Time Machine Backup – Create, Restore , Schedule

A very obvious query among users who want to partition their Mac is – Can I lose my data if the partitioning process fails? Unfortunately, the answer is – yes. So, it is recommended to create Mac backup with time machine(An inbuilt backup application of Mac OS X).

What is Time machine ?

Time Machine is a backup created either on your machine or at an external drive (sold separately) or Time Capsule. So, just connect the drive, assign it to Time Machine and it will back up all your data. This Mac backup will include your system files, applications,system preferences and other documents, music, photos, videos etc.. The most interesting part of Time Machine backup is that it remembers how your system looked on any given day makes it easy to jump to that status.

Steps to create time machine backup ?

1. Buy an external drive and attach it with your Mac. The first time you will see the screen as given in Pic1. Click "Use as Backup Disk" to confirm you want to use the drive for Time Machine backups. Time Machine preferences will then open with this drive selected as your backup.
   

   

   Pic 1

   If the drive is older one then check to see if it has MBR. If it is so, first format the drive and change it Apple’s HFS Extended format.
   
2. Open System Preferences.
   
3. Click on 'Time Machine'.
   
4. Click "Choose Backup Disk".
   
5. Select the drive from list and click on 'Use for Backup'.
   
6. The first attempt of taking complete backup may take more time than the later ones.
   
7. After completing the process you will get screen like that in Pic 2. Here, you can also select whether or not to show Time Machine in the menu bar. You can also select to 'Back Up Now' and also sets the interval for next backup.
   

   

   Pic 2

   
   

How to exclude files from backup schedule ?

In preferences section of time machine go to options. Here you can select the files, folders, or volumes to be excluded from backup process.

How to restore files/documents/folders or entire drive from time machine backup?

1. Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu
2. Select the point in time line (on the right) showing times of all backups on your backup drive.
3. Before you restore a file, you can also use Quick Look to preview a file.
4. Select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button.

For more details visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427