backup – The Graphic Mac

Manually change the default interval of Apple’s Time Machine backups

James — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:00:11 +0000

By default, Apple’s Time Machine performs backups every hour. For many people, this simply isn’t necessary. And for those who actually do alter numerous files (especially large ones) every hour, your probably don’t want the system using resources for backups every hour.

Apple really should offer a way to adjust the backup time in the System Preferences, but they don’t. Fortunately, you can still do it using the Terminal app in your Utilities folder.

Open Terminal and paste the code below into the Terminal window and hit the Return key (make sure you copy the exact text below.) Enter your Admin password when it asks and hit return again:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 7200

The number at the end of that line is the amount of seconds between backups. By default, it’s 3600 (one hour). In the code above, I have it set to two hours, but you can enter any amount of seconds you wish, such as 10800 for three hours, or 14400 for four hours, etc.

Set the time interval of OS X’s Time Machine backups

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:00:07 +0000

When Apple introduced Time Machine in OS X 10.5 Leopard, it was a glorious day for everyone who struggled with overly complicated backup software. You simply turn it on and forget it, resting easy that your drive is constantly being backed up in case of drive failure. The key word that soon frustrated many users is constantly.

Time Machine backs up files every hour, and if you’re a power-user who updates and saves lots of files (particularly large ones), Time Machine could theoretically never stop working. The problem is that for many users, the Mac can get bogged-down while backing up, in some cases to the point of being unusable.

Thankfully, Stefan Klieme wrote a simple piece of software called TimeMachineScheduler that allows you to easily adjust the backup interval of Time Machine. With TimeMachineScheduler you can set the interval from one to 12 hours, limit backups to WiFi or hard-wired connection only, skip backups during specified hours, and more.

TimeMachineScheduler is free (donations welcome) and works with OS X 10.5 or later on Intel Macs. Because my particular workflow doesn’t require hourly backups, I love this little utility and the features it offers me.

Change Time Machine’s backup interval

James — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:43:28 +0000

If you’re running Leopard and you’re using Time Machine to backup your Mac to an external hard drive, you may become frustrated with how often Time Machine backs up your drive. This is especially true if you save or create a lot of files. When Time Machine is doing it’s work, your drive may become unresponsive, and at the very least, your backup drive can fill up quick. You could hack the .plist file to alter the intervals of Time Machine, but an easier way is to use TimeMachineEditor. TME provides a simple way for you to set the time(s) at which Time Machine does it’s thing.

Backing up your iPhoto libraries

James — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:47:32 +0000

One of the things I disliked about iPhoto in the past is that it was a bit of a pain to backup your carefully organized photo libraries from the Finder. But there is a simple solution if you’re running older versions of iPhoto. You can backup individual libraries in iPhoto simply by selecting the library or film roll you want in iPhoto and going to File>Export and select a folder (or create a new one) to place a copy of the photos into for backup purposes. This folder can reside on the main drive, an external drive or server. Thankfully, with version 6 of iPhoto, Apple has made it easier to make sensible backups via the Finder. First, visit your ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library folder. Inside that folder you will likely find a few folders worth noting titled “Originals” and “Modified.” These folders contain more folders which are named according to the film roll name in iPhoto. This makes it very easy to find the specific photos you wish to backup. Obviously, the modified folder contains copies of the images you have modified through iPhoto’s built-in tools or through an external editor.

Backing up your iTunes library on multiple CD/DVDs easily

James — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 14:21:53 +0000

In the creative business, you tend to have a few late-nights. One of the things that gets you through them is music. Personally, I have a few thousand songs, but my wife has something in the very high 5-figure range. I regularly back up her collection to an external hard drive and DVD. But many times, neither of those is an option. Thanks to Bryan at the MacMinute forums for providing the obvious and easiest way to do your iTunes music backups:

Backing up iTunes libraries

Go to iTunes>Preferences and select the Burning tab. Click the Data CD or DVD button. Now all you have to do is create a playlist and drag your entire library into it and click the Burn button. iTunes will figure out the best way to split up the songs, burn the CDs and ask for another blank CD when it’s ready.