Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Power Management and Backups
A scheduled backup will not run unless your computer is turned on
and awake at the scheduled time. (A noteworthy exception: Prosoft's
Data Backup 3 can wake up, or turn on, your computer when it's time
for a scheduled backup.)
Some people leave their computers running all the time, perhaps
setting the display to dim or the hard drive to spin down after a
certain amount of idle time to save energy. However, if you normally
turn off your computer or put it to sleep when you're done using it—
or if you've it set to go to sleep automatically—you may run into
problems with scheduled backups. In most cases, these problems are
easily solved with a bit of foresight.
Power management on a Mac is controlled in the Energy Saver pane
of System Preferences. If you click the Schedule button, you'll see
a checkbox labeled “Start up or wake.” If you select that checkbox
and enter the days and times corresponding to your backup schedule
(say, Every Day at 2:00 AM), the machine will turn on (or wake up)
at the appropriate time.
Some words of caution, however:
Select times at least 5 minutes before your backups are
scheduled, to allow your Mac time to start up completely.
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If you set your Mac to request your password when you turn
it on or wake it up, the Mac may get stuck at the Log In screen
when you're not there. To turn off the password prompts, first go
to the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences and in the
General view, deselect the checkboxes labeled “Require password
after sleep or screen saver begins” and “Disable automatic login.”
Then go to the Users & Groups pane and click the Login Options
icon in the bottom-left corner. Choose your username from the
Automatic Login pop-up menu, and enter your password when
prompted.
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