[Macworld]

Post your comments for Mac Basics: How to set up Time Machine here

[patriotusa]

My time machine has ceased to function after the last OS update to 10.8.2. Dozens of other Mac users have reported the same issue on Apple's so-called "support" forums.

[kriri]

I'd be interested to know which folders people typically exclude from time machine. Backups are usually 20-30MB for me, even when nothing except web browsing has been done on my macbook pro. Since I'm backing up over WiFi, that often interferes with internet access. I have quite a list excluded:
/Library/Mozilla/eclipse/Cache
/Library/Caches
/Library/Cookies
/Downloads
/Library/Safari/Form Values
/Library/Safari/History.plist
/Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk
/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist
/...mail.../Junk.mbox
/Library/Logs
/Library/PubSub
/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist
/Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.plist
/.Trash
/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts
Any suggestions how to keep the backups lean without excluding anything important? I still want to be able to do a complete restore from the backup.

[Fixx]

"If you have a Mac with Thunderbolt, select a drive that’s Thunderbolt-ready, to take advantage of its speed"

For Time Machine you do not need a speedy drive, it works just as well with slower USB2 drives. Wasted money. As backup happens in background you will see no difference.

Seems there is nothing different in Mountain Lion Time Machine compared to older Lion version?

[Droid]

Quote

Any suggestions how to keep the backups lean without excluding anything important? I still want to be able to do a complete restore from the backup.

Don't exclude anything if you hope to do a full restore.
Apple already have a list of exclusions & they know what they are doing, chances are that you have duplicated some of them.
http://shiftedbits.o...ine-exclusions/

There is probably a newer list somewhere on the interwebs that takes into account all the new document revisions that Lion added.

If you exclude podcasts & junk mail folders you risk having to deal with an angry iTunes Library or corrupted Mailboxes after you restore - they don't like it when you remove files without warning. You could recover from it without the files & have no problems but it seems like a silly idea if you are not doing a full backup in addition to Time Machine.

You would be better off with a fast ethernet connection if available or possibly rescheduling Time Machine to run during more suitable times, look for TimeMachineScheduler, if the network doesn't have the bandwidth hook it up via USB etc.

[Droid]

Quote

My time machine has ceased to function after the last OS update to 10.8.2. Dozens of other Mac users have reported the same issue on Apple's so-called "support" forums.

The 'support' forum is just a discussion community of other Mac users. Apple have very little to do with it, other than getting moderators in to delete threads.

If you have a problem take it to an Apple store or call Apple care. Encourage others who have the same issue to do the same, otherwise Apple may never know it exists.

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

[SJMcLain]

"If you have a Mac with Thunderbolt, select a drive that’s Thunderbolt-ready, to take advantage of its speed. The options for Macs without Thunderbolt are FireWire- and USB-compatible drives. Though USB 3.0 and FireWire provide equivalent performance"

USB 3.0 is about 10x faster than Firewire 800.
The higher throughput of Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0 is only important if you are backing up to a fast multiple disk RAID array. There is no advantage to using Thunderbolt vs USB 3.0 with a single backup drive or even a dual disk RAID. And as others have pointed out, Time Machine works in the background so you only need a fast drive and connection if you want the periodic backups to occur rapidly.

[AdamDZ]

Quote

I'd be interested to know which folders people typically exclude from time machine. Backups are usually 20-30MB for me, even when nothing except web browsing has been done on my macbook pro. Since I'm backing up over WiFi, that often interferes with internet access. I have quite a list excluded: /Library/Mozilla/eclipse/Cache /Library/Caches /Library/Cookies /Downloads /Library/Safari/Form Values /Library/Safari/History.plist /Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk /Library/Safari/LastSession.plist /...mail.../Junk.mbox /Library/Logs /Library/PubSub /Library/Safari/TopSites.plist /Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.plist /.Trash /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts Any suggestions how to keep the backups lean without excluding anything important? I still want to be able to do a complete restore from the backup.

Caches and Trash are already excluded. Don't exclude anything in any Library folder or your full system restores may not work well. Only exclude things you have created, such as Downloads.

[AdamDZ]

Oh, and the most important new feature of Time Machine in Mountain Lion? The ability to backup to multiple hard drives, so you have redundant backups. It alternates between the backup hard drives. If one of your backup drives dies, you still have a good backup.

[cincyflygrrl]

Quote

possibly rescheduling Time Machine to run during more suitable times, look for TimeMachineScheduler, if the network doesn't have the bandwidth hook it up via USB etc.

I think you'll find "TimeMachineScheduler" is more mythology than fact. TimeMachine runs every hour and is relatively unobtrusive. I have a S

[hayesk]

[quote] I'd be interested to know which folders people typically exclude from time machine. Backups are usually 20-30MB for me, even when nothing except web browsing has been done on my macbook pro. Since I'm backing up over WiFi, that often interferes with internet access.

20-30MB is nothing. That's only a handful of web pages. Your backup is likely backing up cache files. And if that little data (which should take less than a minute) interferes with your Internet access, then the problem is with your WiFi, not your backups.

[cincyflygrrl]

Quote

Quote

possibly rescheduling Time Machine to run during more suitable times, look for TimeMachineScheduler, if the network doesn't have the bandwidth hook it up via USB etc.

I think you'll find "TimeMachineScheduler" is more mythology than fact. TimeMachine runs every hour and is relatively unobtrusive. I have a S

Well that was fun. Anyway...

I have a 1TB Seagate Backup Plus for my late 2011 MBA-11 attached at the USB port on my AirPort Extreme. It will perform a backup anytime I'm within range.

[NaOH]

One type of file that I tend to exclude, is the virtual disks created by virtualisation software such as Parallels, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox.

[Martian]

hayesk, on 12 November 2012 - 07:08 AM, said:

Quote

I'd be interested to know which folders people typically exclude from time machine. Backups are usually 20-30MB for me, even when nothing except web browsing has been done on my macbook pro. Since I'm backing up over WiFi, that often interferes with internet access.

20-30MB is nothing. That's only a handful of web pages. Your backup is likely backing up cache files. And if that little data (which should take less than a minute) interferes with your Internet access, then the problem is with your WiFi, not your backups.

I suspect that the apparent system slowdowns while TM is running is due more to all the disk access than the actual network traffic. When I swapped the hard drive for an SSD in my wife's 2008 MB, TM backups which had been bogging down performance on the HD became unobtrusive with the SSD.

BTW that MB was the last Mac laptop properly built with a quick access panel covering the hard drive and battery. The HD/SSD swap took maybe three minutes with a small Philips screwdriver.

This post has been edited by Martian: 12 November 2012 - 10:49 AM