Backing up Macbook using Time Machine and external HD
I am trying to backup my Macbook using an external HD connected via USB and Time Machine. When I choose "select backup disk" there are no drives recognized and it's blank. I was wondering if someone could tell me how to get this to work properly?
Thanks,
Is it a new external HD? Have you had it previously formatted? Is it formatted for Mac?
Similar Messages
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Using Time machine and external HD at the same time
Dear All
I'm intending to buy an external HD both for the purpose as a external HD and for time machine use.
Is this possible? If so, how do I configure it?
Thanks.
JojosApple Partition Map works just fine on an external HD (including booting from a clone made with SD). GUID is only required for the internal HD on Intel-based Macs. There is a lot of misinformation going around on this topic.
Is Apple spreading the misinformation Barry? This OP originally asked about Time Machine and an external drive. He later asked about bootable backups. I tried to take all that in consideration in my reply. Apple has consistently said in everything that I have read in the Knowledge Base that when using Time Machine with an Intel Mac to use the GUID partitioning scheme.
There are also recent posts around these forums, as well as around the internet, where folks have had bootable volumes that were not GUID and they encountered strange behavior on their Macs that they report was resolved by making sure that their bootable volumes on external drives were in the GUID partitioning scheme.
Dah•veed -
Back up using time machine and external hard drive
Hello,
I am having a difficult time deciding the best way to back up important documents.
I have:
1TB internal hard drive
3 TB external hard drive and
1TB external hard drive
I currently have about 1TB worth of data to be stored, but that will increase to about 1.5TB once I get a bunch of stuff off the HD camera's hard drive. I would like to keep my internal hard drive somewhat free to keep the computer running fast, but also want to make sure I am properly backed up.
Should I put ALL (or nearly all) of the files on the 3 TB external hard drive, and have time machine back that up and not worry about the rest? I'm a little weary about putting all of the files on one device even if it is backed up by TM.
If I do this, do I need to back up the 3 TB external drive in addition to using TM?
Thanks!iMac11,2
OS X 10.6.8 -
Using Time Machine and external USB drive for multiple Macs
I just bought a 1.5TB external portable drive. I have 4 macs in the household that might have about 400 - 500 GB of total HD capacity for the four of them. I am very confused on whether to create a separate partition for each mac, or let Time Machine manage the entire, single-partition drive.
The reason I ask is because I have run into issues with a smaller external HD where it didnt seem to know to remove old backups to make room for new ones. But, its' possible the 750 GB drive was too small to do what it needed to do.
So, I am looking for some definitive information on the best way to do this. Obviously, i'd rather leave the 1.5TB as a single partition, and hope (and expect) Time Machine to manage the backups of the four macs in such a way that it can properly make room as backups are added to the drive.
THoughts?D/FW wrote:
Use a 1TB Time Capsule to backup wirelessly and a FW800 external drive for speed in case I need to reinstall. Therefore having 2 backups?
You can do that, but not simultaneously. TM only has one destination a a time; you can back up to the TC, then select the external HD via TM Preferences, then switch back.
I've been down the road of using SD (cloning) and am ready to move on to another backup strategy. Cloning works fine but it dedicates a drive 100% of the time where TM doesn't.
I don't know what you mean by that. I use CarbonCopyCloner (similar to SD) in addition to full TM backups, so I have two separate, independent backups, on two separate drives, and get the advantages of both. You can partition an external drive (but not a Time Capsule), so you could have your clone on one partition, and other things in one or more additional partitions (I do that as well). As long as the "clone" partition is the same size as your internal HD (or at a minimum, at least 15% larger than the amount of data on it), you can use the rest of the space for anything else.
See #5 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum for detailed instructions on setting-up a drive for Time Machine. The same procedure works for setting one up for a clone and other partition(s), too. -
I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?
Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first. -
How to store photo's on external drive and still use Time Machine and secondary back up plan
So, My Macbook Pro is now going on 4 years old and I've accumulated around 15,000 photos in iPhoto now. I would like to move everything (or at least everything older than 12 months) onto a portable external drive, but i'm not sure the best way to do this and still keep a good back up plan. My current process is the following -- I have external HD same size as my current internal drive on the MBP, which is formatted that i use Time Machine. I also have a paid subscription to Crash Plan online cloud back up that is connected to my laptop drive (CrashPlan is constant and easy, so I just USB plug in MBP to EHD a few times a month and that's it). If I were to move most of my picture/video's/important docs to an external drive, how would I back that up with Time Machine, and if I did, how would I back up my laptop drive with Time Machine also, and what drive would I assign my Crash Plan online account too? Cant seem to wrap my brain around the easiest and best method. (In short, I want most pics/video's stored off the laptop so that my HD is not consumed; but still easy to access if needed, and easy to back up) Also driving this need for a solution is the fact i would like my next lap top to be an Macbook Air, which I know I can't keep my current set up would not work. Any thoughts are appreciated.
if your internal drive has 250 GB and the external drive with the iPhoto library as well, your TimeMachine should have at least 1 TB.
I have read over some of CrashPlans support docs and it sounds like it will be able to back up and restore the iPhoto library, and as long as you restore the entire library and not single photos, it will save and restore all metadata as well.
I studied their documents to. They are saying they can backup any filetype. And they are saying the iPhoto libraries or Aperture libraries will be backed up automatically, when they are in in the Pictures folder, because the Home folder will be backed up.
On their screenshot you can see, that the libraries are backed up as a nested set of folders, and not as a package. That let's me doubt that the dependencies within the package will be treated correctly. To restore from the backup they recommend to restore the set of nested folders. What I could not find anywhere in the documentation is any information on the filesystem they are storing the backup on. If it is not Apple's MacOS Extended (Journaled, not case sensitive) the restored library may be corrupted, because the internal links in the databases may not work. Try to find out something about the filesystem on the backup servers, before you entrust your iPhoto library to that servers. -
How do I back up my documents from my Macbook on iCloud? or can I only use time machine or external HD?
I think I have missed something in trying to read all of the pages on apple site about icloud.Welcome to the Apple Community.
You can't back up a computer to iCloud.
You can use any back up software, you should always back up to a different drive. -
Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos. I wanted to see if I could view them from the hard drive. Thanks
Hello, eco1.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like you are wanting to move your iTunes media folder to an external drive and have iTunes this folder from this location. If this is the case then I would recommend taking a look at the article below.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers,
Jason H. -
I backed up my macbook pro using time machine and now my iphoto and itunes are empty. how do I reset the computer to an earlier date? and why would this have happened?
Without more information, I can't tell you why it happened. As to how to restore to an earlier date, please check out the article below. Should help you to restore form a time machine backup.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427 -
Can I backup an External Hard Drive using Time Machine and Time Capsule?
I have a Powerbook G4 with Mac OS X 10.5.2 and use an external hard drive *all the time*. I'd like to use Time Machine and my new 500GB Time Capsule to back it up along with the internal hard drive. Can I do this? Thanks for your help.
I believe so; this thread indicates how. Hope this helps.
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I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?
no.
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Long story short....I restored my computer to an earlier point using time machine and now all of the previous back-ups are gone. My question has to do with itunes...is it possible to restore my itunes library to the most recent backup because the restore that I did was in march and the latest backup was in may....the reason being is that there were app that i had downloaded that are in my most recent back-up, that were not in the backup I restored to. Is it possible to just restore one application ie)itunes?
See this post.
tt2 -
Assume I back-up my computer using Time Machine and then decide to uninstall a certain application. If I later decide that I'd prefer to have that uninstalled application on my computer, can I simply restore it from my back-up, or must I go through the entire install process again?
Nobody can help? :(
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bought referbished macbook pro oct 2011 version, just set it up using time machine and quicklime pro has disappeared. I have quicktime but not quicktime pro. Any ideas? thanks!
Try, in preferences, resetting 64 bit to 32 bits. Should work fine. the older vidoes, etc will not work with 64 bit. Had the same problem/scare. Let us know if this helps and works!
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Backing up Problem: Using time Machine to back up my iMac, and failed occured stating" unable to complete backup. An error occured while creating backup folder. Pls. help....using reformatted WD 2TB Passport
Hello...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4413173?start=0&tstart=0
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