Problems with an external hard drive (not Time Machine related)

First, I'll clarify that I'm using an internal hard drive inside an external enclosure, incase that makes a difference to my problem.
I got this drive to store my music on, since I've run out of room on my main hard drive. I've transfered all my music to it, and it's been working fine, but now it seems that any program that tries to access files on the drive will freeze. Whether it's trying to play a song in iTunes or copying files from one drive to another. And when iTunes freezes from this, a simple Force Quit wont work. The window closes, and I can no longer access the program, but it still appears open on the dock and prevents me from being able to shut down the computer properly.
I've tried running Disk Warrior on the drive, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Does anybody have any ideas?
Thank you

Nope, that didn't help, unfortunately.
Also, I'll add that now the drive doesn't show up on the desktop all the time (sometimes I'll have to unplug/replug it, turn off/on the drive, or restart the whole computer to get it to show up).

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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 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.

HELP - problems setting up External Hard Drive to Time machine

Hi
I set up Time Machine about a month ago. I had an additional 250GB USB External Hard Drive connected but it was not included in the back up. I think that at the time I had been told that I could add the files from the 250GB external to the back-up Time Machine disk later.
Also, before I set up Time Machine on the new 1TB USB drive, I partitioned the drive, and I think as I was deciding how to partition it, I used the Erase utility to reset the drive. I don't know if that is relevant.
Time Machine has been working fine with my internal drive - well I haven't needed to restore anything with it, so I don't really know.
However, I have tried to add the 250GB drive to Time Machine, and in Preferences->Options, the 250GB drive is greyed out in the 'Do no back up' list. And the - (minus) box is also greyed out so nothing happens when clicking on it.
I tried to sort this out a couple of weeks ago, and someone helpful on the forum advised me:
"to move the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist to the desktop. then go to system preferences->Time machine and set up time machine again. the exclusion list will be empty and you can add what you want to it. "
I tried this a number of times and each time I struggled to set it up again. When moving the .plist file I was always asked whether to keep or replace. I tried both, sometimes the file would come back into the folder, sometimes not.
The 250 GB drive was still on the list of 'Do Not Back Up the following drives". After one occasion recently on my attempts, the system did not recognize time machine.
I'm really stuck here - both my drives are ridiculously low in space.
Please help,
Thanks
Steve

What is it you are trying to do? Do you want to change the backup drive from the one you have been using to another drive? That's all you can do. If you have a drive set up as the TM backup drive, you cannot designate another drive as the backup drive unless you disable the existing backup drive. TM cannot backup to more than one drive at a time, and TM cannot span backups across multiple drives.
To move any device out of the Exclude list simply select it then click on the [-] button to remove it from the list.
To prepare a new drive as the backup drive you must partition the drive GUID or APM depending upon whether your computer is Intel or PPC, respectively, and the formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) See the following:
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. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. 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.

Problems with installing new hard drive using time machine

Hi,
I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 15" Macbook Pro (unibody) with 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 and a 250 GB Sata HD running OS 10.6.7.
It works like a dream.
However, i bought a new 1 TB HD (WD Scorpio Blue) since a) 250 GB is not enough for me right now b) warranty has expired, so new risk there and c) i read that installing it would be very easy.
I'll try so explain what i did, see if anyone finds what could be wrong...
I had some minor problem in the beginning (i didn't use the install disk of the macbook pro at first, because it was at the office, so i used the install disk of my old Alu iMac), but using the right disk, i opened "Restore Disk from Backup", selected the Time Machine disk, and waited for the target drive to appear. It didn't...
Finally i figured, maybe he doesn't find it because it hasn't been formatted yet (although it says on the HD that the Scorpio Blue is ready to use as is). So i openen disk utility from the utility folder and formatted the disk as "OS Journaled". As expected (?) the disk appeared as a target Restore Disk. I selected it and "restore" started. It took some hours and finally i receive a message: restore complete (or something like that). But then... after the restart i say the apple logo (as always) followed by the 'i don't know how you call it'-screen: a grey screen coming down like a curtain that says something like: you have to hold down the power button and then press it again tot restart (in a dozen or so languages including mandarin or japanese...). Off course i tried to restart several times, always with the same result.
I switched back to my old drive and it still works like a dream ;-)
So now i'm typing this message, can someone point out to me what could be the problem?
Some more information/possible causes:
- i run snow leopard, but the install disk is leopard. Maybe i should have used the install disk of the Snow Leopard i bought?
- the time machine backup backs up EVERYTHING including an external firewire disk (on the same disk). Maybe that could be a problem? I don't know if the backup disk will restore the content of my external disk to my new internal HD or not...
Thanks for helping me out...
Best regards,
Tom

Hold on... it seems like i missed the obvious answer: using snow leopard to re-install a snow leopard back up. I'll try that one first and if it doesn't work i'll come back to this discussion...

I want to create a back up of my iPhoto library on an external hard drive (not Time Machine). How do I do that?, I want to create a back up of my iPhoto library on an external hard drive (not Time Machine). How do I do that?

I want to create a back up of my iPhoto library on an external hard (not the time machine backup). I've searched the iPhoto help, but unfortunately it does not tell me 'how' to create this additional backup of my library. Thanks

Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

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telling me to buy a new router is NOT a solution.
And why not? Apple is selling these things like BigMacs. They can't make enough of them. You've been suffering since May because you refuse to get a decent router.
Can you imagine if a company that makes a refrigerator told me that I needed to upgrade my electrical system to rectify a problem with their device? What kind of response IS that?!?!
What if the problem with their device is that it requires a new-fangled "grounded" outlet and your circa 1890 house doesn't have grounded outlets. Would you refuse to purchase a $ 25 adapter on principle?

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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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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,

I have just upgraded from a Macbook to a Macbook Air. I have been using a iomega external hard drive for Time Machine, which use a Firewire. However, Macbook Air's do not have a Firewire port and i cannot find an adaptor anywhere. Can anyone help?? Thanks

I have just upgraded from a Macbook to a Macbook Air. I have been using a iomega external hard drive for Time Machine, which use a Firewire. However, Macbook Air's do not have a Firewire port and i cannot find an adaptor anywhere. Can anyone help?? Thanks

There has never been a reliable firewire ---> USB adapter suitable for external high speed storage. This was a major issue when the MacBooks lost the firewire port a number of years ago (Apple subsequently brought it back).
The only high speed port on the Air is the ThunderBolt port. There are external ThunderBolt drive options out there, but they're somewhat more expensive than traditional USB/FireWire options.

Hi everyone, after updating to 10.6.8, i've been unable to backup to my external hard-drive on Time Machine. anyone having same issues?

I did a software update to 10.6.8. and I've been unable to back up my files to my external hard-drive on Time Machine. The error message it gives says "he backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
It recommends using Disk Utility to repair the backup disk and i've tried that but it finds nothing wrong with the disk!
I even tried copying files off it so i could re-format the drive but it apparently can't do that and the error message is that there's a wrong case sensitive file. Please help, I really need a solution.
Thanks,
Regards,
Chi.

If you mean you're getting the same message:
see #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it. If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.
If that's not the message you're getting, please clarify.

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 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

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

As john noted, eventually that external is probably not going to be big enough, but it certainly is for now. The HD just needs enough capacity to cover the amount of data on your internal HD, not the internal HD's total capacity.
Format/partition the external as follows and you should be set to go:
1. Connect the external HD to the MBP.
2. Open Disk Utility on the MBP.
3. Select the external HD in the left pane.
4. Click on the Erase tab.
5. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
6. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
7. Click the Partition tab.
8. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (just one in this situation).
9. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
10. Click Apply.
11. Quit Disk Utility.
Backup your internal to the external. What application are you using to backup with? I highly recommend both SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner.

Problems with an external hard drive (not Time Machine related)

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