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Time Machine is Leopard’s built-in backup solution. Backing up every hour, Time Machine keeps all of your files safe on either an external FireWire/USB drive, or a networked drive like Apple’s own Time Capsule. Time Machine is a pretty limited service at the moment - you can only have it back up every hour, and it will not prevent backups from being corrupted when your laptop runs out of battery.

According to AppleInsider, Mac OS 10.5.3 is going to bring us more options and features for Time Machine. The latest build of 10.5.3 (9D29) seeded to developers shows an updated version of Time Machine which lets laptop users stop background hourly backups when using battery power. No doubt this update also includes some various “bug fixes” for Time Machine, and hopefully makes it more speedy at preparing backups. It should eliminate a lot of battery loss from backing up over a Wi-Fi connection, and incomplete backups when your battery dies.

Time Capsule is Apple’s answer to network-attached Time Machine backups within a local area network. It allows multiple people to back-up wirelessly or wired, making it ideal for laptop users. However, online backups are far more secure - as they’re stored in a datacenter away from your own home.

A company called Macminicolo.net has been offering Mac Mini-based backups for a while now, and is now offering a brand new service with Time Machine in Leopard. “Transport” will allow you to purchase a Time Capsule unit which will be hosted at their datacenter - all of your future backups will be stored in this secure location. Their plans start at just $29 per month, with a set-up fee of $25. You have the choice of either asking a hosting provider to purchase and install a Time Capsule, or the option to send one to Macminicolo.net for installation in their server farm.

Which do you prefer, local or network backups?

Via [Macworld UK]

According to a Mac Rumors report, Mac OS 10.5.3 could be very near.  On Friday, the update was seeded to developers.  Starting in february with 10.5.3 (9d10), Apple has slowly been seeding more and more updates to developers, this time with probably the final version (9d19).  No intended date of release has been announced, as it can take developers more then a month sometimes to completely work through a new update.

According to Arnold Kim of Mac Rumors, the update includes “31 bug fixes for the growing list of issues addressed in the upcoming release.  Features that are specifically targeted for focused testing AirPort, Back to my Mac, Spaces, Time Machine, and many others”.  Maybe, just maybe, this will fix the growing number of issues with Time Machine wireless backups. 

After a recent Firmware Update causing Time Machine preferences to see Hard Disks attached to Airport Extreme Base Stations, many AEBS owners were ecstatic over the Time Capsule-like ability to do wireless backups. But as I personally found out when the Disk refused to mount on the fifth backup, this solution is not fully baked and Apple recently announced that it is not supported at all.

With the announcement of Leopard, Apple said that backing up to AirDisks was supported. Then they pulled the feature, leaving those who had bought External Drives solely for this purpose in the lurch. Then they introduced Time Capsule, severely hindering hope of having the AirDisk feature replaced. This increased the anger, many feeling that Apple was trying to make a fast dollar off of them by forcing them to buy the new product. When Apple released the Update allowing Time Machine to see AirDisks, many thought Apple had listened to it’s customers. As backups start failing all over the place though, anger will grow.

A word to Apple: you need to get this fixed. It is already overdue, and you have many seething customers over this issue. While it may result in some loss in Time Capsule sales, those who want a seamless integrated backup will still buy Time Capsule, and you will retain your current Airport Extreme customers. You’re working on borrowed time here.

Sound off in the comments below if you are one of these customers, or you have had your backups fail.

Apple today rolled out a Time Machine and Airport combo update. It’s fixes some stuff, blah blah blah. But as soon as I saw “Firmware Updates,” I had a gut feeling that Apple had restored a long lost feature: backing up to Hard Drives attached to the Airport Extreme Base Station.

It turns out my gut feeling might have been right. TUAW is reporting that reader Peder was pleasantly astonished to find that “after downloading the latest Airport-update I checked for updates for my AirPort Extreme. After upgrading to version 7.3.1, Time Machine recognized the attached USB-drive.”

This means that those of you who rushed out to buy an external drive for wireless backups only to get shortchanged when Apple pulled the feature can now use that drive.

Please sound off in the comments with your results. Here’s hoping that this works for everyone!

Read [TUAW]

Freeridecoding just pushed out SmartBackup 2.2.2 with several important updates. French localization, and SMB support for Leopard are just a few improvements. SmartBackup is very a very lightweight app for backups to hard drives, network share points, webDAV and USB sticks. One awesome feature of this backup app is the ability to backup files to your iPod, which is great for users of the 160 GB iPod Classic who can’t fill it up. It also supports the ability to save, Spotlight “saved searches.” In addition, you may use Automator, shellscripts, or iCal to automate backups. SmartBackup is a great buy for any Mac users at only $21 US, and 2.2.2 is a free upgrade for registered users.

Via [MacsimumNews]

If you felt that you weren’t getting enough ability to change settings in 10.5 with Time Machine, Lingon can help you out letting you tweak certain aspects of your backups. Time Machine defaults start backing up as soon as you attach your Time Machine drive, and for users who use a desktop computer, this isn’t an issue. But for laptop users who may only plug in their laptop at a certain time of the day, they will suffer from a slow down in productivity. Another issue you may have is the 1 hour interval backing up.

Welcome to Lingon, which lets you do exactly that and change many aspects of Time Machine with ease. Here is how from Mac OSX Hints:

1. Download and Install Lingon.
2. In the right-hand column, access the System Daemon heading and highlight com.apple.backupd-auto.
3. In the main window, skip to section three, uncheck Run it every time a volume is mounted and check At a specific date:. Set days and time as you wish.
4. Save and Restart OS X.

Apple’s two in one wireless backup and Airport Extreme Base Station product, Time Capsule, may be shipping Sunday according to MacNN. Although the online Apple Store lists shipping time as simply “February” for Time Capsule, next week’s Best Buy circular lists the item as shipping “Feb. 24,” and says that most stores will have three or four in stock. However, I have never seen any circular tell customers when the product would be discontinued or updated.

Overall, the MacNN post was a bit confusing, at one point referencing a “tip” that was not previously explained or referenced. This, combined with the fact that it is unlikely that Best Buy would notify customers of product discontinuation, is why the question mark remains on the title. We’ll see how this all turns out tomorrow, but we’re not 100% sure a simple Best Buy advert gives us enough proof.

Read [MacNN]

Apple today released Mac OS X 10.5.2 into Software Update. As of this writing, the website has not been updated with a download. The update is only 180 MB, about half the size of developer builds. Here are some of the most important features, from the release notes, linked at the bottom of the article.

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Apple has heard the people, and are working hard on the next major update for Leopard, 10.5.2. According to AppleInsider, who have used the latest build (9C20), there are 20 new fixes. It has also gone from being a 400MB download, to a 360MB download - so time will be saved in Software Update - although 360MB is still a lot to download, especially if you’re on a slower connection and Apple’s servers are being used by everyone downloading the same file. Unlike the previous builds of this update, 9C20 lists no known issues, which means we’re definitely getting closer to a final build of 10.5.2. The total number of fixes in 10.5.2 is now 115. Some of the latest to be fixed are: target image noise in RAW files, iTunes ScreenSavers, the system’s AirPort titlebar menu, and Time Machine. 

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