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Why Time Machine is broken

By | September 28, 2010, 8:15am PDT

Summary: Mac OS X’s Time Machine backup is the easiest and cutest backup in the industry. But for many its performance stinks, forcing people to turn it off. Why?

Mac OS X’s Time Machine backup is the easiest and cutest backup in the industry. But for many its performance stinks, forcing people to turn it off. Why?

A great idea
Few people back up their data because it’s work. You have to choose what software and hardware to use, buy it, configure it and then hope it works when you need it.

Time Machine solved that. Part of Mac OS X since Leopard it automagically backs up the stuff you care about.

It’s easy: plug in a 2nd disk - USB or FireWire - to your Mac and it asks if you want to use that disk for Time Machine. Click yes and you’re good to go.

TM backs up hourly. It keeps hourly backups for 24 hours, daily backups for a month, and weekly backups for all previous months thereafter. But it isn’t an archive because it kicks old stuff out when the disk fills up.

To restore a file click on the menu bar TM icon, choose “Enter Time Machine” and you get the nifty interface:

[image courtesy Apple Inc.]

(image courtesy Apple Inc.)

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Robin Harris

Robin Harris has been messing with computers for over 30 years and selling and marketing data storage for over 20 in companies large and small.

Disclosure

Robin Harris

Robin Harris is a president of TechnoQWAN, a consulting and analyst firm in northern Arizona. He also writes StorageMojo.com, a blog which accepts advertising from companies in the storage industry, and has a 25 year history with IT vendors. He has many industry contacts, many of whom are friends and all of whom he has opinions about. Robin has relationships with many companies in the technology industry. Every company he writes about may have sought to influence his opinion through carefully-crafted marketing messages and self-serving white papers, gifts ranging from desk calendars, t-shirts, lunches and trips as well as analyst or consulting assignments. He also invests in some technology companies. He may accept payment for services in stock as well. Robin discloses financial investments in or client relationships with companies named in Storage Bits. To help readers sort out the gold from the dross in his writings, Robin tries to communicate his reasons as clearly as he can. If you agree, you are intelligent and discerning. If you disagree, well, you disagree. In all cases, Robin encourages readers to subject everything they read, see or hear on the internet or from politicians to some simple questions: * What assumptions are implicit in the world view and judgments of the author? * What, if any, is the factual basis for the opinions the author expresses? * Is it reasonable, logical and clear? Your critical faculties: use ‘em or lose ‘em!

Biography

Robin Harris

Harris has been messing with computers for over 30 years and selling and marketing data storage for over 20 in companies large and small. He introduced a couple of multi-billion dollar storage products (DLT, the first Fibre Channel array) to market, as well as a many smaller ones. Earlier he spent 10 years marketing servers and networks. After leaving corporate life he founded TechnoQWAN, a consulting and analyst firm. He also developed StorageMojo into one of the top storage industry blogs.

Robin writes, consults, coaches and lives among the mountains of northern Arizona.

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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
wierdoboom 7th Nov
Wow! I feel like I'm not the only crazy one now. TM is a complete drag and slows down my computer like crazy just trying to sync new backups on the hour. It's even more horribly worse when TM decides it's time for a full backup. Hours of slow performance is the cost. I've excluded mail folders and even all my music and still it's madness. Now I understand the technical reasons for the mess.

Has anyone found a replacement?
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You're making that up, right?
John Zern 28th Sep 2010
You have to choose what software and hardware to use, buy it, configure it and then hope it works when you need it.

You have to be joking; pretty much all the backups out there all you do is plug it in, the software loads (if you click OK) and it configures the backup for you.

now, where do you add this "second disk" to on a Mac...?
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Plug the second disk into a USB or firewire port.
Lester Young 28th Sep 2010
@John Zern

Not exactly the Way of Mac, but it is the best option.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
I12BPhil 28th Sep 2010
@John Zern Uh, yeah. You've never used Backup Exec or Retrospect with an LTO3 or 4 system have you?
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
LiquidLearner 28th Sep 2010
@I12BPhil

Time Machine isn't a replacement for Backup Exec or Retrospect. Those are server backup products. Time Machine is a desktop product.

However the Sonicwall CDP does better than the time machine, backing up files in real time as changes occur and without any noticable impact on performance.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Robin Harris 28th Sep 2010
@John Zern
Really? There's a 1-button backup that will automatically backup all changed files every hour? Does it have a name?

Robin
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Agreed. Where is it?
People 28th Sep 2010
@Robin Harris

Let us know your opinion on qRecall.
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Lots of one button backups out there
John Zern 28th Sep 2010
you just have to look around at other, NON-APPLE hardware

And is backing up changed files every hour all that important? Just backup the changed files every night is fine. And it sounds as though If I have something that would do it every 45 minutes, that would definately be better then Time Machines, as it only does it every 60 minutes.

And where does that second disk go?
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
deaf_e_kate 28th Sep 2010
@Robin Harris
Try getting Apple to use "rsync" in Timemachine -- does great backups locally, on the LAN and across the internet with "ssh"
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Lerianis10 29th Sep 2010
@John Zern

Actually, John... backup once a week is good enough, it's unlikely that a home user is going to have that many things changed that are important that they have to backup every night.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Mark_42 30th Sep 2010
Adding drives to a Mac? I have a 1TB bus powered Firewire 800 and two 500GB bus powered USB drives. In addition to that I have a 2TB Time Capsule with another 500GB drive attached to that.

I agree that HFS+ is dated and Apple should be doing something about that, but Time Machine is still a very handy tool. I just don't use it as my only backup tool. I also use SuperDuper to do a (bootable) backup every other night to the FireWire drive and manually backup a few critical files to my .me account.

Time machine works undetectably in the background and I'm using it wirelessly with a 2TB Time Capsule (I upgraded the drive). It backs up my 1TB internal drive (upgraded that too) and two 500GB data drives. No slowdowns that I can detect on my mid 2009 MBP. The only way I know it's running is if I notice the icon in the menu bar spinning. No spinning beach balls, no crashes of any kind (with the exception of Flash, but even that's stopped with Adobe's latest revision). I just make it a point to keep all of my software updated and avoid "Haxies" like the plague.

I had a very nasty HD crash back in '97 or '98 and lost a lot of irreplaceable data. I learned my lesson and now take my backup regimen very seriously.
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Hmm, no problems on Windows!
NonZealot 28th Sep 2010
Windows has a far superior solution. With the combination of VSS and Restore Previous Versions (which just works), you get most of the benefits of a backup even while you aren't connected to your second disk. Take your OS X machine on the road for 2 weeks? Guess what, you don't get a single backup for those 2 weeks. Inexcusable.

Of course when your Windows machine is connected to a second disk or a network, the built in backup backs up to the external data store but guess what, Restore Previous Versions still works exactly the same.

No, the Windows interface isn't as flashy but that is because in this case, you don't actually want flashy, you want familiar. Why do I need to use a different interface to restore my files? OS X forces you to. Windows gives you the familiar Windows Explorer interface. Intuitive. Easy. Efficient.

Time Machine is a perfect example of where Apple goes for form over function. While you guys are so impressed with fancy backgrounds and neato names, our Windows "Just Works". happy
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Pete "athynz" Athens 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot Nope, no problems with Restore on Windows at all...
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irony
shryko 29th Sep 2010
@athynz I've never had problems with window's System Restore functions...

...instead, I've had problems with their updates, which then REQUIRED restores. .

As for my files and data? well... I don't trust windows with it, and have my own backups.
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And the da award goes to....
People 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot

Shadow copies, as cool as they are, are not backups. By default, lose your disk, lose your shadow copies.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
audidiablo 30th Sep 2010
@People

Never had any issues and rarely ever had to use Windows System Restore. Secondly if your hard disk fries you're using inferior hardware. I've only had this issue twice both were Seagate which I never used again but is a standard on all Apple's. Makes sense why you need to back up so often with your ticking timebomb HD. Hitachi and Western Digital FTW! I love owning a regular PC I can do whatever I want with instead of the "Apple Approved Options" you're stuck with.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Mark_42 1st Oct 2010
@audiodiablo, I don't know where you heard that Apple only uses Seagate drives but that's just not correct. Apple uses drives from all manufacturers. I share your mistrust of Seagate drives but out of the four drive failures I've experienced since about 1987, there was one Seagate, one Maxtor, one Quantum Fireball and most recently one Western Digital. And the Seagate was a 20MB model so that was a LONG time ago. I did have a Seagate drive start making clicking noises a few years back but it never actually failed. I think that was an Apple OEM drive but if I recall correctly, that was the only Seagate I ever pulled from a Mac. I did remove a 500GB Seagate from a Time Capsule and replaced it with a 2TB WD, but the original drive worked fine and is happily living in a friend's Gateway.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
zaphod778 20th Oct 2010
@People not if you are using offline folders and a file server that has VSS enabled.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
paul2011 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
Sounds great but what is VSS? Which windows?
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
ozl@... Updated - 30th Sep 2010
@pauliusp i think visual store system and system restore have been there since XP
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VSS is Shadow Copy, it was introduced in Vista...
olePigeon 30th Sep 2010
@pauliusp VSS is Shadow Copy, it was introduced in Vista, and it isn't backup because it's on the same drive as your data. You'd still want to purchase a 3rd party package for backup.

Time Machine is OK for client side backup, but there are better backup solutions available, with more options to choose from, including many free GUI frontends for rsync (which is what Time Machine is) such as Carbon Copy Cloner.

Apple gives you a simple and user friendly interface to a UNIX utility, but it is limited. If you're a keyboard jockey, you can get a lot more out of rsync than what Apple offers.

If you're on the road, there are several companies that offer services that integrate with Time Machine for syncing over the web, including Apple's own Mobile Me service.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
zaphod778 20th Oct 2010
@pauliusp Volume Shadow copy and it was introduced in Windows XP around SP2 I think.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
I12BPhil 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot Previous versions are fine until your hard disk (yeah, the same one you're working from and backing up to) - FRIES! Then what do you do? Backing up to your working disk isn't really a true backup. is it?
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
audidiablo 30th Sep 2010
@I12BPhil

First of all your sentences make literally no sense. I've never actually had a hard drive fry or fail quite indefinitely but the only disks that really failed or were on the verge were Seagate's as mentioned above. Seagate is standard in Apple so this is why Apple users need to back up hourly and Windows users most of which know to avoid inferior hardware like Seagate's and go with a better option which is usually standard on most Windows PC's. My Asus used Hitachi and the Western Digital I upgraded to both work fine still 3+ years later. Must suck being stuck on the Apple train eh?
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I'm astounded by how stupid you people are
NonZealot 28th Sep 2010
To all the idiots who are incapable of reading: I never said VSS was backing up to an external drive. READ YOU IDIOTS, READ!!! I said that while you were away from your backup drive, VSS would give you most of the benefits of a backup. Then, when you get back and are connected to your external drive or network, regular Windows backups will backup your data to an external storage device. The way you restore, however, is exactly the same, whether the copy you want to restore is in VSS or a backup. Brilliant! Far more elegant than the Apple solution where you get no benefits of any type of backup while you are on the road.

So da award for biggest idiot goes to People and I12BPhil.
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You have to specify which disk you want your shadow copies
People 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot to be stored. If you don't, it's on the same volume. Sheesh.
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Where did I claim otherwise?
NonZealot 28th Sep 2010
I never claimed VSS copied your data to another disk. Ever. Sheesh.
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People who know what they are talking about
People Updated - 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot know that vss is on the same volume by default. TM backs up to a separate volume by default, and can be used for a complete system restore. VSS is not a backup solution and if you use it for one without a real backup solution behind it, you should be fired or you get what you deserve.
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@People: wow, are you ever dense
NonZealot 28th Sep 2010
VSS is not a backup solution and if you use it for one without a real backup solution behind it, you should be fired or you get what you deserve.

Gee, which is exactly what I said in my original post. Read it next time. You won't look quite so dumb.
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Foaming at the mouth
GoPower 28th Sep 2010
while the idiot calls others idiots...
@NonZealot
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
lantzn 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot Do you really expect to be taken seriously when you post like an arrogant little 15 year old? Learn some manners and you'll be taken more seriously.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
PollyProteus 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot - Dude, chill. Name calling serves no purpose. Having an off day?
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
781lc 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot As said before, you are the perfect example of how a good thing, like "Free speech," is perverted by people who have never amounted to anything and take their hate out on those who have.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
lharris@... 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
I think Robin got it pretty much right. You however have missed the point. Time Machine is a plug and play backup solution for Joe user. You put an 'external' hard drive in and it asks if this is for backup, you say yes and you have backups. Windows does not seem to offer such a solution. The VSS system you mention goes part way there in that once per day it will attempt a snapshot and checkpoint your drive(s). If you are running a recent version of windows Vista Pro, Premium or Windows 7 you get the Restore previous version option. However unless you are savvy enough to install and configure an external backup then you have NO backup.
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You are comparing a backup solution
People 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot with a non-backup solution.

Who's dense? You know you lost your invalid argument designed only to inflame and not add value to the discussion, so just throw around a few more names if it makes you feel better and then go away.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Badgered 28th Sep 2010
@People

Are you talking in circles on purpose, or are you really that dense?
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VSS is part of a backup SYSTEM
NonZealot Updated - 28th Sep 2010
@People
That's why you come across as so clueless because you can't see how the system works. VSS and Restore Previous Version works together with the built in backup application (or any backup application written to work with Restore Previous Version) to give you a complete backup system. Time Machine, on the other hand, is a weak attempt at a backup application that trades off functionality and speed for a flashy UI.
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again
sportmac 28th Sep 2010
@NonZealot the non zealot shows what a real zealot is. nicely done.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
RedVeg 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
Surely you jest. This is a load. M$ backup is limited by comparison. But then, the claims that Time Machine has performance issues is also a load.
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Nice rose-tinted glasses there.
Richard in Phoenix 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
Restore Previous Versions has problems also, mostly in that it can't be scheduled easily. There is no configuration option to allow one to configure how frequently snapshots are taken. Windows 7 will take one after 7 days without a snapshot, but it is impossible to configure it to take one every day or every 4 hours for example. So if you want one taken every day, you must do that manually, or write/find a script or program to do it.

Also, windows backup does not allow for disk space on the backup drive to be recycled nicely like time machine and other backup utilities do. To reclaim backup disk space, you have to delete previous full and incremental backups and make a new full backup. For me, that takes hours to run.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
brichter 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot

Riiiiight, that's why the first thing any virus/malware worth it's salt turns off System Restore as step 1, then your Winblows box is hosed.

as far as native backupo software in Windows? You have Windows Backup, which is just a steaming pile of cr@p, and the restore interface on the Mac is no different than the normal interface. It uses Finder, you just select the date then navigate your disk through the same exact interface that is used in normal operations.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
audidiablo 30th Sep 2010
@brichter

And you can use MS DaRT to do a restore as well which is disk driven so good luck changing that on a written disk.

Backup software works flawlessly on Windows. I'm not quite sure about on Apple OS X but I've never had any issues and I work I.T. which means I get to deal with all forms of life still never a problem.

I think this is why you use an Apple as they have advertised for years that if you're too inept to turn it on then get an Apple.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
PollyProteus 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot - Actually I find that Windows Home Server gives me the most bang for the buck as it will even let me use Time Machine to hold backup data of an Apple system.

Yes, I have to use an SMB share as the Time Machine target location, but it works.

For Windows systems it's even better because I just boot with a recovery disc made from WHS and it will ask me which system to restore. Works great when a hard drive craps out on my computers, does a full restore of the activated Windows OS drive. Also provides mirror backups on the server and offers to add plugged in external drives to the backup storage pool in a raid style configuration.

You should look into that.
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I do use WHS as well
NonZealot 29th Sep 2010
@PollyProteus
I agree, WHS is a fantastic product. However, I was limiting my discussion to backup tools included in the OS. Since WHS isn't included in the OS, I didn't even bring it up.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
kevine@... Updated - 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot

The solution on the road is to have a portable hard drive. They're cheap, small, light and USB or Firewire powered. They're now up to 1.5TB. I do this all the time, just plug it in and then unplug after Time Machine has finished.

If you wanted to have a "restore" on the same disk because you couldn't carry around a 2.5" portable drive, then how about partitioning the drive and using one as the main volume and the other as a Time Machine volume. I really wouldn't recommend this because of the issues of drive failure and again because carrying a 2.5" drive is trivial compared to the benefits of a real backup.

Another option would be to pull the optical drive and add a second hard drive. This can be done easily with any of the MacBooks or MacBook Pros. Personally, I'd prefer an external drive so that I can keep it separate from my MacBook Pro in case my Mac is stolen.

As far as the interface is concerned...

The interface *has* to be different. It can't be exactly the same since it has to provide the UI elements for time and restoring (as well as deleting). The Time Machine *is* flashy but it's also extremely functional and easy to understand and use. And while it is flashy, the reason why it's so easy is because it's still just the Finder complete with Spotlight.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
audidiablo 30th Sep 2010
@kevine@...

On a Windows PC you don't really need to sacrifice the optical drive as my new Asus has dual 500GB hard disks and blu-ray. I do agree though if you don't have that luxury then you can either external or sacrifice the optical.
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Win 7 Backup...
justthisguyyouknow 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot ...is slow as all hell even over a fast network. And, it takes up a lot of space on the destination drive, too. At least, that's been my experience. YMMV.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
jf79 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot TM functions well enough. It's easy and does what a backup should do.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Jeremy-UK 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot The real "win" of Time Machine is the lack of user decisions. You plug in an external disk, and click "Yes" to the dialog asking if you want to use it.

It has "reasonable" defaults. You can suspend it when you're doing something where it would be intrusive, you can force it to make a backup at any particular moment.

The UI is tiny for the backup. You can tweak the settings a bit if you need (if you're virtualising Windows the you should exclude that, for example). but most of the time it stays out of the way.

Is it the perfect backup? No. But it isn't meant to be. There are times when it is totally inappropriate. You can't use it with FileVault for example, and the backup is stored unencrypted - for many this is a deal breaker. I'd also question if a external disk sat next to the computer can ever be a backup...

However, it can be really useful. You save a file over the top of another (we've all done it). Time Machine can go get that older copy.

The other great thing is the restore UI. Many applications are Time Machine aware, when you want to restore say pictures in iPhoto - Time Machine uses the iPhoto UI ("Mail" and "Address Book" are other examples). The user uses a familiar UI, for an operation they normally don't perform (unless they are really clumsy deleting things!)

Mac OS X doesn't make you use a different UI for restoring files/folders - you use the Finder. If you're searching for a "lost" file, you can do it from Spotlight (right where you are searching). If you're not sure if you have the right file, you use QuickLook - just like normal.

Windows has nothing like this. Now I'll agree, Time Machine isn't always the right solution. However, you don't have to use it (there are other backup tools available). I'd probably suggest you supplement Time Machine with something else anyway (something that can be kept far away from the Mac - in case of file/flood/theft) but Time Machine is often the most up to date backup, and is a lot less hassle than other traditional backup solutions. Especially if you just saved that file you'd based on your master - when you meant "Save As.."
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
Badgered 30th Sep 2010
@Jeremy-UK The real "win" of Time Machine is the lack of user decisions. You plug in an external disk, and click "Yes" to the dialog asking if you want to use it.

I would agree. Though I find it odd that a lack of learning and thinking is now a positive thing these days.
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
781lc 29th Sep 2010
@NonZealot Once again, it is a mystery why, even with "free speech" you are permitted to post your anti -apple tirade on each ZDNet that speaks to an apple issue.

Shame you never grew up..
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RE: Why Time Machine is broken
wierdoboom 7th Nov
Wow! I feel like I'm not the only crazy one now. TM is a complete drag and slows down my computer like crazy just trying to sync new backups on the hour. It's even more horribly worse when TM decides it's time for a full backup. Hours of slow performance is the cost. I've excluded mail folders and even all my music and still it's madness. Now I understand the technical reasons for the mess.

Has anyone found a replacement?

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