Filed under: Software, How-tos, Tips and tricks, TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: Stop Backup.app from bouncing
TJ Luoma recently shared the solution to an annoying problem. Specifically, he wanted to keep Backup's icon from frantically jumping in the Dock like so many hepped-up toddlers in a bouncy castle. The Backup icon typically bounces in the Dock for a minute two before it even begins backing up any data.We know what you're thinking, "Just go to the application's preferences and disable the Dock animation." The problem is that Backup has no preference pane! Fortunately, TJ found a fix.
While browsing "defaults read com.apple.backup" in Terminal (as suggested by a Twitter helper), he found
"Backup Timer" = 120Realizing that's how long the app is supposed to wait (and toss its icon up and down) before executing a backup, he entered
defaults write com.apple.backup "Backup Timer" 1which forced it to bounce only once. Alternatively, you could install Dockless, which prevents running apps from showing up in the Dock (or vice versa). Check out TJ's post and enjoy!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex said 2:11PM on 2-19-2009
Great tip. I have a somewhat related problem and wondered if someone has an idea. Almost every time I start my Mac, Mail.app opens automatically and tries to grab new mail. I usually don't use it (I'm all for Gmail), but couldn't find any way to stop this from happening. And, no, it's not in the list of startup items.
Thanks.
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emil said 2:10PM on 2-19-2009
I can't believe anyone still uses Backup.app instead of Time Machine...
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Mike said 4:31PM on 2-19-2009
That's the first thing I thought of too. Why use Backup.app when you have Time Machine?
bamber123 said 2:36PM on 2-27-2009
I use backup.app in conjunction with Time Machine.
Time machine has very obvious advantages, but backing up key documents offsite with idisk is very useful (in case of fire or theft of external drives).
Kev orng said 2:22PM on 2-19-2009
I haven't used it since 10.4, but back then, i could have used a tip for how to make backup.app stop sucking.
It was always waiting, waiting, waiting. I had an external drive to back up to, and it was always waiting for that drive to become ready, even if it was ready. Only on rare occasions did Backup decide that my external drive was ready enough to actually do a backup.
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Kevin Miller said 3:38PM on 2-19-2009
"or vice versa"? It keeps my Dock from showing up in running apps?
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Jon said 4:44PM on 2-19-2009
By changing the presentation mode you can hide certain apps from the dock and menu bar, or hide the dock and menu bar while certain apps are running. I presume that's what Dockless does.
KennyB said 7:56PM on 2-19-2009
You could also remove the app completely from the dock (and still run it) by adding the following to the Info.plist file from inside your application package:
[KEY]NSUIElement[/KEY]
[STRING]1[/STRING]
Or just get this....
"Dock Dodger"
http://foggynoggin.com/dockdodger
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Dan S. said 11:52PM on 2-19-2009
"Backup Timer" does not refer to 'how long the icon bounces in the dock'.
It refers to how long the dialog that offers the chance to skip the backup waits before automatically proceeding with the backup.
The application has presented a dialog that needs your attention -- that's why the icon is bouncing, just like every other OS X app that bounces in the dock when it has a dialog that needs user attention. In the case of Backup.app, it times out, normally, after 120 seconds.
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