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Snow Leopard Server won't "Enter" Time Machine

I am running OS X Server 10.6.8 on a Mac Mini with the 2 internal drives in RAID 1 and access the server remotely with screen sharing via a Macbook Pro. I hooked up an external USB drive (wiped clean and formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled) to the Mini and selected it as the Time Machine backup disc. Time Machine is backing up files to the USB drive sucessfully, but when I select "Enter Time Machine" from the dropdown menu nothing happens. It just creates another copy of whatever window was open in the lower center of the screen and stops ...no supercool outerspace background, timeline, or prior versions to page through. Any idea what's wrong?

Thanks!

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Server

Posted on May 8, 2012 9:45 PM

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3 replies

May 11, 2012 8:06 PM in response to Jimbooooooo

I would not use TM for a server. I've experienced sudden TM failures when I used to use it for my home Mac. Once your backup fails, you have no backup, and TM did that a few times when I used it. While I've never tried TM on a server, I've read a lot of reports that it does not make reliable backups of servers even when it is working correctly.

While it would be nice to have a truly automagic and bulletproof backup, TM is not it.

I'd suggest trying CCC or SuperDuper. You can automate backups, but for my money, I prefer to do manual backups. Automatic backups tend to make me complacent. Manual backups will assure that the backups are actually happening, and that you know if the backups were copmleted. If you have just one, or even a few servers, the time it takes to perform and verify manual backups is minimal and well worth it. Just my $.02.

BRU and other commercial software products are other possibilities, but they are aimed at folks with automated needs who also have the time and resources to monitor and test backups, and are willing to spend money to do so.

May 11, 2012 10:26 PM in response to Jeff Kelleher

I agree with Jeff. Time Machine is not a complete solution for any server.

If you have any database hosted on your server (and it's very likely you do) then Time Machine doesn't back it up.

To name a few databases in question if you're not sure....

Open Directory

Email

Filemaker

MySQL


Run your backups manually on each of these services.

Use time machine to back up your user data and your web site, if you're hosting one. ...and of course anything else that's important...


Remember... It's easy to tell Time Machine what you don't want to back up. Deselect all the OS Stuff and Apps, since it'll just make a mess if you try to do a complete OS restore from TM anyways.


HTH


-Graham

May 26, 2012 4:25 PM in response to Jimbooooooo

If you open the time machine backup which appears on the desktop "Time Machine Backups", after doing "Enter Time Machine" from the menu, and click through the folders you can access all your backups arranged by date and time.


I did have problems with lock ups when Time Machine was automatic so I just do it every so often manually. I dont exclude any items but would not expect to restore entire machine from it anyway.


Guy

Snow Leopard Server won't "Enter" Time Machine

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