Backing up two computers to one external disk

Can you use time machine on two different computer to backup each computer to the same external hard drive.

I have Time Machine set up with both an iMac and my MacBook using the same drive. But unlike what Canada Steve is doing I've set the MacBook to look at the hard disk as a network volume so backups can be done at the same time and restoring can be done wirelessly.

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Two computers accessing one external disk with iTunes ?

I have my iTunes music files located on an external firewire disk connected to my iMac.
Can I set up access from a Windows based laptop so that I have in fact two computers accessing the same set of music files?
If so, when I add music from either the Windows laptop or iMac will the other computer 'see' the files or must I do something first?
Message was edited by: Roger Cuthbert

I have Time Machine set up with both an iMac and my MacBook using the same drive. But unlike what Canada Steve is doing I've set the MacBook to look at the hard disk as a network volume so backups can be done at the same time and restoring can be done wirelessly.

Two computers to one external hard drive problem, pram reset...

I have a Powerbook 15" 1.0 Ghz and recently I made the mistake of connecting one external hard drive to two computers. My OWC External hard drive was connected to my powerbook via firewire 800 and my PC via firewire 400 with both on. There is a tiny little blurb on the external hard drive's instructions that says do not connect to more than one computer at a time but of course I didn't see that until after the fact. My powerbook was painfully slow so I restarted but it wouldn't come back on. I was instructed to reset the pram, which I succesfully did but now the powerbook is so slow it is unuseable. The pc works fine. Did I do any permanent damage? Do I need to reinstall OSX or what? I will kill myself if I fried something on my powerbook. Please help!!

Disconnect all devices from your PowerBook as well as power and the battery for about 30 seconds. Put the battery and power back in/on and then reset both PRAM (3 consecutive times) and the PMU. Hopefull this'll bring it back to life.
Otherwise, create a new user account and see if things are better there. It is possible that you have damaged software rather than hardware so a clean instal may do the trick.

Backing up two computers to one hard drive

I've been backing up my iMac using Retrospect Express, onto an external hard drive.
We also have an iBook, which we have not been backing up.
Two questions:
1. Can I back up both computers onto the single external drive I already own? If so, do I need to partition the drive (something I know nothing about)?
2. If I do have to partition, does that mean I lose all the data on my external hard drive?
2. Since I've got Retrospect Express, not Desktop, on my iMac, I need to buy a new backup program. I could upgrade to Retrospect Desktop (quite expensive; and Retrospect seems to be a fading project); or I could buy Chronosync, SuperDuper, or Carbon Copy Cloner for the iBook. Which of these paths would any of you recommend?
imac 15 / ibook g3 12 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
imac 15 / ibook g3 12 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You can backup both computers to the same drive, but you would need to partition the drive first. Partitioning will erase all the data on the drive. You will have to backup both computers anew.
I don't know why you would need to buy a second backup program. Retrospect Express can be used to backup both computers. However, if you wish to replace Retrospect there are some excellent alternatives:
Basic Backup
You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Use Disk Utility to partition the drive. Open DU (Utilities folder.) Select your hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Select the number of partitions from the drop down menu. Use the resizing gadget to size the partitions. You will need each partition to be large enough to store the contents of the drive it will backup. Set the format type to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait for the volumes to mount on your Desktop.

Backing Up Two Drives To One External Drive

Hello!
I own a 20-inch 250GB iMac, a 1TB Western Digital External Hard Drive, and a 320GB Western Digital External Hard Drive. I recently began running out of room on my Mac, mainly because of all that I have on iTunes. Out of my 250GB I am now down to about 18GB. With this in mind, I went out and picked up a 320GB drive to pluck all my iTunes fluff on.
My 1TB drive is my current Time Machine backup for my Mac. I have been using Time Machine for quite some time and haven't had much problem at all. Today, though, is where I hit a stump. I'd like all my iTunes files to be only on the 320GB drive, and to be backed up on the 1TB drive. I also want my 250GB Mac to be backed up on the 1TB drive as well.
So my question is, can I have a Mac and a 320GB External Hard Drive both be backed up to the same 1TB External Hard Drive with the use of Time Machine? If so, do you mind explaining how exactly this would work? I tried looking at the Time Machine settings thru System Preferences, but I had no luck with my hunt there.
Any help would be appreciated!

dj22091 wrote:
Thank you for the reply. I have just a few more questions if you don't mind. [:-D
Will leaving the volume format as MS-DOS (FAT) be an issue?
yes, it will. as i said, the drive must be formatted mac os extended for TM to back it up. also, FAT has manyother deficiencies with OS X and should not be used unless you absolutely have to.
My 1TB drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)... Seeing as how this is only for iTunes, should I change the volume format for this new drive? And if so, for erase options, should I choose "Don't Erase Data" or "Zero Out Data"?
do not choose the zero out data option. this is just a security measure to prevent data recovery. it's quite useless with a new drive and is mostly waste of time anyway.
I ask because this new 320GB drive came with that icky SmartWare Software already installed. I followed the steps @ http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac to remove this software, so my paranoid side is left wondering.
Also, for future reference, do you mind explaining the hierarchy here @ http://twitpic.com/14gva3 ? This is an image from my Disk Utility, and I am wondering what is the difference between the "232.9 GB..." and the "Macintosh HD", as well as the other two drives shown. I ask because, if having to format, should I worry about the "297.4 GB..." or the "disk2s1"? (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875...Do you have any idea what that is?)
everything in this pic is absolutely normal. the top one is the whole physical drive. it may have several partitions which are separate volumes and can be formatted separately. but none of your drives are partitioned.
Thanks a lot for your help!

How to use carbon copy cloner to back up two computer in one external hard drive

Hello,
I have only one external hard drive which is already used for backing up my old macbook. Recently, i bought a macbook air. Is it possible to use carbon copy cloner to backup my data from macbook air to same external hard drive? If yes, is there anything I should be caucious? If not, could you suggest any other software of other method to backup my macbook air? Thanks!!

Yes, provided you have the space. You will need to create another partition on the drive to use as the backup volume for the new computer.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.

Backing up 2 computers on one external drive

I have a Toshiba Canvio Connect 1TB external drive and I want to back up both a macbook Pro and an iMac desktop to the drive. How do I put both computers on the same Toshiba drive?

While it is obviously possible, it is not recommended: all hard drives fail at some point and if you back up both of your machines to just one drive, you may lose both backups. So, the best thing would be to back up your backups.

Sharing music on two computers with one external drive

I'm a Mac. My wife is a PC. If we both link to an external drive and put all of our music on there, can we both access it from our own separate iTunes accounts via file sharing? Will she be able to put music I've downloaded on her iPod? Will I be able to do the same? So far she hasn't downloaded any of her own music onto her computer so if she were to remove her current iTunes from her computer and reload it using my account name, would we both be able to have full access to music both imported and downloaded from both computers? Sorry for the questions on top of questions, but while there are a lot of other posts and articles similar to this one, I haven't found what I'm looking for. Thanks!

Yes, sorry for piling on. 1st question: Would having her remove iTunes on her PC and reload it under my account name to be able to access my iTunes library on an external drive work?

Time Machine, two computers, and one external HD

Hi. I have a question regarding time machine and laptops. I have an iMac, a Macbook and a WD Mybook external HD. I have time machine setup and working, seemingly well, with the iMac and the external HD. However, I'd also like, from time to time, to be able to backup my macbook as well. Can I use the same external HD, or will that mess up the iMac's backups? And, if I can't use time machine to backup my Macbook, what would your recommend?

The backup of the networked computer will be done to a sparse image while a direct connection will produce just the normal TM file structure. That means that Time Machine will do one backup for the MacBook when it is networked and a completely new backup when the MacBook is hooked directly to the Time Machine drive. In the interest of drive space and time you would probably want to choose either backing up your MacBook directly or over a network and stick to it.

I have 2 macbooks each with an account for me and one for my wife. I use one Macbook logged in with my account and my wife uses the other Macbook only loged in on her account. We both make regular time-machine back-ups each on a separate external disk

I have 2 Macbooks each with an account for me and one for my wife. I use one Macbook logged in with my account and my wife uses the other Macbook only logged in on her account. We both make regular time-machine back-ups each on a separate external disk. Is it possible to update her account on my macbook using her external disk without overwriting my stuff on the same Macbook and vice versa?

Time Machine does not do individual accounts. It records the complete drive. So if you were to use her TM backup on your Mac it would make your Mac just like hers. Both yours and her account on your MAC.
Just copy the missing files over from her Mac to yours. If there are differennt programs on each then they would need to be installed on both.

Backing 2 MAcintosh Computers to One Eternal Drive

I have an IMAC and a MacBook at home and a IMAC at our church - all with Leopard. I want to back them all up to one external hard drive. I rad one of the comments to direct one to another (relatively new to MAC's).
So is there an easy way to do this - even if I need to partition the external hard drive?

The same Time Machine drive will back up both macintosh computers. The backups will be stored by computer name in the "Backups.backupd" directory. For example, I have two computers. The first is named "Topher" and the second is named "Zephyr". If I backup both machines to the same Time Machine drive, within the "Backups.backupd" directory will be two folders: the first will be "Topher" and the second will be "Zephyr", and each will be the location of the backups for the respectively named computers.

HT1449 how do you move all music from two computers into one itunes account?

How do you move all music from two computers into one itunes account?

An "iTunes account" is an online account you use for buying music, like a bank account. An iTunes collection is the media you see when you open iTunes. Which do you mean?
If it is two computers, it would also help to know where these are located. Are they on the same local network? If they are, try Home Sharing (and you have control of both and you aren't just trying to get music fro your computer to your friend's computer in another state). If they are not, you'll have to use an external hard drive or flash drive.
Is this on a PC? Your computer information says Windows but you posted this in the iTunes for Mac forum.

Can I backup two macs onto one external time machine?

Can I backup two macs onto one external time machine drive? I am trying to do this over Wi-Fi.

Yes, the external drive has to be formatted correctly to HFS+ and shared to the network.
It doesn't matter how the second machine logs into the network but wireless back will be extremely slow as it will involve double hop wireless, I presume to a wifi router somewhere. For incremental backups this is no biggie but do the initial backup with the drive plugged into that particular computer or over ethernet.. gigabit for preference.
Pondini has some instructions as he has for most things.
http://pondini.org/TM/4.html
Also look at Q33 where he lists using a shared drive on another Mac.
If you are planning using something other than wifi router give clear information about the network layout you have and hope to use.

Can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

If the external drive is large enough, yes.
Recent versions of Time Machine will do this across a properly set up and Shared network connection or to a drive on a Server. But you may be unhappy with the amount of Wireless traffic generated to perform the backups, especially the initial full backup.
Utilities like Carbon Copy Cloner will do this ONLY when performing a file-by-file backup. A "Disk Image" backup reproduces the Source disk, including blank space, and fills the entire Destination drive with the Source Disk image.

Can two computers share one iTunes library?

I am trying to map out a new plan for how we store and play music via iTunes at home. Currently, our music is stored on a windows PC and played via iTunes and an airport express. I recently bought a new macbook and am considering an airport extreme with the hope that I can store the music on a hard drive attached to the airport extreme and play music from either computer. Can the two computers share one library? I already have home sharing turned on and can access my library from the macbook, but if possible, I would prefer having the hard drive separate of the desktop. Any reason this won't work?
Thanks!
-JDJ

Ziatron wrote:
Yes, two computers can share the same library.
I periodically copy my iTunes library from my Mac Pro to the Mac Mini.
They aren't using a single library. Each computer is using its own copy and you have two sets of library files. It can certainly be done that way but if between copy sessions you edit a bit of each library then it is a bit of a muddle trying to make sure your versions are synchronized with each other. For example, ratings are stored only in the .itl file, so if you rate a song on your second computer it will get lost the next time you copy over from your first.

Backing up two computers to one external disk

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