Backing up all files to an external hard drive

I recently converted over to a Macbook Pro from PC and had all of my PC data saved to an external Hard Drive. I can retreive the data fine, but I can't save anything to the Hard Drive. I have plenty of room on my Macbook, but old habits are hard to break and I like to back everything up at least once a week.
I do not want to reformat my External Hard drive as there is ALOT of information on there that would be lost.
So, how can I copy things over there, or drag them over to the External? When I try, it gives me the circle with the line through it.
And if you have time, tell me about Time Machine. I am interested, but it seems like alot of work, because I would have to copy everything off the hard drive, let Time Machine reformat it, and then copy it back. Seems VERY time consuming.
External hard drive is 2TB and has approximately 90GB on it.
Thanks for your help.

Sorry for missing this addition:
Drive Preparation for OS X
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

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Do i have to delete all files on my external hard drive, to make a Backup of my Macbook?

Hi!
I Have a MacBook Pro, and i want to make a Backup of it (with help from Time Machine.)
- To a external hard drive, but, i have one little issue, and that is that i already have other files on that external hard drive, (from other computers..) but when a start up Time Machine, it want me to delete all thoose files, (which i wouldn't!)
So what can i do, if i want to make a backup of my mac, on a external hard drive, where there already are other files on which i don't want to delete?
Please respond quikly!
Thanks!
Magnus Ejlskov.

Magnus,
To add to Barney-15E's point, not only must the drive be formatted correctly, but the volume or partition being used for Time Machine (TM) must be used for TM and for TM only. You indicate that you want to store other files on this hard drive. That's fine. But those files should be stored in a separate partition and NOT the partition that will be mapped to TM. TM backs up incrementally. It will automatically delete the oldest back-ups as space is required for newer back-ups. Any files stored in the TM partition that are not stored anywhere else will, eventually, be deleted.

Backing up selected files onto an external hard drive

Hi,
I have partitioned an external hard drive in order to use it for both Time Machine as well as selected files. Is there a way to move over all data/documents/libraries as a whole rather than document by document? I thought that if you clicked on the user in the side bar, and dragged it onto the hard drive that would back up everything, but I can't seem to do that. I am beginning to use a new MBP and I want to only bring over select files and leave the rest on the external hard drive.
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Time Machine is a pretty sophisticated backup system - it will start by backing up your whole computer, and then it will do what is called an "incremental" backup every hour or so. That incremental backup will take a copy of every file that has changed since it previously backed up. So it will be fairly efficient with space usage, and it will allow you to recover files at many different points if you have a problem - for instance, you will be able to restore a document from earlier that day, from the day before, or even further back if it existed then.
Apart from an offsite backup, I rely on TimeMachine for all my backups, because the big advantage is that it works in the background and backs up often. The approach you seem to be considering is entirely manual, and therefore likely to be much less often.
You can definitely restore individual files with Time Machine. It has the benefit that you can also restore an entire computer if you need to, but that is not the only thing it does. You may wish to browse Pondini's excellent Time Machine website to acquaint yourself more with its features.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
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Hope that helps.
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How to back up 'new files only' to external hard drive?

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that file is on mac + saved to an external hard drive. i back this up to my external often, BUT I'm not sure if i'm doing it the best way.
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BenB wrote:
The auto-backup is the database only, not the media.
To back up the whole Library totally, first make sure to Consolidate it, then simply drag-and-drop it on to the backup drive, that simple.
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Herewith:
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To create a single backup copy of your Project Library and events, you can copy the Final Cut Projects folder and Final Cut Events folder to an external storage device.
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Drag the Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events folders to the external storage device.
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Backing up all my photos on external hard drive

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Back-up / Retrieve Files from an external hard drive that doesn't appear in Devices

Someone please help!
I am going to write the "history" from my disk utility repair here so that other's who copy and paste into search may find it:
(PLEASE SCROLL 13 ROWS DOWN)
Verify and Repair volume “Your Hard Drive Name”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
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Keys out of order
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
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Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
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Question:
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8-Core MacPro 16GB-Mem RAID
MacOSX 10.6.8 | 2 X 1TB Internal HDD
Aug-2008 15" MacBookPro
(That I used the Maxtor-External with mostly)
DEVICE IN QUESTION
500GB Maxtor One-Touch Plus
FireWire 400 6-pin Connection Bus (2 Ports)
Purchased in Early 2008 from Staples
I can fit the back-up on my 2nd HDD in my MacPro or in my other External:
2 TB G-Technology G-RAID External
1 x eSATA | 2 x FireWire 800 9-pin | 1 x USB 2.0
Self Powered DC-IN
I have had a nightmare searching for answers, so any options you might have would be tremendously helpful. I can't lose the data because I have everything I did during film school on there. That stuff is basically what you pay for when you go to film school, you pay to show what you can do and what equipment you have used. SAVE ME FELLOW APPLE PEOPLE!!!! We COMMAND, as well as CONTROL!
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Get Disk Warrior that will repair the problems without requiring that you reformat the drive - $99.00 on a bootable CD. Will not work on a FAT formatted drive.
You will need to use Drag and Drop to save your files by copying them from the bad drive to a good one.
To reprep the drive:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Should I back up my files with another external hard drive when I am already backing up time machine with my current external hard drive? Or, should I just get a flash usb to back up my audio files?

I am not sure what is best to back up my audio lecture files?
Thank you so much for your kind help...I am very grateful and Blessings to you!

Two backups are better than one, especially if the files are important. So make sure Time Machine is set to back up your "audio lecture files", and copy them to a flash drive as well.
(Keep in mind that no-one but you knows how Time Machine is set up on your computer, or where you store your "audio lecture files", or how important they are for you.)

How do i back up my files to an external hard drive

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I get error 8062 when trying to copy files from one external hard drive to another. It starts out copying files, but after 10 minutes or so it stops and I get the error 8062. The hard drive tech support says the problem is in my Macbook Air.

I cannot copy my doc and photos and videos from one external hard drive to a second external hard drive -- both plugged in to my MacBook Air -- I get Error 8062 and the copying (which seemed to be going on for 10 minutes) stops and nothing gets copied.
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Feeling vulnerable. Please help.
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From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
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A lot of what is stored on your iPod is stored in hidden folders and files. If your backup software does not normally back up the hidden files and folder on your computer, then it likely won't really be backing up the iPod either.
Your iTunes library should be your iPod backup and your Western Digital should be your iTunes library backup.
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Backing up all files to an external hard drive

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