Can I use time machine to backup on my server HD?

I've mac Leapard with Time Machine but never made use of it because:
- I don't have and don't want to have an external HD.
- Don't have Time Capsule, and cannot afford it.
Yet I was wondering if it was somehow possible to use Time Machine, to backup directly to my server (online) for example.

-(.)^(.)- wrote:
Time Machine backups are NOT supported for NAS devices except Time Capsule or a USB HDD connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station. All other options are hacks.
I would add that even if a network drive were available, unless it was formatted HFS+ with either GUID or APM depending, it would not be acceptable anyway for TM.

Similar Messages

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup to partition on external drive and a Time Capsule?

    Trying to plan in advance...
    I was wondering if I can (with a laptop) use Time Machine for both:
    1. Creating Time Machine backups on a partiion of an external drive. My plan was going to create  2 partitions: one to be used for Time Machine backups of another external hard drive (that holds all of my media) and then the other partition was going to be a bootable clone of my internal drive (totally separate from Time Machine)
    and
    2. Also use Time Machine for my Time Capsule, to create Time Machine backups of my internal drive.
    Is this possible? I had heard that you can't use TM to make backups to a partition on an external drive, AND use it for another drive (like Time Capsule) at the same time. But I would think that this should be possible-
    Thanks everyone-

    Yes you can, and if you are using Mountain Lion it's easy.
    If you are using Snow Leopard (as in your profile - this is the Mountain Lion forum), you have to manually select the backup volume each time. Tedious, but possible.
    Read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ on that subject: "Rotating" Time Machine backup disks

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

    I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
    The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
    I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
    I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
    What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
    Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
    If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
    Thanks
    Andrew

    Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
    Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
    Appreciate your help Csound1.
    Regards
    Andrew

  • HOW CAN I USE TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP ONLY PART OF MY FILES ON EXTERNAL D?

    Hi, I am using time machine to back up all my files at the moment. but I want to get rid of video and photo material from my laptop and keep it on the external hard drive to which the time machine backs up my stuff.
    how can i do this without losing the video and photo files permamnently?
    thank a lot!

    nefsi wrote:
    doesn't time machine back up my files on the External hard disk?
    By default, Time Machine backs-up almost everything on your internal HD to your External HD. It can also back up things on an external HD, if you want it to.
    What I would like is, to find a way so that I could back up everything, but not have all the videos and photos I do not use often, on my laptop. instead I want to put them on the external hard drive and have time machine update all the other files.
    Yes, you can do that, but there are two considerations:
    You should partition the external HD so the TM backups are in one partition, and the other files are in the other partition. A partition (also called a volume), is treated like a separate disk for most purposes. See #3 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
    You should find another way to back-up the videos and photos in that other partition, such as archiving them to CDs/DVDs.
    In other words, can Time machine back up only some of my files?
    Yes. You can exclude things from Time Machine. See #10 in the FAQ Tip. If you partition your TM drive, the other partition on it should be excluded automatically; but if it isn't, you can easily add it to the +Do not back up+ list in TM Preferences > Options.
    For detailed instructions on making another partition on your external HD, see #6 in the FAQ Tip. It shows how to add a TM partition to a drive that already has other data on it, but the procedure is the same.

  • HT201250 Can I use Time Machine to backup a LaCie Hard Drive connected to an Airport Extreme onto a My Book that is connected directly to a Mac Mini?

    I have a LaCie 2TB hard drive connected to a Airport Extreme Base Station.  I also have a 1TB MyBook connected to a Mac Mini.  My question is can you backup selected files (photos) from the LaCie drive to the MyBook drive using Time Machine, or any other software?  If it will cost a fortune, I guess I can always just copy the newer files over.

    Thank you for such a lightning-fast response Niel :-)  Can I just double check with you the following ...?
    The external drive where my iPhoto library is located has three partitions - Time Machine Backup, Pictures (where the iPhoto library is located) and SuperDuper Bootable Clone.
    When you say 'Remove the external drive from the list of items set to be excluded from the backup, and then add everything else on it' - am I correct in thinking that I should remove Pictures partition from the items to be excluded but leave the Time Machine Backup and SuperDuper Bootable Clone as excluded items?
    On my 2TB external drive (the one I'm backing up to) there are 5 partitions - Time Machine Backup, SuperDuper Clone, Pictures, Photo Archive and Document Archive.  The Time Machine Backup is 700GB of which I still have 473GB available - when I include the Pictures folder that contains the iPhoto library that will use up another 148GB but I think there's still plenty of room to use it.
    When you say if the partition contain the iPhoto library isn't dedicated to it it may be easier to create one which is, the only item I have on the Pictures volume is the iPhoto library so I think that it's dedicated to it.  I was going to add images from the Pictures folder on my MacBook Pro but haven't done so at this stage so I won't do so.  It wouldn't matter though, would it, if I copied the images from the Pictures folder on my MBP to the 'Photo Archive' partition of the EHD?
    Thank you once more for your reply.
    Tricia

  • Can't use Time Machine or Backup Error Code -36   (ioErrI/O error)

    Hi... I can't backup any of my files because when I try to use BACKUP or TIME MACHINE, I get an Error -36. Can anyone help me out? I repaired disk permissions and verified my disk. That didn't help. Thanks.
    Begin backup at 2009-02-11 16:47:19.331 -0800
    Scanning files...
    Acquired a destination for the backup.
    Copied file /Users/Superman/Music/iTunes/.DS_Store
    Unable to copy /Users/Superman/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4/00/00/02/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4-192AB386A6408200.itc to /Volumes/Music/Users/Superman/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4/00/00/02/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4-192AB386A6408200.itc: Operation could not be completed. (OSStatus error -36.)
    End backup at 2009-02-11 16:49:01.166 -0800

    Christopher Liebe wrote:
    Unable to copy /Users/Superman/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4/00/00/02/5AEE06EB56C3DEC4-192AB386A6408200.itc
    TM quit because there's problem with that file.
    For now, don't touch it. Instead, exclude it from TM and run another backup (there might be another problem).
    To exclude it, go to TM's Preferences and click Options.
    In the next panel, click the plus sign at the bottom.
    In the sidebar of the next panel, select your home folder, then navigate to the folder +/Users/Superman/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache+
    Select it, click Exclude, then Done.
    Then do a +Back Up Now+ from the TM icon in your Menubar.
    If TM runs ok, then you need to figure out what's wrong with that cache file.
    I'm not particularly familiar with iTunes, but you can probably just delete it. Check the iTunes forum for that.

  • Can I use time machine for backup but also keep my itunes library on my external and not on my MacBook Pro?

    I have two 1TB external drives that I planned on using for backup of my MacBook Pro (Not actually sure how to use them both as duplicate backups but I'l have to figure that out later). What I'm wanting to do is use the external as a backup but I'd also like to keep the majority of my music on the external drive so I can keep the space free on my MacBook. Is this possible?

    Possible, but not advisable.
    You would be using the same drive for backup & normal (live) uses at the same time.  That pretty much negates the whole purpose of backup, at least as far as that single drive would be concerned.
    Better to devote 1 drive to backup (TM or otherwise) and a 2nd drive for online (live) usage.
    One more thing ... you don't really have effective backup until you have at least 2 separate backups on 2 separate drives, neither of which is connected to your Mac except for backup & restore operations.  Three is even better.

  • Can I use Time Machine to back files on an External Hard Drive

    My MacBook Pro hard drive filled up with movies, pictures, and music, so I bought a 2TB Time Capsule.  I have a external hard drive that is about the same capacity as my MacBook hard drive. Sine the Time Capsule is by far the largest drive I have, I moved all my movies, music, and pictures to the Time Capsule and am using it as an external hard drive.  I attached a 500GB external hard drive to the Time Capsule and I use that as the backup drive for Time Machine. However, the problem I am encountering is that I can't seem to direct Time Machine to include all of my files on my Time Capsule in the back up on to the other external hard drive. 
    Can I use Time Machine to backup data that I store on my Time Capsule to a external hard drive?  If not, what is hte best method for backing up my files that are on my Time Capsule?
    Thanks,
    David

    You need to use a different utility .. eg CCC or Chronosync to backup from the TC to yet another drive.. the problem is, that drive should be connected to the computer.. if you use a USB drive on the TC.. the file copying will be slow as slow as you will not believe.. all files are copied to the computer, then back to the TC.. it cannot copy directly to the TC..
    As Neil said.. one way or another you need to use an external drive on the computer, even if you don't use it all the time.. the danger of course is not doing regular backups.. and forgetting their importance.
    A true NAS will have automated backup incrementally of the files stored.. The TC is not a NAS in that sense.. it is a backup target for TM above and beyond anything else.

  • HT201250 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?

    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/

  • Before downloading lion, i want to backup my computer with time machine and a G-DRIVE Slim.  But how can i use time machine to only backup my system once?

    Just wondering, how can i use time machine to only backup my system once? Just this once and not on a weekly basis?

    Upgrade. My three year old Mac Pro and year old MacBook Pro have no problem. Both seem faster.
    And there's your problem reading entirely subjective views on forums, from people that might or might not have decently maintained systems, good operating practices, or whatever.... 
    Strangely, when most companies issue new software, it is because they believe (and believe they have checked) that it is better than the previous version.

  • How can I use time machine to back up and play media?

    I just bought an external hard drive that I wanted to back up some media files onto (music and photos).  I also want to stove videos/movies on the hard drive and play them from there.  A few questions:
    1. Is that the same as backing up with time machine or is it referred to as something else?
    2.  Can I use time machine to add new files, or should I do that manually?
    3. Once the files are on my hard drive, can I remove them from my computer or should I keep them there?
    I know that these questions may seem obvious, but I'm concerned about losing files because I don't understand what time machine actually does.  Please feel free to ask me questions if you need to understand my question better.  Thanks!

    Time Machine makes a backup of your hard drive, which you can restore from, but not use as a repository of data.
    Time Machine automatically makes incremental backups as you change things on the Mac HD.
    Time Machine is not an archive, meaning if you make a backup, and then delete the originals from your Mac, Time Machine will eventually delete the copies it has made.
    However, if you copy the files directly to the external, then you can remove them from the computer. But, those will be your only copies. If that disk dies, they'll be gone. So, that's really not a backup. It's the only source.
    You can back up to Time Machine and also store other files on the same disk.

  • Can't use time machine due to corruptness even after reinstalling snow lepoard how to fix?

    Yes, someone stole my original apple id in 2009. Now i bought another iphone in late 2012 , Created another apple id due to Apple not being able to help me access my original apple id. Which now since 2 months ago someone or company, or bank stole my second apple id. My iphone 4s with Sprint has no celluar connection supossedly due to no internet  that is what sprint said but I looked it up on apple and it stated that there is a cellluar block on my iphone4s.
    So I guess I will have to go in person to Sprint so they can explain that to me and why I was lied to on the phone earlier.  Back to my 2nd stolen apple id that I registered  my macbook,airport express router, and iphone4s and apple TV. So who ever stole this apple id obviously took over all my mac products I had registered to it. Enough about that back to trying to use time machine....Everytime i do,  my macbook just starts acting all screwed up.  I bought a WD external drive for Mac but I believe someone must have claimed it too.  Since there is 75gb on it that I can't access.  Kind of like my Macbook stating I can't save or have access to the Root .  That is another thing after reinstalling snow lepoard  which works great until I update it.  Which is a problem because everytime I update it to  10.6.8  All the permissions are changed the graphics look horrible and I get redirected so bad its not funny. The email account is a joke.   Also I notice my stationary for email is in Spanish not sure why and on Iworks the document samples are also in spanish. Now I dont speak any other language except ENGLISH AND HAVE LIVED IN UNITEDSTATES MY ENTIRE LIFE.  But my internet provider Fibrant which swears they are local  shows it is in the UK also when i try to access my email for that account it states it is not safe , certificate is expired and someone might be trying to impersonate my server.  Needless to say it is getting old. I had this same problem with Timewarner and Att except att would just remove my ethernet driver then laugh when i would call and ask what the problem was.  Then later I find out when I had DSL that somehow the phone number they had listed was  change to being a digit off from my DSL account which again they laughed and thought it was funny.     Enough about that.  I need to know how to get access to my Apple id.  I gave up on the first one but the second one I did have access to until I registered all my apple products.  What is up with every thing I have with a usb port being corrupt.  I have also notice anywhere in town where I live my phone is English until I come home it is arabic,hebrew , spanish any language except English.  Shouldn't I be safer in my home???????????????  But I am not I am safer in town or anywhere but my home.  EVerything states international  in my home and this has been going on since 2009.....No one can tell me why.  My power from Duke reads that OTHER Is costing me the most $$ every month what ????? This is a joke.    But yet no one can tell me why or how to fix the problem.  Going on 5 years , I have been cut off from everyone I know.  Can't keep contacts on a phone or email accts. They all disappear.  All so I am in Eastern time zone but all my computers and tv seems to think I am in pacific timezone.  No one can fix this problem either.   So if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix at least one of my 5 year problems I would be grateful.  I try to create a new email account but either I am locked out right after or someone turns it into an alias account which doesn't help me.  When I was layed off in 2009-2010  I went back to school/college.  Needless to say they took my School email acct too. 
    Back to my iphone 4s problem.  My icloud email account gets alot of spam starting about 2 months ago and I can't stop it. I try to foward it to Spam @ me but it hasn't helped.My iphone can only connect to the internet with wifi.  Sprint swears that there is not a block but according to apple there is.
    About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt?? I have tried several times and it is always the same. I won't to connect my iphone to itunes to try to restore it but it states I  have to update it to 10.6.8. When I do that my computer is alot worse off.  Also how can I use TimeMachine with out my Macbook getting messed up?  Something in my house has taken over anything with a usb port actually years ago and probably now something kept turning all my computers and phones or any electronic I owned it to a printer.  I actually can't even use a printer in my home thats the funny thing.  When I try to connect one when I used windows it stated I had no rights to it and couldn't use it.  Since I switch to Mac not much better.  When I try to print a test page it is all crooked and too small of half off the page.   So it is upsetting that I can't use  a printer but something keeps turning all my electronics into printers.  If anyone knows how to fix this problem that would be great or to stop all this international stuff going on in my home that would  be wonderful.  I try to buy brand new pcs but soon as I start them up something had already taken over. This is with nothing electronic in my home on. Turn everything that a power switch off or unplugged it.  Still I lost rights and access to anything in my home. Now if I am away from my home and try to use one of my laptops they look completely different and almost usable.   Unfortunately I can't afford to move. I thought about it but I am still in bankruptcy and don't have the money.  In the last 4 years I have not been able to reinstall in backups that I have created.  Not sure why oh wait it states I have no rights to do that.  My macbook I lost access to a week after I bought it and connected my iphone too.  You don't know how many times I wish I had never backed my iphone 4s to my Macbook.  Right after I could not log into it.  Even used the disk to reset the password nope still couldn't log into it.   Try to type the formula for resetting the password and nope it didn't work either.
    Any suggestions would be appreciated---Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
    Thanks, Suzanne
    UnitedSTates
    Eastern timezone

    Didn't really read much at all of your post. Much, much too long, irrelevant details and & no paragraphs.
    Can't use time machine due to corruptness
    Post over here -> Mac OS X v10.6 - Snow Leopard forum
    About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt??
    Same as above. Post in the correct forum.
    Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
    -> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5625

  • Can we use Time Machine to back up data on Time Capsule from the outside of network?

    I have Time Capsule at home.  Can I use Time Machine to back up data of portable nootebook when I am working at office?

    If you mean over the internet, you can but it will be so slow and more than likely so unreliable it is a poor method to use. Remember all internet is limited to upload speed.
    Lion does a temporary backup onto local hard disk.. which is useless of course if the hard drive is damaged.. but helps if you delete an important file. Then when you go back home and it discovers the TC is available it will then backup again from where it left off.
    I think it is only a major issue if you are away from home for major lengths of time, weeks or months.

  • HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

    Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
    I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro.  I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive?  If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

    Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

  • Can I Use Time Machine Restore Files to a New Computer?

    I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
    Two Questions:
    If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings? Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
    If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
    Thanks!
    Message was edited by: Dan D\'Errico

    Dan D'Errico wrote:
    I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
    Two Questions:
    If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings?
    Yes - see my comments below regarding "Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another".
    Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
    No
    If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
    Then you should choose to Migrate your personal data over but NOT Applications. They may likely not be compatible with the new system.
    *_Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another_*
    *Firewire Disk Mode*
    If you have a FireWire cable, you can connect one Mac to the other via FireWire Disk Mode. Then use Migration Assistant to transfer all of your files and applications over from the older Mac. It should result in a virtually identical setup as your previous Mac. Follow the instructions in this KB article:
    “How to use FireWire target disk mode”
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
    *Using Time Machine Before Initial Launch of New Mac*
    Before starting the new Mac for the first time, attach the hard disk that contains the Time Machine backups from the old Mac.
    Start the new Mac and begin the setup process. At some point it will ask you if you would like to Migrate/Import user data from another computer or a Time Machine backup disk. Follow the prompts and select the date of the backup you would like to restore your user data from. Once the migration is complete use Disk Utility to repair any permissions issues.
    *Using Time Machine After Initial Launch of New Mac*
    If you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using a DIFFERENT Username and Password from the old Mac, then do the following:
    Attach the hard disk containing the previous Macs' Time Machine backups to the new computer.
    Go to Applications --> Utilities --> and launch Migration Assistant.
    At the welcome dialogue click "Continue." You may be required to enter your Admin password.
    For Migration Method chose "From a Time Machine backup or other disk".
    Select the hard disk containing the previous Time Machine backups. (Give Migration Assistant some time as it scans the disk for eligible data to migrate.)
    Now select which User Accounts you would like to migrate over.
    However, if you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using the SAME Username and Password as the old Mac, then you will need to do this:
    Create a new User Admin Account on the new Mac with a completely unique name.
    Now, delete the first User Account you created on the new Mac - The one that is identical to the old Mac. (Of course, backup any important files that were created using the new User Account before deleting it.)
    Finally, use Migration Assistant as described above to move the old User Account data over from the Time Machine backups.
    *Full Backup After Restore*
    Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
    Let us know if this was helpful.
    Cheers!

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