Don't toss me out YET

OK, I hear ya. Stupid old man – why doesn’t he use the search function? WELL – happens I am 67 and have been neck deep in PC’s since the Commodore 64, Vic 20, and Trash 80. And, I am leaving for a month to visit the grandkids. So I need info. Now. Yes, there is a recent post around here somewhere.

Idisk. Time Machine. I upgraded Idisk, but it tells me it needs 8 hours to backup. there is nothing on here except a few important files, pics, and tunes. Is there a way to tell exactly what I want backed up? Sounds like a full mirror backup.

NEXT – when I click idrive on that list of the left – I get WebDAV something – asking for a pw I don’t recall ever setting up. THEN, and of course I can’t find it now but somewhere it informs be I have not selected a desk – then it can’t find an Apple wireless account. (That’s when I hit Time machine from the dock.

If all that were not sufficient – what is the real difference between Time machine and Idrive?

iDisk and time machine are two totally different things. iDisk is a feature for people with mobile me. It is essentially an internet disk for you to store files on the web. Time machine is a way to back up your computer to a local disk.

In System Preferences got to the Time Machine preference pane. Make sure the hard drive associated with time machine is a local hard drive connected directly to your machine or to your network. In Time Machine preferences there is an options button. From there you can add folders that Time Machine will NOT backup. Add everything except what you want backed up. That should decrease your backup time.

Absolutely. If you have not set up a Mobile Me account (you would know as you have to pay for it), then you are not privy to the services which it provides, of which iDisk is one of them.

Time Machine is used for backing up to a local disk except in a few odd places such as Time Capsule and backing up to a Linux box setup for TM. In both cases, again, you would be aware of each of these as you have had to setup them up. Time Machine is for backing up to a hard drive so you can retrieve files later. Perhaps you should read this (ignore the fact that it says Snow Leopard at the top) for some more general info.

Yes, if you haven't signed up with MobileMe, iDisk is useless to you. You can remove it from the left Finder pane if you want to.

If you're trying to back up your files, plug in an external drive and use Disk Utility to format it to Mac Journaled. You only need to do that once. Then open your Time Machine Preferences and choose your backup settings. Again, you only need to do this once, unless you want to change settings later. Every time you plug in your Time Machine external drive, your Mac will automatically back up your files as specified in your settings.