Time Machine Error Logger
TM Error Logger. Carnation Software. Free.
One of the short comings of Time Machine is it's error reporting. If everything runs well, that's great. But if there are problems, it's often nice to review what errors were encountered and when. Unfortunately, Time Machine does not have provide this kind of information. If there is a problem, you will often see a dialogue box with the error, but there is no way to check previous error.
TM Error Logger can be run after you experience an error and it will show you a report of when the error happened and even which file or folder caused the error.
TimeMachineScheduler. Klieme. Free.
Time Machine runs automatically every hour. Some people find it can slow the computer down while running. However, Time Machine does not have any options to change the backup interval.
Time Machine Scheduler allows you to increase the default one hour interval to anywhere between 2 to 12 hours. You can also set a time frame during which TIme Machine will not run. For example, you could leave the 1 hour backup intervals but use Time Machine Scheduler to set TIme Machine to not perform the backups between 9AM and 5PM.
TimeMachineEditor. TimeSoftware. Free.
TimeMachineEditor is similar to Time Machine Scheduler in that you can adjust the 1 hour Time Machine backups. However, Time Machine Editor has some more advanced options. You can change the backup intervals (every 3 hours), or you can schedule specific times for Time Machine to run (daily at 7PM), or even specific days or dates (weekly on Fridays at 8PM).
BackupLoupe. Soma-Zone Software. $1.49.
Another useful utility is BackupLoupe. BackupLoupe allows you to quickly identify which items in your Time Machine backup take up the most space and/or change the most frequently. Both situations can end up causing Time Machine backups to take a long time to complete. It also provides an alternative way to exclude items from the backups.
BackupLoupe can also add some advanced functionality to TIme Machine such as setting up Time Machine backups to non-standard drives, such as a network volume or share.