About Time Machine: How does it handle file iterations from separate sources?

Hi folks,

I'd like to use Time Machine, but need to know in advance how it will handle iterations of files that originate from different computers and are backed up to the same location as the Time Machine backup destination.

...wordy, I know, but here's what's happening:

My wife and I work on different computers (she on a PC and me on a Mac) but we edit the same Word file (tho not simultaneously). That file is stored on an external network drive. When she needs it, she copies it from the network to her local machine, saves her changes, and posts the changed file to the network. I do the same. This process (plus us communicating with each other to know when the other has the file locally) ensures we always edit and archive the latest version of the file.

However, I want to set up Time Machine on my Mac. If I include this file in the Time Machine backup, what will happen if it tries to back up my local file while there's a newer version of that file on the network? I assume it'll overwrite the network version. Does anyone know? Does it consider a file's date/time stamps when backing up files?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

However, I want to set up Time Machine on my Mac. If I include this file in the Time Machine backup, what will happen if it tries to back up my local file while there's a newer version of that file on the network? I assume it'll overwrite the network version. Does anyone know? Does it consider a file's date/time stamps when backing up files?

Click to expand...

By default Time Machine does not backup from network drives. There is a work around to enable that function, however.

As for overwriting, Time Machine does not write to anything unless you're doing a restore. It will continue to back up from your internal hard drive regardless of what's on the network drive. That means it will back up the latest version you have of the Word file on your drive.