Time Machine disc space

Peter_White · #1 10-31-2007, 11:42 AM

I have a new Mac Pro arriving tomorrow.

Do I understand correctly that if I have a file that changes frequently, Time Machine is going to make a complete new copy of that file every hour? My business database is modified once every couple of minutes, and it's 96 mb.

Does Time Machine just write the changes, the entire file, or do I have a choice of either?

Thanks!

Charles Gervais · #2 10-31-2007, 07:43 PM

Hi Peter,

I've been reading a lot about Time Machine, as I have two programs that have huge databases (which are, to Time Machine, single files). Both change frequently (one is the Aperture library, the other is my copy of Windows used by Parallels).

The consensus seems to be to get Time Machine to ignore these huge databases that change frequently, as it'll see that change as something to back up (my Aperture library is 273 gigs at the moment, that's a lot of backing up).

96Mb x 24 x 7 x 12 is going to be a lot of data, you may want to consider setting Time Machine to ignore it (but is this something you really want to not have backed up?).

fyi: I bought a terabyte drive to act as a Time Machine disk for my machines (my two, iMac, wife's and daughters laptops, son's iMac). I'm the only one that produces tons of data a week, hopefully it'll be enough!

Best of luck,

Chas

Jerry Skrocki · #3 10-31-2007, 08:13 PM

Time Machine keeps hourly back ups for 24 hours, daily back ups for the past month and weekly back ups until your backup disk is full.

Your only option are:
1. Turn Time Machine on/off
2. Select disks/folders to exclude
3. Change backup disk.

Johan_Elzenga · #4 11-01-2007, 05:46 PM

The Aperture library make look like one big file, in reality it is a folder. It's a so-called 'package' to be exact, which is a folder that is displayed by the Finder as one file. Consequently, Time Machine (and any other backup program for that matter) will only copy the things inside the Aperture library which are really changed, not the entire library.

There is an issue with Time Machine and Aperture right now so Apple advises you not to backup while Aperture is running, but that has nothing to do with this.

Jerry Skrocki · #5 11-01-2007, 08:00 PM

The Aperture library can (should) be excluded from Time Machine until a fix is released. This can be accomplished through Options in the Time Machine preference pane. The Aperture library is usually located in the pictures folder.

jlipkin · #6 11-02-2007, 06:09 AM

If you want to be really safe, you should have two backup drives, and store one off-site.

Paul Kuroda · #7 01-22-2008, 04:09 AM

My main drive is 750gb and Time Machine is 1TB. It filled up within a week or so and requests additional drive. This is not working for me at all. Since photographers files are so large now....Filling a drive at a rate of 6gb or higher per shoot. Changes on PS files can be multiple and into the gigs, and each version will fill the 250gb cushion rapidly. I tried reinitializing my Time Machine a few times and starting over with a clean drive, but it filled up faster...within a couple days.

Perhaps you can try backup daily, versus hourly to extend the time, but still then...I'll just use SuperDuper on a designated daily backup drive. BTW...the FW external 1tb "My Book" by WD (avail.at Costco) is...totally silent...love it.

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