alt Hacker NewsTime Machine is held in high regard for some reason (maybe the fancy scrolling interface when you look for files to restore?) but it's not really useable. It pretends that backups-over-the-network are a possibility but its completely unstable over the network and invariably decides the backup is corrupt after a few months and then tells you you have to start from scratch.
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I think because it is probably one of the only backup solutions (or first) that went after the average user to get them to actually backup. Plug a USB drive in, click yes to the prompt, and they’re done.
It has its flaws, but any system is better than no system at all, which is usually the trade off that would be made.
I finally got fed up with TM and switched to borg via Vorta. So much more reliable. A couple of times I've gotten error messages when I went off network while it was trying to do a backup, but each time the repo was fine.
> maybe the fancy scrolling interface when you look for files to restore?
That's why I like it. Some of the visual flare is of course superfluous, but the timeline really is nice.
It's like git except it works without me having to think about it. (To be clear, git is much better, but I have to think about it.)
When backing up to a local system it is extremely useable and reliable. It creates separate snapshot volumes for each backup and can be navigated in the Finder interface or using the fancy space interface.
Also, backups over the network are possible and have worked well for me for a few years.
With external SSDs plugged directly into a USB port, it's worked 100% fine for me and saved my butt a few times.
But, I haven't installed Tahoe. I may skip it entirely, hoping that they do a Snow Leopard-like clean-up-the-mess release in September.
idk, works for me.
On the extremely rare occasion I have to replace my laptop, I literally just point it to the backup on the network with the cable plugged in, and an hour later it's "my laptop" again.
Agreed, exactly matches my experience over SMB. It works at first, then eventually refuses to work until you delete it start again from scratch. Eventually I just gave up.
> Time Machine is held in high regard for some reason (maybe the fancy scrolling interface when you look for files to restore?)
There was a time in the past when Time Machine was reliable and well-designed. It made backups into a nice experience that were accessible to everyone.
If your only experience with Time Machine is the modern incarnation with all of the flaws and seemingly missing QA process then I understand how its popularity would be confusing.