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,

Similar Messages

  • If i sync my phone to the computer can i then delete my old photo to make room for new ones

    if i sync my phone to the computer can i then delete old photos to make room for new ones

    You mean import, not sync.
    iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer
    Once you are sure the photos are on your computer you can delete them from the phone.

  • Does this also serve as an external hard-drive so I can free up space on my macs by transferring songs/pictures?

    Does this also serve as an external hard-drive so I can free up space on my macs by transferring songs/pictures?

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/15470135#15470135

  • Need some help with backing up external hard drive using Time Machine

    Hi all, I'm trying to work out the best way to back up multiple iPhoto libraries using Time Machine.
    At the moment I have got an iMac and Macbook Pro, both of which have an iPhoto library (with different content).  Currently these are not backed up at all.  So what I want to do is back both up to an NAS drive, which I know is straightforward.
    What I also want to do is create one iPhoto library on an external hard drive that I can use with my MBP, and then delete the iPhoto library on my MBP to free up some hard drive space (it's running slower and slower and I'm hoping that this might help it run quicker). 
    So, as I want to have the library on two seperate drives in case one fails, what I want to know is whether I could use Time Machine to back up my external hard drive as well as the internal drive of my MBP?  Also, would I need to have the external drive connected at all times for Time Machine to "see" it?
    I hope that makes sense, all I seem to be doing currently is going round and round and can't work out whether what I want to do is possible or not.
    Thanks in advance

    If I understand your goal correctly, you're considering using Time Machine as external storage, and it doesn't work that way.  Time Machine keeps around what it can, and older stuff gets flushed as the storage available to Time Machine reaches its lower threshold due to the addition of newer stuff.  When the older stuff gets flushed is not predictable.
    It is possible to have several Time Machine backups aimed at the same target (this can be done with Apple Time Capsule, for instance), though you might want to partition the disks to ensure that the intended amount of storage is available.  Different NAS drives have different features here.
    NAS is only as fast as your network connection, and that's almost always much slower than the in-box I/O connections; a local disk will be far faster than a NAS disk, just because of the bottleneck that is wired gigabit Ethernet, and most WiFi is slower and sometimes far slower than wired gigabit Ethernet.  FWIW.
    If your MacBook Pro is old enough and you have $$ but aren't in a position to spend $$$$$ on a newer model, then consider an in-place drive upgrade.
    If your network connection is fast enough to transfer the amount of data you're dealing with in a reasonable time, there are also hosted storage options.
    You can use a NAS drive as storage independent of Time Machine, and relocate stuff there.  (You'll still want to have backups of that data, as NAS drives — even NAS with RAID — can still lose files, become corrupted or otherwise ruin your data day.
    As for your performance, keeping about 10% or so free on the disks is the local preference, but it's worth reviewing the performance of the whole system — Performance Monitor, Console.app, etc — to see if there's something else going on, or if your system load and personal performance expectations are exceeding what your MacBook Pro can provide.

  • 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!

  • 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.

  • How do I re-download podcasts? My external hard drive failed and I can't figure out how to download them again in the updated iTunes.

    How do I re-download podcasts? My external hard drive failed and I can't figure out how to download them again in the updated iTunes.

    The Time Capsule drive is a network drive. You have to mount it on the desktop before you will be able to drag/drop files onto the disk. More tips are in this thread:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/17312017#17312017
    .....and then delete them from the Mac to free up space?
    The Time Capsule was designed for your backups.
    If you move a file to the Time Capsule drive and delete the file from your Mac.....you have no backup. 
    Your only copy of the file will be on the Time Capsule drive. I would only do this with files that I could afford to lose.
    All drives fail. When.....not if....the Time Capsule drive has a problem, you will lose your data.

  • 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

  • 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 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

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  • How do I back up Wireless Hard Drive using Time Machine

    I have a MacBook Pro and I'm running OSX Lion.
    I'm having trouble setting up time machine to back up two USB external hard drives (named Portable iTunes and Portable iPhoto) connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station. I have a time capsule with a 3TB USB WD MyBook external hard drive that I'm using as the Time Machine Hard Drive.
    Portable iTunes, Portable, iPhoto and MyBook are wirelessly mounted to my desktop.
    Will someone please explain how I can set up MyBook to wirelessly back up the two portable drives using Time Machine?
    Thanks in advance.
    Wyatt.

    Will someone please explain how I can set up MyBook to wirelessly back up the two portable drives using Time Machine?
    Sorry, but Time Machine can only backup a hard drive that is connected directly to your Mac using USB or Firewire.

  • I able to copy and paste files from external hard drive to mac, but not the other way around. Please suggest. Thanks

    I m able to copy and paste selected files from external hard drive to my mac but not the other way around. Im not able to copy files from Mac to external hard drive.
    The same is working fine with USB flash memory.
    Please help.

    Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
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  • Help! I restored my iphone recently and put all my music back onto my phone that day and it was fine but last night i was putting someother music on got an error music on. I got an error message about not being able to sync and now ALL my music has GONE.

    ahh! .I restored my iphone recently and put all my music back onto my phone that day and it was fine but last night i was putting someother music on got an error music on. I got an error message about not being able to sync and now ALL my music has GONE. deos anyone know why this would have happened?

    Click: Restoring your iTunes Library backup (from an external drive) here >  iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
    BTW, if you are a resident of the U.S, have iTunes 10.3 or later, and iOS 4.3.3, you can re download your iTunes purchases for free.
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

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