Time Machine, leave it auto or manually backup?

gotzaiPhone · 12-29-2008, 09:47 PM

As the title states, I'm at a loss for what to do. I just got a 500GB Time Capsule and love it, easy back up and the wireless works better than my AT&T residential gateway wireless, BUT this backup every hour is odd to me. I get it, its for the crazy work heavy guys/girls that really need an hourly backup, but for me with a notebook, I don't think I need an hourly update.

now the plus of leaving time machine on is that I don't have to do much, BUT (and there's always a butt

) sometimes when I bring the mac out of sleep, I get a warning that the last backup delayed/failed and though its scheduled for a certain time, it won't start the backup and just bumps the time back to the next hour (doesn't always happen)

now the plus of manually backing up is that when I open up the mac, I don't have to wait for a backup to complete if I want to switch profiles (my wife NEVER logs out), but I'm worried I might start to forget to do daily backups.

If you all use time machine, wether with time capsule or an external HDD, what do you all do and do any of you have the same error issues as me?

FlwrPwer · 12-29-2008, 09:51 PM

i use time machine on an external hard drive. It backs up every hour, automatically.

Anyway, yes, sometimes when coming out of sleep I get that error. But I just go up to it and sync it manually for that time. Then it gets right back on track.

TarekElsakka · 12-30-2008, 07:03 AM

Yes, I leave it auto too. No one knows what can happen in just a few minutes.

dcom · 12-30-2008, 07:54 AM

I have a TM and leave it on auto but I've also experienced the "Last backup failed" errors. There's an app you can download for your Macbook that will let you set the schedule for TM backups. Go here to download it.

gotzaiPhone · 12-30-2008, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by dcom

I have a TM and leave it on auto but I've also experienced the "Last backup failed" errors. There's an app you can download for your Macbook that will let you set the schedule for TM backups. Go here to download it.

Very nice! I don't have time to play with it now, but saved the web page, thank you!

TarekElsakka · 12-30-2008, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by dcom

I have a TM and leave it on auto but I've also experienced the "Last backup failed" errors. There's an app you can download for your Macbook that will let you set the schedule for TM backups. Go here to download it.

Thank you sir.

Bookmarked.

up10ad · 12-30-2008, 11:19 AM

Mine is on auto as well. I have set my SLEEP mode to never sleep and it never misses a backup. I see no reason to sleep except when on battery power, and then I just close the lid to start sleep.

I backup my MBP and MBA to my Time capsule 1TB, and all my Windows PCs to a Windows Home Server w/ 1.5TB, which I can also access from my Macs. Sweet setup.