Backup vs Time Machine
My lovely old iMac recently got stolen and now I've got a new MacBook Pro. I used to backup to iDisk using Backup but this now has been replaced with Time Machine. Do I need to back up to an actual disk??!! I says "Time Machine Not Configured" but I can't work out how to configure it.
Time Machine will backup to a physically connected drive (USB, Firewire, or internal) or to an Apple Time Capsule. It does not backup to internet connected services and it's not a replacement for iDisk (iDisk was not a backup system but a cloud storage alternative.)
You can buy external drives to connect to your computer for backup. You can use Time Machine to perform backups (Time Machine is essentially a backup utility) or you can use third-party backup utilities such as:
Basic Backup
Get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/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):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
Similar Messages
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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. -
Old computer I had is OSX Snow Leopard with Entourage. New one is OSX Mavericks. Using Mail where are my addresses and old address book. Transferred old computer backup by Time Machine and other things work? Can;t see a symbol for address book.
Where are addresses kept on MAIL? I don;t like the new format at all. Frances
Begin forwarded message:
From: Frances Topping <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: - Old computer I had is OSX Snow Leopard with Entourage. New one is OSX Mavericks. Using Mail where are my addresses and old address book. Transferred old computer backup by Time Machine and other things work? Can't see a symbol for address book.
Date: August 25, 2014 at 9:46:01 AM EDT
To: discussions-replies <[email protected]>
Old Entourage is POP and new Mavericks MAIL is IMAP I believe. I don;t know how to export in the forms you mention. Frances -
I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?
Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine. -
Multiple iPhone backups in Time Machine
I have my wife's iPhone and she was charging it on our Mac via cable. Our iTunes is instructed not to sync automatically. We have two phones in iTunes. Child comes along and somehow resets or wipes phone: not sure which one.
My question is, if I were to enter into Time Machine is it possible to discern which backup is for which phone? The phone is not synced often and I'm guessing the last one was in September, if she even synced at all during that month .
I'm on os x10.8 which was a recent upgrade. Our previous version residing on Time Machine is SL. I have been told to be careful on the restore just in case we need to resort to other (cough) measures in order to (cough) the data.
Thanxpcp0827 wrote:
Is there a way to delete multiple backups in TIme Machine and not have to delete old files one by one by slow one by one?
Yes, sort of. You can delete indiividual backups, or all backups of selected items,via Time Machine. See #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. You can only select one backup at a time, but they're deleted in a separate process, so you can select another before the first one completes. When you exit from Time Machine, you may see one or more progress bars for the individual deletions. (As noted there, never delete anything from your backups via the Finder.)
But you really shouldn't have to do that. Time Machine will delete your oldest backups automatically, when it needs room for new ones. -
I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?
Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599 -
How to delete the old backup in time machine?
Hi all,
As I have use the TM for a year,the backup folder is on a network dirve. HOw can I delete the old backup (eg 6 months ago) in order to release more space?
Thank you
GaryHi, and welcome to the forums.
I'll assume you mean a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, not a Time Capsule or external HD connected to a Time Capsule or other Mac on your network.
If so, you can delete individual backups via Time Machine. See #12 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). That may not seem to gain any space, since the backups are in a rather odd container called a +sparse bundle.+ It won't shrink automatically when you delete things, but the space will be reused for new backups.
You may be able to limit the size of the backups by limiting the amount of space available to Time Machine on the NAS, but you'll have to use whatever facilities the NAS supplies, not OSX. Some allow the disk to be partitioned as on a normal disk, or allocate space to shares. -
Purchased a new, larger solid state drive to replace my old drive. I installed OSX then I had Time Machine do it's magic.
Now when I want to do a backup using Time Machine, it tells me that the external HD is full. When I did so prior to upgrade, it would erase old backups and then do a new backup.
Please help. I am worried about losing files, and am tired of seeing the "Time Machine hasn't backed up in xxx days" Error Message.
Thanks.it thinks yours is a new machine so it doesn't want to start deleting another machine's backups
see the bottom of this page
http://pondini.org/TM/19.html -
Since updating OS to Mountain Lion from leopard, I get the following error message when trying to backup with time machine on external drive. "Could not complete backup to media share. The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features." What are AFP features and how do I get Time Machine to backup to my current external backup?
This means that your NAS does not support the required encryption. Update your NAS to the latest firmware or ditch it and buy a Time Capsule (they are the most reliable when using TM).
-
Can no longer backup with time machine to WD MyBookLive.
Earlier I got the "OSStatus error 2" and now I get a message that the backup failed, "time machine couldn't back up to mybooklive. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
I've signed in as guest, which I have always done in the past but it keeps failing.
I am using WD MyBookLive and can access my files from my iphone without issues.
Current OS X v 10.9.2. updated back in March and my last successful backup was April 13, 2014.
Am up to date with updating all software.
The following are log messages from the system log queries:
4/26/14 1:24:49.841 PM com.apple.backupd[1411]: Starting manual backup
4/26/14 8:30:09.447 PM com.apple.backupd[1619]: Starting automatic backup
I've rebooted time machine and my book. Checked settings and nothing seems amiss.
Any help or suggestions would be most appreciative.
Thanks in advance!Start with C10 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems -
hi, I have a macbook pro with a new hard drive installed and restored. My WD external drive backup on time machine now wont let me access the files. I get a prompt saying 'you do not have permission to access the files' After my new drive was installed I plugged in time machine and it started backing up. I paused it when I realised that it was running for more than a few minutes. I now realise that it probably started backing up the new hard drive all over again. Which makes me think that the original back up must be on the WD back I cant seem to access it. Any ideas would be helpful.
See E-10 in the first link.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems -
Trying to backup my time machine..
I am trying to backup my time machine but keeps coming up with error 6584 can anyone help please
<Re-Titled By Host>First, if this is your only backup, you must make another full backup to a locally-attached external hard drive. One backup is never enough to be safe, and backing up over a network is less reliable than backing up locally. Then try each of the following steps that you haven't already taken.
1. Restart the backup device. You can do that by disconnecting and reconnecting the power cord.
2. Hold down the option key and select Verify Backups from the TM menu in the menu bar (not the Dock icon.) This operation may take a long time. If the menu-bar icon (a clock that runs backwards) isn't showing, check Show Time Machine in menu bar in the preferences.
3. Erase the backup device. With a Time Capsule, you do that from within the AirPort Utility application; see its built-in help for details. All backups will be lost, so don't do this until you've backed up to another device. After erasing, select the TC again as a backup destination in the TM preference pane. The first backup should be made over a wired connection, if possible. -
My external hard drive (1TB WD My Book Essential) suddenly has no room to backup with Time Machine! I am using Maverick OS and wondered if it is because of a bug in the system software. I purchased a new external drive with 3 TB and wonder if I will run into a problem installing it. I don't know how to transfer my files from the previous HD to the New one. I was told to use a cable, but how do I do it? Do I connect them both to the computer and drag the old into the new? How is it done? Why did this happen, the overloading of the Time Machine?
Why has the TimeMachine drive run out of space?
With the limited amount of information you've provided it is hard to answer this question. TimeMachine should continue making backups until the drive is full and then it should erase the oldest backup(s) to retrieve enough space for the next backup. Unless your computer's hard drive has close to 1TB of space on it, you shouldn't see a message saying TM cannot backup because it is full. However if you do have more than 500GB (1/2 a TB) then I can see how that message might occur. Also, if you are using the TM drive for double duty (backing up more than one computer or storing data other than TM) you could get that message.
Will you have this problem with a 3TB drive?
I always recommend that people look at how much they'll be backing up in total, add a bit extra for the future, and then multiply that by at least 1.5 and even better to double it. That indicates how large the TM backup drive should be. The TM drive should only be used for TM backups. It is ok to use one drive to back up more than one computer but if doing so, add up the contents of all the computer drives, adjust for the future and then double it.
Moving Forward
Disconnect the old TM drive for now. Connect the new drive and let TM do its job. I don't recommend that you try to transfer the TM backup from the old drive to the new one. Keep the old drive around for a couple months just in case you find you need it and then after a few months, if you like, you can erase it and use it for something else. -
What is the easiest way to restore to a previous backup of Time Machine?
I was adding some simple album cover artwork to my iTunes collection when the computer locked up. I got the spinning beach ball and was unable to "force quit." So, I did a re-boot using the power key. I then launched iTunes and it opened properly with all the new Album Artwork. The files were not large in size and the "Album Artwork" folder is only 99.8MB.
I did a Time Machine backup yesterday and the only thing changed on the computer was the artwork. However, when Time Machine launched to do a backup it said there was 30GB(!!!) to back up?!?!?
I am assuming something got corrupted in the iTunes library file during the crash and now it thinks it has to back up part of the music.
So, that is what caused the problem. My question is, what is the easiest way to simply restore the backup the Time Machine had completed yesterday before all this happened?? It doesn't seem like there is a simple way to accomplish this. It looks like TM is used to back up specific files or folders and not to restore the computer to a previous state.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!Time Machine backs up all files except those you exclude in TM prefs. It doesn't "know" what kind a file is; it just compares info about a file on the source drive to see if it has already been backed up, or if it is new or has changed and needs to be backed up again. For unchanged files or folders, TM simply creates another hard link on the backup drive.
iTunes artwork files are separate files. The assignments of artwork to particular music files are saved in another file within the iTunes application (which is actually a package, a folder containing other files). So if all you did was add album artwork, TM would back up each new artwork file, and a new copy of the hidden file within the iTunes application containing the artwork-music links.
The following is speculation on my part, but it seems logical:
TM uses records in the hidden File System Events log to identify any new or modified files. However, it is possible to have an FSE entry as to a particular file without modifying the file (e.g. open, then close). So TM doesn't "know" until it actually compares the source file with the backup file (if one exists) whether a file is new or has been modified.
Hope this helps. -
Backup with Time Machine for 6 iMacs
I want to to use an external drive to backup with Time Machine my 6 iMac's. I know that Time Capsule is good for this kind of stuff but I would prefer to be able to plug my Storage Device with an Ethernet cable. And Time Capsule is offering 2 or 3 TB, I would need minimum 5 TB. Any idea what should I buy and what is good for that purpose?
Thanks a lotTime Capsule has 3 Eth ports so only 3 iMacs via cable.
You can do it with two 3TB Time Capsules if you wish.
With 6 iMacs you may need to think about small business solution.
On Mac networks we use Gigabit switches and NAS drives such as Buffalo TeraStation III 8TB on RAID5.
Those support Apple Time Machine, have dual Gigabit Eth port which can be trunked with manageable switches and all works very well and fast.
There are many scenarios you may want to consider.
Let me know if you have any questions regarding the above setup. -
After an install of Lion, my secondary internal hard drive used for backup and time machine is not showing on the desktop. Cannot be located with Disk Utility either. Contains vital files! please help...
I have a TB internal drive, but this is what it shows for memory slots:
Memory Slots:
ECC: Enabled
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1:
Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0000
Part Number: 0x000000463732353642363145353830304600
Serial Number: 0x00000000
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2:
Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0000
Part Number: 0x000000463732353642363145353830304600
Serial Number: 0x00000000
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1:
Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80AD
Part Number: 0x48594D5035313241373243503844332D5335
Serial Number: 0x42076007
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2:
Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80AD
Part Number: 0x48594D5035313241373243503844332D5335
Serial Number: 0x4207631E
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3:
Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty
DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4:
Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3:
Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4:
Size: Empty
Type: Empty
Speed: Empty
Status: Empty
Manufacturer: Empty
Part Number: Empty
Serial Number: Empty
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