around FairPlay software used on the iTunes Store.
If you are running Lion:
From the MPEG Streamclip homepage
The installer of the MPEG-2 Playback Component may refuse to install the component in Lion. Apple states the component is unnecessary in Lion, however MPEG Streamclip still needs it.
To install the component in Lion, please download MPEG Streamclip 1.9.3b7 beta above; inside the disk image you will find the Utility MPEG2 Component Lion: use it to install the MPEG-2 Playback Component in Lion. The original installer's disk image (QuickTimeMPEG2.dmg) is required.
The current versions of MPEG Streamclip cannot take advantage of the built-in MPEG-2 functionality of Lion. For MPEG-2 files you still need to install the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, which is not preinstalled in Lion. You don't have to install QuickTime 7.

Why doesn't time capsule come with AirPlay and an audio out plug? I have to buy an Airport Express station and put it right on top of my time capsule to wire it to my stereo. Doesn't make sense...

My Time Capsule is right by my stereo and would like to stream my itunes there. But it looks like I would have to add an Airport express station right on top of my time capsule to do this. Which doesn't make sense to have 2 wireless routers on top of each other. Is that the only way?

Well you can't do it with a Time Capsule.
You could get an Apple TV instead of an Air Port Express and then you can get video as well..

My Time Machine keeps asking to complete a new backup instantly after I just created a new back up

I recentlly starting using a Seagate wireless external hard drive to back up with Time Machine. The initial back up took 8-10 hours and that was at the beginning of April. Now at least once a week if not more Time Machine will give me a prompt saying "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups on "XXX." To improve reliability Time Machine must create a new backup for you. Click start new back up to create a new back up. This will remove your exisiting backup history. This could take several hours."
I understand how the initial back up can take hours. What I don't understand is why Time Machine is no longer taking snapshots of my computer to back up and instead has to delete what back up history I have and start all over. It's time consuming and doesn't make me feel very safe about my back ups. I've tried exploring the Time Machine preferences but there really isn't much I can figure out to change. I contacted Seagate directly and since I'm not using their software only their device they say it's an Apple and Time Machine problem.
Why is this happening and how can I change the settings to avoid having to create an entirely new backup weekly?

Backing up to a third-party NAS with Time Machine is risky, and unacceptably risky if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want, and I also know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
If you want network backup with Time Machine, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS for backup, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple.)

Time machine keeps losing backups

Time machine keeps losing backups on 10.8 machine.
I do Verify Backups or Enter Time Machine or Browse Other Time Machine Disks and all I can see is an older, concurrent machine.
While I can tell it to run a backup, and it will complete apparently successfully (and I'll be able to view it) the backups won't be there tomorrow. This makes Time Machine unusable at best.
What gives? Why are the backups vanishing?
WD MyBookLive
2010-mid MacBook Pro
This maching is also having trouble with scp, and other secure connections. But why would Time Machine report that it works, only to throw everything away?
Need help.
-Crissa

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil listbackups | awk -F/ '{print $NF}'
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.

Time machine keeps repeating backup of entire iMac harddrive

Two issues with Time Machine:
ISSUE ONE: Time Machine is backing up my ENTIRE hard drive, which takes several hours, every time it automatically backs up which is often - not just the changes that are due to me working on the computer and editing existing files or creating new files. I want Time Machine to only update the changes as per the description of how this software is supposed to function as provided by Apple.
ISSUE TWO: I excluded some files from the backup to reduce the volume that was being frequently backed up, assuming I had the option to return them to the list of files to be backed up but it seems I cannot do so. You can only exclude files from the backup and not reverse this action which doesn't make sense at all.
I would like to resolve both issues.

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Both problems may be caused by the preference file being corrupted. Try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
If that doesn't stop the full backups, is your entire system being backed-up each time, or only your home folder? If in doubt, create another one via +System Preferences > Accounts+ and see if it's affected, too.

Time capsule and time machine keep disconnecting

My Time Machine keeps losing connection to my Time Capsule and dropping it's wireless internet connection. The internet comes back, but when I click on the Time Machine settings and open Airport Utility, it shows the internet connection as Green, but it never finds the Time Capsule.
A. How do I get it to reconnect.
B. What is causing it to disconnect?
I have an iMac (Intel) with OS 10.7.5. I have Time Machine setup to backup my iMac wirelessly to a Time Capsule. I also have a cable modem providing wireless access. The Time Capsule is setup in Bridge Mode.
Thanks in advance!
John

Hi John, let's see if we can stop the disconnect.
Though all of these steps may or may not be needed, I'm including them all.
Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712
10.7 & 10.8…
System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.
10.5.x/10.6.x/10.7.x instructions...
System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.
The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.
10.4 instructions...
Is that Interface dragged to the top of Network>Show:>Network Port Configurations.
If using Wifi/Airport...
Instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.
If that doesn't work try changing channels on your Router.

Animation logic doesn't make sense....

I know this probably should go to a suggestion/feature request or what not but A. I haven't been able to find the place for that and B. I felt like it'd make sense to see what others thought of this as well....
Firstly....I'm learning flash right now and the animation in it is simply put...."backwards". Every other animation program I've touched made sense but here....its mind boggling. After effects, 3dsmax, maya, just about any other animation software you ALWAYS do the animation THEN place the keyframe.
Why is this important? Because then if you move your object just to see how it would be placed elsewhere temporarily and don't like it, you don't have to undo...or if you moved it accidentally you don't have to try and move it back into place. It doesn't key unless you tell it to key. Unless there's some feature in flash I've not yet discovered that reverses this. The other reason is for the sake of conformity. Sure flash isn't the same as other animation programs but if ctrl+Z is undo universally why do you have to go and change it, just to be different?
Thats not all. It doesn't make sense to have to push a button to edit multiple key frames. Why can't we just select them all and then edit, why add in a useless extra step to edit frames?
Lastly and the most annoying part, is the fact that you need to add in 'blank' keyframes to see your animation play. How did this even make sense from inception? Every other animation program your object will always exist ad infinitum unless you make it disappear. Why force us to add keyframes just to see what we have so far...doesn't it make more sense to just push the play button and see it playing endlessly and then during output you set the amount of frames u want rendered? Even more mind boggling is the fact that if you have an element animated within its own timeline you cannot see that animation in the main stage unless you add blank keyframes? Whats the purpose of these blank keyframes? Its so far as I can see just a needless step that never should have been there.
Well thats my rant.
Again, I don't script, I'm still learning it, but I come from a heavy background of animation of after effects/fcp/premiere and 3d packages. They are all consistent with how animation works, but here it just seems like it wasn't very thought out.
Maybe there are some reasons for the way its done for the sake of actionscript or some other reasons I'm not yet aware of. So forgive me if what I'm saying in actuality doesn't make sense. But if it does.....sure this would require what would most likely be a huge overhaul of flash's animation system, certainly not enough time to make it in for cs5....but at least as a future patch or in cs6 it would really make things more logical and flat out less complicated.
Thanks for reading, comments/critiques are welcome.

What is your problem?

Does Time Machine keep backups of my emails?

I was wondering if Time Machine keeps a backup of all my stored emails and the folders I created in Mail.
Anyone know about this?
Thanks

I gave up on TM as a worthwhile backup solution, but dee if the gree demo of BackInTime can help...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/backintime.html
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Change which old backups Time Machine keeps

Any body know how to change what older backups Time Machine keeps? I know how to change how frequently Time Machine backs up (sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int XXXX),
but what I want is for it to not save so many recent backups and keep more of the old ones. Right now it saves hourly backups for the last 24 hours, daily for the last month, and weekly for each month until you run out of space. I don't need all the daily stuff, and would really like to keep more of the monthly. The older the info, the harder it is to recover by other means. What I'd like to do is keep older backups and lose more of the intermediate ones.
Any ideas?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Post the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear.
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

Time Machine Backup doesn't delete older backups

Time machine preferences doesn't allow much of modifications as to how frequently should it backup the data etc.. Is there any way where I can specify the intervals between two successive backups and thus limit the backup size, coz I think I'll need

I have the same problem. My computer name did include invalid characters but changing the name to fix that did not solve the problem. I recently had the logic board replaced (for the 2nd time in 3 yrs but that's another issue) and wondered if there is something related to that. I've had to reset a few things and reauthorize iTunes, is there a similar process for Tine Machine to make it see my previous backups? I guess I can reformat and start over but I'd really like to avoid that since I have almost 4 months of backups and am not sure what might get missed if I do that. Any advice would be much appreciated!

After upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?

after upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?
before the upgrade, i could open time machine without the need for having the back up disk plugged in.

Ok. I got it to work, sort of....
As I mentioned before I tried the "disk password" and the "Time capsule Password" options to see if I can start the back up again or start a new backup. Neither worked. So I tried the firmware down grade, but like you said that did not work. I then decided to try the "Account password" option and I have never used this option before becasue it states that if there is data on the drive it would not be acessable after creating an account. Since I wiped out the disk that was nno problem. When I created the new account and choose the drive it asked for the user name and password. I entered the info for the new account I just created(FYI this has nothing to do with your login username and password), bingo! It worked!
Now I have two partitions on the TC disk. The old one and now the new account. I am guessing this is to be used if I have multiple computers, which I don't.
I any case, I am going to wipe out everything again and try again to do a backup the way I had it before.

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.

"Time Machine Keeps" doesn't make sense - help.

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