Backing up an External Hard Drive using Time Machine

I have a brand new iMac 21.5" (late 2012) 3TB Time Capsule, and a 1 TB Western Digital Passport external drive. I use the Passport to share files between my iMac and MacAir.
I am using Time Machine to back up all my Apple Computers to Time Capsule.
I have formatted my Passport in Mac OS Extended Journaled, Encrypted.
I have the Passport set up to back up through Time Machine on the iMac.
It seems it backs up the entire Passport every time I hit Back up now onto the Time Capsule. But it only shows NOW as the only available revision in Time Machine.
It seems to be backing up the entire drive each time and not saving revisions. The only revision that is available is the NOW one.
I have disabled the security on the VCD portion of the Passport, it has Western Digital Software on it.
I have had the same issue with the Passport formatted in Mac OS Extended Journaled with no encryption as well. But I really need to passowrd protect the passport since I travel with it constantly in case I lose it.
Any ideas on how to get it to back up to Time Machine properly?

I backed up the iMac and Passport yesterday. It was successful. The issue seem to be incremental backups. It did not backup after my First original backup of the passport. The backups of the iMac seem to be working normal and at ever hour.
Here is a string of a Automatic backup this morning when the computer was "sleeping" with the passport connected. I did change the passport yesterday to Sleep to never before i plugged it in to my iMac using the software on my Mac Air.
12/21/12 7:46:29.454 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Starting automatic backup
12/21/12 7:46:29.459 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Brad%20Smith;AUTH=SRP@Smiley%20Blue._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Data
12/21/12 7:46:40.211 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Brad%20Smith;AUTH=SRP@Smiley%20Blue._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Data
12/21/12 7:46:40.000 AM kernel[0]: ASP_TCP asp_tcp_usr_control: invalid kernelUseCount 0
12/21/12 7:46:40.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/Data, pid 2071
12/21/12 7:46:40.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_mount : succeeded on volume 0xffffff81c8d40008 /Volumes/Data (error = 0, retval = 0)
12/21/12 7:46:51.394 AM mds[55]: (Error) Volume: Root store set to FSOnly with matching create! (loaded:1)
12/21/12 7:46:52.069 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Disk image /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
12/21/12 7:46:52.070 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
12/21/12 7:46:52.904 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
12/21/12 7:46:52.966 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Will copy (8 KB) from Macintosh HD
12/21/12 7:46:52.966 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Found 11 files (8 KB) needing backup
12/21/12 7:46:52.968 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: 900.9 MB required (including padding), 1.77 TB available
12/21/12 7:47:03.425 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Copied 227 files (8 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
12/21/12 7:47:03.437 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
12/21/12 7:47:03.438 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Will copy (Zero KB) from Macintosh HD
12/21/12 7:47:03.438 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Found 5 files (Zero KB) needing backup
12/21/12 7:47:03.438 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: 900.8 MB required (including padding), 1.77 TB available
12/21/12 7:47:07.789 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Copied 125 files (82 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
12/21/12 7:47:08.391 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Created new backup: 2012-12-21-074707
12/21/12 7:47:08.509 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Starting post-backup thinning
12/21/12 7:47:08.509 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
12/21/12 7:47:08.711 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Backup completed successfully.
12/21/12 7:47:11.153 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle
12/21/12 7:47:11.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount: /Volumes/Data, flags 0, pid 2097
12/21/12 7:47:11.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount : We are the last mnt/sbmnt using volume /Volumes/Data 0xffffff81c8d40008
12/21/12 7:47:11.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount : We are the last volume using socket /Volumes/Data 0xffffff81c8d40008
12/21/12 7:47:11.609 AM com.apple.backupd[2069]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
12/21/12 7:47:11.000 AM kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount : afpfs_DoReconnect sent signal for unmount to proceed
I am currently trying to run a Manual backup. When I go into Time Machine preferences it shows it backing up. But it is incrementally increasing what needs to back up. As it backs up what needs to be backed up keep increasing. It is currently at 25 GB and increasing.
12/21/12 11:32:29.083 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Starting manual backup
12/21/12 11:32:29.085 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data
12/21/12 11:32:30.476 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
12/21/12 11:32:31.628 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
12/21/12 11:32:31.629 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
12/21/12 11:32:32.748 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Forcing deep traversal on source: "Passport" (mount: '/Volumes/Passport' fsUUID: 953CB615-811D-34EF-A58D-6DD7A90A193B eventDBUUID: 01E640D8-2915-484E-8715-B9C29176B241)
12/21/12 11:32:36.354 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/Passport reason:must scan subdirs|require scan|
12/21/12 11:32:36.354 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Finished scan
12/21/12 11:32:52.530 AM System Preferences[2466]: Cannot setMachineString without first being authenticated
12/21/12 11:32:52.570 AM System Preferences[2466]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/21/12 11:32:52.571 AM System Preferences[2466]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/21/12 11:32:52.573 AM System Preferences[2466]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/21/12 11:32:52.574 AM System Preferences[2466]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/21/12 11:33:05.236 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Found 74801 files (52.7 MB) needing backup
12/21/12 11:33:05.239 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: 964.1 MB required (including padding), 1.77 TB available
12/21/12 11:33:18.575 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.qtkittrustedmoviesservice[2447]) Could not terminate job: 3: No such process
This String seems to pop up a few times while it is doing this manual backup
12/21/12 11:36:30.487 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
12/21/12 11:36:31.645 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
12/21/12 11:36:31.726 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data
12/21/12 11:36:33.084 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
12/21/12 11:36:34.334 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Disk image /Volumes/Data/iMac Home.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
12/21/12 11:36:34.411 AM com.apple.backupd[2297]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data
It is curretnly at backing up 36.0 GB of 39.65 GB and increasing.

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How to back up an external hard drive using Time Machine

I have a Macbook. I have iTunes. I have my iTunes folder and contents stored on an external (Lacie) hard drive. I want to be able to back up that external (Lacie) hard drive and my mac using Time Machine to a separate external hard drive. At the moment it is only my mac that is backed up, and not the Lacie. How can I also back up the Lacie so that only the recently added iTunes content is added? Cheers.

You may consider reading the detail in what third-party clone utilities could
do in regard to a backup clone and then use their utility to update that clone.
Once the copy/clone is made (a bootable backup, btw) the same utility can
be used to update the clone. Not certain how it works, and am a bit behind
on making backup bootable clones of my several Macs as it is. I do a whole
backup clone, though a partial or update supposedly is possible.
SuperDuper or CarbonCopy, I don't remember if one of them or both, do this.
Good luck in any event!

How can you tell which files have backed up to external hard drive using Time Machine?

Hello Mac Users,
I have Macbook Pro (early 2011) and recently purchased a WD My Passport for Mac external HD. I have completed a back up using Time Machine, however how do I tell what files actually were backed up? I have a ton of audio, documents and photos that I would like on there. Its a 2 TB HD, my memory is 750 GB... Im using 632. At end of back up, the drive still had 1.88 TB left. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
Linz19

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.
Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
tmutil compare | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
The command may take several minutes to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Don't post all the output; just read it yourself. Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.
Caution: Under some conditions, tmutil may falsely flag files as not having been backed up when in fact they have been. It can be confused by multi-linked files, or by files with a modification date earlier than the one in the snapshot. This will not be an issue for most users. If the results of the above procedure surprise you, inspect your snapshots directly.

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 just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?

I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.

sydababy wrote:
and then deleting them off of my computer.
BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous. One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
follow here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret.

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

I back up with an external hard drive using time machine. I am trying to reload my iphoto library from an earlier date then it will let me. How do I get to an earlier date in time machine?

I back up with an external hard drive using time machine. I am trying to reload my iphoto library but it won't let me get back to a date that I need to. How do I do this?

Try Pondini's articles;
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html - scroll down to the pink box for iPhoto restoation.
Also http://pondini.org/TM/15A.html to clarify how to use the timeline.

I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

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How do I 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!

How to backup external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ?

Hello,
i have an external hard drive which i store all my drum samples and sound library on and files are contantly changing, adding new sounds, deleting old ones etc ..
So my method of back up as of now is to just copy all the edited files and click and drag to the back up disk.
Now, my question is, how do i back up my external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ? I read somewhere that you can do this, i cant find the post however. It would be nice to automate the back up process rather than manually finding the files to copy over.
Thanks in advance !

The question you pose is conditional, in that you should have more than an exact
capacity replacement for a clone, if the drive you are going from (or one going to)
has insufficient free space and that has a bootable clone on the drive; any space
tied up in a partition for Time Machine backup, takes away from the running space
if you should need to run the computer from a clone on the external HDD's other
partition.... Better to have a good capacity of additional reserve unused free space.
Be sure any clone copy that you hope to use as a re-close, that each in turn is tested
after a clone operation. Also consider using each running system's Disk utility and
have First Aid 'repair disk permissions'. Preparation of a new drive or even an old
drive that may have questionable artifacts or errors on it, should be reformatted. To
even go as far as Secure Erase (overwrite) at least one-pass before reformatting it
again, could help.
However, I'm not sure if the drives and situation you are looking at would necessarily
be a good match. It could work, but you'd need a reasonable size partition or hard
disk drive for a system. Snow Leopard and all its associated applications, can do
OK in a 100GB HDD. (My computers have more storage capacity than is used; so
for mine to have 60% free space, is good.) Virtual Memory is drive space used by
OS X, that can be a substantial amount for swap and temp files. Some applications
make duplicates of works-in-progress, for each change in an open file; that adds up.
{This question (& my reply) should've been in their own thread & not at the end
of one that is nearly three months old, + marked 'solved' by the original poster.}
So I guess I don't have a direct answer to your question; having just returned from
a few hundred miles and automobile issues, too. I'm not really thinking on-topic...
The clone should be on its own separate drive, and up to 3TB drive dedicated to
Time Machine may be overkill, however that software will consume old backups first
when it uses up all the space. Or usually that is what happens in TM backups. If
that isn't happening, there may an issue in how Time Machine is set up.
Good luck & happy computing!

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,

Accessing back-ups on external hard-drive with Time Machine.

Hi guys,
I hope someone can help me with this problem. I am a novice at this so please be patient and forgive my ignorance.
I backed up the internal hard-drive of my '06 iMac onto an external Iomega 500GB hard-drive using Time Machine.
A couple of weeks later the internal hard-drive of my iMac fried and I got the " grey screen of death ".
Now I have the external hard-drive connected to my '06 MacBook.
There is 300GB of data on the external hard-drive. There is only 50GB of space available on my MacBook.
I would like to access my iPhoto on the external hard-drive but when I click on the iPhoto icon in Time Machine, I get "error code 10657 ".
I am NOT trying to do a full restore of the back-up onto the MacBook because :
1. There is not enough space available on the MacBook and
2. I will do a full restore when I have bought and installed a new bigger hard-drive into the iMac.
So, I guess my question is this : Is it possible for me to access my iPhoto on the external hard-drive using my MacBook without doing a complete transfer and if so, how ?
Thanking you in advance,
Sean.

If this is a network device, you can't back it up with Time Machine. If it's directly attached, and in Mac OS format, delete it from the exclusion list in the Time Machine preference pane.

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

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

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

Is it possible to back up an external hard drive to Time Machine from two different computers without creating two different records?

I have an external hard drive that I do my work on. I use it on my office MacPro and on my MacBook Pro. I have Time Machine setup on both computers to back up the external hard drive to a remote backup drive, but when it backs it up, the backup goes into either the MacPro record of it, or the MacBook Pro record. The effect of this is that if I'm at my laptop and I need to access an earlier version of a file that existed when I was working on my MacPro, I can't access it.
Is it at all possible to create a universal record (or Sparse Disk Image Bundle to use Apple lingo) for my external hard drive?

Hi BDAqua,
Thanks for your help as always, sorry I never thanked you earlier, finally got some time to attend this.
I'm in the mail folder in the library of my user name. Just to make sure I get all my mail boxes I'm going to archive simply the whole 'Mail' folder after going in to the library of my unsername.
I notice you mentioned about importing there .... I've seen the .emix files you mention .... i have 30,000+ of them.
What I find helpful in mail is that if I type a client's second name, in this case 'Lopez' I can pull up all the mails relating to him in an instant, around 450. Obviously it would be impossible to pick through 30K .emix files to find the right ones .... so could I easily import them in to my Mail on my new computer?
Could I select the whole lot of them, then drag and drop them in to my new Mail on the new computer, and then use the search function on Mail? ... the normal desktop search function doesn't seem to look through the emix files, or emails for that matter.
Also, just as an extra precaution, could I make a smart folder in Mail with the name of said client for example for, then archive that folder separately?
TY
Message was edited by: Scottishengineer

I recently updated to Mountain lion 10.8 . I backuped using external hard drive using time machine . I used Lacie drive. I had to format it MAC OSX " extended journaled" before I could back up my dat and after that I backed it up.

1) I cant seem to restore my data back from Time machine as many files seem Locked. I cant use the Migration app since it doesnt show me my external hard drive when I try to use it. Plus Ive heard that Migration app copies whole drives rather than selecting and copying some folders/data.
2) Even if i use the time machine to restore the data , It does copy on to my mac but that locked symbol is still there .
3) I have read that my drive wont show on migration application cuz the OS should be same before and after the backup and there shouldnt be any difference , otherwise the migration app wont show the drive. This is absurd cuz mostly ppl back up because they want to upgrade their computers . It will never be the same , I mean the OSX , cuz after i have done the back there would have been an upgrade .
Can anyone help Linc Davis .

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.

Backing up an External Hard Drive using Time Machine

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