Backing up external hard drive to time capsule?

Hello,
I have a 13-inch MacBook Pro and am quickly running out of space on my internal HD. I currently back up my computer regularly to a simple usb-connected external hard drive (MyPassport; 500 gb). I would love suggestions for externally expanding my memory and for backing up both what is on my internal and external hard drive. I was thinking I could use my 500 gb external hard drive currently working with Time Machine as my place to store more things (thus I would erase all the backups on that disk and use it for more storage of new things) and get a new hard drive to back up my computer and external hard drive. I was thinking of getting a Time Capsule for this (to backup both my computer and an external hard drive). Can this be done? Can I back up both an external hard drive and my computer to a Time Capsule, and if so would I have to plug the external hard drive directly into the capsule, or how would I back up the external hard drive to the Time Capsule? Because I can not use a Time Capsule as a place to store new material and a place to backup that new material and my computer, I would appreciate any suggestions for expanding my storage and backing up that expansion and my internal hard drive.
Thanks in advance!

TM is no problem working with external drive and backing up both to the TC.. the external drive simply has to be available when TM is doing the backup.. and ensure it is not excluded in the TM preferences.

Similar Messages

Back up external hard drive to time capsule w/ time machine?

I have a LaCie external drive that I use for Digital Performer and Reason projects. I also have a Time Capsule which backs up my computer via Time Machine. My question is: when my LaCie drive is mounted to my desktop, will Time Machine also back up the data on the LaCie drive, or only the alias of the drive? If not, is there any way I can set up Time Machine to capture both the data on my MacBook Pro's hard drive as well as the LaCie drive? Or, do I have to manually copy the files on the LaCie drive into the Time Capsule?

How about a MS-DOS (FAT-32) formatted flash drive that I use to go between my Mac and the Windoze world at work? Will that backup via Time Machine? If not, can I reformat the disk as a Mac formatted drive and expect it to work on my windows machines? If that won't work, I am looking for an automated solution to backing up my flash drive everytime I plug in...
Thanks, in advance, for any help provided.

How can I back up external hard drives to time capsule?

I own an iMac and have two external drives hooked up to it. I also have a time capsule. Is it possible to back up the external drives automatically or manually to the Time Capsule?
-knarfy

I don't think Time Machine would work, but SuperDuper! (to a disk image on the Time Capsule) or Retrospect, or another backup program could do it.

Back up external hard drive to time capsule

Argh! I'm trying to backup my LaCie hard drive (where I store my music) to the Time Capsule. The LaCie has been deleted from the "do not backup list" in TC prefs, and in the "do not backup list" it states that the "full backup" size matches the amount of data included in my SSHD and the LaCie, but TC is only backing up the amount of data on my SSHD, indicating that the LaCie isn't getting backed up even though it's being recognized. How can I fix this problem? Thanks guys!

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

How do you back up an external hard drive with time capsule?

how do you back up an external hard drive with time capsule?

Will time capsule back up the machine and the hard drive that is plugged into the machine?
Yes, if the hard drive with the video files is formatted correctly for Mac
On the Mac with the hard drive connected....click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the screen
Click Time Machine Preferences
Click Options
Here you will see a list of items that have been excluded from backups
Click the name of the hard drive to highlight it
Click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of excluded items
The hard drive will now be backed up with your Mac on the next pass that Time Machine makes

Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule for off site back up?

I like having a copy of everything at another site in case of a house fire. Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule to make a duplicate of what is on Time Capsule? I would store that hard drive at work and bring it home monthly or something to back up Time Capsule. Thanks!

Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule to make a duplicate of what is on Time Capsule?
That is exactly what the Archive function on the Time Capsule is for. Connect a USB drive and click Archive, and a mirror image of your Time Capsule will be copied over to the USB drive. It's a slow process that will take 4-8 hours depending on how much data is on the Time Capsule, so best to start things late at night and let them run overnight.
Another option would be to use a commercial application like Carbon Copy Cloner to keep your backup. The advantage to this approach is that once the first "master" backup is done, the application will only back up the changes on the Time Capsule that have occurred since the last backup. So, subsequent backups will be much faster, probably only taking about 10-15 minutes.

I transferred data from my external hard drive to my restored Mac Book Pro via migration assistant and now my external hard drive in time capsule has red minus signs. How do I get rid of that without getting rid of any of my data?

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my external hard drive via Time Capsule to my restored Mac Book Pro. When I now go into Time Capsule I there are red minus signs in the corner of all the folders that are contained in my back up. How do I get rid of this and access my previous back-ups?

Select the drive and Finder > Get info and at the bottom "ignore permissions on this volume"
You can copy the files, but the ownership on the files still belongs to the other user account, once your done copying, then perform a #6 Reset Users Permissions and that will set all the ownership to that account.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Another method is to copy the entire folder, then change it's permissions.

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.

How to export photo to external hard drive? (time capsule 3t)?

cant find photo in hard drive. where does iphoto store photo? i looked for the foler everwhere....

how to export photo to external hard drive? (time capsule 3t)?
Simple - launch iPhoto, select the phtoos and export (file menu ==> export) to the destination of yoru choice - see the user tip onexporting for details on the export optiopns - https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto?view=documents
However is the Time Capsule being used for Time Machine backups? If it is do not use it as an external drive too - it needs to be dedicated to one use only
cant find photo in hard drive. where does iphoto store photo? i looked for the foler everwhere....
And this is a totally different question - by default in your iPhoto library - and to access then see the user tip on accessing yoru iPhoto files - https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto?view=documents
You never access them directly - always using the supported access methods
LN

How do I backup my external hard drive to time capsule?

How do I back up my external hard drive to time my time capsule?

Two requirements:
1) The drive must be connected directly to your Mac via USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt.
2) The drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
After both requirements have been confirmed......
Click the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen
Click Time Machine Preferences
Click Options
Here you will see a list of items that are currently Excluded from backups, so your hard drive will appear here.
Click on the name of the hard drive to highlight it
Click on the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from the list of items that are Excluded from backups
The drive will be backed up on the next pass that Time Machine makes. Time Machine will continue to back up any changes that are made on the hard drive on subsequent backups.

Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule?

Is it possible to "extend" Time Capsule storage with an external hard drive? If I connect a hard drive to Time Capsule using its USB slot, would I be able to access it wirelessly from my Mac the same as I access the built-in Time Capsule drive? If so, will it be slower than the native drive?

1. No.
2. Yes. The external drive will be treated as a separate volume instead of adding to the capacity of the internal drive.
(119108)

Move data from external hard drive to time capsule

I want to move data from my external USB hard drive to time capsule.
If I drag and drop, it seems go through my computer, and it's 500 gig of data, that impossible, is there a way to direct copy?
Thanks in advance

maxxxx wrote:
If I drag and drop, it seems go through my computer
Yup.
is there a way to direct copy?
Nope.

How does an external hard drive compliment Time Capsule?

Hi, I am relatively new to iMac and time capsule. I am a novice computer and Mac user so things have to be simple. I have been reading a number of threads in the forums gleaning as much information as I can. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My iMac is running OS 10.6.4 with a 313 GB HD and my time capsule is 500 GB. I purchased my first iMac 2 years ago. Shortly thereafter I decided that I needed to be backing up files that I have been creating and building especially my photos and music files so I purchased a time capsule which I have been using as an external hard drive not as a wireless router. It is hard wired to my Mac. I use another wireless network. I have used Time Machine a few times and it has worked well for me. So far this simple set up has met my needs.
Just recently I got two error messages, one that "Your startup disk is full." and "The disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space.
While I was exploring my memory capacities and possible ways of freeing up space on my computer my Time Capsule croaked. Apparently all hardware has an expiry date. It has since been replaced under an extended warranty and the new one reinstalled. I have done a complete back of my hard drive and deleted some useless stuff on my computer's hard drive to create 17 free GB. I am pondering what further steps I should take to safeguard my data. I hopefully will be building a much more extensive photo library both in iPhoto and Aperture. I wonder whether I should be looking at an additional external hard drive which seems to be the easiest thing to do. My Time Capsule (500 GB) is not quite twice the size of my computer's hard drive. Maybe it is too soon to invest in an external hard drive seeing that it may have a shot life span such as my first Time Capsule did.
Does Time Machine only work with Time Capsule or will it work with other external hard drives? The folks at my Apple store tell me that Time Capsule can be used just to store data but I have heard otherwise in the forums. How would an additional external hard drive will work with Time Capsule? What is the difference is between USB and firewire? Is it possible to open files stored on the Time Capsule to see exactly what they are?
I do realize that Time Capsule only backs up new files and any changes so I wonder how long I can continue with this arrangement.

curious r wrote:
Does Time Machine only work with Time Capsule or will it work with other external hard drives?
Yes, Time Machine works with external HDs. That's how most folks back up. Connecting directly via USB or FireWire is much faster then Ethernet, but you're right -- all disk drives fail, sooner or later.
The folks at my Apple store tell me that Time Capsule can be used just to store data but I have heard otherwise in the forums.
It can be used for Time Machine backups and other things, but trying to use the same one for both presents problems, because of the way Time Machine works (filling-up all the available space before deleting the oldest backups) and the fact that you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal HD to separate your backups from the other data. Plus, you can't back up the other data.
How would an additional external hard drive will work with Time Capsule?
It won't extend the TC's internal HD -- backups can't "span" the two. In your setup, you'd be much better off connecting an external HD directly to your iMac. The advantage of a TC is, since it includes a wireless router, you can use it to make a wireless network and do backups wirelessly. That's what a lot of laptop owners do.
What is the difference is between USB and firewire?
FireWire is faster and more reliable for large amounts of data transfer. It also requires less use of your Mac's CPU, since the FireWire chipset does some of the work that your CPU has to do with USB.
Is it possible to open files stored on the Time Capsule to see exactly what they are?
Yes. Files you put there (other than Time Machine backups) are just like files on any other disk.
I do realize that Time Capsule only backs up new files and any changes so I wonder how long I can continue with this arrangement.
Yes, that's a concern. It varies greatly depending on how you use your Mac, but our general "rule of thumb" is that it needs 2-3 times the size of the data it's backing-up.
There's another consideration: Time Machine can back up FROM your internal HD and external HDs that are directly connected via USB or FireWire (if they're formatted for a Mac), but it cannot back up from any network drive, including a TC's internal HD or a USB drive connected to it. So if you move some data from your internal HD to an external HD connected to the TC, you'll need some other way to back it up.
Forgive me, but I'm not sure why you have a Time Capsule in your setup, if I understand it correctly. You have one iMac, no laptops or other computers, and you use a different router for your network, right?
Your best bet may be to get one external HD for the "overflow" of things you don't have room for on your iMac's internal HD, and another, much larger one, for Time Machine backups of both.
I'll press my luck here and also suggest yet another external HD, perhaps a portable, for "secondary" backups. With a portable, you can take it to a secure off-site location, such as your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, etc., and also be protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] for more.

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.

External Hard Drives and Time Capsule Backup Setup Opinions

Bottom line up front:
If you had two 1.5 Terrabyte Western Digital MyBook drives and an AirPort 1.5 TB Time Capsule, and you wanted duplicate backups of time machine (automated) as well as additional storage space for Movies and Photo's...
How would you use these three devices to accomplish this?
Also, these two drives are eSata, FireWire (400?) and USB 2.0 cabable.
Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance for your replies!
Commentary below:
After having lost 14,000 pictures from a Terrabyte drive from iOmega crashing, it's time to get serious about my data backup.
I currently have the 1.5 TerraByte Time Capsule on my network humming along nicely. (or so it appears)
I'm nearing the usable space of my iMac's hard drive.
Also, I'd like to have an 'additional' backup of my Time Machine. Is this possible? i.e. two backups at two different times on two different disks?
What would this group recommend as a way to set them up?
i.e. formating? Journaling? No Journaling? Partitions for the iMovie and iPhoto libraries?

hwilke01 wrote:
Hi there- thanks for taking the time to read an respond. I have 320 Gigs of data on my iMac hard drive that I want to backup.
then you have plenty of space to do backups and then some. back up via TM to the Time capsule. make a separate clone backup to one of the externals. you can partition it if you like. don't back up just imovie and iphoto to that drive. back up everything. this way you'll have double backups of everything. i suggest you use superduper or CCCloner for the secondary backups. that will give you a bootable clone as your second backup. make sure that the external drive is formatted properly. the partition scheme should be GUID and the format mac os extended journaled. to format a drive you open disk utility. select the whole external drive (model, not name) and click on the partition tab. set the number of partitions to 1 (or whatever), click on options and set the partition scheme to GUID. set the format to mac os extended journaled (that's the default) and click "apply".
I'd also like to have a separate partioned backup of my iPhoto and iMovie databases. Is there a preferred way of doing this?
Thanks again

Backing up external hard drive to time capsule?

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