Mac OS X: Time Machine

Book Intro

Time Machine is so simple, why would it need a book? Well, perhaps because Apple failed to document it in any useful way! Choosing a backup drive and preparing it correctly; minimizing the size of backup files when you have a smaller backup drive; the best way to recover different types of files and folders (a previous version of a document, something’s that been erased, an email, or an iPhoto album); how to handle an overflowing backup disk. This book documents these and other details of using Time Machine with your Mac.

The current version of this book (1.5) has 35 more pages of information than the previous version. And, yes, the price has gone up - but there's a 38 percent increase in the number of pages, and the dollar price change is only a 7 percent increase! (The price increase has no effect on free updates for previous purchasers.)

Table of ContentsHome

How Time Machine Works

The Backup Schedule
The Backup Size
What’s Saved in a Daily Backup?
What Changed in the Backup?
Backups vs. Backups (and Archives)

Getting a Backup Drive

Disk vs. Drive (and Volumes)
When is a Gigabyte Not a Gigabyte?
Byte-Sized Portions

Preparing Your Backup Disk

The Mapping Scheme and Volume Format
Intel or PowerPC?
Do You Need Partitions?
Simple Erasing
Altering the Volume Format
Changing the Mapping Scheme
Before You Redo the Formatting or Mapping…
Creating Partitions
Installing Slim System Software
Can You Start Up from a USB Drive?
Test It Before You Trust It!
Minimize Volume Clutter

Setting Up Time Machine

Choose the Backup Disk
Pick a Time When You Have Time
Put the Time Machine Menu in Your Menu bar
Decide on a Backup Strategy
A Computer by Any Other Name
The Exclusion List
Changing Options Mid-Stream
Space Hogs to Exclude
Manual-Backup Reminders
Checking Folder and File Sizes
Backing Up Everything
Backing Up Only Your Documents
Excluding Other Users
Excluding or Including Disks and Partitions
The Set-Up Checklist
Altering the Backup Schedule

Time Travel: A Tour of the Basics

Triggering Time Machine and Coming Back
Auto-Close the Applications Folder
Always Use the Eject Button
The Three Backup Stages
The Devices List in the Time Machine Window
Time Machine Controls
Windows in Time Machine
Retrieving Backed-Up Files
Add the Action Menu
Checking for the Right Version
Quick Looking

Triggering, Skipping, and Canceling Backups

Triggering a Backup NOW
Skipping Backups
Canceling Backups

Retrieving a Recently Changed or Erased Item

Retrieving a Previous Version of a File (or Folder)

When You Can’t See the Selected File,
or the Window is Empty
Override the Jump-to-Changed-File Click
When You Can’t See the Selected File, or the Window is Empty

Spotlight and the Results Window in Time Machine

Setting up a Search in Time Machine
Working in the Results Window
Getting Out of Search Mode
Using Spotlight Without a Filename

Recovering an Erased Item

Recovering “Before You Moved It” Items

Targeted Spotlight Searches for Moved Items
Searching with Special Criteria

Working with Apple Mail

Where Deleted Messages Go
Messages vs. Mailboxes
Retrieving a Message
Getting Attachments Back
Recovering a Mailbox
Recovering Notes

Working with Address Book

Basic Recovery Procedure
Finding a Deleted Card
Recovering a Previous Version of a Card
Recovering a Deleted Group
Restoring the Entire Address Book

Rescuing iPhoto Items

Retrieving a Single Photo
Recovering an Event
Restoring an Album
Duplicate Photos in Album Recovery

Major Restorations

Restoring Your System
Restoring User Data During a System Reinstall or Setup
Restoring an Entire Disk
Post-Restoration Issues

When Your Disk Runneth Over

The Maybe-Better-Late-Than-Never Warning
How Do You Know You Need More Space?
Your Backup Didn’t Add Anything to the Total Used Space?

Deleting File or Folder Backups

Time Machine Deletion Dialogs in the Finder

Deleting Backups by Date

Adding Another Drive

Moving to a Bigger Drive

Laptop Issues

Part-Time Partnership
Backups on Battery Power
No Backups During Sleep
Closing the Lid on a Backup
Force a Backup Before Closing the Lid

Common Time Machine Problems

General-Purpose Fixes
Remount a Remote Time Machine Drive
Time Machine Won’t Do Its Initial Backup
The Time Machine Preference Pane Doesn’t Show
Oldest or Latest Backup
The Backup Volume Can’t be Found or Won’t Mount
“Latest Backup: Delayed” Notice
Losing Function/Shortcut Key Assignments
Erroneous Message About Not Enough Disk Space
The Time Machine Disk Icon isn’t Green
Ejector and Unmountable Time Machine Drives
Time Machine Deletion Reports Show in the Finder
Time Machine Won’t Switch to a New Backup Disk
Today (Now) is the Only Window in Time Machine
Checking that Backups are Being Made
The Backup Takes Much Longer than Usual
A Whole New Backup Is Made Instead of an Incremental Backup
Failure Info
“Preparing Backup” Takes a Long Time: Just Wait
“Preparing Backup” Takes a Long Time: Don’t Wait
Spotlight Indexing Never Stops
Time Machine Can’t See Its Files after a Mac Hardware Repair

Salmagundi

The First Backup Takes a Long Time
Wait for Spotlight Indexing Before the First Backup
Spotlight and the Time Machine Disk
You Can Use Time Machine When It’s Turned Off
No Backups During Sleep
What Time Machine Thinks is a New File/Folder
Backups Across a Network
Multiple Macs, One Backup Disk
One Mac, Multiple Backup Disks
Switching Between Local and Network Connections
Direct-Access Time Machine Files
Backed Up Applications Might Launch
Faster Initial Backup on a Network
Time Machine and FileVault (Not!)
Time Machine and Aperture
Wireless Network Backups and Time Capsule

Back of the Book

Navigating this eBook
Opening PDFs in Preview
Viewing at Actual Size
More on Pathnames
About Printing

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