Questions tagged [time-machine]
Time Machine is a backup utility by Apple Inc. It is included as part of Mac OS X starting with OS X 10.5 "Leopard". Time Machine supports backing up data to hard disks connected to a Mac and AFP network shares.
457
questions
119
votes
11
answers
392k
views
Does an equivalent of Time Machine exist for Windows? [closed]
A simple Google search for "Time Machine for Windows" results in a flurry of different little apps. But instead of relying on forum anecdotes and advertisements, I call on the much wiser Super User ...
76
votes
9
answers
57k
views
How can I delete Time Machine files using the commandline
I want to delete some files/directories from my Time Machine Partition using rm, but am unable to do so. I'm pretty sure the problem is related to some sort of access control extended attributes on ...
- 1,387
56
votes
7
answers
67k
views
How to view time machine log in MacOS Sierra?
In previous version of OSX, I was able to view the results of past Time Machine backup jobs thus:
sudo syslog -F '$Time $Message' -k Sender com.apple.backupd
Now syslog is no longer part of the ...
- 561
46
votes
8
answers
49k
views
Time machine backup on S3
Is there any possibility to use Amazon S3 for Mac OS X time machine backups?
Or in other words: Use S3 rather an external hard disk for time machine backups?
- 1,337
44
votes
6
answers
37k
views
Can Linux mount a normal Time Machine sparse bundle disk image directory?
I am looking to see if Linux can mount and read the files natively stored on a Time Capsule over a network share. Like this question, I am looking for something that replicates at least read-only ...
- 3,071
43
votes
2
answers
155k
views
is there a way to stop mac osx disk encryption in progress?
I chose a 1T external drive for time machine and checked the "encrypt backups" option. I thought it will only encrypt the backups, but as it seems it is now encrypting the whole drive which has quite ...
- 1,520
33
votes
5
answers
106k
views
Mac - Convert from Case-Sensitive to Case-Insensitive File System
So I just got my first Mac. After getting everything set up just the way I wanted it I decided to install Steam. When I opened Steam it said something about not supporting case-sensitive file systems.....
- 1,403
31
votes
6
answers
10k
views
Exclude folders by regex (?) from time machine backup
I use a Time Machine server for my backups. Meanwhile I am developing lots of web applications where the project usually consist of a folder with the application files I want to backup and ...
- 411
28
votes
4
answers
63k
views
Why has my Mac been running fsck_hfs for two days now?
I first noticed that fsck_hfs was running, taking up 50-75% of a CPU, yesterday. It continues to run today.
Running ps -ax shows that it is doing /sbin/fsck_hfs -f -n -x -E /dev/disk3. Only problem: I ...
- 4,103
21
votes
8
answers
25k
views
Verifying Time Machine backups
I'm preparing my system for a Snow Leopard upgrade, and I prepare for the worst case scenario: full reinstall and restore.
I would like to verify that my Time Machine backups are valid, and will ...
- 21.7k
20
votes
6
answers
28k
views
Accessing Time Machine backup from Windows/Linux laptops
I'm wondering if I can access my time machine backup from Windows or Linux computers... I'm just wondering what'll happen if my computer fails and I don't have enough money to buy a new mac...
- 3,576
18
votes
4
answers
73k
views
Is it possible use Dropbox as my OSX Time machine backup drive?
Is it possible use Dropbox as my OSX Time machine backup drive?
I am thinking of getting Dropbox Pro.
- 2,673
16
votes
8
answers
54k
views
How do I retrieve files from Time Machine backups from another computer?
Really it's the same computer - I just did a fresh install of Snow Leopard. When I try to open the Documents directory from my old user account I get
The folder "Documents" can't be opened because ...
- 2,242
16
votes
1
answer
16k
views
Are Time Machine backups incremental? And is Time Machine any better on Snow Leopard?
I would like to understand how Time Machine backups work and has this been made any better in Snow Leopard?
- 651
16
votes
2
answers
12k
views
Command-line access for Apple Time Machine?
We use Apple's Time Machine to back up our Apple 10.5.8 workstations at the office.
If I want to restore a file, I need to open up the Time Machine GUI and browse files there. The GUI is ugly eye-...
- 3,170
15
votes
5
answers
13k
views
How do I trim my Time Machine backups and find and exclude frequently-updated large files from bloating it?
Time Machine is nice because it Just Works and it does its magic in the background. But left to itself, it can really swell up due to either large files that you don't really need backed up slipping ...
- 945
14
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Does Apple's Time Machine app really copy everthing
Wanted to wipe out my drive, but wanted to make sure when restoring from Time Machine, all files, apps, hack-apps, will still work?
- 611
14
votes
4
answers
12k
views
Wireless backups with Time Machine without Time Capsule
I just bought a 1TB external drive. I would like to set up time machine to backup wireless. Is there anyway I can do this with the components I have now. Which are 1 macbook osx 10.6, 1 desktop pc ...
- 2,799
12
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Change Frequency of Time Machine Backups?
Is it possible to change the frequency of when Time Machine performs its backup?
- 2,001
11
votes
7
answers
6k
views
Time Machine on Ubuntu?
Is there a Time Machine like backup system for Ubuntu? If not, what is the closest thing?
- 3,872
11
votes
4
answers
21k
views
How to restore a failed external hard drive from Time Machine?
My external hard drive has failed. It will no longer spin up and therefore is unmountable. Thankfully I had added it to my OSX Time Machine backups. So, since disks are cheap, I can just go buy a ...
- 343
10
votes
6
answers
11k
views
Way to migrate Time Machine data to a new disk
I know that there's a "Change Disk..." button in Time Machine, but what if you want to migrate the data (hours, weeks, and maybe even months) to a new, larger disk without starting over again?
- 1,584
10
votes
7
answers
51k
views
How to fix Time Machine's "This backup is too large for the backup disk"?
Why I am always seeing this window on my system?
I have changed the disk with a new one, bigger and after a while the message shows again.
As far as I know, TM deletes old backups to store the new ...
- 1,767
10
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What, according to Time Machine, are "System Files and Applications"?
On Time Machine in Mac OS X (10.6), if you add /System to the exclusion list (items that should not be included in backups), it offers to exclude all "System Files and Applications" as well. What ...
- 866
9
votes
10
answers
7k
views
Backup software for Mac OS X [closed]
Which backup software do you recommend for Mac OS X?
As you probably know, Leopard comes with an integrated backup tool called Time Machine. It works pretty well despite it misses some advanced ...
9
votes
3
answers
14k
views
Permissions restoring from Time Machine - Finder copy vs "cp" copy
Note: this question was starting to sprawl so I rewrote it.
I have a folder that I'm trying to restore from a Time Machine backup. Using cp -R works fine, but certain folders cannot be restored with ...
- 195
9
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Find files that will be backed up by Time Machine
It'd be useful to see what Time Machine will backup before the backup actually occurs. I believe it should be possible to approximate this with mdfind. Is there a standard search query that ...
- 322
9
votes
1
answer
6k
views
When using Time Machine, does it follow Symbolic Links in mac?
I have a mac with a 250gb hd.
My iTunes library is in an external hard disk, 500gb. I have Symbolic Links in my home music folder pointing to the files and the xml library (I dont let iTunes organize ...
9
votes
4
answers
14k
views
How to automatically eject external drive after Time Machine runs
I have a MacBook Pro which I regularly dock to an external monitor.
I have my mouse, keyboard, and iPhone dock, and an external hard drive connected via a USB hub so that I only have to make one USB ...
- 722
8
votes
4
answers
8k
views
How to make TimeMachine back up contents of any path or mounted volume
I keep different types of data in different encrypted sparsebundle images (say, one for each client) which automatically mount upon login but can't be opened by anybody other than myself. So, after ...
- 449
8
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Decrypt OS X Time Machine in Linux
Is is possible to decrypt an encrypted Time Machine backup with Ubuntu Linux? If so, how?
- 367
8
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Time Machine: "Delete all backups of selected files"
I am reaching the capacity limit of my Time Machine drive.
Instead of purging snapshots from way back when, I'd like to just delete the backups of large files that I definitely do not need (such as ...
- 3,395
8
votes
6
answers
11k
views
How do I use OSX Lion Time Machine with Windows Home Server?
My wife and I have a mixed Windows and Mac household. A couple years ago I purchased a HP MediaSmart server with Windows Home Server on it. HP provided software to get Time Machine on Leopard to work ...
- 241
8
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Disable Spotlight search in Time Machine backup
I'm running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and am trying to disable Spotlight indexing on my Time Machine hard drive, as the mds and mdworker processes are running wildly through all day at 15-60% of CPU...
What ...
- 183
7
votes
5
answers
15k
views
How do I trim Time Machine backup history?
Let's say I am nearing the limit of space on my backup drive. So I want to delete backups or versions before 6 months ago. Is that possible through time machine? How do I do that?
UPDATE!
This is the ...
- 2,124
7
votes
6
answers
12k
views
How can I share an external hard drive between a Mac and a PC?
How should I format my hard drive for use on both a Mac and a PC? Is there any way I can also use Time Machine with this drive?
- 2,606
7
votes
5
answers
9k
views
How to stop Spotlight indexing a networked Time Machine backup?
My Time Machine backs up to a hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme. After I've upgraded to Lion I have noticed that the mds process (the Spotlight indexer) has been running at 100% cpu every now ...
- 531
7
votes
1
answer
34k
views
Opening Time-Machine OSX backup files on Windows 7?
Have Time Machine backups on a Western Digital External HD.
The Time Machine backups were done on my now dead Mac G4 running OSX Leopard.
I am waiting on a new iMac but in the meantime I need to ...
- 71
7
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Mac OS X full-disk encryption, with Time Machine
I want to encrypt at least my home partition on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5. I know both File Vault and TrueCrypt would do this, but I also want to keep on using Time Machine to back up my files....
- 8,706
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How does Time Machine deal with hard links
If I create multiple hard links to the same file on my system, will Time Machine detect it and make only one physical copy of the file?
- 3,102
7
votes
1
answer
479
views
Does Time Machine preserve hard links yet?
I have been doing my own backups using rsync to a remote computer. However, due to the recommendation to have a full computer backup before upgrading to OS X 10.10 Yosemite, I am trying to undertake ...
- 2,714
7
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Disable Time Machine reminder on Mac
While giving a presentation in Keynote for a job interview, the presentation suddenly exit and I got a Time Machine message telling me that the last backup was more than x days ago, which was very bad ...
- 1,767
6
votes
5
answers
3k
views
What's the easiest way to move from one Macintosh to another?
Here's the story:
Company bought me a $599 Mac mini (as of this writing, 2.26GHz/160GB HD/2GB RAM)
I have it set up to some extent with software for development
Company decides it needs a second Mac ...
- 1,627
6
votes
4
answers
19k
views
How do I get Time Machine working again after changing my hard drive?
On my Mac, I recently
changed to a new hard drive (e.g. after a hard drive failure) or
migrated the boot partition to another one
What do I have to do to get Time Machine correctly backing up my ...
- 228k
6
votes
2
answers
7k
views
OS X: Delete single folder of Time Machine Backup via Terminal
I know there is tmutil delete to delete single timemachine snapshots from a backup of another machine — but now I need to delete only one of the folders inside the backup.
On my old (and now dead) ...
- 163
6
votes
2
answers
10k
views
Does Mac OS X's "Time Machine" back up all partitions on a dual-boot machine?
I have a dual-boot MacBook Pro with multiple partitions - of which most are not MacOS partitions.
I'd like to have a backup program that backs up the entire drive including all partitions.
Can Time ...
- 173
6
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Time machine failing to backup as sparsebundle is already in use
I have an airport extreme with a drive connected, and use it for backing up snow leopard macs. I have an occasional problem with one of them that says "the backup disk image ... is already in use" and ...
- 411
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Removing large files from Time Machine?
I love the way Time Machine works. And I'm smart enough to have excluded certain folders, like Music and others.
But I foolishly forgot to exclude my virtual machines.
That's 3GB+ that's now been ...
- 98
6
votes
3
answers
986
views
tms-like Time Machine backup utility for Snow Leopard?
I'm looking for a tool like tms that I can use to browse files on a Time Machine backup (on a Time Capsule) of another computer. tms is apparently "expired" and refuses to work on Snow Leopard.
- 65
6
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Can I restore files from a Time Machine backup onto a different computer?
I have a Time Machine backup (of personal files only) made from my MacBook Pro provided by my previous employer. Now I have a new job and a new (employer-provided) MacBook Pro. Can I somehow restore ...
- 8,775