Leave it to Apple to actually find a way to make backing up your work on your computer so easy and so much fun. Ok, admittedly, not everyone is as pleased with the new Time Machine backup feature in Apple's latest OS X operating system -- 10.5 Leopard -- as I am. There are some who say the cosmic 3-D interface that Time Machine employs to take you "back in time" to previous saved versions of your computer is cheesy. (Yes, the starry Time Machine space landscape does remind me of the opening text scroll in Star Wars. But the original Star Wars movies rocked!)
And yes there are those who complain that Time Machine is not the most flexible of backup systems. (Aside from being able to turn it on and off and make a few modifications about when and where to back up, Time Machine doesn't give you much control.) For most people though who back up documents, photos, and videos on their computer about as often as they clean their ovens, Time Machine is a brilliant, "no-brainer" solution and the kind of thing we love here at DemystifyingDigital.com.
A Leopard's New Spots
Now, of course, before you can use Time Machine you have to first purchase and install the Mac OS X Leopard operating system which is available for $129. While Leopard has taken its fair share of lumps since it was launched last October, the latest version I worked with (10.5.1) seems to have many of the kinks worked out. Aside from Time Machine, there are plenty of other cool new features in Leopard but it's safe to say that the backup program is the crown jewel of the new operating system.
You'll also need an external hard drive to work with Time Machine and I recommend the Iomega UltraMax 500GB Desktop Hard Drive because it's relatively inexpensive, is already formatted to work with Macs, and runs quietly and takes up little room. The first thing you'll see when you plug in your external drive is a dialog box from Time Machine asking if you want to use that particular "External Disk" as a backup. Once you give it the ok, Time Machine is up and running.
Instead of picking and choosing files to back up, Time Machine, by default, backs up your entire computer including everything from Word documents to applications to photos to podcasts. Consequently, the first time Time Machine makes a backup to your external hard drive, expect it to be churning for quite a while. In my case, the program backed up approximately 900,000 items from my MacBook laptop, transferring over 50 gigabytes of info to the Iomega drive. Once that was completed, Time Machine automatically backed up my MacBook every hour, just making a copy of files that have changed since the last backup which speeds things up considerably.
Galaxies Not So Far Away
The fun part -- or annoying part depending on who you talk to -- in Time Machine happens whens when you "go back in time" to either review or retrieve copies of old files. Just click on the Time Machine icon in the redesigned OS X dock at the bottom of your screen, and in a few seconds your entire computer desktop will slip away to reveal the cosmic landscape mentioned earlier. (Even though I had heard about the effect before using it, it was still pretty cool the first time I saw it happen.)
Along with the stars and the floating galaxy in the distance, you'll also see backups from just minutes ago and several hours earlier stacked one in front of the other like a card catalog. Leopard's Quick Look feature will give you a fast preview of your files before you restore them -- just to make sure they're the right ones! -- while the Spotlight search function will help you track down hard-to-find items.
Along with being able to see a visual history of your files going back in time, a timeline on the side shows you dates and times for all your backups. If you're looking for a specific time or date, just click the appropriate spot on the timeline and you're there. A bar across the bottom will also show you the backup date and time you're currently viewing. If you want to restore a file to your computer, just select it and click the restore button on the right of screen.
Back from the Dead
If, god forbid, the entire hard drive on your computer melts down, you can also restore your whole Mac using Time Machine. Just insert the Leopard Install DVD (or the system restore DVD that comes with new Macs that have Leopard preinstalled), select "Restore from Time Machine," and you can resurrect your Mac to the date of your choosing.
While I like to think of myself as a Mac power user, my backup system before Time Machine was spotty at best. Now I don't have to think about it at all which lets me concentrate more on writing, editing, and doing business than backing up my files. For an on-the-go Biz Fast Tracker, knowing that my laptop is properly backed up before hitting the road takes a mountain of worry off my shoulders.