Time machine set up in Yosemite

[robo44]

I lost a few important files on my iMac and never got round to setting up time machine so now I will.
I am running Yosemite and googled set up but have found lots of different threads so not sure of what I should or should not do.
If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated and myself and other half both use the iMac and have different log ins, so if I set it up for me will it also back up her info ?
Thanks.

 

[leman]

Yes, it will back up the entire computer and all user folders, unless you explicitly exclude them. The thing is - you don't set up TM for you. You are setting it up as the administrator, for the entire machine.

 

[robo44]

Ok ta I'll give it a go

 

[robo44]

Can it also be backed up to an external hard drive ?

 

[leman]

Sure. Its external drive, computer running server OS X or time capsule. There are also vendors with unofficial support for TM.

BTW, I would recommend you to set up an encrypted TM volume and save the encryption key somewhere safe (with your financial papers for example). This will make sure that if you lose the disk, your data cannot be accessed by a third person.

 

[jhfenton]

Can it also be backed up to an external hard drive ?

Yes. I back up my internal Fusion Drive (1.1TB) and an external USB 3.0 data drive (1TB) to a second external USB 3.0 drive (4TB).

 

[robo44]

Right its backing up now do I just leave it alone and plugged in and what do I do when the back up has finished ?
Sorry for all the questions but I want to do it right #

 

[Apple_Robert]

Right its backing up now do I just leave it alone and plugged in and what do I do when the back up has finished ?
Sorry for all the questions but I want to do it right #

You don't have to do anything once the backup is finished. Every hour subsequent to the first backup, Time Machine will perform an incremental backup.

 

[robo44]

You don't have to do anything once the backup is finished. Every hour subsequent to the first backup, Time Machine will perform an incremental backup.

qq