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Forum Discussion
Mac OS 10.7: TM Local Backups, Remote Backups, and Versions
If someone is interested in learning more about the local snapshots (backups) and how they integrate with Time Machine’s remote backups, this Apple support article could be a good place to start.
Starting in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), Time Machine performs local backups to /.MobileBackups. This functionality is default on MacBooks, MacBooks Pro, and MacBooks Air, and can otherwise be enabled in Terminal with the following command:
It also appears that some applications (like Mail) can take advantage of Time Machine’s local backups. For instance, you can make Mail’s window active and then enter Time Machine (even if you are disconnected from the external Time Machine drive, ReadyNAS, or Time Capsule). You can then navigate through the timeline of local backups and see various folders in Mail the same way they looked when the local backup was made. This could help you find an email that you deleted and hopefully restore that email.
It seems that Mac OS 10.7 applications that are enabled for versions (such as TextEdit) can also take advantage of Time Machine’s local backups (and perhaps remote backups as well). When you “Browse All Versions” in such an application, you will see several versions of your file. However, Lion automatically does housekeeping with versions by removing some of the older versions; I forget the details of how many versions are stored per day, per week, per month, etc., but not all of the versions are retained. However, Time Machine local backups (and perhaps remote backups) can capture some of these versions, and therefore, those versions may be accessible in Time Machine backups (local and remote) even though the Lion’s versions feature has already removed those older versions. Moreover, it appears that the same interface used to “Browse All Versions” in an application enabled for versions can also access the versions stored in the Time Machine backup (local or remote).
It is interesting that Apple has modified the Time Machine functionality so significantly in Mac OS 10.7 (Lion), but yet has chosen not to familiarize its user base with this new functionality. The details of how Time Machine’s local backups ingrate with Lions’s versions and with Time Machine’s remote backups are sketchy at best. I see discussions going on in many forums with people guessing how this functionality works but not really having any solid understanding sourced from any information provided by Apple.
If someone can find a good and relatively authoritative write-up or white paper on the new Time Machine functionality in Lion (local backups, remote backups, versions, etc.), please post a link here.
Starting in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), Time Machine performs local backups to /.MobileBackups. This functionality is default on MacBooks, MacBooks Pro, and MacBooks Air, and can otherwise be enabled in Terminal with the following command:
tmutil enableLocal
It also appears that some applications (like Mail) can take advantage of Time Machine’s local backups. For instance, you can make Mail’s window active and then enter Time Machine (even if you are disconnected from the external Time Machine drive, ReadyNAS, or Time Capsule). You can then navigate through the timeline of local backups and see various folders in Mail the same way they looked when the local backup was made. This could help you find an email that you deleted and hopefully restore that email.
It seems that Mac OS 10.7 applications that are enabled for versions (such as TextEdit) can also take advantage of Time Machine’s local backups (and perhaps remote backups as well). When you “Browse All Versions” in such an application, you will see several versions of your file. However, Lion automatically does housekeeping with versions by removing some of the older versions; I forget the details of how many versions are stored per day, per week, per month, etc., but not all of the versions are retained. However, Time Machine local backups (and perhaps remote backups) can capture some of these versions, and therefore, those versions may be accessible in Time Machine backups (local and remote) even though the Lion’s versions feature has already removed those older versions. Moreover, it appears that the same interface used to “Browse All Versions” in an application enabled for versions can also access the versions stored in the Time Machine backup (local or remote).
It is interesting that Apple has modified the Time Machine functionality so significantly in Mac OS 10.7 (Lion), but yet has chosen not to familiarize its user base with this new functionality. The details of how Time Machine’s local backups ingrate with Lions’s versions and with Time Machine’s remote backups are sketchy at best. I see discussions going on in many forums with people guessing how this functionality works but not really having any solid understanding sourced from any information provided by Apple.
If someone can find a good and relatively authoritative write-up or white paper on the new Time Machine functionality in Lion (local backups, remote backups, versions, etc.), please post a link here.
3 Replies
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- I have just tried to “Enter Time Machine” on my wife’s Macbook Pro, and I noticed that in the timeline bar on the right, every backup is represented in purple. According to the Apple’s article linked to above, these are remote backups made to the Time Machine volume (external drive, Time Capsule, or third-party NAS). On the other hand, when I enter “Time Machine” on my Macbook, I see both purple and gray bars on in the backup timeline. The difference between the two laptops is in that I received the following message on my Macbook the other day:
Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
Click Start New Backup to create a new backup. This will remove your existing backup history. This could take several hours.
Click Back Up Later to be reminded tomorrow. Time Machine won’t perform backups during this time.
Therefore, the options one is given are either to proceed or not to proceed, but not proceeding results in the suspension of further Time Machine backups. This message occurred about a month after I installed Mac OS 10.7 (Lion). I believe this message is the result of some sort of consolidation of versions into Time Machine backups. As I mentioned in my previous posts, Mac OS 10.7 does a certain amount of housekeeping on the document versions, and eventually moves some older versions into the Time Machine sparsebundle. I believe that when this attempt is made, the system realizes that the existing Time Machine sparsebundle is not compatible with this feature and basically demands that all existing backups be removed and the sparsebundle be made compatible with the feature that moves versions to the Time Machine backup. Once you agree (and at this point you really have no choice but to agree), you lose all of your previous Time Machine backups, and once the sparsebundle is modified to comply with this new feature, another new feature is automatically enabled as well. This other new feature is local backups. I did not have any local backups made until a few days ago when I got the above message, agreed to Time Machine creating a new backup, and lost all of my previous backups. A day later, I moved the sparsebundle to another location on my ReadyNAS, and then tried to “Enter Time Machine”. To my surprise, I was able to “Enter Time Machine,” but I did not see the Time Machine’s backups made the day before. Then I had Time Machine create a brand new sparsebundle on the ReadyNAS and after my Macbook was backed up to that new sparsebundle, I started noticing a completely new behavior of Time Machine. That was yesterday, and today I started this thread to inform others of the changes to Time Machine functionality and behavior in Mac OS 10.7 and to try and get more information on these features. - Are you still running 4.2.18? A production version of 4.2.19 should hopefully be ready early next week: http://twitter.com/#!/yohdah/status/109658741250592768
yoh-dah wrote:
@donaldkwong @jonpryor @snowyeti We'll have final 4.1.8 and 4.2.19 early next week after the Labor Day weekend, if all goes well. mdgm wrote: Are you still running 4.2.18? A production version of 4.2.19 should hopefully be ready early next week: http://twitter.com/#!/yohdah/status/109658741250592768 yoh-dah wrote:
@donaldkwong @jonpryor @snowyeti We'll have final 4.1.8 and 4.2.19 early next week after the Labor Day weekend, if all goes well.
I have just upgraded my ReadNAS Pro Business to 4.2.19. The sparsebundle created by Time Machine under 4.2.18 (after I moved the older sparsebunle to another location on the ReadyNAS) seems to be working fine. It was working fine under 4.2.18 and still working fine under 4.2.19. The newly created sparsebundle now has both local backups, which show up as gray bars, as well as remote backups, which show up as purple bars on the Time Machine timeline once I “Enter Time Machine”.
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