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    Time Machine: What folders do you guys exclude?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by chen, Nov 2, 2008.

  1. chen

    chen Notebook Deity

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    Just want to bring up time machine users' general configuration of what folders they normally exclude.

    For myself, I exclude:

    Downloads
    Desktop
     
    chen, Nov 2, 2008
    #1
  2. grahamnp

    grahamnp Notebook Enthusiast

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    None :D

    I've gotten kinda hooked on the ability to go back and get whatever I want.
     
    grahamnp, Nov 2, 2008
    #2
  3. circa86

    circa86 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    i don't exlude any just for the ease of completely restoring if I lose a HDD or get a new machine, the best method is to make a partition if you don't want to take up your entire external. or just use a single drive only for timemachine.
     
    circa86, Nov 2, 2008
    #3
  4. Chrysaor

    Chrysaor Notebook Consultant

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    Movies
    Downloads
    Virtual Machines
     
    Chrysaor, Nov 2, 2008
    #4
  5. rsd22

    rsd22 Notebook Geek

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    No exclusions for me. I like the notion that I can always go back and retrieve something but more importantly -- know that it will be there waiting for me.
     
    rsd22, Nov 3, 2008
    #5
  6. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Just downloads for me
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Nov 3, 2008
    #6
  7. WilliamG

    WilliamG Notebook Deity

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    I exclude my downloads folder (changes too often), and my desktop (since temporary screenshots etc go there).
     
    WilliamG, Nov 3, 2008
    #7
  8. Superczar

    Superczar Notebook Consultant

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    Pr0n :p
    and movies

    In hindsight, I shouldn't have done that
    I recently switched from a Dell XPS to a Macbook.
    Finished off the manual file transfers and wiped the old drive clean (since that was going to the FIL)

    Last week, I couldn't resist the temptation of the new unibody macbooks and pulled the triggger on the new one
    While waiting for the new MB to arrive, I sold off the existing MB (wiping the drive clean, smug in the belief that Timemachine will get the new MB to the same state as the old one)

    Oh wait...now where's my collection painstakingly built since college :(

    Thankfully, the movies do stay backed up on a NAS drive though
     
    Superczar, Nov 4, 2008
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  9. chen

    chen Notebook Deity

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    Anybody manually deleting old backups to save some space and no problems so far? I have done it for quite a few times now even though I have plenty of space left.
     
    chen, Nov 4, 2008
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  10. rsd22

    rsd22 Notebook Geek

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    I recently installed Entourage when I purchased office for mac. After seeing the way Time Machine plays with entourage (large, VERY large backups with entourage) I may have to add Entourage to this list of what not to backup. Otherwise my 500 GB Time Capsule will be full in no time :(
     
    rsd22, Nov 4, 2008
    #10
  11. alphanash

    alphanash Notebook Guru

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    Just the bittorrent folder. Changes too often so will eat up my hard drive. Any downloads worth keeping get shifted elsewhere so Time Machine can do its thing with them
     
    alphanash, Nov 4, 2008
    #11