November 14, 2024
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Posted August 29, 2009 at 3:14pm by iClarified
These are instructions on how to set the backup interval of Time Machine to change how often your computer is backed up.

If you don't know how to setup Time Machine in the first place you should see this tutorial first.

Step One
Open a new Finder window by clicking its icon in the dock
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place


Step Two
Select Go to Folder... from the Go Menu.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Three
Input /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ as the folder to open, then click the Go button.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Four
Locate com.apple.backupd-auto.plist from the list and drag it to your desktop.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Five
Double click the com.apple.backupd-auto.plist file from the Desktop to open it.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Ten
Locate the key StartInterval then change its value to the interval of your choice (in seconds).

It will look like this:
StartInterval
3600
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Eleven
Select Save from the File Menu to save your changes.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Twelve
Now drag the com.apple.backupd-auto.plist from your Desktop to the LaunchDaemons folder.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

You will get a message stating that the item "com.apple.backupd-auto.plist' could not be moved because "LaunchDaemons" cannot be modified. Click the Authenicate button.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

You will be asked to confirm replacing the existing file with the newer one you are moving. Click the Replace button.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

You will now be asked to enter your administrator username and password. Do this then click the OK button.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place

Step Thirteen
The next time you reboot your computer the Time Machine backups will take place according to your set interval.
How to Change How Often Your Time Machine Backup Takes Place
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Comments (3)
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ACK
ACK - August 29, 2009 at 9:31pm
TimeMachineEditor works like a charm as well -- schedule at intervals or specific calendar times... http://timesoftware.free.fr/timemachineeditor/
iClarified
iClarified - August 29, 2009 at 10:31pm
Thanks for the link. We'll do another version of this tutorial...
Max
Max - August 29, 2009 at 6:36pm
Why on earth not use TimeMachineScheduler instead? Just a few clicks...
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