Mobilebackup (??)

[Kurt Ullman]

Under the home directory (kurt's computer), I have a new folder called
Mobilebackups, there is a subfolder called backups.backupdb and then a
bunch of dates. Any concerns that maybe I downloaded something weird or
did I just hit a button somewhere along the way and start backing things
up to the cloud?
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the bastards."-- Claire Wolfe

[Jim Gibson]

In article <psCdncmQCdFNKwfM...@earthlink.com>, Kurt

Ullman <kurtu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Under the home directory (kurt's computer), I have a new folder called
> Mobilebackups, there is a subfolder called backups.backupdb and then a
> bunch of dates. Any concerns that maybe I downloaded something weird or
> did I just hit a button somewhere along the way and start backing things
> up to the cloud?

Is your computer a laptop? Are you running Mountain Lion? Then those
folders are your local snapshots, or just the opposite of the "cloud".
See here:

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>

--
Jim Gibson

[David Empson]

Kurt Ullman <kurtu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Under the home directory (kurt's computer), I have a new folder called
> Mobilebackups, there is a subfolder called backups.backupdb and then a
> bunch of dates. Any concerns that maybe I downloaded something weird or
> did I just hit a button somewhere along the way and start backing things
> up to the cloud?

If you are running Mountain Lion on a portable Mac and have Time Machine
backups enabled, then a folder at the top level of the drive with the
name ".MobileBackups" (note the period at the start of the name) is a
normal part of the system.

It is used by Time Machine to hold what it calls "local snapshots",
which are local backup copies of files which have changed at times when
you are NOT connected to your Time Machine backup drive. This gives you
a chance of recovering earlier versions of files that were changed or
lost due to user error, but it obviously won't protect you against drive
failure.

Recovering files from the local backups is done via the same "Enter Time
Machine" user interface as recovering files from an external Time
Machine backup drive. If you have both types of backups available, the
backup history timeline on the right edge will show a mixture of white
tags (local snapshots) and magenta tags (external backups).

The disk space used by the local snapshots is counted by Finder as free
space, and the local snapshots are agressively pruned (or not stored at
all) if you are running low on actual free space.

Note that the Time Machine local snapshots are completely separate from
the "Autosave and Versions" mechanism which is supported by some
applications in Lion and Mountain Lion.

--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[Kurt Ullman]

In article <1l37z6z.1wb0ex31c93t6bN%dem...@actrix.gen.nz>,

dem...@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

> Kurt Ullman <kurtu...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Under the home directory (kurt's computer), I have a new folder called
> > Mobilebackups, there is a subfolder called backups.backupdb and then a
> > bunch of dates. Any concerns that maybe I downloaded something weird or
> > did I just hit a button somewhere along the way and start backing things
> > up to the cloud?
>
> If you are running Mountain Lion on a portable Mac and have Time Machine
> backups enabled, then a folder at the top level of the drive with the
> name ".MobileBackups" (note the period at the start of the name) is a
> normal part of the system.
>

Interesting. I have MBP and running ML. However, I have had the
computer for about 9 months with TM enabled and this is the first time
this particular folder has appeared and it only shows files for the last
week or so. Thus my concern.

[David Ritz]

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On Tuesday, 21 May 2013 08:46 -0400,
in article <dcedna7UmvYA8QbM...@earthlink.com>,

Kurt Ullman <kurtu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> In article <1l37z6z.1wb0ex31c93t6bN%dem...@actrix.gen.nz>,
> dem...@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

>> If you are running Mountain Lion on a portable Mac and have Time
>> Machine backups enabled, then a folder at the top level of the
>> drive with the name ".MobileBackups" (note the period at the start
>> of the name) is a normal part of the system.

> Interesting. I have MBP and running ML. However, I have had the
> computer for about 9 months with TM enabled and this is the first
> time this particular folder has appeared and it only shows files for
> the last week or so. Thus my concern.

Kurt, was your TimeMachine disk unavailable for backups, at any time,
within what you describe as the last week or so? For example, did you
use your MBP in a remote location? This could be the cause for the
hidden (leading dot) directory to suddenly come into existence..

So far as what's in the .MobileBackup, it's only going to include
items which have changed, since the last normal TimeMachine backup.
Once access to the TimeMachine disk becomes available, these
incremental, delta backups will be copied to it, in order to fill in
the backup gaps. Once this copying is completed, TimeMachine will
fill in the rest, which had not been modified.

- --
David Ritz <dr...@mindspring.com>
Be kind to animals; kiss a shark.
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[Kurt Ullman]

In article <alpine.OSX.2.00.1...@mako.ath.cx>,

David Ritz <dr...@mindspring.com> wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On Tuesday, 21 May 2013 08:46 -0400,
> in article <dcedna7UmvYA8QbM...@earthlink.com>,
> Kurt Ullman <kurtu...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <1l37z6z.1wb0ex31c93t6bN%dem...@actrix.gen.nz>,
> > dem...@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
>
> >> If you are running Mountain Lion on a portable Mac and have Time
> >> Machine backups enabled, then a folder at the top level of the
> >> drive with the name ".MobileBackups" (note the period at the start
> >> of the name) is a normal part of the system.
>
> > Interesting. I have MBP and running ML. However, I have had the
> > computer for about 9 months with TM enabled and this is the first
> > time this particular folder has appeared and it only shows files for
> > the last week or so. Thus my concern.
>
> Kurt, was your TimeMachine disk unavailable for backups, at any time,
> within what you describe as the last week or so? For example, did you
> use your MBP in a remote location? This could be the cause for the
> hidden (leading dot) directory to suddenly come into existence..

Nope on the first. Not that I can remember on the other. When I shut
things down during thunderstorms I disconnect the TM HD and put it near
the back door, with the computer itself at the front, as sorta backup.
But I always plug back it in when I fire things back up.
Maybe I forgot, the weather has been rocky recently. Anyway, the
file is supposed to be there which was my main concern. Thanks to all
who replied.

[Jim Gibson]

In article <alpine.OSX.2.00.1...@mako.ath.cx>, David Ritz
<dr...@mindspring.com> wrote:

Based on what I have read, I don't think that the local snapshots get
copied to the Time Machine external hard drive when the mobile computer
is connected to it after being disconnected. However, I can't find
anything on Apple's website that says definitively one way or the
other.

To confirm, you can check the color coded tabs in the Time Machine GUI
after reconnecting. Local snapshots will be gray, and Time Machine
drive snapshots will be magenta. You could also check the Time Machine
drive for folders corresponding to the time and date of the local
snapshots.

--
Jim Gibson