Apple TimeMachine question

[Anonymous]

iPhoto wasn't starting up, took my MacBook to the genius bar and they tried updating the software, etc., but there were corrupt library files, whatever that means. Long story short, the tech did a new TimeMachine backup from my computer, and DH is freaking out because he's saying the current photo files on the computer are corrupted/messed up and we've lost all our photos now, that I should have told the tech just to use what was already backed up.

But. . . doesn't Time Machine keep the previous backups? So we can go back to the June files and restore it from there if we want to? I had to leave the computer because it was getting late and my kids were losing it, and of course it's too late to call the tech now and get some reassurance, but I'm sure DH is going to be an asshole all night because he thinks I fucked up all our photos.

Of course, whatever was wrong with them he has known there was a problem for 2+ months and never bothered to get that taken care of, but it's still all my fault.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you can go back in time to get the files back, as long as he didn't erase the old time machine backup.

[Anonymous]

My Time Machine set up says that it keeps hourly backups for 24 hours, daily backups for a week, and weekly backups until your disk is full. I backup to a huge separate hard drive, so it will take years for it to be full. In any case, for things like family pictures, you really should consider having multiple backups. I once read a piece by a professional photographer, and I believe that he had four different types of backup systems. I back my pictures up on Time Machine, but also burn them to cd, as well as posting most of them on Kodak Gallery (to order prints). Any of these modes can fail, so it's better to hedge your bets.

[Anonymous]

pp here -- I just double checked, and my Time Machine setting actually keeps daily backups for a month, not a week.

[Anonymous]

Apologies in advance, but this is going to sound REALLY dumb.

My Time Machine says that backups fail, because "your time machine back up disk can't be found." I have a MacBook Air, so there is no disk drive. When I try the setup function, Time Machine tries to look for Airport, whatever that is, although I believe it's a wifi-type device that can be bought at the Apple Store. I'm not really inclined to buy Airport, partly because I bought a Passport device for backups a while back, and it crashed after just 3 months.

I have an Apple disk drive accessory - would that work, and would I have to keep that attached to my Air all the time?

It's not urgent, because DH subscribed to a service that backs up all our laptops. But I've always been a believer in the belt-and-suspenders approach, so I'd like to get the Time Machine working.

[Anonymous]

You have to have something to back up TO. Airport is how you get WiFi -- it's not a device.

If you have an external drive you can back up to that and you don't need to use Airport. However, it must be connected to receive the backed up files.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.