Backup Databases and Time Machine

On or about 1/9/08 7:10 AM, thus spake "Diane Ross" <dianeoforgmail.com>:

> 1. Exclude the database file (like the Microsoft User Data folder) in the
> Time Machine options, which will stop it backing up every hour.
>
> 2. Create an "Backup" folder - which is not excluded. It's OK to use your
> Documents folder for this.
>
> 3. Create a timed action. See tutorial but start with Step 3, which will
> copy the database to the backup folder, at the interval required - every
> day, every week, or whatever. This should overwrite the previous backup each
> time, as Time Machine has taken care of duplicating the last copy.

What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).
m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
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On 10/01/2008 19:46, "Matt Neuburg" <matttidbits.com> wrote:

> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).
> m.

If you have, like some people, a 6gb database, then your performance takes a
real hammering for the 5 - 10 minutes that Time Machine is copying it over,
once per hour.

--
Barry

On Jan 10, 2008, at 11:46 AM, Matt Neuburg wrote:

> On or about 1/9/08 7:10 AM, thus spake "Diane Ross" <dianeoforgmail.com
> >:
>
>> 1. Exclude the database file (like the Microsoft User Data folder)
>> in the
>> Time Machine options, which will stop it backing up every hour.
>>
>> 2. Create an "Backup" folder - which is not excluded. It's OK to
>> use your
>> Documents folder for this.
>>
>> 3. Create a timed action. See tutorial but start with Step 3, which
>> will
>> copy the database to the backup folder, at the interval required -
>> every
>> day, every week, or whatever. This should overwrite the previous
>> backup each
>> time, as Time Machine has taken care of duplicating the last copy.
>
> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the
> database or
> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up
> every hour
> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as
> necessary).
> m.

And if a file changes during a TM backup run, TM backs it up again at
the end of the run (how does it avoid endless loop of backups?). That
should mostly avoid getting the file backed up in an inconsistent
state, which was a concern mentioned very early in the thread.

   --John

On 1/10/2008 11:46 AM, "Matt Neuburg" wrote:
>> 1. Exclude the database file (like the Microsoft User Data folder) in the
>> Time Machine options, which will stop it backing up every hour.
>>
>> 2. Create an "Backup" folder - which is not excluded. It's OK to use your
>> Documents folder for this.
>>
>> 3. Create a timed action. See tutorial but start with Step 3, which will
>> copy the database to the backup folder, at the interval required - every
>> day, every week, or whatever. This should overwrite the previous backup each
>> time, as Time Machine has taken care of duplicating the last copy.
>
> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).

The problem is that Time Machine prunes backup copies based on how old they
are relative to *all* files, not relative to newer backups of the same
files. So the more frequently you back up copies of a huge database, the
more backup copies of *other* files get removed.

(In this particular example, assuming you leave a desktop Mac on and
connected to its Time Machine volume 24/7, over the course of a month Time
Machine will keep the 24 most-recent hourly copies of your database, plus
six end-of-day copies from the previous week, plus 3 end-of-week copies from
the previous three weeks. If your database is ~1GB in size, that's 33GB of
space on your backup drive unavailable for backing up other files.)

On 1/10/08 11:46 AM, "Matt Neuburg" <matttidbits.com> wrote:

> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).

If you backup the Entourage database which can be several GB hourly, then
daily until Time Machine deletes the extras you can really fill up a drive.
This way you only do it once a day.

--
Diane

On 01/12/2008 07:13 AM, "Barry Wainwright" <barrywmac.com> wrote:

>
>> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
>> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
>> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).
>> m.
>
> If you have, like some people, a 6gb database, then your performance takes a
> real hammering for the 5 - 10 minutes that Time Machine is copying it over,
> once per hour.

That's only if you feel the only way to back up Entourage is to back up the
entire database file.

--
John C. Welch

On 13/01/2008 12:59, "John C. Welch" <jwelchbynkii.com> wrote:

>>> What problem does this solve? Either you're going to back up the database or
>>> you aren't. If you are, it doesn't matter whether you back it up every hour
>>> or every week (since Time Machine prunes its backed-up files as necessary).
>>> m.
>>
>> If you have, like some people, a 6gb database, then your performance takes a
>> real hammering for the 5 - 10 minutes that Time Machine is copying it over,
>> once per hour.
>
> That's only if you feel the only way to back up Entourage is to back up the
> entire database file.

I don't. I was pointing out, in response to Matt's question, why allowing
time machine to back up the database may not always be a suitable solution.

--
Barry

On 14/01/2008 1:59 AM, "John C. Welch" <jwelchbynkii.com> spake thus:

> That's only if you feel the only way to back up Entourage is to back up the
> entire database file.

Short of AppleScript or manually dragging messages into a folder, I'm not
sure what you think the alternative is? Neither of these is particularly
easy or convenient. Not easy + not convenient = not backed up, usually.

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

On 14/01/2008 2:10 PM, "Nigel Stanger" <nstangerinfoscience.otago.ac.nz>
spake thus:

> Short of AppleScript or manually dragging messages into a folder, I'm not sure
> what you think the alternative is? Neither of these is particularly easy or
> convenient. Not easy + not convenient = not backed up, usually.

Hm, okay, I should have read the other thread first. Please ignore my
uninformed rambling :)

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger