How to know if time machine is making full system backups

burnedfaceless · burnedfaceless #1 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 12:20 PM

Long story short I tried to merge two partitions and wasn't able to. The logical answer was to format everything and restore a time machine backup.

Unfortunately the latest restorable system backup was done in April.

How do I ensure that time machine is making restorable system backups regularly?

Thanks I found an article that seemed to have an invalid sudo command.

chscag · chscag #2 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 03:19 PM

You can gauge how much Time Machine is backing up by opening Time Machine from System Preferences while the backup is being performed. It will show you the amount of data which is being backed up. An initial TM backup with nothing excluded should backup everything. Thereafter, it will only backup what has changed.

burnedfaceless · burnedfaceless #3 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 03:51 PM

Thanks for the reply.

So are all of the able to be used for a full system restore?

MacInWin · MacInWin #4 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 09:35 PM

TM doesn't back up the OS itself, just your files. To restore, you should reinstall OSX, then restore everything else from TM.

chas_m · chas_m #5 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacInWin

TM doesn't back up the OS itself, just your files. To restore, you should reinstall OSX, then restore everything else from TM.

This is incorrect.

Time Machine backs up *EVERYTHING* on the boot drive. No exceptions unless you the user choose to exclude something. It does indeed back up the OS, apps, etc *everything.*

What it does NOT do is back it up in a bootable form (ie a clone). But you can indeed do a FULL system restore from a TM backup.

MacInWin · MacInWin #6 (**permalink**)

08-02-2013, 09:52 PM

You are correct. I was thinking bootable. Thank you, sir.

TomServo · TomServo #7 (**permalink**)

08-05-2013, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chas_m

This is incorrect.

Time Machine backs up *EVERYTHING* on the boot drive. No exceptions unless you the user choose to exclude something. It does indeed back up the OS, apps, etc *everything.*

What it does NOT do is back it up in a bootable form (ie a clone). But you can indeed do a FULL system restore from a TM backup.

I always wondered about that, that's for the info.

Cheers

Tom

chscag #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 23, 2008 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 42,613 Mac Specs: 27" iMac i5, 3.2 GHz, iPad 3, iPhone 5c, 3 iPods, Yosemite	08-02-2013, 03:19 PM You can gauge how much Time Machine is backing up by opening Time Machine from System Preferences while the backup is being performed. It will show you the amount of data which is being backed up. An initial TM backup with nothing excluded should backup everything. Thereafter, it will only backup what has changed. COMMUNITY RULES Writing a Quality Post
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burnedfaceless #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 05, 2013 Location: Savannah, GA Posts: 174 Mac Specs: 15" Core i7 2.3ghz retina-MacBook OS 10.9.1	08-02-2013, 12:20 PM Long story short I tried to merge two partitions and wasn't able to. The logical answer was to format everything and restore a time machine backup. Unfortunately the latest restorable system backup was done in April. How do I ensure that time machine is making restorable system backups regularly? Thanks I found an article that seemed to have an invalid sudo command.
	QUOTE Thanks

MacInWin #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Jul 07, 2008 Location: Winchester, VA Posts: 3,571 Mac Specs: 2011 MBP, 2008 iMac, iPhone 5S, iPad mini, 13" MBP and MacMini	08-02-2013, 09:35 PM TM doesn't back up the OS itself, just your files. To restore, you should reinstall OSX, then restore everything else from TM.
	QUOTE Thanks

MacInWin #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Jul 07, 2008 Location: Winchester, VA Posts: 3,571 Mac Specs: 2011 MBP, 2008 iMac, iPhone 5S, iPad mini, 13" MBP and MacMini	08-02-2013, 09:52 PM You are correct. I was thinking bootable. Thank you, sir.
	QUOTE Thanks

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