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Question: Using Time Machine for first time

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  • 24-10-2012 6:58pm
    #1
    homerun_homer
    Registered Users Posts: 7,024 ✭✭✭


    I just got a 2 Tb hard drive in the post today for backing up photos and such. I unexpectedly got asked to use the drive for Time Machine and I clicked Ask Me Later. I reviewed some videos on YouTube to see if I could use TM and storage, simples.

    Followed the process in a great online video tutorial and split my drive into 500gb and 1.5TB. My iMac is 500gb in total. The guy in the tutorial has the same but only selected 400gb saying its all he needs for backing up.

    Anyway I go to backup and it tells me I've not enough space and that 569gb is needed. Reluctantly I reformatted the partition and gave 600gb to the Time Machine partition. No problem running the backup now but it lists that it is backing up under 500gb of content.

    I don't want to have hard drive space wasted so I was wondering if anyone knows what might have been the issue. There were no external devices to be picked up for the backup and for safety I even added Dropbox to the list that wasn't to be backed up.


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    #2
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    Hard drive space allocated to a back-up is NEVER wasted !! Repeat 100 times !!

    Time Machine begins by backing up everything on your hard disk on Day 1. After this it backs up only the changes you've made. So if your disk contained 500GB of files then the first backup would be that size, but each day after that it will need space to backup the changes you've made leaving all the original stuff intact. Time Machine is very easy to use and has gotten my ass out of trouble on many occasions ! Don't begrudge it the space it needs.

    . . . . and repeat ! :)

    Ken


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    #3
    homerun_homer
    Registered Users Posts: 7,024 ✭✭✭homerun_homer


    Ok that doesn't make me feel too bad. I just looked at the finished backup before reading this post and thought I might benefit from that. Gives me plenty of room and time in case I worry something important was deleted.


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    #4
    squonk
    Registered Users Posts: 8,641 ✭✭✭squonk


    TBH I'd be inclined to use 1 TB for backups as the size will grow over time especially if you've handling larger files intermittently. Having a backup is never a bad thing and has gotten me out of trouble several times. If you've a downloads directory or some frequently used temporary area that is a temporary resting place for files you don't care about you can leave that out of the backup by tweaking Time Machine's settings. It might save you some hassle in the long run as your backup grows.


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    #5
    Deep Thought
    Registered Users Posts: 4,384 ✭✭✭Deep Thought


    I have a 2TB attached and just let TM do its own thing...Still have 1.4 TB left

    The narrower a man’s mind, the broader his statements.



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    #6
    Liameter
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 898 ✭✭✭Liameter


    I haven't needed to retrieve any files (yet) but I understand that to retrieve (say) emails you have to have Apple "Mail" open when you call up "Time Machine". Similarly if you need to retrieve data in "Address Book/Contacts". I guess it's obvious when you think about it in terms of specific data but a lot of people look at the bigger picture and ask "how can I retrieve my (complete) Address Book?" - expecting to do it from "Finder".


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