Time Machine (software)

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Time Machine

Time Machine screenshot found on ThinkSecret.com
Developer:	Apple Inc.
OS:	Mac OS X
Use:	Backup software, Version control
License:	Proprietary
Website:	www.apple.com/…/timemachine/

Time Machine is a backup utility announced and first demonstrated on August 7, 2006 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, and is scheduled to be included with the Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" operating system.

1 Overview
2 System Requirements
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Overview

After initial setup, it creates daily incremental backups of every file on the user's system (including the operating system itself), allowing any file that a user has changed or deleted to be restored, and from a specific date. Users may restore individual files, or multiple files at once. The functionality is not limited to files; the underlying technology will be made available for implementation in 3rd-party applications. Apple's demonstration of Time Machine also included restoring photos in iPhoto and contacts in Address Book. Although Time Machine backs up files at the file system level, files can not only be restored from the Finder but also from within applications such as Address Book, iPhoto etc.

The user interface for Time Machine makes use of the Core Animation API introduced with "Leopard" to create a user experience employing an actual time travel metaphor. Upon invoking Time Machine from the Dock, the active window floats from the user's desktop to a backdrop depicting a time continuum, with each (daily) instance of the active window "stacked" in single file extending backwards behind the current window, conveying the impression of flying through a 'time tunnel'. After paging through these "ghost" windows from the past, a previous version of a document (or a previously-deleted document) may then be selected and retrieved.

Users may also change several settings relating to Time Machine's backups. These include:

Changing the volume or device to which Time Machine backs up files and settings
Excluding specific files from being backed up
Changing the time at which Time Machine creates back ups (the default time is midnight daily)

[edit] System Requirements

Time Machine will require a second physical, non-booting hard-drive to be connected to the computer to create local backups.^[1] The utility will also offer network backups to a Mac OS X Server host.

It is unclear at this time whether Time Machine should be considered as a simple back-up utility or as a complete filesystem-level version control mechanism making use of journaling or snapshot features found in modern filesystems. Apple's website merely states that an API will be released so that third party developers can take advantage of Time Machine.