Time Machine
Time Machine is an in-built utility developed by Apple Inc. It was first included with the Mac 10.5 “Leopard,” and now, it is available with all subsequent releases of Mac OS X. The software is designed to work with the Time Capsule, internal or other external drives.
Time Machine is a very simple tool to use on your Mac. It can backup everything on your computer, like music, photos, documents, applications, e-mails, preferences, accounts system files, etc. It not only keeps an extra copy of every file but remembers all the updating done to your Mac machine data on that day so that you can revisit your Mac and restore them as it was in the past.
Time Machine makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. It keeps backups for as long as there's space on your backup disk. Time Machine automatically deletes the oldest backups when the disk is full to make room for new ones.
Refer to this article to learn how to use Time Machine backup.
Advantages of Apple Time Machine:
It's easy to use and set up. It's automatic, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to back up your Mac. It keeps a history of your files so you can recover them if they're accidentally deleted or lost. It's compatible with a wide range of external storage devices.Salient Features of Time Machine:
Time Machine can backup to a non-booting hard drive or server (including Time Capsule). The My Book Live drive will store all these backups to restore your data when your hard drive or operating system crashes or you lose a file.
Time Machine allows incremental backups, like hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups of files until your backup drive is full. It is also integrated with the three major tools of your Mac OS X machines they are:
- Finder – Provides a timeline to move through the history of the disk
- Spotlight – Helps to perform searches on documents in the past
- iPhoto – Aids to locate the deleted photos, among others
Time Machine works within the iWork, iLife, and other compatible programs that help to restore individual objects like photos, calendar events, contacts, etc., without leaving any application. In Mac OS X Lion cases, the Time Machine allows you to encrypt the Time Machine backup drive using FileVault 2. For OS X Mountain Lion, it provides advanced features like:
- AirPort Time Capsule and network backup encryption using FileVault 2.
- Allows the selection of multiple backup destinations, which the Time Machine will alternate through for backup cycles.
Requirements for backup drives:
Time Machine places strict requirements on the storage medium used for backup. The only supported configurations are:
- A non-booting hard drive or partition connected to the computer, either through USB or Firewire, formatted with a journaled HFS+ file system.
- A folder on a journaled HFS+ file system shared by another Mac on the same network running at least Leopard.
- A drive shared by an Apple Time Capsule on the same network.
If you have accidentally deleted your Time Machine Backup, then refer to this article to find out how to recover deleted Time Machine Backup.
