Mac Time Machine Question: I've been using Time Machine and an external drive on my iMac for years. When the machine is in Sleep mode, what's going on with the external drive? The...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've been using Time Machine and an external drive on my iMac for years. When the machine is in Sleep mode, what's going on with the external drive? The light blinks at regular intervals, but is it spinning? I don't want to touch it to feel for vibrations.

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

I am curious too. I have two external drives associated with Time Machine and neither ever shows a "latest backup" during the time the computer is sleeping, and often one begins one very shortly after I wake it up. My guess is that when the computer is asleep, the external drives are in some sort of dormant state?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

lesdmd wrote:

I am curious too. I have two external drives associated with Time Machine and neither ever shows a "latest backup" during the time the computer is sleeping, and often one begins one very shortly after I wake it up. My guess is that when the computer is asleep, the external drives are in some sort of dormant state?

When the computer is asleep, it won't do any backing up, but is the external drive spinning? I would guess that it's not.

Amtrain

You simply want to know if it is backed up and when that was. Just go to the TM logo in your menu bar. Pull it down and it will tell you the last time it did a complete back up.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

I don't turn on my external drive or connect it unless I'm backing up my MacBook.

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

I would guess its doing some sort of minor back up. It should cause no problem to touch it!

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

I turn my time machine off and only do a backup from time machine manually when I chose to do a backup.

jerryc41 wrote:

I've been using Time Machine and an external drive on my iMac for years. When the machine is in Sleep mode, what's going on with the external drive? The light blinks at regular intervals, but is it spinning? I don't want to touch it to feel for vibrations.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Brucej67 wrote:

I turn my time machine off and only do a backup from time machine manually when I chose to do a backup.

Ah, that never occurred to me. So if the drive isn't connected, it probably isn't running.

wmontgomery Loc: Louisiana

jerryc41 wrote:

I've been using Time Machine and an external drive on my iMac for years. When the machine is in Sleep mode, what's going on with the external drive? The light blinks at regular intervals, but is it spinning? I don't want to touch it to feel for vibrations.

The feature is call Power Nap. Later vintage Macs can use it. [url]https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18589?locale=en_US[url]
It also enables tasks other than Time Machine.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

[quote=wmontgomery]The feature is call Power Nap. Later vintage Macs can use it. [url]https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18589?locale=en_US[url]
It also enables tasks other than Time Machine.[/quote]
Interesting.

"...available on portable Mac computers with flash memory..."

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18589?locale=en_US

wmontgomery Loc: Louisiana

jerryc41 wrote:

Interesting.

"...available on portable Mac computers with flash memory..."

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18589?locale=en_US

Some of these computers require an SMC update to use Power Nap. Notebook computers require OS X Mountain Lion v10.8 or later. Desktop computers require OS X Mavericks v10.9 or later.
Model Required SMC update
MacBook Air (Early 2014) None
MacBook Air (Mid 2013) None
MacBook Air (Mid 2012) Download
MacBook Air (Mid 2011) Download
MacBook Air (Late 2010)
with OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.2 and later Download
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012 and later) None
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) Download
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013 and later) None
Mac Mini (Late 2012 and later) None
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012 and later) None
iMac (27-inch, Late 2012 and later) None
Mac Pro (Late 2013) None

peterg Loc: Santa Rosa, CA

Brucej67 wrote:

I turn my time machine off and only do a backup from time machine manually when I chose to do a backup.

Why? I've painlessly restored my system via Time Machine after the primary internal drive failed. The local Apple "Genius" told me that most people do not use Time Machine. Not sure why. On my on-line server, my backup system includes two Time Machine external drives, which alternate backups. Also use RAID & off-site backups. Paranoid? Perhaps. :)

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Brucej67 wrote:

I turn my time machine off and only do a backup from time machine manually when I chose to do a backup.

I do it slightly different. I use time machine but only on an external drive so unless that drive is plugged in (and it only is for backups) then time machine is dormant.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

That would work to.

rpavich wrote:

I do it slightly different. I use time machine but only on an external drive so unless that drive is plugged in (and it only is for backups) then time machine is dormant.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

Because I only want it to back up when I want a backup after updating software, I back up photos on a separate drive when I want to anyway.

peterg wrote:

Why? I've painlessly restored my system via Time Machine after the primary internal drive failed. The local Apple "Genius" told me that most people do not use Time Machine. Not sure why. On my on-line server, my backup system includes two Time Machine external drives, which alternate backups. Also use RAID & off-site backups. Paranoid? Perhaps. :)