TimeMachineEditor is a free, simple application that lets you change the default setting for your Mac's Time Machine hourly backups. TimeMachineEditor lets you set a new hourly interval, or even. TimeMachineEditor is a free Mac utility that allows its users to rapidly and effortlessly adjust the backup interval used by Apple's Time Machine to create a backup. Simple and intuitive Time. TimeMachineEditor 5.1.8 (2021, January 13) - macOS 10.9 or newer. This version includes minor fixes and improvements. Note to Catalina and Big Sur users. In macOS Catalina and Big Sur, a security dialog might prevent you from installing the application. TimeMachineEditor allows a user to choose when backups occur. Its simple interface — a tiny window — gives a powerful set of options for scheduling your Time Machine backups. You can set the. Catalina prints coupons based on these conditions. Do all stores in a Chain participate in the same promotional offers? A Retailer or Manufacturer will decide what stores will be included in a promotional offer. It is possible that stores within a Retailer will not.
| Minimum Requirements: • Intel Mac • macOS 10.5 Leopard or later | ||
| Version 3.1.4 (2,2 MB) | ||
| TimeMachineScheduler is free, but donations would be appreciated | ||
Description:
In macOS 10.5 Leopard Apple has introduced Time Machine, a very convenient way to make backups. Unfortunately the backup interval is preset constantly to one hour. Apple uses an launchd daemon to control the timing, but changing the interval value in the launchd.plist file has no effect.
TimeMachineScheduler disables the automatic backup function of Time Machine (the big slider) and installs its own launchd daemon. As the daemon is located in the main library, the administrator password is required for all (writing) operations. Except disabling Time Machine no further system files and preferences will be touched by TimeMachineScheduler.
There are (still) some access privileges problems in OS X 10.5 Leopard, if the operation system has been updated, migrated or installed with the archive & install option. TimeMachineScheduler takes care of all files and sets owner, group and the privileges to the proper default value.
You can install and uninstall the daemon as well as only load and unload it to disable making backups temporarily. The interval can be set between 1 and 12 hours, and the daemon can be set to run additionally at load, which means also at startup and login. You can press a button to run a backup immediately. The status of the scheduler will be displayed.
The Apply button affects only the settings interval and run at load, which are part of the launchd daemon. All other settings are applied immediately.
While a backup is running the control elements are disabled and all actions will be written into a log file (/Library/Logs/TimeMachineScheduler.log).
If you want to revert to the original settings of Time Machine, just uninstall the scheduler and enable Time Machine in its Preference Pane.
In version 3 the application is turned into a Preference Pane. A simple installer is added to update older versions, install the Preference Pane or completely remove all components of TimeMachineScheduler.
Version 3.1 is compatible with macOS 10.7 Lion.
Version 3.1.4 is compatible with macOS 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Features:
• Set the interval from 1 to 12 hours.
• Run the backup manually or automatically also at startup, login or when the daemon has been loaded.
• Display the status of the daemon, of the backup volume and if the backup is currently running.
• Automount, an option to mount and unmount the backup volume automatically (see known problems).
• Option to hide the backup volume (to take effect a Finder relaunch is required).
• Option to restrict backups to a defined network connection (WiFi/Ethernet) and over WiFi to a certain SSID.
• Option to skip the backup within a specified time range.
Known issues:
• As TimeMachineScheduler works independent from the Time Machine Preferences, some information might be displayed wrong in the Preference Pane of Time Machine.
Sandbox programs for windows 7. • It could happen, that the backup volume cannot be unmounted (using the automount feature). This occurs also, if the application of TimeMachineScheduler is running. However the daemon is not affected.
PowerPC Support for 10.5 Leopard
• The latest version which runs on PPC is 3.0.2. You can download it here
macOS 10.12 Sierra Compatibility:
TimeMachineScheduler 4.0 Beta
The application is not required to run permanently.
Installation:
Drag the application onto the Applications Folder alias in the disk image. It's strongly recommended to leave the application in the standard Applications folder.On first launch TMS asks to migrate the existing data and to delete the Preference Pane of version 3.
TMS asks also for permission to install the privileged helper tool (that's not really new).
New features:
- The UI is slightly more clearly arranged. The 'Backup Now' button provides an animation similar to the menu bar animation. The red border indicates the active backup process. For security reasons the Backup Now button is disabled until the backup process exits (approx. 2 min after the backup is completed).
- An additional wake watchdog. When the computer wakes up and the time of the latest backup is earlier than the interval setting, a backup is started.
- An option to run AppleScripts before and after the backup to specify a custom condition and proceed the result (see the descriptions in the pop up views).
- Better disk management. The unique parameters of the backup volume are saved so the validation by mounting shared and local volumes is not needed anymore.
- Multiple SSID (name of wireless networks) values.
- Support for multiple backup volumes added (10.8 and higher).
- The current backup volume in the General view shows the volume corresponding to the Time Machine menu bar item.
- The network condition and automount / invisible parameters can be set separately for each volume.
- Time range and script settings are global.
- The automount checkbox is enabled when the backup volume is available.
- The invisible checkbox is enabled when the backup volume is mounted.
- After changing the visible status the Finder is supposed to be relaunched.
- Like the original behavior of Time Machine the scheduler rotates that means it looks for the next available backup volume considering the custom conditions.
Planned but still missing features:- The TMS beta is not localized yet.
Please test this version and report issues with crash reports and/or log excerpts tostefan@klieme.com.
Important Note: TimeMachineScheduler does not touch the contents of the backup volume at all.
The worst case is no backups will be executed.
System Requirements for 4.0 Beta:
- 64 bit Mac and macOS 10.7 Lion and higher including macOS 10.12 Sierra. The application is code-signed.
Version 4.0b8 (Build 510)
TimeMachineEditor is a software for macOS that lets you change the default one-hour backup interval of Time Machine. You can change the interval or create other types of scheduling (see the screenshots below).
This is useful if you don’t need to backup every hour and don’t want the performance penalty. For example you might be frequently creating or modifying files which would cause long-running backup operations throughout the day.
Download
TimeMachineEditor 5.1.8 (2021, January 13) - macOS 10.9 or newer
This version includes minor fixes and improvements
Note to Catalina and Big Sur users
In macOS Catalina and Big Sur, a security dialog might prevent you from installing the application claiming that Apple cannot check it for malicious software. Apple (the trillion dollar company) is forcing developers to pay $99/year in order to get rid of this dialog, this I do not agree with. All developers contribute to the platform and buy a fair amount of Apple devices which should be plenty enough money back into Apple's pockets to provide free signing certificates and notarization.
You can still install: control-click the installer package, then choose Open from the shortcut menu, then click Open. Alternatively you can install version 5.0.8 and update from within the application (main application menu > Check for Updates).
How does it work?
TimeMachineEditor triggers Time Machine backups when it is most appropriate, the whole backup process is still handled by Time Machine. TimeMachineEditor is not a “hack”, it does not modify system files.
Command Line Tool
The tmectl(1) command line tool allows to print and modify settings, enable/disable the scheduler and uninstall the application. Just fire up the command without any argument to see its usage.
FAQ
Should I disable automatic backups in System Preferences > Time Machine?
Yes. Doing this disables the default one-hour scheduler which is what you want since you will now be using TimeMachineEditor to schedule the backups.
Do I need to keep the application running or launch it at login time?
No. You just need to use the application when you want to change the settings.
Will it back up while the machine is sleeping?
TimeMachineEditor supports Power Nap which you can enable in System Preferences > Energy Saver. If you are using a laptop computer, make sure you are on the “Power Adapter” tab, as this feature only works when connected to AC power.
How does TimeMachineEditor preserve/discard backups?
TimeMachineEditor does not change that, it is handled by Time Machine. Time Machine will coalesce and discard backups as described in System Preferences > Time Machine.
What are local snapshots?
Local snapshots are APFS snapshots. They are very fast to make, stored on the local disk and provide additional restoration points. Since they are local they do not protect against a disk crash but can be useful if the machine goes away from the backup disk for awhile. The lifetime of snapshots is not well defined but they usually live no longer than 24 hours.
Restore From Time Machine Catalina
You can't totally disable snapshots. New snapshots are created every time a regular backup is made (snapshots are used as the data sources for the backups). That's how Time Machine works.
How do I uninstall TimeMachineEditor?
Just select the “Uninstall..” command located under the application main menu. Alternatively the tmectl(1) command line tool can be used with the “uninstall” argument.
Donations
TimeMachineEditor is totally free to use. Donations contribute to the web hosting and developer account fees.
Catalina Time Machine Backup
You can donate via paypal.
Contact
You can contact me by email at timemachineeditor@tclementdev.com.
Time Machine Editor Catalina Island
Additional screenshots