Time Machine and Hardlink. Back Up. HELP

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Time Machine and Hardlink. Back Up. HELP

Hi, i am new to apple forums. I am not to close to macs.

I've been reading around to see how Time Machine works.

So far i've learn that Time Machine does a 1 time full back up and progressive backups according to the disk space and your settings.

The Great thing about Time Machine is that when u search (finder) by dates you get the feeling of having all the information as it was at that point of that backup without realizing that the unchanged information are hard-links.

Hardlinks pretty much work the same as a shorcut (pc)but you are not aware of it. However the unchage files are located on a different file/folder.

OK. anyways. This is what i need help on.

I have around 6 1tb Hard Drives that have been used as backup units using Time Machine.

I am being asked to backup all the data. They want me to pretty much keep everything in one folder but arrange the changes by dates.

Example: Desktop / files: a B and C Date: 1/1/1
If there was a change on file b, they want me to note it and save it on the same folder:
Desktop / files/ a b c Date: 1/1/1
/ Files/ Change from 1/1/1 :file b Date: 1/2/1

Now for this to become an easy task it will be nice if i can pretty much hide all the hardlinks on only view that changed or modified files that have bee backed up!

All i would like to see is the changed files that time machine has backed up and not the files that are consistent.

That way i can simply copy the changed files without having to check the modified attributes or even view the content itself.

The data i have pretty much goes back around 5 years ago. And there is a time machine backup every week or so.

It will also be annoying for me to go trough their files because most of it are just email and pics! and they all pretty much have the same name. Unless i can do a string seach (same as a pc antivirus) but that is just too complicated..

HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP! thanks!

Hackingtosh, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 8, 2011 6:27 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 13, 2017 11:53 AM in response to JYP.ent

You fundamentally fail to understand how time machine works.

It is *NOT*: 1 full backup, and a bunch of incrementals.

It is: A bunch of full backups.

There is no "Incremental", except for what is calculated on the fly. In order to delete a backup, software has to calculate which files are unique to that backup.

You said,

[quote]For Example: I have File1 under April 1 and then have File 1 under April 2 again, but for April 3 i will not back up File 1 again. Reason is because File1 in april 2 had a change from april 1; however, File1 had no changes from April 2 to April 3 therefore i have no need to back it up.[/quote]

But that is not how Time Machine works. All three of those have copies of the file. It happens that the same blocks on the backup disk are used for the April 2 and April 3 files.

*IF* the directory itself changed, then the files are linked like that.

*IF* the directory itself did not change, then either the directory, or one of it's parents will be linked, and then there will be no obvious way to see how the backup changed.

Now, there is file meta-data information to indicate when the file was backed up (more specifically, which backups it's a part of). But that information is located whereever that link is located (which may be up several levels of directories).

[quote]Hardlinks pretty much work the same as a shorcut (pc)but you are not aware of it. However the unchage files are located on a different file/folder.[/quote]

No, that is a "Symbolic link". For "Hard links", there is no original -- both copies are identical as far as the OS and user programs are concerned.

(NB: I've been told that the underlying file system -- HFS+ -- and the underlying apple file access routines -- DO have a distinction, and have to fake unix-level hard links. But I do not know the details, and have never worked with stuff that low-level).

===

Instead of focusing on the implementation issues -- which you do not understand -- how about focusing on what you want to accomplish? I've read both of your posts 3 times, and cannot understand what your goal is.

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Answer 2

Mar 9, 2011 10:01 AM in response to JYP.ent

I think your approach is flawed because it is based on a false assumption. A hard link is not a shortcut. A filename or an icon represents a pointer to some data somewhere on a disk. That pointer is what is meant by the term +hard link+. There is no reason why a set of data on the disk cannot have more than one link pointing to it, although that concept is unfamiliar to most Mac users. That is a +multi-linked file+. The links are equal and indistinguishable. All the links represent the same file. The same file can be in more than one folder or have more than one name. You cannot identify one as the "real" file while the others are some kind of indirect pointer to the original.

This is different from a Mac OS alias or a Unix +symbolic link+. An alias is a separate file, with its own hard link(s). The contents of the alias is a pointer to a hard link of the "original" file. The hard links in Time Machine do not have this separate and independent proxy file in between you and the data.

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Answer 3

JYP.ent Author

Level 1

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Apr 5, 2011 12:37 PM in response to Jeffrey Jones2

sorry for not checking your answer. I apologize for any mistakes as i am a PC guy and use to working on DOS.

I understand what you are trying to say. However, this still does not answer my question.

I am trying to make a backup from a Time Machine backup Files. I have around 10 Hard Drives from the same user and Mac that were use to backup with Time Machine. I am trying to make a back up of files only. The problem is that there are many files with the same name. but the content may differ (sometimes by less than 1%) but it has a purpose. What i am being asked to back up all the files by date. For Example: I have File1 under April 1 and then have File 1 under April 2 again, but for April 3 i will not back up File 1 again. Reason is because File1 in april 2 had a change from april 1; however, File1 had no changes from April 2 to April 3 therefore i have no need to back it up.

Now the concept in which time machine works which is : 1 full backup and then small backup of changes every certain amount of time.
I Would love to be able to only view those changes and copy them into my backup harddrive.

Please let me know if you have an alternative way to do so.

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Answer 4

Klaus1

Level 9

52,873 points

Aug 14, 2017 4:06 AM in response to keybounce

You are responding to a six year old thread!

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