back-up only certain folders

Question

Level 1

3 points

back-up only certain folders

i was wondering if its possible to only back up certain folders in my computer to the time capsule. Like my music and video folders only. Whenever i back up using time machine it back-ups my whole computer which is not necessary for me.

macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Sep 8, 2008 5:53 AM

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Answer 1

VA2020

Level 4

3,455 points

Sep 8, 2008 10:35 AM in response to mcancio

You can ABSOLUTELY select which folders to back up.

Go to Time Machine Preferences -> Options -> + (to exclude folders to back up) -> SELECT ALL.
Now go and de-select the folders you WANT to back up.

I repeat... Option allows you to select what you DON'T want to back up.

If you've already run Time Machine, the entire current setup is backed up, but nothing but the de-selected folders will be updated from now on.

Good luck!

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Answer 2

Garner

Level 1

8 points

Sep 8, 2008 9:45 AM in response to mcancio

I can't figure out any way to do that with Time Machine. Time Machine is setup to backup your whole drive. I imagine you could use another program (I like Carbon Copy Cloner) or maybe even just copy & paste the files you want to backup to the Time Capsule. I haven't tried it yet, but I was planning on trying it tonight since I've been having problems with Time Machine.

If we just format the Time Capsule drive couldn't we just use it as an external hard drive and just copy files to it?

I really don't know that much about how it works, but I plan on experimenting with it soon.

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