Platform Peace

So I finally got around to setting up Time Machine.  I actually needed to get a supported external hard drive first.  I ended up buying the Lacie D2 HD Quadra.  This drive boasts 500 GBs of storage, 7200 RPMs, and USB2, Firewire 400/800, and eSata interfaces.  Setting up Time Machine was as easy as advertised.  As soon as I connected the drive to my MacBook Pro, Leopard nicely asked if I wanted to use it for Time Machine.

Of course I do, thanks for asking.  After accepting, I saw the extremely simple Time Machine Preference Pane.  About all you can configure in Time Machine is whether it is enabled, which disk to use, and to exclude specific disks, files, and directories from the backup (Options button).

The backup started promptly at noon.  I wasn’t around when it finished and I didn’t time it but it did take a while to complete. 

And that was it.  I have a full backup of my Mac and presumably Time Machine will do its job in the background and continue to backup all my files as they change.  The only other thing I did was remove the Time Machine icon from my Dock.  Hopefully, I won’t actually be needed to use Time Machine to restore files very often (even though it will be tempting just to see the great interface).  When I do need to get to it, it is just a few Quicksilver keystrokes away.