What does 'My Passport for Mac' back-up? Does it include my Word documents for example?

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What does 'My Passport for Mac' back-up? Does it include my Word documents for example?

If I lost everything, would My Passport be able to reinstate my MacBook Pro in it's entirety?

It does not look like it contains much; therefore I am worried.

I have lots of data on my mbp, namely, Family Tree Maker software (from Ancestry.co.uk). It contains all my tree data, and lots and lots of Microsoft Word word-processed documents, eg, vast type-ups of Wills etc. They take ages to translate and I would hate to lose them. I also have lots of saved info downloaded from the net, e.g., photos and census stuff. Whilst I can see the FTM.app, I cannot open to see whats inside. I have 2 Trees on my software, but I can't see if they are in there for me to re-open from My Passport.

If my whole mbp is in My Passport, I can't see it.

If all the above are backed-up, if I change as much as a DoB on a Word document, will that document then be backed-up with the changes?

Quite basic questions for you Apple folk, but the answers would help me and others a great deal.

Thank you. Helen

My machine is: mbp, mid-2010; Mavericks. Version OS X 10.9.5.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Oct 4, 2014 11:08 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,017 points

Oct 4, 2014 11:17 AM in response to barneyhairball

Depends on the backup software you use, what backup strategy you implement, and what you need to backup. Where you will start at this point also depends on what you may have already backed up to the Passport and if you are using the pre-installed Passport software.

If you want every change you make to a document instantly backed up to the Passport, then you need the right software to do that (if it exists.) If you wish to use Time Machine that is part of OS X, then it backs up every hour but does not instantly backup a changed file. You would have to repartition and reformat the Passport in order to use Time Machine. Also, for Time Machine to work properly your Passport must be at least twice the capacity of your computer's drive. If is isn't, then you will have to decide upon a different type of software and backup strategy.

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Backup and Restore. For other backup software:

Suggested Backup Software

1. Carbon Copy Cloner

2. Get Backup

3. Deja Vu

4. SuperDuper!

5. Synk Pro

6. Tri-Backup

Others may be found at MacUpdate.

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

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Answer 2

Oct 5, 2014 10:06 AM in response to Kappy

I'm still confused. I use WD, My Passport for Mac:

- Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

- Created: 6 Aug 2013

- and bought by me Sept 2014

- Capacity: 999.83 GB

- Available: 834.97 GB

- Backups: backupdb (I don't know what this stands for, but its full of stuff, applications etc)

It contains my FTM.app, but it's a backup so I don't know if it contains all the word documents I produced, photos etc.

My computer is:

- OS X 10.9.5

- Processor: 2.4 GHz, Intel core i5

- Memory 4 GB

My stategy is to leave Time Machine attached to my Passport most of the time. When I bought my Passport and attached it to the computer, I just used the time machine and away it went. I have not excluded anything. I don't need to instantly backup a word document if I've changed anything; a routine time machine backup will do, but how can I find if it has backed up said word document? Does it just back up the FTM app itself? Thats pointless because I have the software here. Is my Passport big enough? It certain is not full.

I suppose I expected to be able to back up everything, the mac system itself and everything I have ever produced. Is this not the case? If not, what is the point of My Passport, and backing up in general. I need an answer is dummy language. Any more advise you can give will be good. Thanks again.

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Answer 3

fjwhiston

Level 3

742 points

Oct 5, 2014 10:17 AM in response to barneyhairball

I bought a WD My Passport Ultra the other day and installed it today. I'm using a Mac rather than a MBP. I bought it because my old external Seagate drive had become too small for the backups on Time Machine.

I'm pretty sure that the answer to your question is "yes" but as Kappy says above, Time Machine backs up hourly rather than every time you make a change to a file. If hourly is good enough for your needs, then no problem. That said, you can force a backup too.

A question I would ask though is what you use for your word documents - MS Word or Pages? I ask because with Yosemite due out soon, iCloud Drive should work seamlessly with iOS to back up documents there, obviating the need for backing up to a physical hard drive.

The size of your backups using Time Machine to your My Passport should be the same as the amount of space taken on your MBP's hard drive. If you look at the bottom of a Finder window, you can see how much space you have left on your hard drive (and therefore calculate how much space you've used) and your backups should be that amount. You can also change Time Machine backup details in Preferences.

One way to make sure is to create a rubbish document, back up, delete the document, and then see if you can find it in Time Machine.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

362,017 points

Oct 5, 2014 10:47 AM in response to barneyhairball

You are using Time Machine. Backupdb is a folder that contains all Time Machine backups. I don't know what FTM.app is, but that is an application, not a backup unless it is a backup of the application.

In reality Time Machine does not create permanent backups. Over time older backups may be deleted to make space on the backup drive, if needed, or to remove old files no longer on the hard drive itself. Because Time Machine is an archival backup over time it will gradually fill up with data until there is no space left for another backup. You then get an alert. Hence, it is important that the backup drive has plenty of space in order to delay the time when the "full" alert occurs:

About TM "Backup Drive is Full" Alert

TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.

So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.

Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.

Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.

Time Machine backs up everything on the hard drive unless you specifically exclude it. If wish to learn about Time Machine, especially about restoring files, then visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

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