Optimizing Time Machine
Last updated
March 02, 2010 - Send Feedback
Some tips on using Time Machine:
- Time Machine is much faster and more reliable on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. While it’s useful on Leopard, it’s buggy and slow. In my experience, it can be relied upon with OS X Snow Leopard.
- Use a dedicated drive for backup: a fast hard drive is best. Avoid molasses-slow USB 2 or Firewire 400, use Firewire 800 or an internal drive (Mac Pro).
- Exclude caches and other items that do not need to be backed-up.
- For fastest operation when Time Capsule is used, do not use wireless, use wired ethernet. Wired ethernet is much faster and more reliable than wireless, not to mention more secure from snooping.
In general, exclude everything that does not need to be backed up, for whatever reasons apply to your particular situation. But don’t waste your time excluding every little thing— think big.
