2 back up drives
I have a mac pro with 4 1 TB hard drives. one is a system drive, one i use for media. the other two are for back ups. I was hoping i could set time machine to have the third and fourth drive back up the first and second drive. If i can only use one drive for time machine, what happens if i go over 1 TB between the first two drives? this is frustrating. does apple plan to improve Time Machine so one can assign more than one drive as a back up?
nyc steve wrote:
I have a mac pro with 4 1 TB hard drives. one is a system drive, one i use for media. the other two are for back ups. I was hoping i could set time machine to have the third and fourth drive back up the first and second drive.
this is not possible and isn't going to be possible due to the way TM backups are structured. you can either use a different backup solution for one of your drives as baltwo suggests or RAID the two backup drive into one volume and back up everything to that. but keep in mind that a TM drive should be at least twice as big as the total amount of data you want to back up. if you can not provide that don't use TM for backups and use something else.
If i can only use one drive for time machine, what happens if i go over 1 TB between the first two drives? this is frustrating. does apple plan to improve Time Machine so one can assign more than one drive as a back up?
Message was edited by: V.K.
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just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented. is it wise to do this or should i not??
Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd.
Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set.
1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price.
I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there.
Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB?
Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopard
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009
where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings. -
How do I recover a "Note" from a back-up drive?
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This procedure will revert the whole Notes database to a previous version. It's not possible to restore individual notes.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes
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Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
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Log out or restart and empty the Trash.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return. -
Defrag Time Machine Back Up Drive??
getwellroad
Level 1 (0 points)
Jul 6, 2011 9:50 AM
i previously posted this question, but I mistakenly clicked my own comment as the correct answer. i think this makes the thread appear to be finished; so, because i'm still not completely sure what to do, i have attempted to copy and paste the discussion here:Sorry.
Just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented. is it wise to do this or should i not??
Grant Bennet-AlderWest of Boston, USALevel 7 (27,805 points)
If your backups take a few seconds longer, so what. I say leave it alone.Beige G3, G4/867, G4/dual 1.25 MDD, MacPro'09 w cheap SSD, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier, and 9.2, 10.5 and Server - LW IIg, LW 4/600, ATalk ImageWriter L
The hatterLevel 8 (42,475 points)
Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd. Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set. 1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price. I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there. Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB? Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopardhttps://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings.
getwellroad
my boot drive is my internal hardrive which is a 250 GB drive. The drive i am using for TM is 500GB, but you are saying that is really too small. TM, as i understand it, creates a copy of everything, and then subsequent backups record any changes that were made since the last backup. and what do you mean "bootable clones" and do you mean for my internal hard drive AND each of the 3 external hard drives that i have? i'm using one of the three for backup using TM, and i am storing movie files on the other 2. i work at a church, and we use many short films that we purchase online. i then import that file into iMovie to give my volunteers a consistent second and a half of black before the clip and 4 seconds of black at the end of the clip. This provides smoother transitions, i've found, than trying to use most of the clips in their original form. i then have been filing these away in folders on the other 2 hard drives. Regarding the TM drive. Drive Genius is telling me that "the used space on the volume 02 [that's the name of the drive] is 25% fragmented (59.14% of total space).
btw, Time Machine keeps:hourly backups for the past 24 hoursdaily backups for the past monthweekly backups for all previous monthsand the oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full.
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), LaCie d2 Quadra 500GB external driv1st) A fragmented drive is not evil. It will not hurt anything. At worse it might slow down reading a file. However, as has been pointed out by others in this thread, who cares as this is a backup device, not a device you are going to be reading a lot.
2nd) The time you spend defragmenting the drive will far exceed the time you will save when writing new data to the drive.
3rd) Defragmentation will just increase your energy consumption, as all the reading/writing needed to move the files around in order to defragment it, will cause the drive to consume more energy than if it was just sitting idle waiting for the next hourly Time Machine backup.
4th) Defragmentation (if done frequently) may shorten the life of your drive. Not mentioned in "3rd" above is that the extra energy used translates into heat, plus you are moving the read/write heads back and forth all of which affect the drives mechanical and electrical components.
NOTE: There are situations where having a defragmented drive is useful, but mostly it has to do with needing to stream media at a high rate of speed, and fragmented files can affect that. However, a backup drive being used for incremental Time Machine backups is not in that category, and most home Mac usage does not need a defragmented file system either. -
Has anyone successfully used a "WD My Book for Mac" via NAS (plugged into USB port on router) as a Time Machine back-up drive? Apple support tech tried to tell me it wasn't possible and that the only NAS Time Machine could back up to is the Time Capsule, but I'm not buying it. I know it's doable, but I'm having a hard time figuring out which External HDDs will work and which ones won't. If not My Book for Mac, is there an External HDD that will work? (Running OS X 10.9.1 - Mavericks, btw...)
Given the nature of backups, my recommendation has always been to use a strategy that is unequivocally supported by Apple. As you already determined Apple Support unequivocally informed you that your proposal will not work, unless your router is an Apple AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.
The exhaustive list of devices supported by Time Machine amounts to the following:
AirPort Time Capsule's built-in hard disk (any model)
External USB hard disk drive connected to a Time Capsule (any model)
External USB hard disk drive connected to an AirPort Extreme (current model only)
A hard disk drive directly connected to your Mac
That is all.
Use whatever backup device you want, but you should be aware that this site is full of reports of misery from hapless individuals who had been using NAS devices for Time Machine backups, only to find that they were incomplete, corrupted, or useless when they were required. Apple won't care if you lose your data while using a Time Machine configuration specifically excluded from their technical support documents. -
I recently backed up my iMAC and Simpletech external hard-drive to a 1 TB WD Passport external hard drive, using Time Machine's back-up utility. Today, I tried to access my iphoto library from the back-up drive, but received a message saying "the iPhoto library is a Time Machine back up, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPHoto with options key held down to choose another library." Since my Simpletech died on me, what other iPhoto library is it expecting me to access? I know approximately 169 GB were backed up, and my iPhoto library is roughly 54 GB.
Angie in CharlotteThanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner. -
Running more than one time machine back up drive
I have a back up drive assigned as my offices time machine back up drive.
I need to set up an off site back up drive too. I know that time machine will only allow a connection to one back up destination at once.
What problems could i encounter if i set up a off site drive as another time machine drive, disconnect on site drive and connect the off site drive to back up.
ThanksThat will work just fine, other than the hassle of having to tell Time Machine every time you swap.
Give the drives at least slightly different names (that's for you; Time Machine knows they're different).
Each set of backups will be complete and independent. When you do a backup to either one, it will contain all the changes you've made since the last backup +*to that drive.+*
The first backup after a swap may take a bit longer than usual, as there may be more changes to "catch up" with, but otherwise there should be no troubles. -
The disk drive in my iMac 8,1 has stopped working, so I now use an LG 8x Slim Portable that works. However, every time I use the LG drive, I lose contact with my Time Machine back-up drive that has to be deleted and reinstalled. Help!
It's not Logic that can't find them, it's your Komplete apps, though if you did exaclty as you say I can see no reason why they can't.
Do you know where the apps installed them in the first place? I chose a non-standard locarion for mine, but I'm sure it installs sounds to your documents folder/native instruments/name of app.
Go into the prefs of each app and choose the library location button on the library tab and point it to the relevant folder in documents/native instruments and see if that works
jake -
I tried to manually clear my Time Machine back up drive (a La Cie) of some of the older backups. But now the Trash is filled with files (over 130,000) and it doesn't seem to want to trash them - it's taking forever!! how do I get rid of them now in a quicker way?
dear Sue
i've tried the alt solution to empty trash but it does not work
I still got the -8003 error
for emptying time machine backups that i foolishly put in the trash
i've also tried this solution using terminal and it did not work either
http://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal
any help you might offer would be greatly appreciated
i am using a 24 inch iMac
OSX 10.6.8
Message was edited by: summer_laughter -
I have an Airport Express that connects to my printer. I'd like to add a scanner, and two back up drives (one for use with Time Capsule, another specifically for photographs backed up from Adobe Lightroom.
The printer connects to the Airport Express through a USB hub and is recognized. I cannot get the scanner nor either of the back up drives to be recognized. Is there a way to do it or will I need to rely on a USB hub wired to the USB port of the MacBookPro? If it is possible, can you walk me through the set up for each?
Thanks,
Doug EarleI'd like to add a scanner, and two back up drives (one for use with Time Capsule, another specifically for photographs backed up from Adobe Lightroom.
Unfortunately, the USB port on the AirPort Express will only work with a compatible printer.
It will not work with a scanner, copier, or hard drive.
It should be possible to do what you want by connecting a powered USB hub to your Mac and then connecting the devices to the powered hub.
The setup for the scanner and hard drive would be covered by the manfacturers documentation, so providing specific advice for those types of products would be outside the realm of this support area.
But, if you can provide model numbers, it is always possible that another user who is using those products might see this post. -
How do I partition my Time Machine back up drive (G-Drive) to back up both my IMac and my MacBook Air?
That's not needed, but if you want to do it, use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to create a new partition.
(70423) -
Accidentally deleted the Time Machine back up drive!
After a hard drive faliure, I was trying to get my new hard drive ready to import from an external hard drive through Time Machine. In the process, I deleted my back up drive (the availble room is the same as hard drive's capacity). What I'm confused about, is that there was no warning and 4 years worth of data disapeared all of a sudden. No bar showing the data is being deleted or at least moved to the trash can. Is this possible and if yes, is there any way I can retrieve those data?
Thanks,
AmirDId you Erase or Format it via Disk Utility? If so, yes there was a warning.
If not, what did you do?
You may be able to recover most of the data, but it will not be easy. See Data Recovery -
Time Machine back up drive nearly Full, Can I...
My 1Tb back up drive (backup A) is nearly full with multiple networked computers using Time Machine.
I have a new 1Tb drive (backup A1) installed and ready to go as my next back up drive.
If I redirect my time machines backups to the new disc (A1) in order to keep drive (A) from filling and overwriting, will i be able to reconnect in the future to disc A's backup files?
Is there a procedure to follow or am i naive in thinking that i will be able to reconnect to my older backups?
Thanks for your help!not quit sure what you mean by reconnect here. after you designate drive A1 as the TM drive in TM system preferences you'll be able to access past backups on drive A using browse mode. control-click on TM in the dock and choose "browse other TM disks". and if you ever want to go back to using drive A as the backup drive just reselect it as the backup drive in TM system preferences.
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Time Machine Back-Up Drive Question
Is it possible to use the Time Machine External Drive for storing information aside from back-up files, while using it for Time Machine at the same time? For example, I collect live shows of a certain band. Would it be possible to store the music files on the Time Machine Back-Up drive and still be able to use the drive for Time Machine? Thanks in advance.
Ben Goodkind wrote:
Is it possible to use the Time Machine External Drive for storing information aside from back-up files, while using it for Time Machine at the same time? For example, I collect live shows of a certain band. Would it be possible to store the music files on the Time Machine Back-Up drive and still be able to use the drive for Time Machine? Thanks in advance.
No problem but I suggest this:
Create a folder for you personal backups and put everything in them.
TM will create a unique folder for itself and it will be happy with that.
I have, on my G5, a TM drive that also has several old backup folders, (Not TM) which live perfectly with TM.
Just don't put anything into the TM folder.! -
Macbook pro OS 10.7.5, what is the best external back up drive to use with it?
Hi
I have a Macbook pro OS 10.7.5 and am looking for an external back up drive. What external back up drives do people recommend?T4444 wrote:
Hi
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We don't know which MBP you have so start by establishing what ports you have on the MBP that you can connect an external drive to. It'll have USB ports, but if they're USB 2.0, a full, bootable backup could take a very long time. If it's USB 3.0, backups can go a lot quicker. The USB external HD's are common and relatively inexpensive. If you have a Thunderbolt port, that's very fast but the externals compatible with it tend to be more expensive.
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