Time Machine - well that's a few hours of my life that I won't get back again

Yesterday I made a start on getting my new laptop all set up.

My plan of attack, and results are as follows

• backed up my desktop computer - still running Tiger, using SuperDuper
• Ran Migration Assistant to move files across, but only copied across the accounts for myself and my wife
• plugged in the usual ethernet cable, and the new laptop was successfully on the net, running via my router
• ran software update, which fixed a glitch where my iTunes was not accessing the iTunes library - created with a different version of iTunes
• ran the EFI firmware update - which came with detailed instructions!
• checked all my key applications, which are listed in the dock, except for Mail which I won't use on the laptop, as my emails will get all out of sync.
• all my applications worked okay, though a few wanted to update keychain, and some had upgrades. The only one which had a problem running on two computers, was RapidWeaver, which seems fair do's and as with Mail, there would be version control issues if I was using it to update the same site from two different unsynchronised computers.

then installed Leopard - which went smoothly, and seemed to launch up okay and everything. By this stage, I was probably coming in at slightly under my half day estimate for the work.

Set up the new 320GB LaCie external hard drive, connected it up with the FireWire 400 cable and set Time Machine running.

Various attempts, various tweaks, it hung overnight. Took off Desktopia, which alters the desktop, amended the settings to the laptop so it did not sleep, or go to screensaver, checked the name in system preferences shared - various tweaks to TimeMachine, checked permissions, and verified disk for the internal hard-drive. Partitioned the external hard drive, as directed by apple support. Still no joy, the first backup via TimeMachine would start off okay, then just hang, and you could not even Force Quit out of it.

As ever various checking of the apple support page, other forums, a check on Technorati, and the blogs. My impression is that TimeMachine users fall into three categories,
1 works perfectly with no issues
2 works after some tweaks
3 won't work

I do have a problem with Time Machine, in that it does not, to my knowledge create a boot-able drive, in case of disk corruption, rather it provides a ready source for stuff you might have deleted in error.

Well, Duuhhhhhhhh

with huge disk capacities nowadays, why delete anything at all, ever???

And - an internal hard drive will always corrupt eventually, in an office setting you would not keep much of anything on your C-drive, all your data would actually be on a remote server, with proper backup routines. In a home setting you rely on the internal drive, and back that up to a single external hard drive. In the case of an office setting, if your C-drive corrupts, then it is a simple reinstall, and nothing personal is lost. In a home setting you have the worry about getting the operating system and all your purchased software up again, and the issue of your personal data. Backing up a useable system along with your data is much the best option.

So having persevered with Time Machine, I got to the point where I figured that I was in the stubborn group three, who was not going to get it working. In any event, it did not do what I wanted it to do anyway, and continuing to try using it, with the machine crashes, was more likely to corrupt my system, than provide anything that was a useable backup.

Therefore, the wheee - fun - of playing with Time Machine has been abandoned, at least until a few patches come out, and I've just partitioned the external hard drive up again, and I'll use SuperDuper to back up to partitions, as I have done before.

Time Machine does look to be a triumph of style over substance, if it could not work with a straight out of the box laptop, and straight out of the box LaCie external hard drive, both bought from Apple within the past month, then it does suggest that the pre-release testing must have been cursory in the extreme.

I'll report more fully on my experience with leopard in due course, initial impressions are that the changes seem pretty subtle, but experience may reveal more.