Time Machine secret technique?

[sytrusze]

Dear members,

I was just wondering how Time Machine works. I have an 1TB Time Machine harddrive. The Time Machine harddrive contains the following maps:

Backups.backupdb -> Sytrus iMac -> (In here i have about 30 backup maps from january to yesterday's date)

All those 30 maps are 650gb large. Let's do math: 30 x 650gb = 19.500gb = +- 19TB, that's 19 times the size of my harddrive.

How is this possible?

 

[ratfink]

If I had to guess I'd say it's using a form of hard linking. You might have two files in different locations pointing to the same data.

 

[Weaselboy]

If I had to guess I'd say it's using a form of hard linking. You might have two files in different locations pointing to the same data.

That is exactly what it is. More info here.

 

[sytrusze]

Interesting article, thanks for the link and explanation.