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Time Machine

I would like to adjust my time machine back up settings so that I only back up once a day late at night so that hourly backups do not reduce performance when I am working during the day. Is there a way to adjust how often Time machine backs up. I am backing up to Time capsule.

27 inch, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Jan 19, 2010 3:32 PM

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7 replies

Jan 19, 2010 4:08 PM in response to Tquach

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

That may be treating a symptom instead of the disease.

Are your hourly backups larger than you expect? If so, that may be the real problem. See #9 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum, for some common culprits and solutions.

If your backups are fairly small, but slow and take a lot of CPU, try the things in #D2 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

Backing-up only once a day greatly reduces Time Machine's ability to protect you. You'll have a much smaller chance of recovering a previous version of a file you've deleted or changed in error (like "Save" instead of "Save As"), or that somehow got corrupted.

Jan 25, 2010 2:57 PM in response to Carl Thomas

Carl Thomas wrote:
I have recently begun using TimeMachine with my iMac, OS 10.5.8. Working OK, but a question. Can I be actively working on a document filed on my internal hard disk at the same time that Time Machine is backing up that internal hard disk ? Thanks, Carl Thomas, Knoxville, Tennessee


Hi, and welcome to the forums.

This really should have been posted as a new topic, rather than added-on to an unrelated thread.

But the answer is Yes, you can use your Mac normally while Time Machine backups are running. It will not be a problem. The version of the document you're working on is not the one on the disk anyway; the app you're using will have copied it into temporary memory, and will replace the version on your HD when you Save it.

If your app has an "autosave" feature that's turned on, it will periodically save your working copy to disk, until you save it yourself. The TextEdit app, for example, will give the temporary copy the same name as your document, but with "(Autosaved)" appended at the end (other apps may use other conventions). If it does that, the temporary copy will be backed-up by Time Machine.

Mar 19, 2010 4:08 AM in response to Tquach

I learned the hard way Time Machine has a giant flaw. Its ok to use to recover files, but not hard drives. My new iMac's HD went bad, not able to boot. Apple support and the Genius bar people coundn't get it to boot either. I thought no problem i have an external HD that was Time Machining my drive, i'll just get the files off that external drive. Doesn't work--- for some reason Time Machine will only allow access to the external drive from the Mac that it was connected to, but when that Mac goes bad you are SOL. An web based backup or even manual backup is a better way to go instead of time Machine.

Mar 19, 2010 8:51 AM in response to lenado

lenado wrote:
. . .
Doesn't work--- for some reason Time Machine will only allow access to the external drive from the Mac that it was connected to, but when that Mac goes bad you are SOL.


Not true.

  • You can restore your entire system, per #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum. This is commonly used when an internal HD fails, or is replaced with a larger one.
  • If you get a new Mac, you can effortlessly transfer all your users, apps, configuration and data from the old Mac or it's Time Machine backups via +Setup Assistant.+ See #19 in the FAQ Tip.
  • You can also restore selected files from a different Mac's backups, per #17 in the FAQ Tip.
  • You can restore a non-boot drive to a different one. See #E3 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
    Perhaps if you detail exactly what you tried, and what did or didn't happen, we can help.

Time Machine

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