Backup drive
Is there any brand of backup drive that is better (or worse) than any other for Time Machine? We're about to purchase a 1 or 1.5 Tbyte drive, and have no clue which to get.
Thanks!
susan
Barry Hemphill wrote:
Hello susan:
I think you would get opinions from a number of people. I have had good success with LaCie firewire drives, but that is only one opinion.
I have not read anything that indicates that one drive is superior to another for Time Machine.
Barry
Thanks very much -- I've heard that LaCie is good in general ... good to know it works with Time Machine --
susan
Similar Messages
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Do i want to use my external hard drive as a backup drive?
i just got a 1TB external hard drive and as i installed it, i was asked if i want to use it or bootcamp as a backup drive. i bought the hard drive to put all my extra video files onto and i don't want to waste any space, but should i use it as a backup drive or should i use bootcamp, which i haven't setup yet (but plan to in the next week or so).
nikkib197 wrote:
200GB should be plenty, i am only backing up my word documents, and some applications. everything else i have can easily be re-added if i do happen to lose it.
Please reconsider. You're missing one of the major features of Time Machine, not available elsewhere.
Here's what you'll have to do when (not if) your internal HD fails, or some other catastrophe occurs, without a full backup of your entire system:
Install OSX from your Leopard or Snow Leopard Install disc.
Go through the set-up procedure: setup your Internet connection(s), email accounts, etc., including account info, passwords, server names, etc.
Download and install the "combo" update, to get back to your current version of OSX.
If you didn't purchase your Mac with the latest iLife apps, find the disc they're on and restore them.
Find all the discs for 3rd-party apps and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Find the websites for all downloaded 3rd-party apps, download and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Restore whatever data you saved.
Re-enter all your preferences and settings.
Wonder what you missed, and find out the hard way . . . for months or longer.
However, if you let TM back up your entire system, there's one simple procedure to recover it to the exact state it was in at the time of any backup, even if that's a previous version of OSX. For example, any open Finder windows will reappear in exactly the same locations, with exactly the same contents. See #14 in the FAQ for details. -
Firewire issue--Backup drive not found w/Time Machine after imac sleeps
I've had a lot of problems with Time Machine on my G4 imac since starting to use it a month ago. I think I have isolated the problem:
Time Machine functions properly while the computer is in use, and it has no problem after a restart or shut down, but if the computer goes to sleep and then TM runs its hourly backup, I get an error that it cannot find the Backup Drive. Once this happens, TM will no longer work until I've deselected the drive in TM, unplugged it, plugged it in again, and reselected the drive as the backup Drive. Sometimes this requires a shut down or restart too.
Here's what I've tried:
1. connected the drive via USB--it operated without a problem
2. unplugged all devices from the computer, shut down, waited, 20 mins, restrted, plugged the external drive back in via Firewire--the problem persists as described above.
3. deleted the TimeMachine.plist file, restarted--problem persists.
I've read that the Firewire port can be reset with other procedures such as zapping the PRAM or updating the firmware. I've also read that new problems can arise after reseting the PRAM so I'm hesitant to do this. Can anyone shed some light on the PRAM option?
I cannot find where the firmware updates are located on the mac site. Could someone point me in the right direction? I've looked under downloads and after searching, came up with a long list, but nothing was labeled clearly. Each listing mentioned firmware in the header, but it seemed to always pertain to a certain issue (eg. superdrive, or installing appleworks). I could not tell what was the most recent firmware released for my machine, and I fear installing something retrograde that will create new problems.
If anyone has any thoughts on how to deal with the firewire problem, or if you think my issue with using a FW connected drive with Time Machine might be rooted with something else, please comment.
Thanks!
HM
Message was edited by: imaginary_forestfzgy wrote:
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
That will erase it. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast). Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27. If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups. -
Time Capsule can't function as backup drive?
My main work computer's logic board fried yesterday. (Under AppleCare, so shouldn't be the end of the world, just a pain). I have it set for continuous hourly backups to a 1TB Time Capsule. So I should have all my files accessible.
I'm working on another computer now, that uses Time Capsule as a router, but doesn't back up to it. I need to pull some files off the Time Capsule in order to continue working. Is this possible? Calling Apple Support indicated that it was not, but then why tout this thing as a backup drive?? What's the point of having backups if you can't access them from anywhere but the computer that they were backed up from?
I'm desperate here. Any help would be hugely appreciated.Below are two ways in which to get a file from the Time Machine backup.
When Time Machine does a backup it creates a 'sparsebundle' image file on the backup disk. This file is named after the computer so to locate and identify it easily. All you need to do is mount the 'sparsebundle' (by mouse double click or other method) from any computer that has access to the backup disk. When mounted it should show on the desktop or in a Finder window (depending on your Finder preferences).
Once mounted you can manually browse the disk by opening this newly mounted disk (named after your computer - example: backup of yourcomputer). When you open it, there should be a folder inside named 'Backups.backupdb' and inside are all the contents of the backup - just find what you need and copy and paste. Or once mounted, right mouse click (or hold 'control' and mouse click) on the Time Machine icon in the dock and select 'browse other disks' (or click the icon in the menu bar - upper right of screen - and when the menu comes out press and hold the 'option' or 'alt' key to bring up the 'browse other disks' choice). And it should now show the 'backup of yourcomputer' available to browse. You will now enter the Time Machine as normal. To retrieve a file - locate the file you want and then click the action (or gear like) icon and select the 'restore to' option and choose a location to put the file. -
I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?
Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/ -
Can time machine and carbon copy cloner use the same backup drive?
Can time machine and CCC use the same esata backup drive?
Yes, but you will need to first partition the drive so that TM and CCC will backup to their own respective volumes. This way the CCC volume can accommodate a bootable clone.
Be sure the TM volume has adequate space. A TM backup volume should have about twice the capacity of the volume it backs up. -
I have a clickfree backup drive and my computer crashed. I restored it to factory settings and reinstalled Firefox but cannot figure out how to get my old bookmarks back. I tried to replace the new places.sqlite file with the one I had on my backup drive but still got nothing? I tried to use the restore option but it won't take the old places.sqlite file. Is there anyway to get my old bookmarks? I'm really not a techy person.....
ThanksBookmark Backups
Type '''about:support''' in the address bar and press enter.
Under the page logo on the left side you will see '''Application Basics.'''
Under this find '''Profile Folder.''' To it’s right press the button
'''Show Folder.''' This will open your file browser to the current
Firefox profile. Now '''Close Firefox.'''
Enter the '''bookmarkbackups''' folder. This is where Firefox makes backups
of your bookmarks. Look for the '''jsonlz4''' file you want to restore
(check the time / date / size). Right click on that file and select '''Copy.'''
Now go back to the profile folder where you started. Rename the file
'''places.sqlite''' by adding '''.old''' to it. Now right click in the folder
and select '''Paste.''' The file you just pasted here, rename it to
'''places.sqlite.''' After you are done, restart Firefox.
Edited to correct file name error. -
Using Time Machine Backup Drive with NEW Macbook Pro
I just got a new Macbook Pro. I migrated from my old MacBook Pro. Now I want to use my Time Machine Disk with this new machine.
When I connect the external drive, and select back up now, it says there is not enough space (due to the fact this is a new machine and it wants to backup the entire thing)
Also, when I go into the TimeMachine, it doesn't show me anything past today. . . all of my backups are not displayed over the past year. . .
How do I make it so that the external drive displays all my old backups. . . ??
Thank you for your help.Turn off TM or set the backup drive to null. Rename your computer in Sharing preferences to the same computer name of your old computer. Turn TM back on and reselect the backup drive. TM will behave as you expect. Of course if the file dates on the new machine are all changed since the migration, then TM will correctly assume that they require backing up. You will then find that there will not be sufficient space on the drive for the new backups. If this occurs then you should simply erase the backup drive and start your TM backup anew.
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Can I use it for both a backup drive and shared network drive?
Is it possible to use the Time Capsule for both an automatic backup drive for my Mac AND use it as a shared network drive to store my large library of home videos? If so, does it require partitioning the drive and are there instructions available? Alternatively, if I store my home videos on its own network drive, will Time Capsule backup this drive too? If I don't want any external drives tethered to my mac, how would set up the 2 drive scenario, so that home video drive can be shared on the network?
To be specific, I'm looking for a networked drive solution that allows me to do the following:
1) automatically back up my Mac
2) act as the primary storage drive for 750GB of the kids home videos (to save room on Mac) [Side question - ]
3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be on the Mac hard drive?).
4) If I use a two drive solution (time capsule backup and cheaper second drive), I want to be able to have Time Capsule back up the home video content on the second drive.
5) I do not want any drive tethered to my Mac, only wirelessly connected. Would the second drive be connected to the Time Capsule? How would this be set up?
Many thanks!christianfromshaker heights wrote:
Is it possible to use the Time Capsule for both an automatic backup drive for my Mac AND use it as a shared network drive to store my large library of home videos?
basically yes, but i wouldn't recommend it.
If so, does it require partitioning the drive and are there instructions available?
the disk in the TC can't be partitioned in the traditional way. but you can use disk utility to create a "fixed-size" sparse disk image on the TC's disk for use with other data. use the instructions here, just leave out the encryption part.
Alternatively, if I store my home videos on its own network drive, will Time Capsule backup this drive too?
no.
time machine can not back up from network drives.
To be specific, I'm looking for a networked drive solution that allows me to do the following:
1) automatically back up my Mac
2) act as the primary storage drive for 750GB of the kids home videos (to save room on Mac) [Side question - ]
consider a NAS that is time machine compatible.
3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be on the Mac hard drive?).
it's possible to stream content stored on a TC (or NAS) to TV. using home sharing, your mini would be able to access files in homeshared libraries.
it doesn't matter where the files are stored as long as iTunes knows they are there. in other words, the content needs to be in an iTunes/TV friednly format and in your iTunes library - that doesn't mean the content can't be stored on an external HD, a TC, or a NAS.
4) If I use a two drive solution (time capsule backup and cheaper second drive), I want to be able to have Time Capsule back up the home video content on the second drive.
What can Time Machine back up, and where can it put it’s backups?
5) I do not want any drive tethered to my Mac, only wirelessly connected.
IMO, your best course of action is to get a NAS. if you're interested, i can highly recommend this device by Synology.
Synology NASes play very well with Macs and have excellent backup features on board. given enough space (i have 4x2 TB drives installed) you can store your media files there, use time machine to backup your Macs to it and can use the on-board backup solution to back up the whole shebang to a USB drive connected to the NAS. -
How do I transfer 30 GB of stuff, mostly text documents, bookmarks and a few hundred photos from a MacBook model 1,1 in the black case, purchased in (2007?) running Leopard 10.5.8 with a 667 bus, 2 GB, 256 GB to a MBP 13" Retina running Yosemite 10.10.1? Using Migrate is out. Discovered after I bought it that the Seagate Plus Backup for Mac does not work with 10.5.8. OnetoOne recommends backing up my data before I do that, which seems like a good idea. Have a 801.11 n Time Capsule that also isn't working so that is not presently an option. Thank you.
The Seagate backup drive I bought doesn't support 10.5.8
The only reason I can see for that is it's formatted NTFS, which would likely be Read Only in 10.5.x, if you can reformat it MacOS extended, which would erase everything on it now, then that should work for your purposes. -
External (Backup) Drive No Longer Recognized After Mavericks
Since installing Mavericks on my iMac (was running Snow Leopard) I can only see partial information from my WD My Book Live external backup drive. Finder lets me see the two partitions but only some of the files on that drive. However, the Disk Utility does not see the external drive at all. This is mostly impacting Time Machine which also does not seem to recognize the external drive at all. I cannot enter Time Machine to access my old backups and cannot create new ones.
I would prefer not to re-format the external drive since it has other files on it that I don't want to lose.
All helpful suggestions appreciated!lettertosteve
PROBLEM SOLVED! It was as simple as going to the WD (Western Digital) site and downloading a few updates for the My Book Live.
You need to NOT connect any WD MyBook right now under Mavericks, you have a high likelihood of severe data corruption
WD is telling its customers to REMOVE WD SOFTWARE especially on WD MyBook
keep your WD MY BOOK unconnected right now until a resolution unless you have a backup of ALL DATA on your MyBook stored elsewhere
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
Bill_S
Community Manager
External Drives for Mac Experiencing Data Loss with Maverick OS (10/30/13)
There are reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9). Western Digital is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications.
Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications on their systems before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading. If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer. WD has removed these software applications from our web site solely as a precaution as we investigate this issue. -
My backup drive is no longer bootable after TimeMachine backup to it. Why?
When I purchased a Lacie Porche 350 GB Firewire drive, I partitioned it properly via Disk Utilities and backed up my entire Hard drive using SilverKeeper to one of the two drives created by partitioning, resulting in an OS 10.4.10 Tiger bootable drive. Which I tested and it booted up perfectly. The day prior to upgrading to Leopard OS, I used SilverKeeper to back up everything on my hard drive again, since there were a lot of system software, security, also software programs and utilty updates on board since mm initial backup. Afterwards, I checked out the bootability of my back up drive (partition), which again worked perfectly.
After installing Leopard, TimeMachine recognized and asked if I wanted it to back up my hard drive (with Leopard O)S to the same (it recognized) named backup drive (partition) and I clicked yes. TM's backup of my entire hard drive went quickly and without a hitch. I knew TM's backup was not a bootable type, but figured that I still had a bootable Tiger system on the same drive if I needed to use that in an emergency and decided to test that out again.
Was wrong! Previously bootable drive no longer showed up in Startup Disk to select from in System Preferences. Thus no longer bootable! I now have 2 full backups of my entire hard drive (one with Tiger, the other with Leopard) on the one external drive, neither are bootable. Guess I can boot up from the installer DVD in emergency, but that wasn't the reason why I made a bootable backup drive to begin with.
Don't know if and what TM did that rendered the formerly bootable drive unbootable. Did nothing to change the previously working bootable drive. Anyone else have similar experience after running TM? Idea of cause? Suggestions, or work-a-round? Is this a known issue, or should this be sent to Apple's Feedback?
Thank you kindly,
superushThe TimeMachine backups were made to the same bootable clone partition that the Tiger bootable clone is on mentioned in my original post. The bootable clone was backed up there via SilverKeeper, which is included in the software that came with the 350 GB ,LaCie Porche external firewire drive.
Am now thinking that perhaps that version of SilverKeeper, which was recognized by my OS Tiger, may not be recognized by Leopard OS, and when used TM to make backup to same partition cloned bootable drive, that may have made my bootable SilverKeeper backup clone null and void.
Could that be the possibility?
Best regards,
superush -
After I upgraded to Yosemite, my MAC Time Machine backup drive is no longer recognized and the process freezes when I try to re-install the drive from the drive's software. Is there a way to fix this?
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test. -
I have a WD 1TB external hard drive that I use as my time machine backup drive as well as to store a number of things including my iphoto library (due to its size of about 85 GB) as well as documents. I began using the WD 1TB external drive with my 2007 13" MacBook and when I purchased a brand new 13" MacBook Pro in 2013 I used the WD to transfer what I wanted to the new laptop. My new MacBook Pro is running OSX 10.8.4 (2.9 GHz Interl Core i7 with 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3) (not the retina display). The WD 1TB product # is WDBACX001... and it's only about one year old so I'm super bummed that it's failing and trying to take my life with it It has only ever been used with my two MacBooks, never with a PC.
The external WD was working fine until this week when I noticed that it wasn't appearing on my desktop. I rebooted, unplugged and replugged the WD drive in each USB portal, and still nothing. I ran Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk, which did force it to show up on the desktop again, though it made everything painfully slow. After running the repair function Disk Utility told me that the drive couldn't be repaired, and that I should backup whatever is on it and restore the WD drive. I managed to pull off most of the documents before it decided to freeze up my laptop (I had a couple of folders with a few documents each left), but I wasn't able to move the iphoto library over before the drive disappeared again. I got it back by running the repair option in disk utility, with the same message that the WD drive is failing and to back it up, and tried to move the iphoto library. It told me it would take 180+ days, and kept going up. I left it up anyway for about a day to see if it would change, and instead it gave an error message, and moved nothing. I can't open the library in iPhoto- it tells me it's on a locked disk. I checked the permissions and it's set to Read & write by me (the admin user) but then under that it says read only for "everyone." I can't get into the library to pull out my pictures, which I cannot afford to lose.
I would appreciate any help or advice on how to crack into my iphoto library on this failing drive to remove the pictures. I read a lot about DiskWarrior but I also read that it won't work on newer macs (anything after June of 2012 supposedly), so I'm wondering if that's true or not, and if not is that a good program to use?
I can't afford to take it to a professional right now, so any help or advice would be so greatly appreciated! Also if anyone then could suggest the best way to back up in two places (digitally and perhaps a better brand of external drive) it would be amazing.
If you need more info let me know!If you're very lucky, you might be able to salvage the drive mechanism, and the data, by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.
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What is the best backup drive to use to backup my windows xp pc and to transfer these files to my iMac i5 new in May 2011 and then to backup my i5 iMac?
Get something with both USB and Firewire connections, as big as you can afford. Format it Fat 32, plug it into the XP machine with USB, drag and drop the files you want to keep, plug it into the iMac with Firewire, drag and drop again. If you want to use it just to back up your Mac in future, reformat it Mac OS Extended and enable Time Machine. If you're likely to want to share the drive with Windows PCs in future, leave it Fat 32.
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Transferring data from 750GB backup drive to new MacBook Pro with 256 Gb PCI-e flash storage?
Yesterday my late-2008 aluminium unibody MacBook died - absolutely and definitively. I've tried SMC reset multiple times to no avail. However, it served me well for almost six years and it's now time to move on. I've decided to buy a 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina with 256Gb PCI-e flash storage. Obviously, it will come with Mavericks installed as the operating system.
When it died, my MacBook was running OS X 10.8.5, the original hard drive had been replaced with a Western Digital 750GB, 7200 rpm drive of which I believe about 350GB was used. I keep two x 1Tb Lacie Rugged backup drives, each of which has both Time Machine and SuperDuper Bootable Clone backups.
My questions are these -
1. How should I proceed to transfer my data from my external backup drives to my new MacBook Pro Retina, given the difference in storage capacity of my existing backup drives and my new MacBook Pro?
2. I have over 32,000 photos in my iPhoto Library which, obviously, consume a big slab of disk space. I'm not sure how I go about 'quarantining' the iPhoto Library so that it doesn't use all the flash drive storage.
3. One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC). The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
4. What else should I be thinking about? I know I'm bound to have overlooked the most obvious problems but can't think what they may be ...
Cheers
TriciaPatricia Henwood wrote:
3. One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC). The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
USB3 is backwards compatible with USB2, so you can use the old USB cables. For faster data transfer rates, Firewire 800 would be available using this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r
Firewire 800 is about twice as fast as USB2, theoretically.
Ciao.
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