Dear Lifehacker, Three or four years ago, my Macbook died, and because I was an avid user of Time Machine, I was able to retrieve virtually everything I cared about from my external hard drive, except my photos. Because this tragedy happened to coincide with a software update, the updated photos couldn’t access the old photo library that was stored on the other drive.

Whether you're backing up your Mac with Time Machine or another service, it can be an incredibly time-consuming process. Over at How-To Geek, they walk through a number of the folders you can probably skip if you need to get that backup done quickly.

Time Machine is a great service for backing up your computer, and by default it doesn't use much CPU power to do it. That's great most of the time, but sometimes you need to get stuff backed up as soon as possible. Defaults-Write points out the Terminal command for doing so.

Time Machine is the built-in service in Mac OS X that makes backups super-easy, and Apple's Time Capsule makes the whole process even easier. Unfortunately, Apple's official hard drive solution is a bit pricey at $349. Raymii shows how to build one with a Raspberry Pi.

Last week I detailed how to set up Time Machine backups to a networked Windows computer that required a lot of somewhat complicated Terminal work. Here's a much easier shell script that'll do the trick nicely.

Since the release of Time Machine, backing your Mac up has never been easier. If you want to back up different sets of files to more than one drive, though, this handy script will help you do so.

Mac OS X only: We've been fans of Time Machine ever since the system snapshot utility was introduced in Leopard, but if you'd love to take your Time Machine backups offsite, Time Warp might be up your alley.

Linux only: Back In Time, a Linux backup app inspired by Macs' Time Machine and offering the same kind of no-worry, space-saving snapshot protection, is worth adding to your must-install list.

Weblog MacApper prefers to keep a clean Dock, and as such doesn't particularly like the new Time Machine icon cluttering up the Dock. Since Time Machine is basically an extension of Finder, the post suggests adding a Time Machine shortcut directly to the Finder toolbar. Setting it up is simply a matter of heading to your applications folder and dragging the Time Machine icon to your toolbar. Once you've done that, just activate Finder and click the Time Machine button whenever you want to hit up your files in Time Machine. Simple, yes, but it makes a lot of sense. If you want the Time Machine button to fit in better with the rest of the toolbar buttons, go download this Time Machine button. The Quickest Tip for Time Machine

Mac OS X Leopard only: If you've got a FireWire drive hooked up to your Mac, chances are Leopard's dead simple backup utility, Time Machine, has you backing up your data—and that's a huge step forward if you weren't backing up at all pre-Leopard. But Time Machine is only one piece of a full backup scheme. Macworld runs down what Time Machine can do (effortless, regular, intervention-less local backups) and what it can't (system clones and online backup). If you want to complete your backup scheme, use an online service (Mozy Home Unlimited is the best 5 bucks I spend per month) and once in awhile, mirror your entire system to a bootable drive. That way if your FireWire drive gets stolen or dies, or your whole system crashes, you'll be up and running instantaneously. What other backup services do you use in addition to Time Machine? Tell us in the comments. Is Time Machine all you need?

Mac OS X only: The latest version of our favorite system cloning/backup utility for Mac, SuperDuper, is now fully Leopard compatible. What do you need a third party backup utility for when you're rockin' Time Machine, you ask? Good question, friend. While Time Machine is incredible for incremental file backups that happen in the background, without intervention, SuperDuper's strength is its ability to clone your entire Mac onto a bootable backup, which Time Machine does not do—well, not as easily as SuperDuper does.

The MacTipper blog posts the command that will start Time Machine's backup process (and run it in the background) from the Terminal:
/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper & Why would you want to do this? Perhaps to kick off a TM backup through an iCal event reminder at exactly the time you want it to start, or combined with a reminder to plug in your FireWire drive and get backing up. Hit up the MacTipper link to get that AppleScript. Use Time Machine Through the Terminal

Mac OS X Leopard only: Back up your Mac with Time Machine not to a local hard drive but to a shared network disk with iTimeMachine. This simple two-button desktop utility makes your shared network drives show up in Time Machine's possible backup destination list. But it isn't as user friendly as it could be.

Our buds over at Gizmodo have just posted a very interesting writeup of using Leopard's 'invisible backup' tool Time Machine to assist you in a hard drive swap/upgrade. It worked just fine for them, but it does void the warranty and they say there's a trick to it...The Secret of the Time Machine-assisted Hard Drive Swap