So frustrated with Time Machine

How did you "search" your external HD? Time Machine doesn't like anybody else looking through its stuff.

If you Enter Time Machine, can you see the recently created items?

Are you using File Vault?

You might want to read Pondini's Time Machine site. FAQ #8 lists a few third-party utilities that you can use to "view" what has been backed up. The first two items on the home page describe how TM works.

Basically, Time Machine uses file system "tricks" to create its backups. Using standard file system tools to view them does not always result in what you might expect.

Time Machine doesn't work like a normal back up program.

It doesn't simply copy files to another hard drive, so you can then simply look through that drive like you would any other through the Finder.

Normal backup programs (like Carbon Copy Cloner) simply copy your files somewhere else, much like if you had manually copied them.

Time Machine doesn't work like that. It constantly backs up every file on your computer. If you want to see a previous version of a file, or you accidentally delete a file, you select the folder you knew it was in, 'enter time machine' and then the Mac shows you every previous backed up version of that folder in a 'spacey' interface.

You 'go back in time' by clicking the arrow, once you find the file you want, you select it, click 'restore' and it goes all the way back to the present, bringing the file with it.

The issue is with Time Machine, is that it will keep backing up until it runs out of room on your hard drive. When it runs out of room, it starts deleting the oldest files.

Time Machine is not designed for you to look in the Time Machine drive and drag old files back out of it - it doesn't work like that.

In my view, Time Machine is not for you, your seem to be having problems understanding the concept, which isn't unusual.

I suggest - go to the Time Machine preference pane in System prefs, switch it off and go back to the program you know - Carbon Copy Cloner).

I experienced 2 crashes in my previous Macs. TM worked perfect to complete recovery my HD after new installation in the Mac.

I use TM AND a simple copy of data on a bootable disk every month. I use them in different way. TM is fantastic to find a previous version you deleted from your HD but cannot boot.

To keep more copies is always a good solution. Sometimes you find strange problems: I also have 2 Macs (iMac at Home and MBP on travel) with exactly the same OSX Accounts Apps and Data. Last time I changed my MBP i was not able to transfer all to the newone with Migration Assistant; don't know why.. I simple switched to the TM copy and recovered it to the new MBP...

I'm not entirely sure what your setup is. Is it possible for you to erase your external drive? If so, you should be able to partition it using the GUID option and it should be bootable. The whole point of using Carbon Copy Cloner is to have a bootable backup.

If you don't need any data on the external drive, just reparition it. Here are the official Apple instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1600

Time Machine is designed to work best the less you mess with it. If you follow those instructions to erase the drive and then tell Time Machine to use it, you won't have to worry about it anymore. Time Machine will chug along on its own with no intervention from you, waiting until you need it.

It is true that if you have to do a complete system restore (such as if your internal hard drive fails), then you will have to boot from your original install disks and then restore from Time Machine. That isn't as quick and easy as booting from a bootable backup. However, a bootable backup only holds a single copy and it is only as up to date as the last time you ran it. Time Machine will keep a couple of years worth of data and it never forgets to backup.

Each method has it merits, but I don't think either is working for you now. Partition and erase that hard drive and then you can decide which method you want to use and it should work properly.

guenever1999 wrote:

i wish i could use CCC--but then my external HD is unbootable. i never partitioned it i just used CCC when i had the older OS. now with snow leopard--CCC says my HD will become unbootable if i use CCC to back stuff up.

all i want to do is make sure all my files are being saved.

thank you both!

CCC to another drive that's sole purpose is a "hold option" bootable clone of your boot drive and all files.

1TB USB are only about $100. When you format the new external in Disk Utility, Erase with Zero while formatting, so it maps off bad sectors on the drive.

I just had to do my new computer today, so many glitches I was blaming other programs for, it's just bad sectors on the drives. So I cloned off, booted from the clone, zeroed, then reverse cloned, repaired permisisons and I'm back a few hours later.

You might want to consider an Apple Time Capsule. It can back up your files wirelessly.

It would be a good idea to rebuild your external drive. You don't want to keep other files on a Time Machine drive. It should work fine, but then it become problematic trying to get them off if you need to erase the Time Machine. You do not want to try to manually delete the Time Machine folders on the drive. It will take hours.

You can always check what was backed up. Open a folder you want to check in the Finder and enter Time Machine. You should see in the time scale on the right all of the backups for a particular folder. Click on some of the older dates to see the folder zoom back in time to that date. Time Machine is very reliable, but you don't want to leave backups to chance. Double-check and verify it is working problerly.

It is best to keep Time Machine always turned on. That way, if it goes without backing up for 10 days, it will complain and remind you.

i can't erase my external HD because i have stuff on there that isn't on my laptop.

You are certain to lose any data you don't back up, eventually. If you don't have backups, you don't have data. For the best results from Time Machine, dedicate a drive to it. Don't use that drive for anything else. It would be reasonable to partition a large external drive into two volumes, one for TM and one for CCC, provided you have at least one other backup somewhere else. Don't put anything else on the same volume as the TM database.

I'm not sure it was made clear to you in this thread what the underlying cause of your confusion is. You say you searched for files that should be in your backups in Spotlight. The reason why you didn't find those files, and never will find them, is that TM volumes are automatically excluded from Spotlight indexing. You will never find anything in your backups that way.

There are third-party applications that can be used to search a TM backup, but I don't see much point in that. TM is not an archive. You don't use it to keep old files that you might want someday. That's one of the most common mistakes people make with it. Those old files will stick around for awhile, but at some point they'll be deleted, and you have no way of knowing when. Don't bother searching your backups, and especially, don't EVER try to retrieve, change, or delete files from a TM backup using the Finder. Use only the TM interface for those tasks.

Let me add a point to the very good suggestions you have already received from Linc Davis and etresoft.

Use a TM dedicated disc AS BIG AS POSSIBLE. At lest 2 times bigger than your internal HD. TM keeps copy of the stuff you deleted and for that reason will become quickly bigger that the data you have on your disc. TM erases old data if it has no more space: that means if it is Big you will have copy of your data even if very old. If it is small you will be able to go back only few weeks or few months.

I work as follows: iMac and MBP with same data (every day synced together)

iMac 0,5 TB and TM 1TB always connected (TM lasts 12 Months than I replace it with a new HD and KEEP the other for another 12 months)

MBP 0,75 TB and TM 1TB connected only during weekends. (I do not know how long it will last because I use it only since April 1st)

To reply to your last question: Yes you can connect TM Disc not continuously but each time you do, it will take longer to make its Backup. It is up to you how do you like it.

If you use more than 1 HD for time machine you can do it on the SAME MAC. Never use a TM HD of a MAC for another one, unless you do it on a new MAC to do a complete recover and with the same OS.

Yes, but the partitions shouldn't be equal in size. If one partition is for a bootable backup made with CCC or something similar, it should be the same size as your boot volume. The TM partition should be at least twice as large as the total amount of data you will ever want to back up to it. Preferably larger.

If you store original data, as opposed to backups, in a partition on the same drive that you use for TM, then you'll need to back up that data to a different physical device. Don't back up to the same device.