1. Time Machine For Macbook Air
  2. Macos Time Machine
  3. Time Machine For Mac Os
  4. Mac Time Machine Restore

Apr 26, 2018  Here’s how to set up an automatic backup with Time Machine on your Mac with an external hard drive: When you plug your external hard drive in. Time machine works really well for most people, so you could consider finding out what's actually the problem for you. Meanwhile, carbon copy cloner is a great app (it's what i use on my macbook pro); on my macbook, am only using crashplan (online backup); first backup takes forever, thereafter, like time machine, it's regular, incremental. But seriously, you might want to investigate your TM.

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Time Machine For Macbook Air

Explore the world of Mac. Check out MacBook Pro, iMac Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and more. Visit the Apple site to learn, buy, and get support. Time Machine (TM) on Mac uses hard links (wiki) concept to create backup folders. Let me explain. When the first backup runs Time Machine copies all files from a startup disk to a new folder on the backup disk. When TM runs next time it only copies files that have changed to a new folder. For the files that have not changed, it creates hard. Jul 16, 2017  When you buy a new Mac you likely want to transfer all of your data and applications from your current Mac to a new Mac. Here are instructions on how to accomplish this migration using a current Time Machine backup of your current Mac. I’m going to provide instructions for two different scenarios. If you’re. Oct 18, 2019  If using Time Machine to back up to a network disk, you can verify those backups to make sure they're in good condition. Press and hold Option, then choose Verify Backups from the Time Machine menu. In OS X Lion v10.7.3 or later, you can start up from your Time Machine disk, if necessary. Press and hold Option as your Mac starts up.

Time Machine
Time Machine's Retrieval Interface on OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Operating systemmacOS 10.5 or newer
TypeBackup software
Websitewww.apple.com/support/timemachine/
Part of a series on
macOS
  • iTunes (history)
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Time Machine is a backup software application distributed as part of macOS, desktop operating system developed by Apple. The software is designed to work with AirPort Time Capsule, the Wi-Fi router with built-in hard disk, as well as other internal and external disk drives. It was introduced in Mac OS X Leopard.

  • 3Storage

Overview[edit]

Time Machine creates incremental backups of files that can be restored at a later date.[1] It allows the user to restore the whole system or specific files from the Recovery HD or the macOS Install DVD. It works within Mail, iWork, iLife, and several other compatible programs, making it possible to restore individual objects (e.g. emails, photos, contacts, calendar events) without leaving the application. According to an Apple support statement:

“Time Machine is a backup utility, not an archival utility, it is not intended as offline storage. Time Machine captures the most recent state of your data on your disk. As snapshots age, they are prioritized progressively lower compared to your more recent ones.”[2]

For backups to a network drive, Time Machine allows the user to back up Mac computers over the network, and supports backing up to certain network attached storage devices or servers, depending on the version of Time Machine. Earlier versions worked with a wide variety of NAS servers, but later versions require the server to support a recent version of Apple’s Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), and Time Machine no longer works with servers using earlier versions of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol[3] typical for Windows servers. Some of the legacy support can be re-enabled by using hand-tuned configuration options, accessed through the Terminal. Apple's Time Capsule acts as a network storage device specifically for Time Machine backups, allowing both wired and wireless backups to the Time Capsule's internal hard drive. Time Machine may also be used with any external or internal volume.

Time Machine saves hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month until the volume runs out of space. At that point, Time Machine deletes the oldest weekly backup.

User interface[edit]

Time Machine's user interface when retrieving a file uses Apple's Core AnimationAPI. Upon its launch, Time Machine 'floats' the active Finder or application window from the user's desktop to a backdrop depicting the user's blurred desktop wallpaper. Behind the current active window are stacked windows, with each window representing a snapshot of how that folder or application looked on the given date and time in the past. When toggling through the previous snapshots, the stacked windows extend backwards, giving the impression of flying through a 'time tunnel.' While paging through these 'windows from the past,' a previous version of the data (or presently deleted data) may be retrieved.

Storage[edit]

Time Machine works with locally connected storage disks, which must be formatted in the HFS+ volume format—APFS-formatted won't work,[4] as well as with remote storage media shared from other systems, including Time Capsule, via the network.

When using remote storage, Time Machine uses sparse bundles. This acts as an isolation layer, which makes the storage neutral to the actual file system used by the network server, and also permits the replication of the backup from one storage medium to another. Sparse bundles are mounted by macOS like any other device, presenting their content as a HFS+ formatted volume, functionally similar to a local storage.

Requirements[edit]

Time Machine places strict requirements on the backup storage medium. The only officially supported configurations are:

  • A hard drive or partition connected directly to the computer, either internally or by a bus like USB or FireWire, and formatted as journaledHFS+.[5]
  • A folder on a journaled HFS+ file system shared by another Mac on the same network running at least Leopard.[6]
  • A drive shared by an Apple Time Capsule on the same network.
  • A drive connected to an Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11ac model on the same network. (Earlier generations of the AirPort Extreme are not supported.)[7]
  • Local network volumes connected using the Apple Filing Protocol[7] or via an SMB3 share that advertises a number of capabilities.[3]

On a Time Capsule, the backup data is stored in an HFS+ disk image and accessed via Apple Filing Protocol. Although it is not officially supported, users and manufacturers have configured FreeBSD and Linux servers and network-attached storage systems to serve Time Machine-enabled Macs.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Operation[edit]

Time Machine creates a folder on the designated Time Machine volume (local or inside a remote sparse image) into which it copies the directory tree of all locally attached disk drives, except for files and directories that the user has specified to omit, including the Time Machine volume itself. Every hour thereafter, it creates a new subordinate folder and copies only files that have changed since the last backup and creates hard links to files that already exist on the backup drive. A user can browse the directory hierarchy of these copies as if browsing the primary disk.[15]

Some other backup utilities save deltas for file changes, much like version control systems. Such an approach permits more frequent backups of minor changes, but can often complicate the interaction with the backup volume. By contrast, it is possible to manually browse a Time Machine backup volume without using the Time Machine interface; the use of hard links presents each backup to the user as a complete disk copy.[15]

Time Machine creates multiple hard links to unmodified directories.[15] Multiple linking of directories—which doesn't work with APFS-formatted storage disks[4]—is different from conventional UNIX operating systems. As a result, tools like rsync cannot be used to replicate a Time Machine volume; replication can only reliably be done by imaging the entire filesystem.

Apple system events record when each directory is modified on the hard drive. This means that instead of examining every file's modification date when it is activated, Time Machine only needs to scan the directories that changed for files to copy (the remainder being hard-linked). This differs from the approach taken by similar backup utilities rsync and FlyBack, which examine modification dates of all files during backup.

Macos Time Machine

Time Machine is also available in the Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion installation process. One of the features in the Migration Assistant interface is to re-install the contents of a Time Machine backup. In other words, a hard drive can be restored from a Time Machine backup in the event of a catastrophic crash.

OS X Mountain Lion introduced the ability to use multiple volumes simultaneously for Time Machine operations. When the user specifies more than one volume to use, macOS rotates among the desired volumes each time it does a backup. [16]

Coding differences between OS X Mountain Lion and Mavericks have resulted in compatibility issues related to Time Machine's system restoration functionality. Time Machine backups created by Apple computers purchased as recently as late 2012 cannot be used for system restoration on 2013 or 2014 models.[citation needed]. However, the data from the backup can still be recovered by directly accessing the files from the Time Machine Volume.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Apple. 'Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Time Machine'. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
  2. ^'Time Machine keeps saying not enough space Communities'. discussions.apple.com. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  3. ^ ab'Time Machine over SMB Specification'. Documentation Archive. Apple Inc. September 13, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  4. ^ abButts, Jeff (September 25, 2017). 'Time Machine and APFS: What You Need to Know'. The Mac Observer. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  5. ^'Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Disks that can be used with Time Machine'. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
  6. ^Dyce, Richard (October 28, 2009). 'New Apple Snow Leopard Server 10.6 review'. TechRadar. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  7. ^ ab'Backup disks you can use with Time Machine'. Apple Support. Apple, Inc. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  8. ^Matthias Kretschmann. 'HowTo: Make Ubuntu A Perfect Mac File Server And Time Machine Volume'. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  9. ^MKurtz. 'NSLU2-Linux - HowTo / TimeMachineBackups'. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  10. ^harryd71. 'Mac OS X Time Machine and FreeNAS 0.7'. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  11. ^QNAP Systems Inc.'Qnap-Apple time machine support'. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  12. ^Bastian Bechtold. 'Using a Raspberry Pi as a Time Capsule for Mountain Lion'. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  13. ^Alonso, Noel. 'Using Netatalk: AFP Services on a Linux Server'. AFP548.com. Retrieved November 1, 2013. Also see slowfranklin's comment and its replies. To add the guest UAM, add AFPD_UAMLIST='-U uams_guest.so' to the [Global] section in afp.conf.
  14. ^Bas van de Wiel. 'Ironclad Time Machine backups on FreeBSD'. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  15. ^ abcPond, James (August 31, 2013). 'How Time Machine Works its Magic'. Apple OSX and Time Machine Tips. baligu.com. File System Event Store,Hard Links. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  16. ^Caldwell, Serenity (February 21, 2012). 'Ten exciting system changes in Mountain Lion'. Mac-world. Retrieved April 29, 2012.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Time_Machine_(macOS)&oldid=917962105'

If you are a Mac user, then you probably know that macOS comes bundled with a critically acclaimed backup program called Time Machine. This is great, but out-of-the-box Time Machine only backs up your data to an external physical drive or a local NAS system that supports the Time Machine protocols.

Good data backup practice, however, follows the golden 3-2-1 rule in which at least three copies of your data are kept to ensure against any form of loss.

The traditional formula is to keep one copy on your device (the original copy), store one copy locally but not attached to your computer (such as on a NAS or external hard drive) safely away from any viruses that might affect your computer, and to store another copy online.

After all, a local drive can be stolen, lost in a fire, damaged by water, or who knows what!

The following Cloud backup services and products support easy and automatic backing up of your Time Machine data to a cloud account in order to provide robust 3-2-1 protection.

You should be aware that it may cause duplication between the data backed up by Time Machine and data you upload to your cloud account in the usual way. To prevent this duplication eating up your precious cloud server space you might therefore want to exclude some folders from being uploaded by either Time Machine or your backup software.

5 best backups for Time Machine

Take a look at the list of the best time machine backup services below, click through to the site for more information about their service.

iDrive

IDrive is a reasonably priced backup provider which uses strong end-to-end client-side encryption. It features online file sync, multiple device backup, file versioning for up to 30 previous versions. We particularity like the fact that IDrive supports Linux cloud backup via a GUI or package of scripts.

Macos time machine

In order to prevent duplication of files, IDrive excludes the Time Machine data folder from backups by default. It can be easily included, however, by going to Settings -> Excluded Files/folders from backup -> Files/Folders with partial names, and deselecting the Backups.backupdb folder.

Your Time Machine backup will then be saved to your IDrive storage using the path you have configured in the Time Machine settings on your Mac.

Pros

  • Backup Time Machine data directly
  • Reasonable price
  • Easy to use
  • End-to-end encryption

Get iDrive

iBackup

This cloud provider has a strong focus on small business data backup. As such, its feature list includes things like full sever backup, a disaster recovery (DR) plan, multiple sub-accounts, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, GLBA and SEC / FINRA compliance and more.

IBackup, however, is perfectly usable as a personal backup service, and everyone will find its iOS and Android mobile apps handy. By default, data is encrypted server-side using AES-256, but it is possible to use a private encryption key which is not stored on IBackup’s servers instead.

In order to enable Time Machine backup using your IBackup account, simply open the Mac desktop client, go to Settings, and ensure Time Machine backup is selected.

Pros

  • Backup Time Machine data directly
  • Ideal for business users
  • End-to-end encryption (optional)
  • iOS and Android apps

Cons

  • Not so great for personal use

3. Cloudberry

Cloudberry Explorer is freeware software (with a premium Pro version available) that allows you manage and backup files to Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Openstack accounts. Cloudberry also offers a fully hosted subscription service using your choice of these cloud SaaS providers.

Whether using just its freeware software with your personal cloud service or Cloudberry’s subscription service, Cloudberry supports backing up Time Machine to the cloud.

This requires a little more configuration than with the above two services, but clear instructions are available on the website. It basically just amounts to selecting your Time Machine’s external backup drive’s root Backups.backupdb folder as your Backup Source.

Pros

  • Freeware option available (although you will still need third-party storage space)
  • You can backup to a low-cost SaaS cloud platform of your choice
  • DIY or fully hosted solutions available

Cons

  • Time Machine backup requires a little configuration
  • Server-side but not client-side (e2e) encryption

Get Cloudberry
Grammarly for office mac.

4. DollyDrive

Time Machine For Mac Os

DollyDrive is a cloud backup service designed from the ground-up for macOS. It does all the usual stuff you would expect from such a service, and it has an iOS app for accessing and managing your files from anywhere.

More unusually, DollyDrive offers a feature snappily named DollyClone which creates a complete backup of your entire system. Just like Time Machine does, except this backup is saved to the cloud. So while DollyDrive doesn’t backup your actual Time Machine data to the cloud, it achieves the exact same effect.

You can, of course, use DollyClone alongside Time Machine itself to also backup all your data locally.

Pros

  • DollyClone feature is a cloud version of Time Machine
  • Elegant macOS interface
  • iOS app

Cons

  • Doesn’t actually back-up up time machine (but so what?)

Get DollyDrive

5. Transmit

Transmit is an FTP client with built-in support for 11 of the most popular cloud service, ranging from consumer-focused services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, to SaaS services such Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure. There is no iCloud support, however.

What sets Transmit apart from the million other FTP clients out there is its Panic Sync feature. As the name suggests, this provides a real-time backup of your data by syncing it to the cloud of your choice. And because it supports syncing from external hard drives and NAS drives, you can use it to automatically backup all data from your Time Machine drive.

Pros

  • Backup Time Machine to a platform of your choice
  • Great general purpose FTP, SFTP, WebDav, and S3 client
  • Support for many cloud platforms
  • Client-side end-to-end encryption

Cons

  • Requires some configuration
  • Costs $45 plus third party cloud storage fees
  • No iCloud support

Mac Time Machine Restore

Get Transmit

Final Thoughts

You can never have too many copies of your vital data, and Time Machine provides a very high level of protection against disaster by backing up everything on your Mac. The above services and products allow you to save Time Machine’s level of protection to the cloud so that no matter what happens you will be able to do a full-system restore. And that brings a great deal of peace of mind.

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