Change the Time Machine Backup Schedule

[sparkyscott21]

Every Mac owner should be using Time Machine, it’s by far the easiest and most painless backup solution, running in the background and allowing for easy recovery of files or the entire operating system should something go wrong during an OS X update or otherwise. That said, Time Machine is a bit aggressive, and backs up all changes every hour that a drive is connected or within range, this is great for backup purposes but can be a nuisance when it hogs disk I/O and CPU cycles from other tasks. The easiest way to avoid this is to adjust the backup schedule, and we’ll show you how to do this from the Terminal, or with a super easy to use Preference Pane called TimeMachineScheduler.

Manually Changing Time Machine Backup Schedule

Using the command line and defaults write, you can manually adjust the Time Machine backup schedule. This command belongs on a single line:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 14400

The last number is the time interval in seconds, making hours grouped by 3600 second segments. If you wanted to wait 4 hours between backups, the number would be 14400, and so on. The default setting is one hour, or 3600 seconds, which can be restored with:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 3600

If you don’t like the command line, or if you want more control over when Time Machine runs, your best bet is the free TimeMachineScheduler app for Mac OS X.

Adjust Time Machine Schedule & Interval with TimeMachineScheduler

TimeMachineScheduler works with Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.6, and allows for simple and precise controls over when Time Machine runs. Just as with the defaults write commands, you can adjust the backup interval, but perhaps most useful is the ability to skip backups between scheduled times. Don’t want Time Machine to run during your peak productivity hours of 9am and 2pm? Set the time period to block in the app.



Get TimeMachineScheduler free from the developer Here: Source





TimeMachineScheduler also lets you restrict backups only to a specified network connection and SSID, which is a great touch for those who use Time Capsules or backups over wifi.

Heads up to The Graphic Mac for finding TimeMachineScheduler

2-2-12

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[Deckyon]

Just for a head's up, TM saved me hours of frustration. Up until last week, I had all my iTunes data and media on my MBP. Over 250GB worth. I needed the space so I could start rendering a movie some friends and I are working on. I started moving all my iTunes data to my NAS device. I thought everything went smooth until I started syncing songs to my Nano to listen to in my car. Somehow, over 130 albums didnt make it from my MBP to the NAS device. They were just gone.

I saw on another page how to open up and grab only specific files from TM and that you can put them anywhere. I pulled up the last backup for my iTunes when everything was on my MBP and told it to restore to my NAS device instead. Within an hour, every single missing song and audiobook was back where it was supposed to have been.

Keep your Time Machine current and the disk in good shape and it WILL pull you out of a jam.

[Macette]

I am now doing my first Time Machine Backup... Fingers crossed and hope I've done it right. 😳

[Macette]

First Time Machine back up done in just over 1 hour. I am so glad it's done I have been intending to do it for ages. I will make it a weekly routine now....😊😊😊😊

[JezzerP]

Macette, once Time Machine is switched on, it will perform a back up automatically every hour...no need for any more intervention from you, just let it do it's stuff!!

[Macette]

Macette, once Time Machine is switched on, it will perform a back up automatically every hour...no need for any more intervention from you, just let it do it's stuff!!

I unplugged it jezz I don't change enough to warrant an hourly backup. Thought it would be a waste. So thought if I plugged it in once a week it would be enough, unless I added photos :-/

[sparkyscott21]

Time Machine backups can be encrypted right from your Mac. This means the data is extremely safe from prying eyes and the very unlikely event of a cracking attempt, and it also means you’ll need a password to access the encrypted backups yourself. Enabling this feature can be done in two ways:


Enable Encryption on New Time Machine Drives


If you’re setting up a new Time Machine backup drive, enabling encryption is extremely easy:

Connect the drive to the Mac, when asked to use the drive for Time Machine, check the box for “Encrypt Backups”


Encrypt Existing Time Machine Backups


Already using Time Machine? Enabling encryption is just as simple. With the Time Machine drive connected to the Mac:

Open System Preferences from the  Apple menu and choose “Time Machine”
Choose “Options”, select the drive to protect, and choose “Encrypt backup disk” or “Encrypt Backups”
The wording varies slightly depending on which version of OS X you’re using.

You will need OS X Lion 10.7.4 or OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 or newer to have the backup encryption option available, though the ability to encrypt existing drives only comes with Mountain Lion onward.

Certain folders can be excluded from backups if they don’t need to be encrypted, but because they won’t be backed up you’ll need to handle backups of those files manually.

For those who don’t need to encrypt all backed up data, another excellent option is to encrypt folders with password-protected Disk Images. That disk image file can then be backed up as usual to a Time Machine drive, but only the data stored inside of it will be protected instead.

9-27-12

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