Backup to USB HD on time machine

Hello,
I tried to backup my MacPro to an USB HD connected to my time machine. It was formatted on my MacPro. I can see and browse the drive in Finder. However, when I try to backup to this disk, Time Machine indicates that the disk is unavailable. What is going wrong?

Try the instructions in #Q2 of [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Message was edited by: Pondini

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I've recently bought a Time Capsule (3TB); then I've added an external HD of 2TB to my TC via its USB port to store my iTunes Libraries. I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?

I've recently bought a Time Capsule (3TB); then I've added an external HD of 2TB to my TC via its USB port in order to store my iTunes Libraries.
I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?

I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?
Sorry, but not possible.
Time Machine can only back up the internal drive(s) in a Mac....or a drive that is connected directly to a Mac via USB or FireWire.....provided that the drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
I am not recommending this, but you might be able to move the drive from the USB port to the Mac, and have Time Machine back it up that way.....then move it back to the USB port on the Time Capsule......but this will involve doing some risky things.....and manually changing settings around everytime you make the swap. Something will surely go wrong....but up to you if you want to try it.
Carbon Copy Cloner will back up the drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule to the Time Capsule disk, but these will not be Time Machine backups. SuperDuper claims to also be able to do this.....but I have not tested it.

HT201250 I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please hel

I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please help

See Pondini's Excellent information here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC
See the Second Chance to Use Setup Assistant here...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive. Help

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Backup 3.1.2 or Time Machine?

I've been using the Backup app to Back up to my external hard drive, However I notice it is taking up more and more space when I do my weekly back up.
My questions are:
A) What is the difference between Home Folder full Backup & Incremental Backup?
B) Why does Time Machine try to back up my whole computer?
C) Which one is better?
Thanks in advance,
Ian

A) What is the difference between Home Folder full Backup & Incremental Backup?
The Home Folder is not part of your question. I see your question as full backup vs. incremental backup. A full backup copies every file in your designated source to backup each time your backup. An incremental backup will only copy what has changed since your last backup, not everything.
B) Why does Time Machine try to back up my whole computer?
It is designed to do that. It does it in the event that your mac's hard disk fails. In that case you'll also want a system to run, not just your user files. You can tell it not to backup system files, but in my mind that's crazy, I want my entire computer backed up, not just my user data.
C) Which one is better?
Time Machine. It renders a more complete backup. Does entirely incremental backups. Can even backup external disks. Has a simple way to restore single files/ folders and has software on your Mac OS X 10.5.0 Install DVD to restore from the backups. The one downside is that it requires an external hard disk to do the backups.

Missing backups/lack of space with Time Machine

Hello,
I am having trouble with Time Machine since I updated to Mavericks. Time Machine tells me that I have insufficient space on my external hardrive (1TB) even though in Time Machine it only has one full backup. If I Get Info on the drive it says Capacity 999.72GB, Available 71.37GB and Used 928,35GB.
In Finder I used to be able to delete older backups if needed but generally Time Machine did what it was supposed to - it overwrote old backups. I can no longer find the files to delete and TM only says I have one full backup.
How can I uncover these, what appear to be, hidden files? Something must be there as I have no space left!
The external hard drive is 2TBp partioned, I also seem to have lost all of the data from the non-TM partition, which is not great either.
Please let me know if you need any other information.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Do you use virtualization software, such as VMware, Parallels, or VirtualBox?
The virtualization software creates a large virtual-disk container that is constantly changing, so it has to be backed up every time Time Machine runs. That will quickly fill up any backup destination.
You should exclude the virtual-disk file(s) from your Time Machine backups. To do that, click the Options button in the Time Machine preference pane. Back up the files on the virtual disk from within the guest system, using a native backup application.
A compromise solution is to create a "snapshot" of the virtual machine in the virtualization software (not a Time Machine snapshot.) That will give you a single large file that never changes and only has to be backed up once. All the subsequent changes will be stored in a new file that's initially much smaller, but will grow over time. You should still exclude that file from TM backup. If you ever need to restore the VM from Time Machine, you'll have a working setup, which will make it easy for you to restore the rest of the data from within the guest system.
Another common cause of large TM snapshots is native OS X disk images. If you store a lot of data on one or more writable disk images, they should be in "sparsebundle" format, which will be backed up much more efficiently than any other format. Also be aware that disk image files are not backed up at all while the image is mounted. Make sure you unmount the image often so it can be backed up. If you ever restore, you will, of course, lose all changes made since the last backup. Consider eliminating large read/write disk images from your workflow, if possible.

Getting this error: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

I keep getting this error on my new Macbook Pro w/ Retina.
"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
Connected to a wifi network and QNAP storage system. There are 5 computers on this network, and each backs up just fine. The issue is isolated to this one machine.
This error shows up every week or so.

A third-party NAS is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the NAS as a backup destination. I know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. None of the third-party NAS vendors, as far as I know, meets that specification. They all use the incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol.
If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS with Time Machine, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple, or you, or anyone but itself.)

How can backup the old deta from time machine to OS X LION??

Hi there,
I was using MacPro with older snow leopard just now i install OS X LION,before install i backup all deta to time machines about 70GB,now when i connect i dont know how can backup the old deta to OS X LION,but it just backup the recent deta to time machine,pls guide me how i can backup my old deta to my computer??
Will be much appreciated !!
Thanks.

Sorry, but your post is not clear.
If all you did was upgrade to Lion, there's no reason to do anything. All your data, etc., should still be on your Mac, just as it was before.
Please clarify exactly what you did, and what the problem is.

IPad backup on external HD or Time machine?

Hi
My nearly full 64 GBs iPad is eating up my HD. I have like 200 MBs left! Is there a way to save the backup to an external HD to save it for whenever I need to restore??
If there isn't a way, I have a full Time machine backup, is it OK to delete the backup from iTunes, and if I needed the backup I restore it from Time machine, or I can't??
Please help!
Message was edited by: Hotsouma

Backups can't be moved to another location or hard drive. It needs to stay on the startup hard drive. Backups can be quite large, mine is over 30 gigs.
If you have only 200 MBs on your startup hard drive you need to transfer some of the data off that drive. There is rule of thumb of how much you should fill a startup disk too... 80 to 90% of capacity. You have to remember the OS needs hard drive space to write files too, same with programs. Leaving not enough space and the hard drive can freeze. And the worst, failure. This happen to me a longtime ago...

Can I backup a network share with Time Machine?

I keep all my multimedia files on an external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme base station, and I would like to backup this network share using Time Machine.

Not possible. TM only backs up locally attached HFS volumes.

Reset my Timecapsule, my old backups are still there but Time Machine says last backup was never

Ive been using my Time capsule as a router for 5 months and recently moved were I had a router supplied. I plugged my wireless modem into the Timecap and still used my home network. I recently decided to not use the Timecap for a router but just as a backup. I was having connectivity issues so I pressed the reset butting for 5seconds and reset it. When I look inside the drive I can see my old backups, but in Time machine it says my last backup was never.. Id like to get it back to were I can just auto backup and I have the history of the last 5 months. Please help

Pondini,
Thanks for your response. I selected the tc via select disk in the preferences window. It did a countdown of two minuites. After that a window popped up and said thus.
Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
Click Start New Backup to create a new backup. This will remove your existing backup history. This could take several hours.
And gives me two options Back up later - Start new backup
Is there anyway to keep my old backups. (naming the drive differently, anything?)
Help is always appreciated.
Thanks,

I got the message: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. I got the message: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Ma

I got the message:
Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
Here's what the text of the system.log says when I filter for backupd:
Jan 9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:48:42 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:48:43 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Backup canceled

Since this is a MacBook Pro hardware community, you might get better results by asking your question at the Time Machine forum, located within the Lion discussion group.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.7_lion

AirPort Extreme & USB Hard Drive Time Machine Backups

Hi everyone. I'm a brand spanking new MacBook Pro owner and am looking at ways to backup my machine and to save my films, photos and files on a wireless network that is available to everyone in my home.
I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most computer savvy person but I'm okay with the basics. I've read through a lot of forum sites and the community pages on here and most seem to recommend Synology products. They do seem very good but are a good price too once you've bought the hard drives to go with it. I already own an external hard drive so I thought that maybe the AirPort Extreme would be the ideal choice as I know that it can be connected and files can be saved wirelessly. I did read tonight however that you cant backup your macbook using time capsule which is a little bit annoying.
I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine? I'm what you could describe as a low level user and will only be using it for simple tasks such as watching/saving films, storing and editing photographs, surfing the web and saving the odd pages and numbers document.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Simon

I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine?
The very latest 802.11ac version of the AirPort Extreme DOES support Time Machine backups to attached external USB HDDs. All other 802.11n models are not supported by Apple for these types of backups. A number of folks have been successful doing so, but most typically post here about data corruption issues.
Time Machine is not the only backup strategy, but it is very convienent. I would recommend that your overall backup strategy includes at least two types of backups: 1) Incremental ... like the ones Time Machine supports, and 2) Disk cloning. The latter is very effective for quickly getting you back up and running if your Mac suffers an internal HDD loss.

Can i include external usb drives in Time Machine backups

Can I include external usb drives and sticks in Time Machine backups?
This was the question I searched a week for. My machine is a MBAir with Yosemite. I have a bunch of USB HD and sticks. This is a sharing of what it took to solve. I lost a couple of important document revisions lately because of not having differential backups on them, so wanted to include them in Time Machine.
Yes it can, I found. But it's a wee bit backwards. And apparent inconsistencies drive you crazy. Time Machine is supposed to do this by default, and wants you to tell it what NOT to include. Trouble is, formats create many troubles.
But the USB sticks and HD's you buy are PC formatted. And you'd like to share, as the Apple does with FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT (to overcome the 4G size limit on the others). Even NTFS can be plugged in and be read-only. Turns out you just can't incorporate into TM backups.
Open Time Machine Options, and look at the drives listed in the exclusion window. Drives that you know to be plugged in and registered by Finder, may or not be registered in the exclusion window, and if registered and their icons may be bright or dimmed. Bright will NOT be included. Dimmed are excluded. Normally the operation is to use the or to exclude these drives from your next BU operation. (this instruction is lost the next time in manual mode). So if a drive or stick is shown and is bright it WON'T be backed up. If you it from the window, then it will grey out and WILL be backed up. If it's not there to offer you exclusion, you can browse to such a file or device so you can exclude it. TM's exclusion window will show the PC formats: FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT greyed out (as not included). NTFS is bright looking like it might work, but when doesn't dim, it disappears, and is ignored in the actual BU.
Sources are supposed to be included in the backup if it isn't shown bright in the exclusion window. In this respect I only use TM manually, and not for programmed BU's, so I cannot speak to that.
If everything you have is formatted for the Apple disc system (Mac OS Extended) then there are no contradictions or partial equivalences. The mounted disc or stick will show in TM exclusions window, and if you it, you'll see it in the Time Machine pile of calendared directories, with all the files. And of course it will do the differential backups for it that we use TM for in the first place. Just remember to prepare the BU by not excluding.
BUT NOW THE VARIABLES. It now depends upon the formats. I use the Paragon NTFS program to permit writing NTFS. (Apple can normally read but not write NTFS). Paragon is lovely because for normal computer use, I can read and write both Apple and PC files and disc formats in Finder (for 3 years now). But Time Machine cannot be reached by Paragon so it's NTFS behaviors are outrageous. Paragon reaches Disk Doctor so you can read, write, format and heal both Apple and PC formats. And this really confused things respecting Time Machine. I literally worked through every variable, from stick to disc to prove what did work, and when false appearances of working showed up.
Respecting that very Time Machine display of Finder windows piled backwards through time there's a confusing bug. When first opened, TM shows NOW as the current setup and works just like a Finder window in present time. And the outboard discs and sticks show as in Finder. BUT working back in time, the left window DOES NOT SHOW THE CONDITIONS AT BACKUP but rather in all left windows shows the present setup. So you need to work from the right hand side dates and times to go back and see when you had that stick or HD plugged in. And then, finally, you will see the files you wanted saved. But if there is a stick on the left than TM doesn't like but Finder likes you'll see it left but nothing will be in the files. Clicking on the pretender just jumps to the root.
My Disk Doctor provisions (with Paragon) show, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive Journaled), MS-DOS (FAT), exFAT, Windows NT Filesystem, Windows NT Filesystem (compressed). It's a better utility than in Microsoft and I use it for such maintenance.
Bottom line, I like TM very much. 2 years ago I lost my air and TM was able to reconstruct my machine many times in the course of the troubleshooting - all the way from the start to the last without ever missing a beat or a file. So I accept this limitation and make copies to another HD formatted in NTFS when I work on PCs.
Hope's this sorts out being lost in the desert for a few of you.
Jock
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

Storing normal data files on the Time Capsule is unfortunately not as easy as dropping the folder on the Time Capsule.
Open up Macintosh HD on the Mac
Look for the SHARED heading on the left
Click on the Time Capsule icon and a folder named "Data" will appear (unless you have renamed it)
Double click the "Data" folder to mount the drive on the desktop. You may need to enter the device password for the Time Capsule when you do this the first time
Once the drive icon is on the desktop, you can drag data to the icon and drop it there. Double click the icon to open up the drive and see the files

Help! Macbook Air lost association with USB Airport hosted Time Machine Backup

Okay, so my wife's Macbook Air was doing Time Machine backup to USB drive attached to previous generation Airport Extreme...
We bought a brand new Airport router a couple of weeks ago, I plugged it in and everything went smoothly. Plugged in USN drive that attached to older APE router, and it's still visible on the network. However, ever since we got the new router, the existing backups are not associated with the Macbook Air anymore.
Yes, I can start over with a new backup file, but I was hoping to use the existing backup (it takes a while to backup wirelessly, and we lose the whole history if we wanted to recover previous versions of files that were backed up—I can't think of anything we'd need right now, but Murphy's Law will probably apply if I go ahead and erase the old and start new).
I was hoping all I would have to do was drag the old backup file onto the Time Machine icon to re-associate it with this computer, but I can't see any way to tell Time Machine, "hey, here's the backup file you are looking for... it's right here on the same USB drive attached to the new router."
(Also, before anyone says to make sure I have a backup of the backup, I do. The computer is backed up offsite with Backblaze, too.)
Perhaps it will be best to just start from scratch with a new Time Machine backup, that just seems like overkill, since there was nothing wrong or corrupt with the existing Time Machine file, I just switched what router it was attached to. Thanks for any advice/enlightenment.

I guess I have a few comments.
Apple has an opt out.. they do not support Time Machine backups on older Airport Extreme. Apple have always stated it is unreliable and so refused to support it.. only with Gen6 of the AE have they changed to supporting TM backups.
From your point of view it should have worked.. it may indeed still work. But the change of network is significant and it will take some work on your part.
1. I need to know what OS is the MBA running??
2. Moving a disk from one network location to another, I would strongly recommend a full reset of Time Machine on the computer.
See A4 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
3. Pondini in the same reference has some info about inheriting old backups .. slightly different context but it also could help.
see B5 and B6
4. It is also possible to move old backups into a new backup.. but this is then going too far.
I would simply buy a new USB drive.. and keep the old backup drive for a few months until your new one builds up sufficient history to be sure you will not need the old ones.. at that point you can use the old backup drive again after a reformat.
5. To do the new backup, since wireless is indeed a long and burdensome chore to make that crucial first backup, buy a thunderbolt to ethernet adapter.. assuming your MBA is recent enough. Ethernet is so worthwhile having it is required not optional extra. The cost at $35 is one of the cheapest adapters for a very expensive interface..

Backup to USB HD on time machine

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