BackUp With OS X Leopard Time Machine

[25ghosts]

Hey Boyz,

thought I'd share this now that I have been using Time Machine VERY successfully the past month...

Initially Time Machine had some small children diseases which IMO has now been dealt with accordingly.

I used to always BU with RetroSpect which has been a great companion the past 6 years.

I have set up one TB drive for Time Machine and it is set to back up my System drive with home folder and ALL my PT audio drives. It will BackUp every hour automatically and it will only backup files which have been changed. First time the Time Machine Backup runs it takes some time cuz it has to copy everything after that initial BU it will only BU changed items.

It is quick and great and makes sure you dont loose anything. And the best thing is that you dont have to worry about it. I even tried restoring my system with it and it worked flawlessly and I was up and running in 30 Minutes after erasing my Hard drive. Wow.

Now - I use Time Machine for backing up current projects and hard drives.

However, I still and will keep on doing so: Backup a project manually after having finished it.
For that I either make a Disk Image of the folder with DU or run my good old RetroSpect.

Anyway - I have successfully been recording in PT while Time Machine was running and I am happy to say that it does NOT interfere with my workflow. And if one day it does - then it takes TWO clicks to disable it and two clicks to re-enable it.

You can also hit "Backup now" from the Menu Bar and TM will commence Backup.

Thought I'd share this as it has really taken a BackUp load off my shoulders

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by 25ghosts

I have set up one TB drive for Time Machine and it is set to back up my System drive with home folder and ALL my PT audio drives. It will BackUp every hour automatically and it will only backup files which have been changed. First time the Time Machine Backup runs it takes some time cuz it has to copy everything after that initial BU it will only BU changed items.

It is quick and great and makes sure you dont loose anything. And the best thing is that you dont have to worry about it.

Do you know what happens when that 1TB drive gets close to full? Time Machine starts deleting the oldest data it has been keeping. So eventually you are going to lose some of the data that Time Machine backed up.

However, I still and will keep on doing so: Backup a project manually after having finished it.
For that I either make a Disk Image of the folder with DU or run my good old RetroSpect.

Good, because you will need it.

Thought I'd share this as it has really taken a BackUp load off my shoulders

Just because you don't have to think about it doesn't mean you don't have to think about it.

Think about that.

[25ghosts]

I guess I back up differently from you. I see it in two stages.

Stage one - Immediate Backup of everything. You work in PT and two hours later your disk fails. Boom - Data gone. With Time Machine, non problem just go to restore. With Retrospect I NEVER backup every hour, more like every day or every second day.

Stage Two : Storage. Time Machine is NOT a storage solution but a back up solution. You have got those two stages mixed up Chief Technician.

For storage I have a FW drives standing in the closet and once I am done with a project and ready to get it off the main frame I pull out that drive put it on there and put the drive back into the closet. Then I'll Burn a DVD and put that in there as well.

I know that Time Machine will delete the earliest BU once getting full. And I would expect it to as well but TM will post a warning before deleting anything so you still have control.
Like I said, maybe you have got the two stages: BackUp and Storage mixed up a little

[John_Toolbox]

I agree, it is really slick. You don't have to do much at all, and restoring is totally easy. I like it for trying new software, I feel a lot more comfortable running unknown open source stuff when I can always get back to where I started.

Only problem for me is I compose with Logic, but mix and edit on a separate computer with a TDM 6.4.1 system. So I only get half of the convenience.

[jonboi]

but is it possible to just restore say logic or pro tools, to how it was say 2 weeks ago???

say if i installed some plug-ins or whatever, or logic or pro tools just started acting funny. could i use time machine to just restore logic/pro tools to a previous state?? ....while keeping song files and pro tools sessions intact.

Like can you restore the whole of leopard to a previous state? and just leave all the other files intact and untouched?

kinda like system restore on windows xp, but app specific also.

what would be cooler is something like snapshots like in vmware fusion.
it jsut takes a snapshot of the whole system. so say if you install something and it goes funny. you can just restore to the snapshot.

system restore on the pc is nice cause it just does it internally, theres no need to conncet external drive. (as its not backing up data,just rememering a state of the pc)

can leopard do somthing like system restore?? just recording setting changes and stuff.....

time machine is good, but i have to unbox my external drive every time and hook it all up etc. yeah its good for a full back up, but there should be something like a snapshot or system restore like in vmware fusion and windows xp. .... or maybe im just unaware of them.

cheers

[WorldStudios]

I use TM as well. Works fine most of the time, but sometimes it can slow the system/finder/safari down really bad. Protools still works fine, though. It is only once in a month or so, so I have not been able to figure out the reason yet.

[holden]

25ghosts-

Thank you for sharing your experiences on Time Machine.
I've been hesitant to use TM for fear of hobbling PT, but now I am willing to give it a try.

You are a valuable voice around here and much appreciated by this user for your frankness and sobriety.

[Rubicon]

Hi!

I use Time Capsule. How do you tell PT not to put a digi folder on the BU image? If PT is open the digi folder keeps the image from un-mounting when TM has finished a BU. I believe there is a way but I have not found it yet.... I have explored the options in workspace but can't find the "do not mess with this drive/image thingee".

TIA

[M2E]

I was just about to ask this question. Everytime I put a FW drive in or anydrive for that matter, Digi puts something on it and I can't eject it or get rid of it until I close out Pro Tools which is a major PITA!!!!!!!!!!!
Does the TM do the same thing which I'm sure it does.

Thanx 25Ghost...

Marc

[spoons]

Originally Posted by M2E

I was just about to ask this question. Everytime I put a FW drive in or anydrive for that matter, Digi puts something on it and I can't eject it or get rid of it until I close out Pro Tools which is a major PITA!!!!!!!!!!!
Does the TM do the same thing which I'm sure it does.

Thanx 25Ghost...

Marc

Right clicking on the drive in PT workspace gives you the option to unmount/eject that drive ..

spoons