My understanding (slight though it is) is that DT stores its data in a “package”, which is what Time Machine backs up when it backs up my hard drive.
But does that mean that EVERY time I make a change of any kind to my DT database – adding a single jpeg, for instance – Time Machine has to back up the entire package, which in my case is something like 60 gigabytes.
I’m in the process of getting a new hard drive to use with Time Machine, and I’d LIKE to get it to work wirelessly, but I won’t if it has to try to pass 60 gigs of data back and forth over WiFi every time it backs up a slight change I’ve made to DT.
So even though the DT database is all in one “package”, Time Machine can backup just its individual parts, as they change? (The reason I ask again is that just now, in the Apple Store, a tech said the opposite – but wasn’t sure he knew what he was talking about…)
The entire database package file does NOT have to be backed up each time a backup is performed, only changes since the previous backup by Time Machine.
See for yourself. Do the initial backup of your internal drive to a mounted external drive. Then modify a single document in your DEVONthink database and trigger another backup. Watch the Time Machine panel (in System Preferences), which will display the amount of data incrementally backup up in that operation.