Backing up multiple (non-networked) computers onto 1 external hard drive
Is it possible to backup two macbooks owned by different people to one external hard drive using Time Machine?
How does that work? My time machine drive just has a Backups.backupdb folder. I think they've changed it since the early days though, to use a sparseimage, but there's no way to convert the old format to the new one is there?
Similar Messages
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Backing up photos from iPhoto 6 onto an external hard-drive
I have a PowerBook G4 with a 60GB hard-drive. I have well-over 5,000 photos in iPhoto that are eating up my HD space. I recently purchased a 250GB LaCie external HD so I could move stuff off of my PowerBook and store it on the external HD.
When I purchased my external HD at the Apple store, I inquired as to the best way to back-up my photos. The person there advised me to copy my iPhoto library and save the copy to my external HD - so it would preserve the albums, dates, etc. of the photos. So, I've been doing this periodically.
Here's the issue - the multiple copies of my iPhoto library are now eating up space on the external HD because each time I copy the library, it copies ALL of the pictures. So, with each copy of the library, I'm saving another copy of the majority of the pictures. So, I'm using space needlessly. I only need 1 back-up of each picture.
So, I wandered back into the Apple store and asked if there was a better way to do this... The Studio Pro person advised me to use "Back-up" the software .Mac users can get... So, I downloaded the software, and selected the 8 or so iPhoto library copies I have on my external HD hoping that it would combine them into 1 library and not keep any of the duplicates. Contrary to what the Studio Pro person said, the back-up didn't eliminate the duplicates. It took my 8 back-ups and combined it into 1 file.
What I'd like - 1 big back-up of ALL of my photos - but just 1 copy - in the iPhoto library format so I can easily find stuff. I would like to be able to delete old photos and photos I don't need all the time from my PowerBook but know that I have back-ups of them on my external drive that I can re-import onto my PowerBook when I need to. AND, I'd like to be able to have a way to do back-ups on a regular basis and have ONLY the new photos on my PowerBook moved into the back-up on the external HD.
Does this make sense? Can anyone help?
Thanks!!!Hey man I hear your pain. I have used retrospect for backing up all of my stuff and it works really nice. I would suggest you use the same thing. It does alot of what you are looking for but it also backs up your whole computer. It looks for new files and old files and goes from there. I would highly recommend this program: Retrospect!!
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How do I access photos that were backed up onto an external hard drive using Time Machine?
I used to own a PC. When my computer got too full, I would back up some of my photo albums onto an external hard drive (simply by copying and pasting what I wanted to save on the hard drive) and then delete them on my computer to free up space. Occassionally, I would still plug in my hard drive to access and use those photos when needed. I now own a Macbook Pro and after having issues with my old hard drive, I bought a hard drive compatiable with Macs. I plugged in the hard drive and backed up my entire computer using Time Machine. Now I would like to delete some of my photo albums to free up space on my computer. Before I do that, I would like to double check that they are indeed on the hard drive, but every time I try to open my iPhoto Library from the hard drive I get this error message: "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library." So I tried doing that, but the only option that comes up is my main iPhoto library on my computer. I can't seem to access what is on my hard drive.
I don't plan on deleting ALL of my photo albums, just a few. So I also want to make sure that the next time I plug in my hard drive to back stuff up, it won't copy just what is on my computer and override the last backup, because that would mean losing missing albums I had already deleted. I just want to be able to access photos on my hard drive when I want and occassionally manually add a few more albums to it. I don't intend to keep backing up my entire computer. My main concern are my photos.
Can anyone help?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 bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the 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. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
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.
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. -
How can i back up my itunes library onto an external hard drive?
I can seem to figure out how to back up my Itunes library onto my external hard drive. Any advise?
A quick search provides the answer, see the following:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751 for backing up to an external drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1382 for backing up to optical media. -
I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?
Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
Can you clarify if this is what you are asking? -
how do I restore all of my itunes content onto my newly installed computer drive? All my purchase are no longer in my account but I did back up the files onto an external hard drive. Now how do I get them back? Please
Ummals wrote:
...I did back up the files onto an external hard drive. ...
Did you follow all the steps as detailed here...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751 -
HT1766 How do I back up onto an external Hard drive?
I am trying to back up my iphone 4 but my computer does not have enough space. I need to back up onto an external hard drive. How do I do that?
Have you considered using iCloud 5GB free
How to set up
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4436
See here for guidance on how to use
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859
and how iTunes backs up your iPhone
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946 -
do i have to select what i back up onto my external hard drive, or does it back up everything automatically?
It depends on the app you want to use to make backups.
If you are going to use Time Machine (recommended because it's the easiest), you just have to set it up and it will back up the whole OS X partition on the external drive, so don't worry. However, you can exclude items if you want. Read > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427 Also, have a look at Pondini's site > http://pondini.org
Another option are the cloning apps, like Carbon Copy Cloner. These apps also clone the whole hard drive, but you can manually select the things you want to back up. The advantage of the clones is that you can start up your computer from them -
If I were to drag and drop files from an OSX 9 onto an external hard drive (1 TB), assuming there is still plenty of space left, will I be able to use this same external hard drive to back up my iMac (Mountain Lion)? And would it ask me if I want to initialize (thus erasing it) or eject the hard drive like the OSX 9 did?
I was trying to follow this thread because I was curious about the OS 9 installation - until I realized you have another thread going about the very same subject, albeit with a different subject line.
FWIW: it is best not to double post - things get far too confusing after a while.
@ Kappy (in case you hadn't seen the other one):
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5054178?tstart=0 -
Back up just some music from iTunes onto an external hard drive
I want to move just some of my music from my iTunes library onto an external hard drive (reason? the music cannot be got again but right now I am not sure if I need it all or not).
So I want to move, say, 50 albums from the main iTunes libraray to an external drive and then be able to move some or all of them back again at later date.
Do I have to copy the whole library over to the external drive and then delete the albums there that I did not want to copy over? Or is there a better way?
And how will I copy back just some of the back-up albums at a later date - is it the normal "Add folder/file to [main] library command from the File menu?I want to move just some of my music from my iTunes library onto an external hard drive (reason? the music cannot be got again but right now I am not sure if I need it all or not).
So I want to move, say, 50 albums from the main iTunes libraray to an external drive and then be able to move some or all of them back again at later date.
Do I have to copy the whole library over to the external drive and then delete the albums there that I did not want to copy over? Or is there a better way?
And how will I copy back just some of the back-up albums at a later date - is it the normal "Add folder/file to [main] library command from the File menu? -
How do I put photos in the iPhoto Library onto my external hard drive?
I used an old iMac for years and I would go into the hard drive in the Originals folder and drag each folder onto the external hard drive. That way I could easily find the different shooting sessions. Now with my new Mac I find an iPhoto Library folder but none of the pictures are there. In asking other questions over the last 6 weeks I've learned that if you click certain keys on the keyboard you can bring up the folders to view. Am I supposed to do this or is it asking for trouble? What is the best way to get my individual folders in iPhoto onto my external hard drive? Thanks so much.
Deborah
used an old iMac for years and I would go into the hard drive in the Originals folder and drag each folder onto the external hard drive
*It is strongly advised that you do not move, change or in anyway alter things in the iPhoto Library Folder as this can cause the application to fail and even lead to data loss*
That way I could easily find the different shooting sessions.
The Events feature will do that for you now in the iPhoto Window.
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Regards
TD -
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
Mac 101: File Sharing
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Transfer files between two Mac computers
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Set up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Use iDisk to share files
Mac OS X: Sharing your files with non-Apple computers
How to share a Mac's files with a PC and vice versa. -
I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File ->Library ->Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, the first being "Consolidate Files" & the second being "Reorganize files in the folder 'Itunes Media'. I am able to checkmark the first box but It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How can i fix this? Please help!
Well you must have made a mistake somewhere. The last instruction of step four reads:
When you've found your iTunes library folder, drag that folder to your external hard drive. This will begin the iTunes backup. The amount of time the backup will take depends on the size of your library. When the transfer is done, your backup is complete and your external hard drive can be disconnected.
Normally dragging content from to a new location on a different drive will result in a copy action which is what you were supposed to do. At a guess you somehow managed to move the iTunes folder. Then when you started iTunes it created a new blank library for you assuming it had just been installed rather that raising a warning.
Close iTunes. Rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive as iTunes (Empty) then copy the iTunes folder from the external back into the User's Music folder. Start iTunes. All should be well.
When you've made sure it all works please read my User Tip and use that method to backup in future. Since you already have a folder with the backup in place you can skip the "Make New" operation in the fourth step and simply choose the external folder.
tt2 -
I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am woarned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects
How do I point iMovie to events in my external hard drive so I can play projects which use them?
MacBook, iMovie 9.0.4Hi
You can do this - by not doing it the way You describe as it will not work.
a. the external hard disk - MUST BE - Mac OS extended (hfs) formatted -
UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - will work for most things - BUT NOT FOR VIDEO (iMovie, iDVD or FinalCut doesn't matter)
b. Do not alter or move any folder named
• iMovie Event's - or -
• iMovie Project's
on DeskTop/Finder - at all
All moving's of Events and Projects must be done within the iMovie Application - then connections will not break.
(move them back and see if iMovie remembers them - then do move as described above)
Yours Bengt W
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