time machine, on mac

anyone know much about this?

my macbook has gone through 3 power adaptors (last one melted). tomorrow it'll be sent to the 'geniuses' and so i may not have a computer for 2 weeks or so.

i have an external drive i use for time machine. last time i attempted backing up it failed because i did not have enough space. i formatted to external hoping to use it as a single-back up type jobby - its about 20 gigs bigger than the macbook HD. despite this it told me i still didn't have a enough space (this time on the macbook HD).

on closer inspection there is a folder in my downloads folder which is named a long string of numbers and letters. inside it contains a copy of lots of things my HD, so i assume this is some kind of mid-backup working folder. in order to backup i must free space on my HD, and this folder is apparently 50 gigs, so more than enough to allow this.

my question then is, is it OK to delete this folder? will i fuck anything up? im almost certain its full of just copies of files, but im still quite trepid about deleting it. the general impression i get from OSX is, 'do it by the rule book and we will look after you well - fuck around and you might do yourself a mischief'.

I haven't gotten around to setting up Time Machine yet (I really, really need to make time (ha) to do this, but here's a pretty good general guide to Time Machine:

http://www.macworld.com/article/132140/200...memachine2.html

It sounds like if you enabled Time Machine, it's backing up your HD to the Downloads folder, and I would reckon that if you did delete this folder, you would indeed lose everything that it's backed up. If you can get another external HD and move this stuff to it (borrow one from a mate or if your work has them and you can check them out), then delete it and then set up your external HD as the Time Machine backup drive.

My general rule with backup drives is get double what you have (if you have a 250GB drive, get a 500GB external and you should be good). I just got a WD MyBook 1TB drive for 99USD, as a backup for my 250GB iMac drive.

Now I just need to set it up before I have a failure!

thanks JR, will see if i can rinse the turbo multi-terabyte backup server at work tomorrow before my 'appointment'. got a full unbacked up ep and lots of work im far too protective about to even trust in the sterile moisturised hands of apple.

never got around to setting it up on my mac either. surprised to hear about all the problems you've had with yours though idrn.

I'd love to get a MBP but the 3k for the model I'd need isn't sittin' to well right now.

either im cursed, or its punishment for being dirty wage-rinsing, crack-using student/intern. i paid half of what assegai said and got a free nano with it too.

17" MacbookPro starts at $2799, sry forgot the dollar sign.

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB604LL/A?mco=MzA3MTE3NA

you can get a current-gen 15" mpb (or prev-gen 17") at significant discounts in the refurb section.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/spec...mac?mco=MTE3NjY

mine is refurb'd. it looks brand new as far as i can tell.

A lot of refurbs are brand new that for one reason or another, were used/taken out of the packaging in some capacity and cannot be sold as "new" - this might be as minor as being a display never turned on (for a product shot, for instance), or a store model that never was used. I wouldn't have a problem buying a refurbed Mac.

if youre just using time machine for data backups i reckon your better off just storing your data on a removable drive manually...

i would use a removable drive with 2 partitions, on the first make a bootable copy of the OS and on the second store backups of any personal data and a disc image of the OS hardrive... (edit:assuming youve got the OS and data on separate partitions already)

easy!, then if it goes tits up you can boot from the removable and try to salvage the system, if you cant then just rebuild it...

Thanks for the refurb advice, and with a student discount I could get 3yr protection for 200$.... might be worth it.

As a designer, you think it's imperative that I get the 17" or you think 15" would do ok, Im using a 22"HD samsung on my pc right now which I could use as a second monitor.

  assegai said:

Thanks for the refurb advice, and with a student discount I could get 3yr protection for 200$.... might be worth it.

As a designer, you think it's imperative that I get the 17" or you think 15" would do ok, Im using a 22"HD samsung on my pc right now which I could use as a second monitor.

I think the 15" would be suitable (If I'm assuming you're doing graphic/web design), especially if you plan on using the lappie connected to the 22" Samsung most of the time. If you're needing power/screen real estate on the go, then the 17" might be a better choice.

if you need any kind of portability, 15" is the better choice. it barely fits in my backpack. at home, i use an external monitor, but the built in screen resolution is pretty decent (1440x900).

time machine is great in concept, horrible in execution.

If you're going to use it, make sure to use it with a FW external and not USB.

I've had 2 drives get fucked because of it. It's the only time I've ever felt let down by Apple.

Also, Joyrex's rule of thumb about double the space for your backup is pretty good.

  chenGOD said:

time machine is great in concept, horrible in execution.

If you're going to use it, make sure to use it with a FW external and not USB.

I've had 2 drives get fucked because of it. It's the only time I've ever felt let down by Apple.

 

Also, Joyrex's rule of thumb about double the space for your backup is pretty good.

I'm sorry, my eyes glazed over my name, and something about fucked as I stared at your avatar... :embrassed: