How can I backup an external hard drive using Time Machine?

How can I backup an external hard drive connected to my MacBook Pro using Time Machine?

Attach drive, open Time Machine preferences, be sure external drive is not in the Exclude list.

Similar Messages

  • Can I backup an External Hard Drive using Time Machine and Time Capsule?

    I have a Powerbook G4 with Mac OS X 10.5.2 and use an external hard drive *all the time*. I'd like to use Time Machine and my new 500GB Time Capsule to back it up along with the internal hard drive. Can I do this? Thanks for your help.

    I believe so; this thread indicates how. Hope this helps.

  • Can I backup an external hard drive using time machine?

    I've got a 2008 Mackbook that's getting very full of photos and music - 75% of the HDD.  I want to move it all onto an external Toshiba HDD that's formatted to MS-DOS (FAT 32).  Before I moved it all, I checked to see if time machine would back up the HDD to the Seagate HDD that I use for backups.  In Time Machine preferences, options, the Tosh HDD is shown as excluded from the backup along with the Seagate HDD.  I have tried to select it to remove it from the excluded list but it wont allow me to.  So what I want to know is:
    Is it possible to back up an external HDD via Time Machine?  If so, why might mine not be doing so?  If it's the file format, which format ought I to format it to?
    All help would be very much appreciated.
    Thanks
    Buzz...

    Okay, I've sussed it.  I saw a link to another discussion that hadn't turned up in any of my searches before I posted the question above.
    My Tosh HDD was formatted to FAT 32 and therefore would not be backed up by Time Machine.  I removed all data from it - nightmare as I hadn't enough space to put it on the macbook HDD, but, after trawling through numerous photos and deleting rubbish for hours, I finally made enough space and copied all data across.  Then, after clearing the data from the Tosh HDD, I used disk utilitity to reformat it to Mackintosh OS Extended.  Chose the option without kournalling because I'm not baking up onto this disk and so don't need it - according to some other discussions I found.
    When it was done I check on time machine in system prefs and once I selected options, I was able to remove it from the excluded from backups list.  Hey presto.  Now I'm moving my photo library and my music library onto the Tosh HDD and my macbook should start to breath again.  Hurray.

  • Can I backup an external hard drive with time machine

    I have my IPhoto library on an external hard drive and want to include this in my time machine backups.

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    Of course, but only if your external drive is formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". You can check this by opening Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) and choosing the partition of your external drive you want to choose. Then, look at "Format" at the bottom of the window.
    If you can make backups of the external drive, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and remove your external drive from Excluded Items. The next backup will include the external drive

  • How to back up an external hard drive using Time Machine

    I have a Macbook. I have iTunes. I have my iTunes folder and contents stored on an external (Lacie) hard drive. I want to be able to back up that external (Lacie) hard drive and my mac using Time Machine to a separate external hard drive. At the moment it is only my mac that is backed up, and not the Lacie.  How can I also back up the Lacie so that only the recently added iTunes content is added? Cheers.

    You may consider reading the detail in what third-party clone utilities could
    do in regard to a backup clone and then use their utility to update that clone.
    Once the copy/clone is made (a bootable backup, btw) the same utility can
    be used to update the clone. Not certain how it works, and am a bit behind
    on making backup bootable clones of my several Macs as it is. I do a whole
    backup clone, though a partial or update supposedly is possible.
    SuperDuper or CarbonCopy, I don't remember if one of them or both, do this.
    Good luck in any event!

  • How to backup external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ?

    Hello,
    i have an external hard drive which i store all my drum samples and sound library on and files are contantly changing, adding new sounds, deleting old ones etc ..
    So my method of back up as of now is to just copy all the edited files and click and drag to the back up disk.
    Now, my question is, how do i back up my external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ? I read somewhere that you can do this, i cant find the post however. It would be nice to automate the back up process rather than manually finding the files to copy over.
    Thanks in advance !

    The question you pose is conditional, in that you should have more than an exact
    capacity replacement for a clone, if the drive you are going from (or one going to)
    has insufficient free space and that has a bootable clone on the drive; any space
    tied up in a partition for Time Machine backup, takes away from the running space
    if you should need to run the computer from a clone on the external HDD's other
    partition.... Better to have a good capacity of additional reserve unused free space.
    Be sure any clone copy that you hope to use as a re-close, that each in turn is tested
    after a clone operation. Also consider using each running system's Disk utility and
    have First Aid 'repair disk permissions'. Preparation of a new drive or even an old
    drive that may have questionable artifacts or errors on it, should be reformatted. To
    even go as far as Secure Erase (overwrite) at least one-pass before reformatting it
    again, could help.
    However, I'm not sure if the drives and situation you are looking at would necessarily
    be a good match. It could work, but you'd need a reasonable size partition or hard
    disk drive for a system. Snow Leopard and all its associated applications, can do
    OK in a 100GB HDD. (My computers have more storage capacity than is used; so
    for mine to have 60% free space, is good.) Virtual Memory is drive space used by
    OS X, that can be a substantial amount for swap and temp files. Some applications
    make duplicates of works-in-progress, for each change in an open file; that adds up.
    {This question (& my reply) should've been in their own thread & not at the end
    of one that is nearly three months old, + marked 'solved' by the original poster.}
    So I guess I don't have a direct answer to your question; having just returned from
    a few hundred miles and automobile issues, too. I'm not really thinking on-topic...
    The clone should be on its own separate drive, and up to 3TB drive dedicated to
    Time Machine may be overkill, however that software will consume old backups first
    when it uses up all the space. Or usually that is what happens in TM backups. If
    that isn't happening, there may an issue in how Time Machine is set up.
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

    If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

    To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
    If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

  • How do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?

    I have an external hard drive connected to my iMac that is being backed up with Time Machine.  I just realized that should it one day fail and no longer appear as a connected device, I'm not sure how to restore its data to another external drive.  When I disconnected the external hard drive (to mimic a drive crash) and entered Time Machine to see if I could verify that the external hard drive was, in fact, being backed up - I didn't know where to find it.  Under the Today (Now) information, I didn't expect to see it there as it was no longer connected to the machine.  But when I went back a few days, I expected to see its backup appear in the Sidebar.  But no!
    So - how do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?
    Searches for this information on Google yielded "iffy" results.  I'm hoping someone here is able to offer some clear steps to follow.  Perhaps I'm missing something silly.  Thank you very much!

    I came across this discussion after encountering the same problem. Since my internal HD was cose to full I added an additional external HD to my setup. I moved my iPhoto files to an external HD and backed both this external HD and my internal HD up with Time Machine to another external HD. So far the theory. When I wanted to test if this setup worked I noticed that I could only see my iPhoto libraries on the external HD in Time Machine when the external HD was connected to my computer, but not if I turned it off. This led me to search for a solution on the Apple Support Communities discussion board.
    The suggestions made Kappy seem right, at least in my experience, in that my Time Machine simply did not back up the external HD until I followed the steps he suggested above. These were the following:
    "So, if you want it backed up then here's what you need to do:
    1. In Time Machine preferences remove the external drive from the Exclude list.
    2. Verify that it is now included with your other drive in the backup list.
    3. Do a Backup Now to create a new backup of the external drive."
    After doing this, my external HD showed up in the Backups.backupd as a seperate folder. I could clearly see the Time Machine back-up for my internal HD and my external HD. In addition, in Time Machine itself I was able to find the external harddrive by clicking on my own computers name under "Devices". I hope my experience helps to resolve your issue as this discussion board has helped me resolve mine (which I believe to be very similar).
    Cheers!

  • I back up with an external hard drive using time machine.  I am trying to reload my iphoto library from an earlier date then it will let me.  How do I get to an earlier date in time machine?

    I back up with an external hard drive using time machine.  I am trying to reload my iphoto library but it won't let me get back to a date that I need to.  How do I do this?

    Try Pondini's articles;
    http://pondini.org/TM/15.html - scroll down to the pink box for iPhoto restoation.
    Also http://pondini.org/TM/15A.html to clarify how to use the timeline.

  • I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?

    I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
    What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
    From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
    Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.

    sydababy wrote:
    and then deleting them off of my computer.
    BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
    Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
    The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous.  One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
    Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
    follow here:
    Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
    Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
    The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
    Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
    Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
    Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
    Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret.

  • Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's

    Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB external hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    My guess would be it has created an entirely new backup of your drive when you upgraded to Mavericks.
    See Here: http://pondini.org/TM/1.html
    And here: http://pondini.org/TM/9.html
    Peruse the whole site. There is a lot of information there.

  • I am backing up my computer to an external hard drive using Time Machine.  It has been at 288.91 "used" for a while... should I just let it ride?  It's been going for about 7 hours now.

    I am backing up my computer to an external hard drive using Time Machine.  It has been at 288.91 "used" for a while... should I just let it ride?  It's been going for about 7 hours now

    It does not immediately delete the files that are missing.. it merely tries to backup the new files it has discovered on the external drive. Since you moved the files there, the backup at least for a while will contain both copies.. and that is why it doesn't have enough space to backup.
    Fixing the problem.. hmm pondini is the expert.. you should be able to delete the backup of the photos in existing backup.. there are instructions to do it.. but it is a very poor way to do things.
    Much better. .archive off the existing backup.. this is long and slow but worth it. you need a usb drive of the same size as the TC drive. Then erase the TC and start a fresh set of backups.
    The alternative is to use the USB drive as a new target.. but it is much slower than the TC internal drive.
    http://pondini.org/TM/12.html

  • I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

    I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

    Mac 101: File Sharing
    Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Transfer files between two Mac computers
    Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Set up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
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    Mac OS X: Sharing your files with non-Apple computers
    How to share a Mac's files with a PC and vice versa.

  • Is there a way to backup my external hard drive with Time Machine?

    Most of the memory used on my MBP is mainly used for applications and miscellaneous things for Logic and Final Cut. I have two external HD's. To save space on the internal HD, all of my music, pictures, and videos are one my external hard drive, while Time Machine set as the other. Is there a way I can back up my external HD using Time Machine? What would even be better is if I could only select specific files (My Music, Videos, Pictures) and not everything on my one external HD to be backed up in Time Machine.

    TM can back up external HDs. If you have both of your external drives attached, go to the options in TM preferences. Be sure the data drive is not listed (this lists drives/folders to exclude from a backup). Then initiate a TM backup or wait for the hourly backup. That should back up the data drive.
    You can only tell TM what to exclude from a backup, not what to include.

  • HT201250 How do you add an external Hard drive to time machine and share on network?

    How do you add an external Hard drive to time capsule and share it on local network?
    Lee

    Ensure it's formatted as Mac OS Extended, FAT16, or FAT32, connect it to a self-powered hub, and plug it into the Time Capsule's USB port. If the drive is Ethernet and not USB, ignore everything else and just plug it in.
    (71787)

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