Yet another Time Capsule /Time Machine / Aperture / Vault Question

OK - It is recommended that the Aperture Library be excluded from the Time Machine backups, and to create vaults instead. Fine.
Has anyone tried including the vaults instead of the library in their TM backups? Any issues? Does TM backup only the changes to the vault, or does it see the vault file as one file, and backup the whole thing after the vault has been updated?

I haven't experienced it personally. That's because I have my Aperture library excluded -- I'm using SuperDuper to clone the entire library once a week (Aperture isn't open when this happens), and I also use vaults.
There were numerous threads here about it, though. Or, I should say, they were in this forum, or they were in the Leopard/Time Machine forum. There was a fair bit of complaining about it... so I take it that some people have been affected.
I doubt there's any danger of data loss, given TM won't back up the Aperture library when it's open -- which is when the database is in use and there could be open journal files. But... if you try it, and you notice that TM is taking 2-3 hours of crunching on your drive to back up the whole library, don't come yelling to me. I'll just say "known issue" and point to the Kbase article.
Deal?

Similar Messages

Yet another TIme Machine hair-puller

What gives with this software? I've read on these forums that people have plugged in a FW/USB disk directly into their laptops, done an initial backup and then plugged the disk into either an AEBS or another Mac running Leopard and are happily, wirelessly backing up. Not me.
When I do the initial backup of my laptop over the FW, it works fine, creating the backups.backupd folders and everything. But when I plug the LaCie 500GB into my iMac and network it, Time Machine tries to back up to it as if it's never seen it before and writes a sparse image file to the external drive. This isn't what I wanted, is it? I just wanted to do an hourly backup, and it's trying to back up my entire disk of about 100GB of data.
Any ideas? 10.5.1 can't come soon enough at this rate.

Try searching the forum for "sparse image" and/or "backing up two Macs on one external disk" (or something similar. There were a few threads in the last week or so that spoke to this issue - I haven't had the pleasure, so I can't help you...

Yet another Time Machine issue

I had a failure in time machine several months ago, and did a full reset of time machine as instructed on the discussion boards. Today I noticed that not only had Time machine failed to Back up, but it had no back ups when I 'entered' it.
When I reset Time Machine (on a 4 T external hard drive, so space isn't an issue), it failed with an error message:
The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk. WHen that volume is repaired (disk is partitioned) it says volume repair complete, and updating boot support partitions for the volume as required. Then it says Error: Couldn't unmount disk. When the second partition is repaired, it sends the same message.
I assume this is a problem with the Back Up Disk (a Lacie, purchased within the last few months). Or, is it a problem with Time Machine?
Any help out there?
THANKS
I have been running Lion for about a month.

Sounds like a problem with the drive like a corrupted directory or RDB. I would just erase the drive with Disk Utility and start over:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

Beginners guide - Library vs Time Machine vs Vault?

I am new to Aperture 2, and up until now have had a workflow system that's involved importing images and exporting them into folders, and have no idea what Apertures Library is or does? I am using it as a default setting at present.
I have never used Aperture 2 'til this month, and am exporting all my Masters into a RAW folder as well exporting them as TIF / JPG versions of every shoot I do. But I am confused as to what the Library does? Where are the images I am importing in terms of the Library? Am I doubling up saving RAW versions? Are they stored already in the Library?
I am also operating Time Machine which is also new to me. Is this backing up the Aperture 2 Library?
If I delete the images from a photo shoot I have saved as > Export > Masters and Export > Versions as both RAW (CRW) files, TIF files, and low res JPG files, will the photos remain 'stored' in the Library?
If the answer to this is yes, then once I've sent a client their TIF and JPG versions, I can delete these folders and rely on Aperture Library, Time Machine and a hard copy on DVD of each photo shoot. Right? or Wrong?

When you import into Aperture, you have a choice between using "Managed" masters or "Referenced" Masters. Managed masters are actually imported into the Aperture library, so if you also export them to another folder, you are doubling up. Referenced masters are maintained in another location and Aperture simply keeps track of them and creates thumbnails and previews in the Aperture library.
So, to avoid doubling up, you can either: (1) import all files as managed files and not export them, or (2) move them first to wherever you want to keep them, then import them as referenced files.
Either way, you should of course have a separate backup scheme. If you use referenced files, then Time Machine works fine. Originally, there was a problem using Time Machine with the Aperture library, but I think that has been resolved. Still, I exclude the Aperture library from Time Machine and backup my Aperture library to an external using the Vaults feature in Aperture.
The Aperture manual pdf, which can be downloaded from the Aperture support site, has good explanations of managed vs. reference files and of workflow backup.

Partition of external HD - Time Machine & Aperture

Good day all,
I bought an external HD (1TB) and I formatted it in FAT 32, so I can use it for both Window and Mac.
I also copied all my files in it.
When I tried to select it as Time Machine disk, I received the message that the HD needs to be re formatted as it is formatted for Window.
In order to use the same external HD for Time machine, can I make a partition in it and use it?
If I am going to create the partition, should I be worried about the data in the disk? I do not have a backup of them yet.
In order to use it also for Aperture 3, should I create a third partition?
Many thanks
Marco

In theory, Time Machine can back up to a Mac-formatted volume on a drive with the MBR partition scheme.
In practice, it often doesn't work well, if at all.
Your best bet may be to get another drive and use it only for Time Machine. Also note that Time Machine cannot back up the other drive, with the FAT32 format.

Time Machine + Aperture = 1 Fried External Drive

Hi, I'm really hoping someone can help me. Last week, I set up my first TM update on a partitioned LaCie Mini 250GB. One partition was called "Laptop Backup." I had planned to use SuperDuper for it, but decided to use Time Machine instead. The other partition contained videos and images.
I set up the partition called "Laptop Backup" as the Time Machine drive. Time Machine successfully renamed the partition and changed its icon.
I started running Time Machine. It was working fine. So I thought I would also put my Aperture library on the other partition on the same hard drive (it was previously on my internal drive).
I imported all of my photos (thousands of them) from my internal drive and another external drive into the Aperture library. That seemed to work too. So I deleted the copies of the photos elsewhere and quit Aperture.
When I quit, Aperture said it was still compiling thumbnails and asked if I wanted to let it do its thing. I clicked "OK." Time Machine was still working merrily along at this point, but both Aperture and Time Machine looked they were going to take time to finish the processes they'd started. It was late, so I let them run while I slept.
In the morning, I woke up to find that Time Machine had gotten hung-up at around 10GB (of roughly 66 GB). I tried canceling the update, and then turning off Time Machine, but nothing happened. Aperture was also hanging. I tried force-quitting the applications, but no luck. So I shut off the drive.
Since then, the drive has been really sick. It mounts (though sometimes the partition with Aperture on it doesn't mount completely), but Finder, Disk Utility, and even Activity Monitor, causes it to freeze up completely. The partition set up for Time Machine has no reverted back to its original name, "Laptop Backup." From the sounds the drive makes, it seems like it is performing one task again and again. This will continue for about 15 minutes and then it just spins.
I have repaired the permissions on my internal HD several times. But attempts to repair or verify the external HD cause the system to crash. Likewise, I tried erasing the contents of the partition with the incomplete Time Machine backup, but Disk Utility cannot unmount the disk, and gets hung up.
I tried opening the Aperture library on the other partition, through Finder, but that caused Finder to crash. It was unable even to relaunch until I turned off the external drive.
I tried deleting the Aperture preferences file (~/library/preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist, or whatever it is), but there isn't one.
I can't give up on the drive because all my photographs are there, and I need them for work. I'm really hoping there is something I can do to get at the drive, but I'm not familiar with command-line prompts and such.
Can anyone help me solve this problem? Many thanks,
ez

Ah, thanks. Sorry, I misunderstood.
Well, that didn't do it either, so I guess the answer to my question is that I'm pretty well f-d. I will try data recovery software. If that doesn't work, I'll find out how much a commercial data recovery service will cost and figure out if 190 GB of irreplaceable data is worth it.
Thank you both again for your helpful suggestions. I really appreciate your taking the time to help. I'll leave the thread open in case someone reading has a brainstorm, but in the meantime, thank you!
Apple, if you're reading, this is not OK. I lost huge chunks of my record collection with an iTunes update a few years back. Now I've lost all my photographs and dozens of Final Cut Pro projects, the product of years of travel and work, and I need to tell my boss that the dog ate my homework.
Too late for me, but could you please take a look at Time Machine and/or Aperture to try to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else? Seems like great, useful software, and for many people, I'm sure it is, but in this case it behaved like malware. In retrospect, my own actions were pretty stupid (loading processes like that, not keeping copies of the data elsewhere), but with a few painful exceptions, my Mac has withstood whatever I've thrown at it, and I got used to that. A temporary fix could be to limit the number of items you can add to an Aperture library at a time, or simply to prompt users to close Aperture before beginning Time Machine.
Nerowolfe, now that I've pretty much given up hope, maybe you could tell me whatever it was you didn't want to tell me I might have done? And you said that any use of the drive will probably overwrite existing data. I assume this doesn't include using data recovery software on the drive?
Thanks again, both,
ez

Time Machine: Aperture managed

I have a completely managed Libray with Aperture, totalling around 450GB, I just did a fresh Vaults backup which roughly came to about 430GB, but of my 1TB extHDD this doesn't leave me with enough space to do a system backup (I need around 600GB of free space) for Time Machine to backup my system. I was threfore wondering if ii could make the Library on my machine exempt from the backup, do I need to back that up as I have Vaults and the Library is managed?
Also, why do I need Vaults anyway, can't I just copy the HDD and everyhing would be fine?
Thanks in advance.

If you're satisfied with the way Vaults works, and if you have copies on at least two external drives, at least one of which is off site at all times, then you should be OK. Of course, if anything goes wrong, you may lose all changes more recent than the last backup.
Aperture 3 User Manual: Planning Your Backup System

Time Machine/File Vault

I'm using OS 10.5.1 with File Vault active.
Is the TIme Machine back-up on the external drive secured with File Vault??

+Thanks. I confess I do not know how to tell the difference between GUID and Apple Partition Map. I see that the drive has Master Boot Record scheme- is that related? I have tried another hard drive with the same results. Both are Mac OS Extended (Journaled)format.+
If a partition shows up formatted as Master Boot Record it can't also be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Do you have more than one partition on your Time Machine disk? If that is the case the partitions may be formatted differently and the partition you are using for Time Machine must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
If you only have one partition and it is formatted with Master Boot Record, Time Machine will not work properly. You can see what partition scheme you are using for your Time Machine disk and how the partitions are formatted in Disk Utility. Launch Launch Disk Utility from the dock or from the Applications > Utilities folder. Click on the upper icon for your Time Machine disk in the left window and the partition type will show on the bottom of the Disk Utility window. It should be GUID for Intel Macs and Apple Partition Map for PPC Macs.
Click on the indented icon(s) below upper Time Machine icon. That will show the formatting for each partition. If it says Master Boot Record for the partition you are using for Time Machine you will have to repartition and reformat the disk to get rid of it. That will erase the disk so copy any files you need first. Then follow the directions in this article.

Time Machine, File Vault and External Hard Drive

I use file vault on my well travelled MBP. When I get home I connect to my EHD for a regular backup using Time Machine. I am the only user on the MBP. My questions are:
Since the MBP is encrypted is the backup encryted on the EHD?
Should I ever need to restore from Time Machine using the EHD would I therefore need the password to access the backup?
If the EHD is NOT encrypted, how do I accomplish this and have File Vault work as seemlessly on the EHD as it does on the MBP
MacOS X 10.7.5
Thanks

1. Only if the external HD is encrypted, which can be done by formatting it as an encrypted volume with Disk Utility before setting it up with Time Machine, or by checking the option to encrypt the drive in the Time Machine system preferences.
2. No. The password for unlocking the drive is kept on the drive, so if you need to restore from backup all you should need is to supply the password when using the OS X Tools.
3. See #1.

Install new hard drive, restore from Time Machine, File Vault Problems

Hello all,
I spent way too much time on this seemingly simple task, so I thought I would share my experience with others so they can avoid some pitfalls when upgrading a hard drive in a system that uses File Vault 2 encryption. The basic goal here is to replace a drive in a system that has only one drive, and the OS is Mavericks, and then have the new drive encrypted as before.
The problem is that a Time Machine restore onto a new drive will leave that without a Recovery Partition, which is required for File Vault 2 and some other important things. So we need to build a recovery partition. There are possibly several ways to do this.
Here's what worked for me (this is compiled from many sources that I found and already closed the tabs in my browser so I can't list all my sources):
1) Make a full backup to an external hard drive using Time Machine.
2) Go into the App Store and download OS X Mavericks but dont install it (close the window when it pops up asking to continue the install). Do this even if you already have Mavericks. At this point, there will be a folder in your Applications folder called Install OS X Mavericks (or similar).
3) Insert a USB drive that is at least 8 GB and format it using Disk Utility, naming it the default "Untitled".
4) Open a terminal and type
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
5) Wait for this to finish (took me about 30 min). Eject the USB drive and power down.
6) Remove the old hard drive and set it aside. Keep it for a few weeks until you know the new drive is working as expected.
7) Install the new hard drive and insert the USB drive. Hold the option key and press the power button. Choose to boot from the USB installer.
8) Use the disk utility to erase whatever partition shipped with the new drive, replacing it with a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) system. Verify that GUID is the partition type (in Advanced options).
9) Close the disk utility and install Mavericks. This can take a long time. My new drive is an SSD, and it sat at the "1 second remaining" part for about 20 min. Let it reboot (maybe it was 2 times?) and go through the setup until it finishes the install.
10) Boot into the freshly installed OS and open a terminal and type:
diskutil list
11) If there is a partition listed as Apple_Boot Recovery HD (mine was 650 MB), then you now have a recovery partition. If not, then go into the App store and download Mavericks, but don't use the USB this time, choose to do a regular install (or reinstall to be more correct).
12) Now there will be a recovery partition on the new drive and Time Machine will not overwrite it when restoring. Power down the system.
13) Plug in the Time Machine backup drive used in step 1. Press the option key and power on. Choose to boot from the recovery partiton (Mavericks).
14) Choose to restore from Time Machine backup. Wait until it finishes and log into the old familiar account.
15) Start a terminal and verify the recovery partition is still there (type diskutil list and see that the Apple_Boot Recovery HD is there). If it's missing, choose to download Mavericks from the App Store again and run the installation from this one.
16) Once there is a Mavericks recovery partition on the restored data you can simply turn on File Vault from the System Preferences Security section. It will require a reboot and then you login and wait for it to finish.
What a major pain to go through all of this for the sake of upgrading a hard drive. This should not be anywhere near as complicated. I hope this helps others avoid the very time consuming trial and error I went through in developing this procedure.

Talked with Apple last night. Everything we did to restore lost images failed to fix the issue. I did have the images still on my camera's SD card so I was not breaking out in a cold sweat.
All Time Machine backups showed the same issue. HOWEVER, I suddenly remembered I also had a SuperDuper backup and voila. The images were there.
Moral of the story: you can't ever be too rich or have too many backups (I also have an offsite backup).

I know, another Time Machine help request

I get the Time Machine back up error. I recently purchased a Seagate GoFlex Desk external drive. Time Machine seemed to recognize it right away. The following morning I found the dreaded "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
I have formatted the external drive per Pondini's step by step; MAC OS Extended (Journaled). No luck. Then I downloaded Time Machine Buddy Widget. I don't know how to copy the error messages in the pop-up. Apparently it is having an issue with a movie that was downloaded from Itunes. I proceeded to exclude it (band-aid). However, I will run Time Machine again and it will have a problem with another file. The error code is consistent; Error (-36)
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/TM Backups/Backups.backupsdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume
No pre-backup thinning needed 135.88 GB requested (including padding), 1.80 TB available
Your help will be greatly appreciated!

kenfromlo wrote:
I get the Time Machine back up error. I recently purchased a Seagate GoFlex Desk external drive. Time Machine seemed to recognize it right away. The following morning I found the dreaded "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
See #C10 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (but see the next item first).
I have formatted the external drive per Pondini's step by step; MAC OS Extended (Journaled).
Did you select the GUID Partition Map Scheme? If not, reformat it that way.
Then I downloaded Time Machine Buddy Widget. I don't know how to copy the error messages in the pop-up.
Click in the message area, select Cmd+A (to select All), then Cmd+C to copy.
(Or, if you mean the TM failure message, a screen print is fine.)
Apparently it is having an issue with a movie that was downloaded from Itunes. I proceeded to exclude it (band-aid). However, I will run Time Machine again and it will have a problem with another file. The error code is consistent; Error (-36)
See the pink box in #C3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Another Time Machine problem after 10.5.3 update

OK, I have another problem, that I haven't seen listed here. Time Machine will no longer back up my MacBook Pro after the 10.5.3 update. The error message I get in the Console log is:
6/1/08 3:44:42 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1395] Volume at path /Volumes/Dave's backup does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
How do I change the cookies for my backup disk?
Thanks in advance.

I believe I have isolated the problem as a permissions issue which I have logged as bug 5990628:
Summary:
Unable to backup over network after upgrading to 10.5.3.
Steps to Reproduce:
Configure Time Machine to back up Leopard machine over AirPort to another Leopard machine (with external drive and .Mac account configured in this case)
Expected Results:
Backups complete as usual.
Actual Results:
Backups are 'Delayed' with errors like this in the console:
6/6/08 4:25:57 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[2334] Volume at path /Volumes/Time Machine-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
Regression:
Yes
Notes:
There are many threads on the subject:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1538633
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1543033
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1547134
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1546079
The problem appears to relate to being unable to read the cookie:
6/6/08 4:20:23 AM System Preferences[2315] Failed to create remote cookie file at path: /Volumes/Time Machine/.001b63abcdef
And this appears to be because the cookie was owned by a different user (likely due to it wanting to connect using a .Mac username instead of a local one), per my explanation below:
I only ever used Time Machine after upgrading to 10.5.3 so my first experience with it has been fairly ordinary, as the backups were constantly being 'Delayed' with this error in the Console:
6/6/08 4:25:57 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[2334] Volume at path /Volumes/Time Machine-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
The first thing I discovered from a blog post was that my .Mac 60 day trial was causing it to connect using my .mac username (which appeared in the username field in the UI as a string of hex characters); disconnecting and reconnecting using a local user seemed to work but the issue remained.
I then spotted this in the console:
6/6/08 4:20:23 AM System Preferences[2315] Failed to create remote cookie file at path: /Volumes/Time Machine/.001b63abcdef
The 'random' characters are your MAC address and the binary inside is likely this 'cookie' - a random value used to transparently and reliably link backups to machines. Curiously I couldn't modify this file over the network despite apparently owning it (in Terminal):
$ cd /Volumes/Time\ Machine
$ ls -la .00*
-r-------- 1 samj staff 16 Jun 6 04:33 .001b63abcdef
But when looking at it on the Mac Mini 'server' I saw that the owner was in fact another user:
-r-------- 1 otheruser staff 16 Jun 6 04:33 .001b63abcdef
So I ran these commands:
sudo chown samj .001b63abcdef
sudo chgrp staff .001b63abcdef
And sure enough I was able to configure Time Machine as expected and it is as we speak backing up my MacBook over Airport to a USB drive attached to my Mac Mini.
Cheers,
Sam
Sam Johnston
Australian Online Solutions
http://www.aos.net.au/

Time capsule/time machine set up question

Hi there,
I'm getting my new Macbook Pro tomorrow and am going to set up time capsule and have a couple questions on the best way to do it. I want time machine to back up my macbook at a regular interval. I also want it to back up my external hard drive manually (ie once every couple of months when I think about it).
Normally my external hard drive will be plugged into the back of my time capsule so I can access it from the macbook. I realize I'll need to plug it in to the macbook to back it up as I'm pretty sure the Time Capsule won't back up an external hard drive plugged into it. I'm just not sure what settings I need to change in time machine to acheive this.
Also, I have my Imac on the network which i don't want backed up with Time machine. Will it try to back it up automatically when I turn on Time Machine? What do I need to do to prevent this?
Thanks for your help,
Dug

Hello Dug.
I want time machine to back up my macbook at a regular interval. I also want it to back up my external hard drive manually (ie once every couple of months when I think about it).
This is no problem.. leave TM to do its hourly backups. It is faster that way and it will simply clean up the backups at the end of the day and end of week to remove the excess and repeats.
Read how TM actually works as it is good to understand.. It is not a simple piece of software.
The general info at the top here is great.. about TM and clones.. as well as the article on TM and magic.
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
This covers a lot more of the details.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I realize I'll need to plug it in to the macbook to back it up as I'm pretty sure the Time Capsule won't back up an external hard drive plugged into it.
Correct.. TM only backs up the disks plugged into the Mac.
It cannot backup network drives.. ie the TC. Or anything plugged into the TC.
You can setup TM to backup the external drive by removing it from the exclude list in preferences. When it is plugged in you might need to still go to preferences and remove the exclusion .. it will take a long long time to backup.. And I personally think this is the wrong way to do it. I think you are better keeping the backup of the external drive separate. I would use (I do) carbon copy cloner, which works great and is far more flexible than TM.. you can then backup the external USB drive plugged into the TC occasionally to the TC without any unplugging.. (although I would plug the MBP into the TC by ethernet). Which reminds me your first backup of the MBP should be by ethernet.. if you Mac has no ethernet port buy the thunderbolt to ethernet dongle..it is not expensive and well worth the money.
TC cannot do anything.. it is a dumb as a board hard disk in a fairly dumbed down router.
Also, I have my Imac on the network which i don't want backed up with Time machine. Will it try to back it up automatically when I turn on Time Machine? What do I need to do to prevent this?
TM is controlled by you.. if you don't want TM to back up, don't turn it on.. I am lost why you think TM will start automatically backing up. It won't.. it is going to sit there off.. and you can leave it off.

How to merge existing itunes library with another time machine volume?

hi all,
i am 2 macs, an iMac and a MacBook - both running Snow Leopard 10.6.3 and both running itunes 9.
is possible to merge the itunes library on the MacBook onto the iMac via my MacBook's Time Machine volume? i do not have my MacBook with me at this moment cos' i have sent it for diagnostic and repair. i have the latest itunes library backups on my MacBook's Time Machine.
hope to hear some valuable pointers. Thank you!

mook73 wrote:
is possible to merge the itunes library on the MacBook onto the iMac via my MacBook's Time Machine volume?
i have never attempted such an operation, so no step-by-step guide !
you will be able to restore the other Mac's library to the iMac. go here and follow the instructions: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/17.html. restore whatever you need to a temporary location, i.e. the desktop.
if you only want the media files, just restore the iTunes music folder. when restored, use +add to library+ from the file menu or just drag the folder you restored to the +automatically add to iTunes+ folder inside the iTunes folder.
if you also want playlists, playcounts, and ratings, you should restore the entire iTunes folder.
take a look @ PowerTunes. this app should enable you to merge the two libraries.
good luck !
JGG

Yet Another Time Sheet Question

Hello, Everyone:
I know there have been other posts on this subject, but none of them have met my needs. I recently began my freelance design career and would like to keep track of my hours in spreadsheet form. I know nothing of spreadsheet applications whether it be Excel or Numbers. I need a basic rundown of how to make my spreadsheet do what I want.
I'd like my sheet to have the following columns:
*Date | Start Time | End Time | Total Time*
Now, I have seen where the application renders the time in decimal form, which is fine, but would it be possible to show the time in hours and minutes, like 1 hr 43 mins? I would like to know how to get both sorts of results, if possible. If not, I'll settle for decimals.
In any case, if someone could show me step-by-step how to meet this task, I would really, really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!
Message was edited by: Ancient Console
Message was edited by: Ancient Console

AC,
Your use of the time calculations is a simple as can be.
Select column A and format it as Date&Time, and set Time format to None
Select columns B and C and format as Date&Time, and set Date format to None
Select column D and format as Duration, adjust the slider to cover only hours and minutes, set the format as you wish, H:MM would work.
In the first data row of column D, enter the equation: =C-B
With the first equation in D selected, select the rest of the cells to the bottom and Insert > Fill > Fill Down.
Enter some data. The result should appear in column D. Now you may not like looking at zeros in the rows where you haven't yet entered times. So, select column D and in the Cells Inspector click the Conditional Format Show Rules button. Choose the rule: Equal To and type a zero into the field on the right. Then click Edit, followed by a click on the rectangle to the right of the word Text. In the colors panel that pops up, cllick the plain white square next to the upper left corner. Now click Done.
That's all there is to it.
Jerry

Yet another Time Capsule /Time Machine / Aperture / Vault Question

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