Help needed with Time Machine multiple drives set up

Hello, I need help in finding out if what I want to do is possible.
I upgraded to Mountain Lion today as I understood it can handle multiple back up drives. I see how to add a 2nd back up drive, however I do not see a way to put different folders onto different drives.
iMac - backed to a 3TB DRIVE A via the time machine
iPhoto Library original file - already on the 3TB DRIVE A - so no back up for now!
What I'd like to do is to also back up only the iPhotoLibrary file to a 2nd drive - lets call it 3TB DRIVE B
Can it be done with Mountain Lion or not really? I don't even seem to be able to exclude files from an External Disk actually.
Any other software I could use that would do the trick?
Or do I have to rearrange our already messy set up? I've put the iPhoto Library on the DRIVE A as its a faster drive. but I guess the solution would be to put the iPhoto Library original file onto the slower Drive B and only keep the iPhoto file on it?
Hmm any help or tips greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Marta

Sharlo wrote:
So here's my question: After reinstalling system TM started normal back-up procedure and I get message not enough space on external disk. I use 200Gb for around 100Gb that I have on my computer (I know not so much but works well for me). What I do not get is why does TM need around 30% more space compared to the space I'm using (wants to back-up 130Gb) and why is it not backing-up the system I've just installed but tries to back-up everything from scratch? Is there a procedure to back-up only changed files since the last version?
Ordinarily, that's exactly what TM does. But this situation isn't ordinary. Everything you restored is considered "*new to that disk"* and will be backed-up again. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum, and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338
The 30% you ask about is actually 20%; the initial estimate of the space needed might be low, and TM needs workspace on the TM disk, so it adds 20% (see #7 in the FAQ Tip.)

Similar Messages

Help needed with Time Machine

I've installed Boot Camp because I wanted to play an old game. I understood eventually that laptops are not made for that purpose (my one year old MBP was heating too often and I didn't like that). Unfortunately even during that period I've started experiencing some oddness when switching to Snow Leopard 10.6.2. Eventually I've decided to uninstall Windows and after three hours playing with Snow Leopard in order to make it as it was before I understood I'm not qualified enough to mess with plists and I do not know what else, so brut force solution - reinstalling entire system from the Time Machine.
Everything now works very fast, very nice, I've saved time doing that (soooo happy TM saved my life ... again).
So here's my question: After reinstalling system TM started normal back-up procedure and I get message not enough space on external disk. I use 200Gb for around 100Gb that I have on my computer (I know not so much but works well for me). What I do not get is why does TM need around 30% more space compared to the space I'm using (wants to back-up 130Gb) and why is it not backing-up the system I've just installed but tries to back-up everything from scratch? Is there a procedure to back-up only changed files since the last version?
What I'm doing know is just saving old back-up on a second external drive (just in case if something goes wrong) and I'll "clean" my primary TM disk and then install again ... of course if somebody knows how to force TM to back-up only the files that changed ...
Thanks in advance and cheers,
Sharlo

Sharlo wrote:
So here's my question: After reinstalling system TM started normal back-up procedure and I get message not enough space on external disk. I use 200Gb for around 100Gb that I have on my computer (I know not so much but works well for me). What I do not get is why does TM need around 30% more space compared to the space I'm using (wants to back-up 130Gb) and why is it not backing-up the system I've just installed but tries to back-up everything from scratch? Is there a procedure to back-up only changed files since the last version?
Ordinarily, that's exactly what TM does. But this situation isn't ordinary. Everything you restored is considered "*new to that disk"* and will be backed-up again. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum, and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338
The 30% you ask about is actually 20%; the initial estimate of the space needed might be low, and TM needs workspace on the TM disk, so it adds 20% (see #7 in the FAQ Tip.)

Help needed with "Time Machine could not complete the backup" because it is too large

I'm receiving "Time Machine could not complete the backup" because it is too large for the backup disk. I have a 500 GB Time Capsule 802.11n (2nd Gen) and a MacBook Pro running on 10.6.8. I just replaced my laptop's original hard drive with a new 1 TB and restored that with what was on my Time Capsule. Now, I have no backups on my Time Capsule prior to the new hard drive. When I click get info on my hard drive, it states only 296 GB of the 1 TB is used. However, the Time Machine error message states that the backup requires 315 GB but only 221 GB are available. It has deleted all of my old backups, so I would think my Time Capsule should have plenty of room to backup the 296 GB on my computer. Is my old backup from my prior hard drive stuck on the Time Capsule and instead of Time Machine trying to just update those files, it is preserving the old hard drive backup separately and trying to make a new backup of my new hard drive using the remaining space? If so, how do I fix this? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Have you read for possible solutions over in the "More Like This" thread over here?----------------------->
Research TM Knowledge Base Articles?

Working in adobe illustrator - computer crashed - will not soft boot or reset PRAM - should i reinstall from CD snow leopard 10.6.3? I have an extra hard drive in my MAC with time machine on it set to do auto back ups. How do i recover ?

working in adobe illustrator - computer crashed - will not soft boot or reset PRAM - should i reinstall from CD snow leopard 10.6.3? I have an extra hard drive in my MAC with time machine on it set to do auto back ups. How do i recover ?

Well first you have to figure out what is wrong with the machine and solve that problem first.
Your post is very vague on what occured, and there are many types of "crashes" it really depends upon what see on the screen and what the hardware does, we can't see it to tell you, so you have to tell us.
I suggest you run through these user tips and provide more information about your hardware.
Disconnect the TimeMachine drive for now
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Help us to help you on these forums
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
If this is going way over your head, there are local PC/Mac techs that will assist you for a fee, Apple only does hardware repairs and is advised to use them if you discover it is, especially if under warranty/AppleCare.
Hard drive and RAM upgrades can be handled yourself or by a outside tech in many older models of Mac, but don't expect Apple to cover the new parts.
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's

How to restore Time Machine multiple drives

Hey, fellow Mac-ers. I have a new situation for me, and some questions on how Time Machine works. I have a Macbook Pro, bought it from Apple, set up Time Machine, and voila, everything is awesome. But, now I have upgraded it to a second hard drive (made the Superdrive external), and Time Machine appears to be backing up the iTunes and iPhoto libraries that I moved to the second drive. Great.
A. But, let's say the worst happens - how do I restore it?
A.1. Let's say I have to buy a new hard drive, this one with double-capacity, so can I restore both drives to the one?
A.2. Or, let's say the second drive (a standard hard disk instead of SSD) dies, can I just restore that volume?
A.3. Or, let's just say I have 2 new blank hard drives, will Time Machine just restore volume-to-volume like it was backed up?
B. That takes me back to, how does Time Machine work after all? It seems to have automatically recognized the new volume and included that in the backups, but I am inferring that from the total data size it says it is backing up.
B.1. How can I tell for sure? I see where I can exclude from backup, but nowhere where I can include, or a list of backed up folders/volumes. I guess I can open Finder to a folder on the new volume, and enter Time Machine - that should show a stack of folders back through time.
B.2. On the new volume, what exactly is it backing up? Everything? I noticed it didn't back up everything from my boot volume - it probably only backs up /Applications, /Users, things like that - but not /etc, /var, or other stuff where I may have edited scripts and config files. My cron jobs were gone after restore.

Exactly what happens with Time Machine (TM) in yosemite is somewhat of a mystery to all of us.
But if you want to know some basics of how TM works.. it is here.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
Read at least the first two articles.. and at least glance over FAQ and Troubleshooting so you know what is in there.
The stuff at the bottom of the home page about using TM as recovery is also very helpful albeit rather old.
TM is designed to be very automated.. and not require user intervention on any major scale. So lots of times people do not know that their backups are not working or have failed.
I think you are better reading the background than me jumping in to answer the specifics.. except to say the multiple volumes is covered in Q32 of FAQ.
You will also see that finding out the exact details of what TM is doing is not super easy.
Read Q7-8 in the FAQ.
But the guy who wrote it all up.. James Pond died a couple of years ago now so it is not up to date past Mountain Lion. Most of it is still relevant.. but Yosemite has been very unreliable.
I have taken to recommending people use an alternative.. there are several third party backups.. The first article you read from above will show you how TM is different from the clone type backups.. let me encourage you to use a cloner. I use Carbon Copy Cloner. It costs $40 but can produce a bootable clone to any external drive. The end result is a backup you can test in a matter of moments that it works. And as a clone it copies everything. That doesn't stop you using TM.. it is excellent for what it does.. (once we get past the buggy introduction of Yosemite at least).
There are a number listed.. Superduper has long been popular and Chronosync has also got a following. I find CCC works great.. but I am not connected.. and I paid my $40 and will have to pay to upgrade when I can stomach Yosemite for more than an hour, so I am not on a free ride.

Help needed with formatting an external drive

Like some of you exoerienced problems with my external drive on upgrade to 10.5.5. To cut a long story short, bought a Western Digital 500GB Studio already configured for mac. Backed up with time machine. The drive does not boot on startup of my Intel iMac as its the partition map is APM and not GUID. For some reason, when I access the drive in Disk Utility and select Partition, the Option button is greyed out i.e. read only and therefore I can't select GUID. Any ideas how to resolve this?

You cannot boot from a TM backup in case you did not know that.
In order to re-partition the drive for GUID you must:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Select the number of partitions from the drop down menu. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
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 Options 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.
Be aware that this is a destructive process and all data currently on the drive will be lost.

Help migrating with Time Machine

Hi there!
I have a couple of questions regarding Time Machine,thanks in advance to anyone can help.
I have to sell my Imac and i have to wait for a couple of weeks until i get a new one.
What i need to know is if it is possible mirror my Imac,System,data,settings,files.. everything) into an external HD to later install OSX into a new machine from the external HD,so the new machne is exactly as this Imac am sellng?
Asking because a not sure if Time Machine does that os just saves files and settings.
Also i have a couple questions more regarding Time Machine
Can the external hd be a USB one? or has to be FW?
I never backed up my osx via Time Machine before,does it takes long in copying for he first time?its a 250GB internal drive...
Many thanks again
P

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
pacoclandestino1 wrote:
What i need to know is if it is possible mirror my Imac,System,data,settings,files.. everything) into an external HD to later install OSX into a new machine from the external HD, so the new machne is exactly as this Imac am sellng?
Yes, you can do this TM or what I would suggest would be using SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner. Both will make exact copies/clones. The advantage of SD or CCC over TM is the disk will be workable & bootable.
pacoclandestino1 wrote:
I never backed up my osx via Time Machine before,does it takes long in copying for he first time?its a 250GB internal drive...
Depends how much data is written to it... figure on 1/2 hr to an hour, or a bit longer.
Also i have a couple questions more regarding Time Machine
I never backed up my osx via Time Machine before,does it takes long in copying for he first time?its a 250GB internal drive...
In Intel MAcs the drive can be either firewire or USB but of course the fastest transfer speeds would be firewire 800.
EDIT: Also, The proper way to "clean" a computer before selling it is to zero the hard drive. This will make all your data irretrievable.
Steps for zeroing the drive Disk Utility:
1. Insert your Mac OS X CD-ROM disc or Restore DVD disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key until you see the spinning gear.
2. Once started up from CD or DVD, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from disc to access Disk Utility.
3. Choose the entire disk (top icon).
4. Choose erase tab.
5. Click on Options
6. Choose "write zeros".
7. Erase
This will take a bit of time because the computer is physically writing zeros to each block.
You should then re-install the original OS from the system disks and deliver the Mac to the new owner with the system disks that shipped with it.
If you want it to boot as new startup and create an admin account:
Then, launch Terminal and type:
sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
Press Return
Then
cd /
Press REturn
Then:
sudo rm -r /Users/yourname
Press return.
Then:
sudo nicl -raw /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb delete /users/yourname/
Press return
Then, shut down the machine immediately.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Time Machine multiple computer set ups.

Hi All
I've just set up my iMac with a new Time Capsule, but now I am wondering how I can transfer back up my Macbook as well.
I want to back up and then transfer the MacBook info to my iMac.
Any help would be really appreciated.
Kind regards
Martin

If you want the MacBook to use Time Machine for backups, just use the Time Machine panel of System Preferences.
Just what type of info do you want to transfer from the MacBook to the iMac?

Help, please, with time machine

I've got my MacBook Pro set up to back up to a Time Capsule using Time Machine. I have three user accounts on my Mac: an admin account just to install stuff, and two standard accounts for different types of work. The standard accounts contain my data and these accounts are both FileVaulted. (The Admin account isn't - it's from there I do my SuperDuper! backups, but that's another story.)
When I'm in either of my standard, filevaulted accounts, the Time Machine icon often begins to rotate. What exactly is it doing at this point, as I understood my filevaulted accounts weren't backed-up until I logged-out of them? Also, when I do log-out, sometimes it tells me it is backing up my account - but not always. Why does it not bother sometimes, and what determines when it does and when it doesn't?
Any help would be gratefully received. Sorry if this has already been dealt with before - just point me to the right thread.
Thanks very much.

powpow wrote:
So, my 2003 iBook was dying a slow death and I had to reinstall Leopard. I did a Time Machine backup first.
After the clean install, I migrated apps/files and all of my applications seemed to transfer fine, but my bookmarks for Safari and Firefox did not import automatically?
Is this a bug? Can I find them somewhere on the Time Machine backup?
Thanks!
The Bookmark directory is located here:
/Users/YourAccount/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/Bookmarks
Where YourAccount is your username.
If you use Finder to browse to that folder and then start TM you should see all past backups of that folder, if they exist.

Help needed with time capsule

I have a 3tb Time capsule and Mac set up with Virgin Hub
Back ups work fine but most times i try to acces anything on the time capsule it comes up with not available
It works if i restart or boot through airport utilty
I have the data file with a music sub folder and have a 1 drive plugged to usb both of which seem to be a little to illusive
can you help
Thanks
n

This is a bug on Lion and 7.6 firmware and greater on the TC..
There is no fix.. Ring applecare and ask why it does that.
I suspect Apple will have no idea. Although we have plenty of posts here with the same issue.
I can suggest a bunch of stuff.. nothing from what I gather is a cure.. but it might help.. perhaps this will be auto fixed in ML.
I stick with SL as it has decent networking btw.. and no issues.. !! If you are still on SL you should not have issues if you go back to 7.5.2 firmware on the TC.
First off, tell us a bit more.
Is the TC part of the network, bridged or router or setup independently of the network. Not sure what the virgin hub is.. but please describe the network a bit more.
Try going back to 7.5.2 firmware. Apparently can be very difficult for the most recent versions of TC but if you run lion you should also try it.. download the 5.6 airport utility if not already using that, and try to go back to earlier firmware.
Other things..
Reset the TC and use short no spaces names for TC and wireless. Pure alphanumeric.. no special characters. Is the TC main router.. ?? set the dhcp server to short lease time. Like 10min.. if the virgin hub is the router do the same in that.
Are you connecting by wireless.. ?? Lock the wireless channels and use different name for 5ghz from 2.4ghz to prevent wireless clients jumping around.
When you lose the TC next time.. open terminal and ping it.. by name and ip address.. tell me what happens.

Help needed with singleSelection and multiple selection in table.

Hi ,
How do i implement the singleSelection and multipleSelection on table rows.
How do i capture the checked rows?
How should the code be written and where should it be written.
I should be capturing the values of the checked rows and pass it to the pl/sql package.
I have a table - in -table so there is a singleselection on the outer table and multiple selection on the Inner table.
Could anyone help me with this.
Thanks,

One solution to most of your questions : Read the advanced table section of Dev guide.
Always go through the dev guide before putting up the issue. Let the forum be for those scenarios which dev guide doesn't covers in much detail.
--Shiv

How to start over with Time Machine (because drive is running out of space)

I have a 500 gig drive attached to my iMac. Time Machine's been running for ages. TM has finally depleted the drive of most space. Should I throw out some of the older folders in the backup folder for TM, or chuck the entire folder and restart TM fresh. (Nothing terribly crucial to save recently.)
Thanks.

Unfotunately my time machine backup gets to near the end and says "there is not enough space to do this backup" Neither excluding files nor waiting for it to kick out old files seems to solve the problem. I am stuck it would seem unless I erase the whole backup and start over. I didn't think I would have to do this.

HT3275 Hi anyone help me with time machine issue,

I'm getting message, 'the backup disk image "Volumes/data/Colin M's iMac.sparsebundl is already in use.... and that Time Machine could not complete the backup... so for now can't complete any backups? any solutions or fixes, I'm mistified!
Colin

No mystery.. this is the most common fault reported here.. you are about number 6 today..
If you look down the front page of this discussion are there still should be one or two.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4944252?tstart=0
Do it the easy way.. pull out the power cord on the TC.. count to 10.. (it gives the caps time to discharge). plug it back in.. voila.. crude but effective power switch..
It will in 90% of cases now work.
Welcome to the new Apple. That makes products that need continual reboots to work.

Help needed with timer codes

i have tried to do a countdown timer but can't debug it.. can anyone help me with it or can anyone provide me with the correct coding for countdown timer..
import java.awt.*;
import java.Swing.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.Swing.*;
import java.util.*;
public class timer
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I would suggest using javax.swing.Timer or java.util.Timer instead of implementing it yourself.

Help needed with iMessage on multiple devices on one iTunes account

Hi, please can someone help. I have an iPhone 4S and my wife has an iPhone 4, we are using iMessage with one Apple ID with no problems (I presume as the messages are sent to the phone number), however I have purchased both my daughters an iPod Touch each for Christmas and want to set up iMessage for them so we can all message eachother. We will all be sharing one iTunes account so can share music / movie / app purchases. How do I set this up? Thanks in advance. Richard

However, when I connected my "fresh" iPad, it immediately started to sync (set to automatic sync), and started to put all my 100 or so iPod Touch apps to my iPad....They were all checked.
It's been a while since I connected a fresh iPad, but I believe that doing a full sync is the default. Stopping the sync and changing what apps you wanted was the correct procedure.
So, next time I connect the iPad, it "knows" which apps need to synced, and does not try to sync "all" apps?
Correct. I do that all the time with my two iPads, each of which have a different set of apps, music, videos, etc.
Regards.

Help needed with Time Machine multiple drives set up

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