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MPG Table of Contents   Page 1: Using Mac OS X Time Machine for data safety Page 2: Configuring Time Machine Page 3: Choosing a Time Machine Backup Drive Page 4: Restoring Files with Time Machine Page 5: Time Machine and Backup Tips Page 6: Starting a Time Machine Backup When Desired Page 7: Excluding Items from Time Machine Backup Page 8: Optimizing Time Machine Page 9: Using Mac OS X Time Machine with Adobe Lightroom

Optimizing Time Machine Backup

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.