Can I use an Internal Hard Drive with Time Machine?

My Mac Pro has 4 internal bays for hard drives. Can I set-up one of those bays for a Time Machine hard drive?

Yes, lots of Mac Pro users do that.
It's still a good idea to make secondary backups, especially to a portable external HD, that you can take off-site, so you're protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc.
[CarbonCopyCloner|http://www.bombich.com> is donationware; [SuperDuper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html] has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling.
And/or, see Kappy's post on [Basic Backup|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12366915#12366915].

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Can I use any external hard drive with Time Machine?

I have a 1TB external hard drive and also a 16GB flash drive. Is it possible to use either of these with Time Machine?

IMO Time Machine should be on its own Dedicated External Drive... one that is twice the size of the drive that it is backing up... the 16 GB Flash Drive is not appropiate for the task.
See Here
TM 101
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
You may also find this Link of Interest...
Time Machine vs. Clones and Archives

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini (256gbSSD + 2tbHDD)?

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup what I have on my Mac Mini?
My Mac Mini has one 256 SSD and one 2tb HDD. I want to use Time Machine to do a backup of everything.
Would an external 2tb My Passport Drive by Western Digital work for the backup?
It seems like it would not work because the total storage on the Mac Mini is 2304 gigabytes (SSD + HDD).
And the external Western Digital drive is only 2048 in gigabytes versus 2304 gigabytes the Mac Mini has.

No. A Time Machine backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drive it backs up. You would need at least a 4 TB backup drive for Time Machine.
Might I suggest as an alternative that you not use Time Machine but a third-party backup utility that simply overwrites older files with new ones such that the backup drive can be the same capacity as the drive backed up.
Suggested Backup Software
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Others may be found at MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

When I use my portable hard drive with time machine, can I still use it to put stuff on etc??

Can I use it with time machine and then use it to store stuff on as well?? Or when I plug it in will it back up automatically and I can't do anything else with it??
Thanks for your help

It is recommended that Time Machine has it's Own Dedicated Drive.
- Corza - wrote:
Can I use it with time machine and then use it to store stuff on as well??..
See here > Can I use my TM disk for other stuff?
From Here > http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Problem using a WD hard Drive with Time Machine

A couple weeks ago I bought a 1TB Western Digital "Elements" Hard Drive and configured it with Time Machine on my MacBook Pro (running Mountain Lion OSX version 10.8.3). The drive was working fine until last night, when it was in the process of backing up and it got the following error:
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.
Now whenever I try to unlock the drive, it freezes up like this:
I've tried restarting the computer and reconnecting the drive several times, and it always gets stuck in the same place. I know my password is correct, because I've tried incorrect ones, and it shakes and rejects them like it should. It's only when I enter the correct password that it freezes.
I went into the disk utility to try to verify the disk, but it gave me these two popups:
I notice it says the drive is almost full, though last night it was somewhere around a third full. I don't know what to make of that.
I had to eject the disk and reconnect it before I could try to repair it. When I did try to repair it, it worked for several minutes, then gave me this:
I notice here that the disk utility looks to have ejected the disk when it couldn't repair it. After that, I don't know what to try.
The one thing I did differently last night that may have contributed to the problem was that before I got the initial Time Machine error, I added a couple of folders to the WD drive and backed up some pictures and music manually. Does Time Machine not work if you have other things on the external drive you're using?
At any rate, I'd rather not erase the drive and start over. Is there anything else I can do at this point? Thanks.

Sounds like your drive may be failing. Test it on another system first, but if the problem persists, get it replaced under warranty.

Can i use an external hard drive with time capsule via an airport extreme?

i recently bought 750GB laCie hard drive... is it possible to use Time machine with the external HD plugged into my airport extreme?

shanec805, wttdaWelcome to the discussion area!
Remember that Time Capsule is a hardware device.
Time Machine is a software feature of OS X 10.5.5.

Using My Passport hard drive with Time Machine

i bought a new 320gb My Passport external hard drive to use on both a Mac and a PC. I connected it to my macbook and it mounts and shows that its formatted to FAT32 under disk utility. when i open up time machine to back up the data, it recognizes the drive but says that its an incompatible filesystem and it must erase everything on the hard drive before backing it up. there is nothing on there right now. but, will it affect it when i connect it to a pc after backing it up from my mac? do i have to format it to something else if i want to be able to go back and forth between a pc and a mac? thanks for your help!

will it affect it when i connect it to a pc after backing it up from my mac?
Yes.
do i have to format it to something else if i want to be able to go back and forth between a pc and a mac?
You need to partition the drive or install MacDrive onto the PC if you want to be able to do that. Time Machine can only back up to a drive in the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, and Windows can't read that format natively. This doesn't apply to a drive hooked up to a Mac and shared over a network, or the internal drive in a Time Capsule, or anything connected to the USB port of a Time Capsule or 802.11n AirPort Extreme base station.
(47696)

Can I use a network hard drive for time machine

Can I use a network drive for my time machine back up. I currently have a 1TB WD AND its full with mostly videos and other back ups?

Such a configuration is not supported. This does not mean it will not work, but it is not guaranteed to work reliably.
Considering the "mission profile" for a backup strategy, you should consider this an unacceptable application for Time Machine.
Read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ discussion regarding this subject here:
http://pondini.org/TM/2.html
Scroll down to the pink box.
There are other, significant concerns regarding sharing a Time Machine volume with other content. Time Machine needs to have control of the whole volume.
More info here: Mac Basics: Time Machine

HT201250 can I use more than one drive with Time Machine i.e. one for just music, one for photos, etc.?

Can I use multiple hard drives for backing up specific folders in Time Machine?

You can use only one drive at a time as a TM backup destination, though you can switch among as many drives as you like. They'll all back up the same set of files, unless you keep changing your exclusion list (which I wouldn't recommend.)

Can you SEPARATELY backup multiple hard drives with Time Machine?

I have an IMAC (let's call it HD A) and an external HD (Let's say HD B) with all my photos on. I would like to use time machine to back HD A on another external HD (HD C) and HD B (the one with the photos) on another HD called HD D. Is that possible?

Thank you. I want to do that because the backup of HD A + HD B is larger than each one of HD C and HD D. So I wanted to split the backup. But I guess it is not possible (see below). Switching config each time takes too much time and is prone to errors so I won't do that. Maybe there is some software that can do that.

Can I backup an external hard drive with time machine

I have my IPhoto library on an external hard drive and want to include this in my time machine backups.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Of course, but only if your external drive is formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". You can check this by opening Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) and choosing the partition of your external drive you want to choose. Then, look at "Format" at the bottom of the window.
If you can make backups of the external drive, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and remove your external drive from Excluded Items. The next backup will include the external drive

Can I use a non apple wireless hard drive with time machine?

Can I use a non apple wireless hard drive with time Machine?

Some NAS (network storage) systems do claim to support Time Machine, with varying levels of success. For example, the Synology units have this feature. They're not officially supported by Apple, though.
Matt

If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

No, and that shouldn't be done with an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.
(66017)

Can I use an external hard drive with my ipad 2

can I use an external hard drive with my ipad 2

There are WiFi enabled portable hard drives available that can stream media, such as music or video, to your iPad, but no external hard drive in the sense of how you would use one with a computer.

Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

You cannot partition a TC disk.
See pondini about mixing data and backups.. but remember this.. the TC has no way to back itself up and TM cannot backup files on the TC. Anything not backed up on the TC will be lost at some future point.
http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html

Can I use an Internal Hard Drive with Time Machine?

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