Backup hard drives in two locations and Time Machine

Can I have an external hardrive at work and one at home and have them both be separate locations for Time Machine to backup my laptop? How does Time Machine handle that and what is the procedure to set this up?

Yes, but you must tell Time Machine each time you "swap" drives, via +Time Machine Preferences > Select Disk.+
All you have to do is make sure each is formatted properly. See #5 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for instructions.
In this case, it will be a good idea to give them clearly different names, such as "Work Backups" and "Home Backups," so you're sure at any time which one is which.
The first backup to each one will be a full one, so they'll take a while. Thereafter, Time Machine's next backup will include all the changes made since the last backup +*to that disk,+* so each one will be complete.

Similar Messages

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    how do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer?

    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

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    well as the title says i have a 500gb hard drive with 2 partitions one with time machine and one for files it worked perefectly until yesterday only the time machine partition appeared in finder, i checked disk utility and both partitions appeared but the one for files appeared in grey and when i press mount an error comes up.

    The repair shop likely replaced a major circuit board on your MacBook Pro, so Time Machine thinks that you have a "new" computer and it wants to make a new complete backup of your Mac.
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    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/12.html
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  • Sharing a hard drive between two Macs with Time Machine

    can I use the same hard drive to back up two different Macs with Time machine? I'm ok with hot swapping the cables.
    Message was edited by: Brian Monson

    Brian Monson wrote:
    can I use the same hard drive to back up two different Macs with Time machine? I'm ok with hot swapping the cables.
    Yes, but TM, Leopard and external drives are not OK with hot-swapping. Never unplug a drive without properly ejecting it first.
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  • Hard Drive Erase, Clean Install and Time Machine

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    Hello Jacob,
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  • HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive.  The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc).  Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

    I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive.  The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc).  Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

    Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
    http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

  • I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

    I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

    I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
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    See Pondini's page for more explanation:   What are Local Snapshots?   http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
    You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.  
    The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library.  Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

  • I have an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine backup on my IMac. I want to add a second external hard drive and put my Aperture Photo Library on it. Is there a way to have the photos on this second hard drive automatically back up to the Time Mac

    I have an IMac with an external hard drive set up as  a Time Machine for automatic backups. I want to add a second external hard drive and load my Aperture Photo Library on to it so that the library can be shared by both me and my wife. Is there a way to automatically backup the photo library that will be on the second hard drive to the Time Machine hard drive?

    Open System Preference > Time Machine
    Click Options....
    Ckick on external disk in list and hit the - button below the list to remove from the Exclusion list
    Allan

  • Hard drive packed up, but had Time Machine backup. I installed new sad and upgraded to Mountain Lion., but I can't find iPhoto library and photos or iTunes songs? Is there an answer to this?  Graham

    Hard drive packed up, but had Time Machine backup. I installed new ssd and upgraded to Mountain Lion, but I can't find iPhoto library and photos or iTunes songs? Is there an answer to this?  A backup run did not install either photos or songs. Graham

    Thanks so much but none of that helped.  It was driving me crazy because it would back up another external drive.  I just changed the name of the drive from iPhoto/iTunes Library to Media Libraries and IT WORKED!! I guess for some reason it didn't like the drive being called iPhoto or iTunes ???? I don't understand but I have tried so many solutions and exchanging things out but the name change did it????!!!
    Thank you for your help and replying to this.  Guess I made my own issue!

  • On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
    If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
    If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

  • I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine

    I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine
    and if it yes i want to know if i have 1TB hard disk to use the 500gb for time machine and the other 500gb for normal use

    thank you very much because i am considering to buy the porsche design hard disk 1TB and i want to have it for normal use and for time machine is a pitty to give 1TB for back up only again thanks and i know seperate the back and the working jobs are better but the i have to have 2 hardisks and i want only 1

  • Can you unplug the external hard drive you are using for time machine

    can you unplug the external hard drive you are using for time machine and then plug it back in and it work normals because i have a mac book and don't want to always be carrieing the external hard drive every where i go so can you ?

    Yes, that will work fine. It will back up normally once you plug it in again. I do this with my MacBook.

  • HT201250 i have plugged in a hard drive into my macbook, opened time machine, but my hard drive does not appear. why?

    i have plugged in a hard drive into my macbook, opened time machine, but my hard drive does not appear. why?

    Look in the Utility folder which is located inside the Applications folder.
    You don't want to do anything with the disk on a PC if you want it to work on the Mac. They both use different formats.
    Allan

  • Why is my external hard drive showing up twice on Time Machine?

    This is the first time I am using Time Machine because somebody recently gave me an external hard drive.
    The external hard drive is appearing twice on Time Machine preferences. One of them is currently backing up and the other one says "Waiting to back up" but I don't want it to back up twice on the same disk.
    Here's a screenshot:
    Does anyone know why it is doing this?

    Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
    tmutil destinationinfo
    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).
    Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.

  • Can I encrypt a USB hard drive that's not for time machine?

    can I encrypt a USB hard drive that's not for time machine?

    Yes, if it has the GUID Partition Map Scheme, but only by erasing it and choosing a new format.
    See #2 in Using Disk Utility.

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