$ git remote add origin git@github.com:email@gmail.com

$ git remote rm origin

$ git remote add origin git@github.com:account/project.git
$ git push -u origin master

Make OS X Lion run faster by disabling Time Machine and Local Snapshots

I upgraded to Lion over a month ago and was noticing diminished performance.  I guess it should be expected this early in a new release.  I'm currently running Lion 10.7.2 on my 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo Macbook with 4 gigs of ram.  Unfortunately, Lion is still bogging down to the point I can't work as effectively as I could with Snow Leopard.

For those who just want the executable app and skip the explanation:

Download Backup.app

I'm currently running Lion 10.7.2 on my 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo Macbook with 4 gigs of ram.  So I fired up Activity Monitor and found a process called mtmd, which is Time Machine's daemon.  mtmd was running constantly and appeared to be the culprit that was slowing down my machine.  Lion also has a new feature called local snapshots that is automatically turned on when Time Machine is running.  If your not familiar with them, read this first before continuing.  I ended up finding a nice little utility named tmutil (that comes with Lion) which does a few tasks including enable/disabling of time machine and local snapshots.  Using tmutil, I disabled both Time Machine and local snapshots that run under the mtmd process.  To my pleasant surprise the machine wasn't feeling so slugish anymore.

$ sudo tmutil
Password:

Usage: tmutil help
Usage: tmutil version
Usage: tmutil enable
Usage: tmutil disable
Usage: tmutil startbackup [-b|--block]
Usage: tmutil stopbackup
Usage: tmutil enablelocal
Usage: tmutil disablelocal
Usage: tmutil snapshot
Usage: tmutil delete snapshot_path ...
Usage: tmutil restore [-v] src dst
Usage: tmutil compare [-a@esmugtdrvEX] [-D depth] [-I name]
       tmutil compare [-a@esmugtdrvEX] [-D depth] [-I name] snapshot_path
       tmutil compare [-a@esmugtdrvEX] [-D depth] [-I name] path1 path2
Usage: tmutil setdestination mount_point
       tmutil setdestination [-p] afp://user[:pass]@host/share
Usage: tmutil addexclusion [-p] item ...
Usage: tmutil removeexclusion [-p] item ...
Usage: tmutil isexcluded item ...
Usage: tmutil inheritbackup machine_directory
       tmutil inheritbackup sparse_bundle
Usage: tmutil associatedisk [-a] mount_point volume_backup_directory
Usage: tmutil latestbackup
Usage: tmutil listbackups
Usage: tmutil machinedirectory
Usage: tmutil calculatedrift machine_directory
Usage: tmutil uniquesize path ...
Use `tmutil help <verb>` for more information about a specific verb.

As far as Time Machine goes, I manually run it every few days.  For me, it made no sense to have the mtmd process running all the time.  Local snapshots was a different decision all together.  It's nice to have periodic backups of what I'm working on, but the performance hit I'm currently taking isn't worth it.  But when I'm out of town, having local snapshots running could be a savior.  Since snapshots can be running without Time Machine, it makes sense to just turn them on and off when I need.  After a little thought, I created a simple applescript that will turn on/off both Time Machine and local snapshots.  When I was finished, I saved it as an app to /Applicatons/Utilities/Backup.app.

Backups.scpt applescript source:

set timemachine to display dialog ¬
	"Time Machine: on / off?" with title ¬
	"Lion Backup" with icon 2 buttons {"On", "Off", "Cancel"} ¬
	default button 2

set localsnapshot to display dialog ¬
	"Local Snapshots: on / off?" with title ¬
	"Lion Backup" with icon 2 buttons {"On", "Off", "Cancel"} ¬
	default button 2

if timemachine = {button returned:"On"} then
	do shell script "sudo tmutil enable" with administrator privileges
	set timemachine_action to "on."

else if timemachine = {button returned:"Off"} then
	do shell script "sudo tmutil disable" with administrator privileges
	set timemachine_action to "off."

else if timemachine = {button returned:"Cancel"} then
	exit repeat

end if

if localsnapshot = {button returned:"On"} then
	do shell script "sudo tmutil enablelocal" with administrator privileges
	set localsnapshot_action to "on."

else if localsnapshot = {button returned:"Off"} then
	do shell script "sudo tmutil disablelocal" with administrator privileges
	set localsnapshot_action to "off."
else if localsnapshot = {button returned:"Cancel"} then
	exit repeat

end if

display dialog ¬
	"Time Machine is " & timemachine_action & "\n" & ¬
	"Local Snapshots are " & localsnapshot_action ¬
	with title "Lion Backup" with icon 2 buttons {"Ok"}

It's simple, no frills.  After running it, decide if you want Time Machine running:
Select whether Lion should make local snapshots:

It needs admin privileges to continue.

And when it's finished, it'll tell you what was executed.  In this case both are off.  In the background I had Activity Monitor running.  Notice that mtmd is not running:

In this example, I turned on local snapshots without Time Machine.  You'll see in the Activity Monitor that mtmd is running now:

Since turning off Time Machine and local snapshots (the real culprit), my Macbook is performing like it did with Snow Leopard.  Now I can easily turn snapshots on or off when I need.

Download Backup.app

Download Backup.app & applescript source