I just purchased Time Capsule. Before turning on the switch to do backup I want to make sure it is backing up what it should be.
What should I let TM backup and what should I tell it to exclude.
Thanks and I look forward to your repoly.
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
TM is smart and includes all the files and everything required to rebuild a computer after failure and the OS is restored.
TM should exclude parallels or bootcamp partition files.. that is about all unless you are using the computer for something unusual.
Time Machine is set by default to backup everything on your Mac that it needs.....in the event that the hard drive on your Mac fails.......to be able to restore your Mac literally exactly the way it was.
Except for the things that LaPastenagure mentioned, like Parellels or BootCamp, you should not be excluding anything from backups if you want to have the option to restore your Mac like it was before.
Another way of saying the same thing is to let Time Machine do its thing the way it wants.
Recommended TM backup configuration
