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10.5: How to exclude system files from Time Machine System 10.5
You can exclude all system files from Time Machine's backups, but it's not exactly obvious how to do so. Open Time Machine's System Preferences panel, click on Options, click on the plus sign, select the /System folder in the dialog box, then click Exclude.

When you do so, an additional dialog will appear, asking if you wish to exclude all other system files and applications, or just the chosen folder. Click Exclude All System Files, and a 'special' item is added to the list to this effect.
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10.5: How to exclude system files from Time Machine | 4 comments | Create New Account
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10.5: How to exclude system files from Time Machine
Authored by: jer2665 on Nov 12, '07 03:25:21PM

I tried this, and it gave me an error that it couldn't back it up. Not sure if it's because I already had the applications folder excluded or what, and I didn't really care enough to save the 3gb to test out what the problem was, but getting rid of it allowed me to backup again.



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10.5: How to exclude system files from Time Machine
Authored by: ebaur on Nov 12, '07 03:37:54PM

I agree, it's not really worth the saved space. I've already used the restore feature of Time Machine (had to reformat the main drive for Boot Camp to work) and I realized quickly that Time Machine could be used to back out of a bad system update. By following this hint, you may save some space now, but it's space that won't be re-written to your back up drive often - especially when it really matters.



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10.5: How to exclude system files from Time Machine
Authored by: deleted_user3 on Nov 12, '07 04:15:46PM

the beauty of including the system files is that you can restore a FULL WORKING system in about the same time it takes to run the leopard install.



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Slightly misleading option title?
Authored by: j0nathan on Nov 14, '07 03:49:30AM

I've still had to manually add /Library and /Developer. Maybe it's just me, though I would have expected this option to exclude these as well. Better still, a "back up only user data" would be great for those of us with limited external drive space.



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