Back up to two external discs

How to back up my iMac to two external discs?  I am now using Airport Time Capsule as one of my external backup drives, and want on a weekly schedule to add another backup drive to be stored off-site. 

Simply buy another EHD and purchase either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, both have the ability to schedule backups. Visit each vendors website, determine whch product you prefer (both do the same thing) and that's pretty much it. Both SD and CCC will cost you about $40.
Personally I use a Time Machine (TM) on one EHD and use SuperDuper on another drive. However there are many users on these forums that use CCC and are extremely happy.

Similar Messages

  • Backing up to two external hard drives

    I have two external hard drives - a LaCie FireWire (my first purchase) and a small Targus USB (used while travelling). Backup software is Silverkeeper. I used the LaCie exclusively for about six months with no problems. The initial backup was lengthy but subsequent backups were much quicker, since it was merely an updating process.
    The LaCie stayed at home and the Targus was used for four months. It performed in exactly the same manner.....lengthy on initial backup but quicker on subsequent backups.
    What happens now is that every time I try to do a backup, alternating between the two hard drives, the software indicates that no backup has ever been performed and I must start from "scratch". In addition, I get a window telling me that if I want to create a bootable back-up, the destination volume must be totally blank. (I do realize that only the FireWire drive can be a bootable copy).
    I am totally baffled. Any suggestions?

    Sue
    Whilst I totally recommend SuperDuper!, and use it myself, be aware that the more advanced features like the fast Smart Backups and scheduling are only available from the full (registered version). The free version will only do a full and complete clone.
    That said I think SD! is well worth the asking price and definitely my primary choice.
    15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4,   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   Cube, 2xTAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

  • Time Machine backing up on two external hard drives.

    Hi guys!
    My question is if I can use two external HDs at the same time with Time Machine, backing up different content on each one?!
    Let's say:
    My Movies folder and My Music folder to external HD 1;
    My Documents folder and My Pictures folder to external HD 2.
    Is there a way of doing it? because my iMac has 250GB and my external HDs have 100GB and 80GB each one.
    Thanks!

    You might have a better chance of getting a solid answer to this question over in the Time Machine forum. In general since TM does incremental backups anything smaller than your current system drive is usually too small. However you can designate TM to only backup certain files and folders. I do not know if you can set it to back up to multiple drives/partitions as there is no user setting to do this.
    George

  • Is back-up to TWO external drives possible?

    Is there a trick anyone knows of to use two backup disks for time machine?
    Here's my situation:
    - two 150GB external drives (total of 300GB for backups)
    - need to back up ~240 GB from the computer to these drives
    - only one destination drive is allowed by time machine, so it won't even start the initial back up as the source files are greater than 150 GB (the size of one external drive).
    - I know file exclusion is an option, but I have over 150 GB that needs to be backed up! I can't exclude enough to make them fit....
    So, I have enough space for backups, but it's on two external disks! Is there any way to get time machine to accept or use both drives? Anyone know of any tricks?
    Thanks!
    Selena M.

    How big a drive depends on what you're really backing up. You noted you used to back up your system; you might be unaware that a "system backup" in TM is not the same thing as what you used to do (well, I'm assuming a bit here - that is, you wouldn't be able to "fix" a corrupted system just by dragging your TM backup stuff onto your main drive again).
    The size of the backup drive also depends on the kind of work you do. If you do video or heavy-duty Photoshop stuff, those files, and their incremental backups, take up a lot of room. If you surf, email, and use word processor, those are compact files whose incremental backups take up tiny amounts of space. Also consider that, although you currently have 240 gig on your drive, lots of that is System and Applications, and very little of that changes, so the initial backup is almost the only copy of that stuff that's going to go on your backup drive.
    In all, Apple's occasional recommendation of 2.5 times the size of your working drive for the size of your TM drive is, for many, or most, people, not necessary. In all likelihood, 500GB is going to be fine. In some of my experiments, I've used a 30GB (not a typo) backup drive for my laptop's 120GB drive, backing up only my User-folder stuff with no problem, using it for many weeks. While I don't do a lot of iPhoto stuff, and no movies, I do have tons of Word documents, and half-tons of large InDesign and Photoshop files. I had plenty of room for the initial backup, the current one, and 2-3 weeks of interval backups. (No system backup, no Applications folder backup, excluded things like the Trash, etc).
    When you get your new drive - don't discard the old ones - or, at least, keep one of the old ones. Make it your emergency startup drive, with a system on it in case your main system goes wonky; also, use it if you use something like Entourage, or a PC-emulation software - you don't want TM backing up those files, but you should be backing them up, and an occasional drag of those files to your "special backup" disk can be lifesaver.
    s.

  • Backing up to two external drives at same time

    I have two external drives, one for Time Machine and one using SuperDuper, both using USB. Can both be running at the same time or should one be disconnected before running a backup on the other? Thanks

    Both can be used at the same time.
    If the backups run at the same time, both will be trying to use USB at the same time, so both will be slowed down.
    Unless TM is doing a large backup, though, the impact should not be great.
    And it's best to leave them connected at all times, rather than connect and disconnect (unless you're taking one off-site).

  • Backing up to two external drives simultaneously?

    I have an external 2TB drive that I use with my MacBook Pro. 
    Costco right now has 3TB Seagate drives for $99 and I plan to buy two ... one as my main external drive and another as a mirror backup. 
    I want to transfer the contents of the old 2TB drive to both 3TB drives at the same time, mainly because of the amount of time it takes to transfer that much data and to save those extra hours of running time on the old 2TB drive if it has to be done twice.
    Can this be done?  I've never copied files to more than one backup drive at a time and I don't find anything about it on google.  No idea what steps I would need to take to copy contents of one drive to two other drives at the same time.

    Well you got this problem.
    All hard drives come from the factory with a certain number of bad sectors on the drive.
    There is a automatic mapping off process in place to catch failing sectors, but it doesn't work on completely failed sectors with your data on it, thus people tend to lose files, especially if they are large.
    Sometimes those lost files are system or preference files, which we use do to spend a lot of time assisting people here to solve them.
    Now the odds of you having more bad sectors increases with larger drives, but there is a method to catch most of them before you lay your precious data on them and using it as guinea pig.
    Then there is a question of what file format to use on the external drive, because if you don't plan ahead your copying all the data off, then formatting, then copying all the data back onto the drive.
    There is a cross platform format called exFAT that works fine with Windows, Linux and Mac's that all can read and write, also use larger than 4GB sized files.
    Most drives come formatted FAT32, which has a 4GB file size limit.
    However, Mac's don't format the exFAT format so Windows can use it correctly, however Windows will format exFAT correctly and Mac's can use it no problem. Why is this? I don't know.
    Anyway this is what I propose you do since you abhor the lenghtly copying.
    1: Select each drive in Disk Utility and click Erase > Security Option > Zero All Data (or move the slider one spot to the right and click Erase.)  This is going to take a long time to finish because it's going to write Zeros to the entire drive, then read it back for verification. Do not use 3x-7x as it will take days to finish. If the drive fails the Zero, it's likely bad and needs replacement. Better found out now than later with your precious data on it.
    2: So once the Disk Utility > Zero (format irrelevant) is completed on both drives, take each to the oldest Windows version your going to use, XP is the big problem. If it doesn't have exFAT installed, there is a free install just search Microsofts site for it.
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=19364
    Right click and format exFAT on Windows on each drive, it will apply the proper Partition Table for each depending, XP uses a MBR and Vista, Win7/8 and OS X use GUID.
    Again, do NOT format exFAT on a Mac if your ever going to use it with a PC as it can't read it.
    If your NEVER going to use the drives with a Windows machine, then when your Zeroing in Disk Uitlity, choose GUID and OS X Extended Journaled as the format.
    3: Once the two drives are formatted, your good to go copying files.
    Writes are usually slightly slower than reads, unless your drive your reading from is slow or suffers from bad secor issues.
    So if you copy from one drive to two, there might be some slight performance gain, but it's only the small difference between read and writes speeds of the parent and child drives. On a large copy if might trim off some minutes, but no way can it copy two drives in the time it takes to do one.
    You likely heard of "Mirrored RAID" or RAID 1, this is a more pernament solution for servers mostly that DOES write to two drives exactly at the same time. However the drives in a RAID setup are paired up and it's difficult to unpair them once the RAID is setup and use them like normal file drives like you intend to do.
    I always intended to write a User Tip how to resolve this unpairing RAID issue, but rarely does anyone use RAID on Mac's anymore.
    So your best solution is to set a lot of time aside and let the machine do the work (non-RAID) when your not using it.
    Having the max amount of RAM in the machine will assist greatly.

  • Best use of two external hard discs

    I have been reading the faq and some of the answers to recent questions, so I think I have the general idea, but will explain and ask for advice, as I don't want to do something stupid.
    The first external disc has been running well, however it is partitioned into 4, one of which has Time Machine which is out of space. One of the other partitions has my iphoto library, and another has the iTunes/Music library. The final partition has dvd.img files.
    The new (not yet "set up") disc is plugged in, running, and now awaits my attention.
    From what I've read, it looks as if my objective to let the new disc handle Time Machine and transfer ? it from the older disc, then redistribute stuff on the older disc to give everything more room will provide the best result. If you agree, what is the best way to get the job done ?
    Both external discs are La Cie 500GB HiSpeed USB2
    Your advice will be much appreciated
    Eric

    Let me ask you a question, first: Since both externals are the same size, the new one can't back-up both your internal HD and much, if any, of the old external. If you don't have separate backups of the other partitions on the old external, would you consider returning the new drive and exchanging it for one large enough to back-up everything?
    But in answer to your main question, yes, letting TM have exclusive use of the new drive is most likely your best option. That way, you have the most important part of a good backup strategy: (at least) two copies of everything important in (at least) two different places.
    To transfer your backups from the current partition to the new disk, see #18 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
    When that's done, I'd recommend excluding the old partition from TM temporarily (TM Preferences > Options). Run a backup or two to the new drive and be sure you can see and restore from them properly before deleting the old partition.
    Redistributing things on the old drive may be tricky, depending on where the partitions are. If they're not backed-up somewhere, you really should do so before making any changes (just in case Murphy comes visiting).
    As you probably know, Disk Utility will show a diagram of them when you select the top line for the drive in the DU sidebar and click the Partition tab.
    You can delete any partition, and you can expand any partition if there's empty space below it by dragging the lower-right corner down. (You may be able to shrink one by dragging it up, but only if there's enough contiguous empty space at the bottom.)
    But you cannot move the top of a partition, either up or down.
    You may be able to do what you need to do by copying one partition to another (use the duplicate tab just as you did with the Time Machine partition); or copy selected things from one to another via drag and drop with the Finder.

  • Two internal discs backed up. One fails. How to recover one disc ?

    I have two internal discs:
    (1) System Disc - where leopard is installed
    (2) Data Disc - all my data
    I have one external drive for Time-machine backups.
    I turned on Time-machine and it's default behavior was to back up both my internal discs to my single external disc - great !
    Now the internal System disc, which includes leopard, has failed and I need to replace it.
    I want to recover the system including Leopard onto the new system disc. You recover a system by booting off the Leopard installation DVD then selecting "restore from Time-machine" from a pull down menu.
    It appears that you have to recover all the data (which was backed up from both internal drives) onto the new drive.
    There is not possible to recover the data for one drive only. Time-machine prompts you to recover everything on a single target drive.
    This looks like a design fault in Time-machine ? Any suggestions appreciated.

    mkstephens wrote:
    I have two internal discs:
    (1) System Disc - where leopard is installed
    (2) Data Disc - all my data
    I have one external drive for Time-machine backups.
    I turned on Time-machine and it's default behavior was to back up both my internal discs to my single external disc - great !
    Now the internal System disc, which includes leopard, has failed and I need to replace it.
    I want to recover the system including Leopard onto the new system disc. You recover a system by booting off the Leopard installation DVD then selecting "restore from Time-machine" from a pull down menu.
    It appears that you have to recover all the data (which was backed up from both internal drives) onto the new drive.
    Is that really true?! have you carried out the process in full? If it is really the case, it's definitely a design flaw.
    There is not possible to recover the data for one drive only. Time-machine prompts you to recover everything on a single target drive.
    This looks like a design fault in Time-machine ? Any suggestions appreciated.

  • HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

    Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
    I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro.  I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive?  If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

    Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

  • 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.

  • HT3275 slow back up to external disc MBP mountain lion

    Hello,
    I'm trying to back up my MBP 2012 running Mountain Lion to my external disc (not the time capsule) but it is incredibly slow. It seems to start ok but gradually it slows down and goes from hours to days... I'm pretty sure the external drive is fine. This is my first back up and I understand it may take a few hours but this is ridiculous!
    Please help!!!!

    How is the external drive connected?
    Do a verify of the external drive and the local source drive.
    A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • Help.  After updating my software my external disc is "read" only.  How do I change this back to read and write?, help.  After updating my software my external disc is "read" only.  How do I change this back to read and write?

    Help.  After updating my software my external disc is "read" only.  How do I change it back to Read and Write?
    Thanks

    Have you formatted it for Mac using Disk Utility?
    If not, open Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities folder) and select the drive to the left. Make sure that you select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and then the erase button.
    If you have already formatted the drive, call back...
    Clinton

  • Time capsule & external drive - Time Machine Back-up of two macbooks - Can't connect

    My wife and I each have a macbook pro and want to back them up using Time Machine.  I had my macbook and a time capsule for a while before she got her laptop, so I backed mine up to the Time capsule - no problems.
    Now, I have purchased an external drive so that mine backs up onto the time capsule drive and hers is set to back up on the external drive due to space limitations.
    However, with hers set up, my macbook can no longer see its original back-up file.  Meaning that hers will back-up all the time, but mine can't ever connect.
    Is there a different configuration / setting that I should try to make this work?
    Help is greatly appreciated!

    I don't follow how the change on one laptop can affect the other, unless they are networked together in some way.. how is the second laptop connected??
    I suggest you reset Time Machine.. and rediscover the TC..
    A4 here http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    If you upgraded to Lion or ML recently that is the issue.. reboot the TC and maybe the whole network to clear the old IP addresses.

  • One person, one iPhone, one laptop. Two homes in two states, two external drives, two identical copies of my music library.  Many headaches.

    I feel like this question is asked endlessly on these boards, but somehow I still can't find a relevant answer... So, apologies for rehashing a variant of the same question!
    I have one (ancient) MacBook Pro, and one (ancient) iPhone.  I carry both back and forth between two states: the state where I work and the state where I live the rest of the time.  My ancient MBP and my ancient iPhone are too small to carry my whole music collection (which is quite large—larger than a new phone or laptop would reasonably support, anyway).   My mobile apps and my podcasts live on my laptop, but my music library lives on an external drive.  I have two external drives now, one in each state where I live/work.  I also have a copy of everything on my desktop machine at work, but I've given up long ago trying to sync to multiple computers.  I'll settle for now for syncing to one computer (my MBP), which sometimes is connected to one copy of my library, and sometimes is connected to another copy of my library. 
    I know that I can make multiple iTunes libraries, with duplicate copies of my podcast subscriptions, my apps, and my playlists and music, and keep switching which one my phone is set to sync to (wiping it each time, and possibly losing some settings in the process?)   But that's a pain in the neck.  Plus, it's hard to keep my podcasts active in both libraries, because iTunes podcast subscriptions are like frail little tamagotchi critters that need constant love, nurturing, and encouragement, or else they wither and die. 
    Is there any way to have a single library, with my apps and podcasts on the laptop, which just happens to make use of the "local" copies of my music on whichever external drive happens to be attached?
    Or do I need the google cloud + android if I want to unify my listening and syncing life?
    Thanks!

    Hi,
    There are several reasons which may cause the backup to be full instead of incremental, such as source volume snapshot is deleted, from which the last backup was taken.
    For more detailed information, please refer to the thread below:
    control incremental vs full backup on W2k8 R2
    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/7820edc7-18ef-4f6e-bb50-f87f4a728597/control-incremental-vs-full-backup-on-w2k8-r2?forum=windowsbackup
    There is a similar thread, please go through it to help troubleshoot this issue:
    Understanding Windows Small Business Server 2008 Backup - Full and Incremental with 2 Backup Destinations
    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/bdb3c5ae-81dc-4f54-a39e-4b888ee52476/understanding-windows-small-business-server-2008-backup-full-and-incremental-with-2-backup
    Regards,
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  • Is it possible to set up a backup between two external drives

    Is it possible to set up a backup between two external drives?
    i use time machine to back up my imac onto an external 2T.
    i also have two external 3T drives.  i am looking for redundancy of data, tried software RAID and it failed.  i also see some limitations with RAID that a backup would avoid.
    thanks for sharing your expertise.
    be well,
    tony

    so thanks to all of you, particularly rkaufmann87 i have decided to stop the plan of setting up a software RAID set.  instead i have downloaded ccc and am in the process of setting up the secone 3t external drive as a clone.  i will use time machine to back up the internal hard drive only and if possible see if i can clone that as well onto one of the 3t's.
    this gives me the peace of mind i sounght and avoids the problem of total corruption that exists with the raid solution i was exploring.
    thank you all for making this an enjoyable and informative experience.  what a powerful community.
    be well
    tony

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