Time machine clarification

I have my apps on the internal drive of my imac and I back them up each hour to an external drive via Time Machine.  If I daisy chain another external hard drive on which to store data to the first external drive with the backuped files, are the files on that second drive also backed up automatically via TM or only the internal hard drive files themselves?  What if I have a stick drive in a bus port when TM kicks in?  Does it backup those files as well?

External HDs are excluded by default, but you can easily include them.
Go to Time Machine preferences > Options.  If the drive is listed in black, select it and click the minus sign; then it will be backed-up.
If it's listed in gray, however, that means it's not formatted for a Mac and Time Machine can't back it up.  You'd have to reformat the drive.
If you haven't set it up yet, see #1 in Using Disk Utility.
A USB stick won't be backed-up, unless it's formatted for a Mac and included as above.

Similar Messages

  • Clarification on Time Machine migration

    I am about to upgrade my trusty PowerBook G4 to a shiny new MacBook Pro and would just like some clarification on accessing my Time Machine files from my new computer. After reading some similar posts it sounds like some users have been able to access their files from their old system on new computers while others have had issues. If I transfer all of the contents of my old system to the new one via Migration Assistant, will Time Machine recognize the new computer as the old one? Should I do the transfer via Time Machine instead? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

    Before you start migrating, be sure to deactivate/deauthorize the software on your PowerBook. If you'll have both computers in place, it is faster I think to put the PowerBook into firewire target disk mode then to use TimeMachine. Further, regardless of which method you use, because this is a PPC to Intel upgrade, I'd recommend that you only transfer the contents of your personal drive space and reinstall your software.
    There are two reasons I recommend reinstalling software: First, buying a new computer is about the only time I get rid of the cruft and junk that I accumulate and almost never use afterwards. I figure if it is a good idea for me, it is a good idea for others . Second, having done dozens of upgrades, I have a decent idea of what can be safely transferred and what can't but long ago I figured it took almost as long to pick and choose what to transfer as it did to just reinstall everything.

  • Time Machine- Help and Clarification

    Hi-
    I've been using Time Machine to back up my MBP for a few years with no problems. My set up is this: I wirelessly back up my MBP to a Time Machine disk that is located on my network, housed on a unique partition of an old MacMini that is connected via ethernet to my wireless router.
    I just built a home NAS and wanted to see if Time Machine would recognize it and back up to it over my home network. So, I went into Time Machine preferences on my MBP and tried to select a new Time Machine disk on my new NAS to back up to. Unfortunately, there were no Time Machine disks found. However, when I went to reselect my old Time Machine Disk on the MacMini it was no longer recognized or available either.
    After a few hours of reading, I logged into the Macmini and mounted its Hard Drive on my MBP and could see the partition that has my original Time Machine Sparse Bundle. So I mounted that (double clicked) on my MBP and then opened Time Machine Preferences on my MBP. Now I was able to choose the parition on my MacMini with the Sparse Bundle but not the mounted Spare Bundle itself. Here is where the problem is and where I can use some clarification.
    After choosing the original hard drive partition and opeining the Time Machine Preferences on my MBP, the dates listed by "Oldest Backup" and "Latest Backup" are now  blank and the Disk I've selected is the original partition the conatins my Sparse Bundle bundle but it is NOT the Sparse Bundle itself.
    When I try and enter Time Machine, it doesn't connect but puts up the the following warning: "The current time machine disk can't be found" But it gives me an option "Use Previous Disk" "Cancel"  or "Time Machine Preferences".
    If I choose "Use previous disk", I can enter my old Time Machine files.  Finally, all my old options are still properly listed and the total amount of hard drive space and remaining space for back up is properly stated on the Time Machine disk.
    So is my MBP really recognizing my old TIme Machine Sparse Bundle properly? By trying to select a new Time Machine Disk, did I totally mess everything up?  How can I get Time Machine to use my original Time Machine Sparse Bundle?
    Okay. Sorry for the long post, not sure what information would be most helpful.
    Thank you in advance.

    There is no default. You need a storage device separate from the computer to use Time Machine, either an external hard drive or a network device such as a Time Capsule. Without that, you have no backups. Without backups, you will eventually lose all your data.
    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac

  • Time Machine vs Backup Clarification

    Hello all,
    I need to reinstall my OS (10.6.8), and recently purchased an external hard drive to backup all my data beforehand. I intend to use Time Machine to backup said data before reinstalling the operating system from the DVD, but want to avoid restoring the OS from the Time Machine Backup. Will restoring my data from Time Machine only retrieve my files and settings, or the "previous" OS as well? If so, how can I avoid this? Thank you in advance.

    Yes, for the backup. When you restore using Migration or Setup Assistant you would opt to restore from a Time Machine backup. Then when the account listing is displayed choose to restore only the Home folder. If you do this from the Setup Assistant right after installing Snow Leopard, then this will restore your Home folder as the only user account which is what you would prefer to do.

  • How does this work with multiple systems backing up with time machine

    I was wondering as Apple states that this will do multiple time machine backups as in multiple computers, how does this do this? I am assumng that it will require me to partition the srive in the unit as multiple partitions. 1 for each time computer with time machine running.

    I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure how to interpret your answer so I'll ask for clarification.
    Do you mean that the backup belonging to each user will be protected by filesystem perms? In other words Alice's backup will be owned by Alice and only readable by her, ditto for the hyperthetical Bill?
    I guess in other words, does Time Machine preserve file ownership perms?

  • Time Machine questions: Handling backups for multiple Macs to one FW drive

    I am reviewing the Time Machine thread and seeing a lot of helpful information, but I would like to ask something I haven't quite found yet.
    We have 2 Leopard Macs, a MacBook Pro and an intel iMac... with plans to upgrade another MBP from Tiger to Leopard at some point.
    In planning for Time Machine, we set up a 1 TB drive, attached it via FW 800 to the iMac, partitioned it GUID for Intel, and made 3 partitions, one for each planned Mac we want to back up to it.
    I started Time Machine on the iMac first and the first backup of about 100 gb took maybe 4 hours.
    Then we tried to start the Time Machine backup for the MBP over the network (wireless). It was understandably much slower and quit with some error last evening, so I took advantage of the pause to move the notebook to a wired ethernet connection. It got even slower so this morning I directly connected it FW 800, erased what had been backed up, and started over. So far, so good. 6GB out of 100 in 10 minutes or so. The idea being, if we can get the first backup completed faster over wired connection, maybe doing the incrementals over wireless network will be okay. Sounds like some folks are doing that successfully. I am hoping that works out.
    Questions: Was it necessary to partition my 1TB drive into a partition for each Mac's Time Machine backup? I did make each partition bigger than the hard drive it is designated for.
    To get the MBP to mount the external FW drive on its desktop, I had to disconnect the drive from the iMac. Is there any way I can connect the FW drive to both the MBP and the iMac (the drive has two FW 800 out connections, so it is physically possible)? I'm thinking (from reading posts of others with notebooks) that one strategy is to connect your notebook to your Time Machine drive at night and let it back up, but it'd be great if I could leave the iMac connected while doing so. Is there a way the volumes on the drive can mount on both desktops?
    When I try wireless again, I'm seeing mixed posts regarding whether the MBP will need a password to log in to the remote volume each time, or only the first time when the Time Machine backup is established... if I could get clarification on that, it would be helpful.
    Thanks!
    thanks

    What do you see on your notebook when you click on your TimeMachine icon in the Dock?
    My notebook is mounting the backup drive on an hourly basis, running a backup, and looking like it is doing something... but when I then look at TimeMachine, I can't see the backups. (On my iMac with the drive directly attached, I see a progression of windows showing all the hourly backups the last 24 hours, etc.) I just called Apple to ask why this is so, and they told me they couldn't help me because wireless Time Machine backups aren't supported.
    I know backups to a hard drive attached to an Airport Express Base Station are not supported. But when they say "You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. +Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices+"... well, how can you DO that?

  • Moved to a New Mac...it created a brand new time machine file?!?  Why

    It seem since migrating to my new MBP, Time Machine does not recognize my old TM file that has been continuous for over a year. So, not to mention taking an additional 100GB on my Ext HD, there is no continuity or access to older TM files.
    Any fix for this? Or just I just delete it and be done with it and get my 100GB back on my Ext HD?

    Brad,
    *_Time Machine Always Performs a Full Backup After a Full Restore_*
    Actually, this is normal. Anytime your hardware has changed, or you have reinstalled the operating system again, Time Machine will perform a new full backup. Consider the following according to the KB article below:
    *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]
    So even on unchanged hardware, if you reinstall your system software and restore your user data, Time Machine starts anew, and you will not be able to resume backing up with the same history as the previous backups.
    While there may be ways to fool/hack Time Machine into recognizing previous backups without performing another full backup, they are likely rather elaborate.
    Ultimately, though, in a couple of months, all the effort to preserve old backups may seem pointless. After all, Time Machine will eventually purge away that data anyways as it replaces it with new files.
    It may simply be easier to begin a fresh series of backups while saving the previous backups until your satisfied that you have enough history built up. Then delete the old backups.
    Hope this clarifies some things.
    Cheers!

  • Time Machine and File Vault question

    I just completed a clean install of OS x mavericks and then used my time machine back up to restore the mac.
    The whole process was confusing for many reasons and I just want to get some clarification/verification on my next actions.
    When I enter time machine preferences and click select disk. It gives me two choices. One in the group Back Up Disks and One in available disks. The confusing I have is that it is the same external hd. So which should I pick if I want to keep my original time machine backups?
    The other question I have is, this whole journey started with me wanting to turn on file vault. I am using a late 2012 Mac Mini updated to Mavericks came with Mountain Lion.
    Should I be able to use both an encrypted time machine (external hd) and file vault?
    Thanks for the help.

    The difference is that do yo want to combine the backus you made before with the previous backups (group Back Up Disks) or start a whole new backup (available disks). Either option will retain the previous backups unless you overtly delete them. I would select that later to start a new set of backups.
    See the following for using FileaFault with Time Machine
    http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/46833/with-file-vault-on-are-time-machi ne-backups-encrypted
    http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Enable+FileVault+(whole+disk+enc ryption)+on+Time+Machine+backup+drives+on+OS+X+10.9

  • Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?

    Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?
    I have a iMac with 10.7.4

    I want to back up the data on the external Hard Drive that is attached to the Time Capsule to the Tim Capsule using Time Machine.
    Thanks for the clarification.  Unfortunately, that will not work.  You will need to connect the drive directly to your Mac if you want Time Machine to backup the drive to the Time Capsule.

  • Clean Install VS Time Machine for "out of the box" performance

    Hi all ^^
    Just under a year a go I made the leap of PC to Mac and have never looked back, im super happy with my Mac however I have been experiancing a decrease in performance since Ive been using it, back when I was using a PC I clean installed the OS once a year and then proceeded to add my files back, thus restoring my PC to full performance.
    Ive been reading around these forums looking at Time Machine backups, hoping to see 'how much' gets restored when you perform a recovery from time machine, and from what I have read is that everything gets restored. So my question is purely for some advice and clarification
    "If I want to restore my Macbook to its "out of the box" performance, Is it viable for me to use a Time Machine back up?"
    if not
    "If Time Machine Back ups wont help restoring performance, Would it be possible to Clean Install and then extract purely the Files from my TM Back up?" I read another user had issues, the Mac recognised the files belonged to another mac and he couldent use them.
    So I wont waffle on any furthur, but im looking for the easist way to clean install or restore performance to my Mac, a long term solution I can use each year
    Please and Thank you
    Em

    Thankyou for your answer
    Im quite a clean freak when it comes to my PC, I keep my desktop bare, things I dont use remain unloaded.etc
    I think as I am without a Defrag or Disk Clean up tool I feel abit helpless to maintain optimal standards. I not very experianced with the in's and out's of computers but all I really want on my Mac are my Files, Applications and the OS, nothing more.
    I appreciate your time and experiance, so ild ask instead: In your experiance is it worth performing a clean install? I have hadly any junk on my Mac, and from the tone of your post you beleive a program such as MacKeeper would be sufficent?
    Futhurmore a clean install once a year isnt worth it? I depend alot on what people have told me, so I may have fallen victim to a rumour :S

  • Restore time machine to new hard drive?

    My hard drive just died and will need to be replaced. Once I have a new hard drive, how can I restore all the backed up contents onto my new drive? Thanks.

    William Huisking1 wrote:
    I have the same question but wanted some clarification. If I restore using this technique, will my new hard drive in my computer be fully up to date with all my Time Machine applications, data, etc.?
    yes.
    The reason I ask, is that I do use superduper as an alternative to make sure I have a full disk image that is up to date. If Time Machine accomplishes the same thing, then perhaps I don't need superduper.
    it's a good idea to have both.
    My Time Machine Backup Disk Drive IS a firewire hard drive. Could I boot from that and then restore?
    you can't boot from a TM drive. if you want to do a TM restore you have to boot from the install DVD. If you want to restore from a SD clone you can boot from this clone and clone it back to the main internal drive. i would probably choose that route but it's up to you.
    Thanks so much.
    Skip
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • Why is Time Machine displaying files only in the present not the past?

    Hi,
    My PowerBook G4 recently had its Logic Board replaced. Since Time Machine identifies the machine to backup thanks to its MAC Ethernet address and, since after a Logic Board switch my MAC Ethernet address had changed, I had to reconfigure TM so that the external hard drive reassociates with the new MAC Ethernet address and continues to backup in the same backup folder. For that I used this hint posted on MacOSXhints.com :
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101&query=time%2Bmach ine%2Blogic
    While performing this hint enabled me to have my new backups in the original backup folder, and access all my backups through finder, I cannot view any backups in Time Machine star-field mode. Whenever I click on "Enter Time Machine" I correctly warp into the star-field, but I only see the present. I cannot go back in time and the time line on the side doesn't show any dates in the past. The finder window at the front displays only what is currently on my PowerBook HDD, and the finder windows that precede it are all dark grey, empty and un-clickable. What is peculiar is that when I click on Time Machine Preferences, the Panel can show the date of the oldest backup.
    To sum up: Time machine has no problem backing up my files in the original backup folder of my external HDD (I can see all my new backups in the same backup database folder as the ones before the Logic board switch), I can access all my backed up files via Finder, but when I enter Time Machine star-field mode, it doesn't show me any of my backups. I really like the ease of use of the star-field mode, and I find it frustrating to have to look at my backups in plain old Finder.
    What I don't know is whether hint I described above might have introduced errors that provoked the error or whether this might be due to the fact that while my computer was going for repair, I connected the external HDD containing my backup with two computers running Mac OS X 10.4 to retrieve some backed up files.
    My case must probably be quite rare, but since I haven't found any solutions to this date, I'm posting it now.
    I would be extremely grateful if anyone had a solution for this, or an intuition on the different parameters to modify to correct this Time Machine problem. Any contribution will be helpful. Thank you very much.

    gbullman,
    You say that the logic board was replaced? Then you will not be able to continue backups to the SAME backup set.
    *_Time Machine Always Performs a Full Backup After a Full Restore_*
    Actually, this is normal. Anytime your hardware has changed, or you have reinstalled the operating system again, Time Machine will perform a new full backup.
    *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]
    So even on unchanged hardware, if you reinstall your system software and restore your user data, Time Machine starts anew, and you will not be able to resume backing up with the same history as the previous backups.
    While there may be ways to fool/hack Time Machine into recognizing previous backups without performing another full backup, they are likely rather elaborate. Ultimately, though, in a couple of months, all the effort to preserve old backups may seem pointless. After all, Time Machine will eventually purge away that data anyways as it replaces it with new files.
    It may simply be easier to begin a fresh series of backups while saving the previous backups until your satisfied that you have enough history built up. Then delete the old backups.
    *Why Can’t I Resume Backups?*
    You see, Time Machine was designed to restore your Macs’ immediate environment in case of system crashes or accidental deletion of user files. As a result, reinstalling your Mac OS system software or changing your hardware requires a fresh set of backups since older backups would not accurately represent the current state of your Mac.
    Additionally, if a user has had to reinstall the system software, then resuming backups to the same set could later reintroduce the very issues that forced the reinstall in the first place. Furthermore, maintaining backups that were started with an older Mac, introduces the possibility of restoring system files that were never intended for the new Mac.
    If you require long-term archival storage of files, then you need another backup strategy.
    Hope this clarifies some things.
    Cheers!

  • Time Machine: can it work with TWO users?

    For reasons of corrupted Preferences (i.e. plists) I had to create a new User Account (where I had to "recreate" all personal settings/preferences) and transfer my data to this new account. Until I have verified all data and settings over the next few days I don't want to delete the "old" User Account, as you will understand.
    Before creating the new user account, I have used Time Machine to backup my data (to a 2GB external HD). My question is: since TimeMachine backs up a Computer and not a User, can I now continue to use TimeMachine and be able to switch between users when in TimeMachine?
    I think that the answer will be Yes, but I just want to be a 100% sure that I am not overwriting anything on the 'old' user account.
    Thanks in advance for your advice. Cheers, Veit

    vburger wrote:
    Ah, thanks for the clarification! I learned something new; didn't know that the files were individually accessible on the TimeMachine HD.
    That's really not a good idea. If you accidentally change, move, or delete anything there, you can corrupt your backups. And if you copy files from your backups via the Finder, the permissions may not be copied properly.
    And it won't help one user trying to restore a different user's files; whether you're looking via the Finder or the "Star Wars" display, user permissions are the same as on the originals that were backed-up. If you need to restore files from a different user account, log on as that user.

  • Can't browse some older backups via Time Machine interface

    Problem started after updating to Yosemite.  I am running 10.10.1.  I can find all my backups, going back to 2010 in fact, when browsing my external FW800 hard drive directly in the Finder.  But if I click the menubar icon and choose "Enter Time Machine," I can see some recent backups for some folders, but I cannot access some older backups that I know are there on that same drive.  The window title bars in the TM interface are totally grayed out for those older backups.  But again, there are all on the same FW800 external HD, and I can search them just fine and extract the files just fine using the Finder. 
    Is the Time Machine interface totally broken in Yosemite? 
    Clearly there is nothing wrong with my external FW800 HD, otherwise I wouldn't be able to manually browse and extract files via the Finder.  And yes, it makes regular TM backups every day too.  It's only the "Enter Time Machine" UI that is partly broken.  I say "partly" because some backups (very recent) display, but I cannot access all the backups.  It's very strange.
    Any thoughts would be appreciated.
    Thank you.

    We need some clarification on what your requirements might be, since you state that you want to be able to open Time Machine and see backups that were made since you installed Yosemite.....AND....older backups on the drive that were made before you installed Yosemite.
    When Yosemite is installed it is supposed to add all of the data included in the Yosemite operating system and combine that with your history of backups with other operating systems. For a number of reasons.....Yosemite does not always do this.....so what happens is that Yosemite starts a whole new "master" backup of your Mac at the time and then begins to add incremental backups since Yosemite has been installed.
    When that happens, and you click Enter Time Machine from the menu bar at the top of the screen, you will only see the backups that have been made since Yosemite was installed.  Other backups are grayed out on the Time Machine interface display and cannot be accessed......even though the backup data is present on the hard drive, and you can see the data or folders displayed using the Finder.
    If you want Time Machine to display current backups.....AND....older backups when you click Enter Time Machine, your only option would be to try to reinstall Yosemite to see if the new installation will display current backups and older backups on the same Time Machine interface.
    There is absolutely no assurance that this will be successful if you try it.  Your call on that.
    What might work......IF.....you can lower your requirements to have both new and old backups displayed on the same Time Machine interface.....and instead have current Yosemite backups displayed on one Time Machine interface and the older backups on another, or separate Time Machine interface.......is to try the Browse Other Time Machine Disks option.
    You do not mention at all whether or not you have tried the Browse Other Time Machine Disks in this post or in your video. I assume that you tried this, since it is mentioned in Pondini's documentation and also other Apple Time Machine documentation, and it also did not work for some reason.
    But, if you have not done this......and you can lower your display requirements......you might want to try.
    1) From your normal Mac desktop, make sure that the "dock" , normally at the bottom of the screen,  is displayed......and that the Time Machine icon is displayed there as well.
    2) Control-Click.....or.....Right-Click the Time Machine icon to see if an option to Browse Other Time Machine Disks is displayed
    3) Click on Browse Other Time Machine Disks
    4) If an option to use another disk is displayed, click on the disk to highlight it, then click Use This Disk
    What happens when you do this?

  • Time Machine filled up? HOW?

    I recently completely rebooted my macbook, and restored it from a time machine backup. Now all my previous backups have been deleted and when it tries to make a new backup I get a message telling me that i do not have enough space on my external harddrive. The problem is that before my backup i had loads of backups and still space left. Now it's telling me that it can't even backup once?
    I don't understand what's happened. HELP!

    likefoxes,
    Actually, it did not "delete" your old backups. They are still there. However, because you reinstalled your OS, TM perform a new full backup. You can still access the old backups but they will not be linked to the new ones. See the following:
    *_Time Machine Always Performs a Full Backup After a Full Restore_*
    Actually, this is normal. Anytime your hardware has changed, or you have reinstalled the operating system again, Time Machine will perform a new full backup. Consider the following according to the KB article below:
    *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]
    So even on unchanged hardware, if you reinstall your system software and restore your user data, Time Machine starts anew, and you will not be able to resume backing up with the same history as the previous backups.
    While there may be ways to fool/hack Time Machine into recognizing previous backups without performing another full backup, they are likely rather elaborate.
    Ultimately, though, in a couple of months, all the effort to preserve old backups may seem pointless. After all, Time Machine will eventually purge away that data anyways as it replaces it with new files.
    It may simply be easier to begin a fresh series of backups while saving the previous backups until your satisfied that you have enough history built up. Then delete the old backups.
    Hope this clarifies some things.
    Cheers!

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