Can I use time machine to back up computer hard drive AND contents of an external HD (contains only photos) onto another external hard drive (standalone HD for backups only)? PLEASE HELP!!

I keep my photo files on a separate external hard drive, separate from my laptop hard drive. And I want to be able to use time machine as the back-up system to back up BOTH the computer's hard drive AND the external hard drive.... and i want all of the "back-up" information contained on a separate standalone external HD. So in the end, I have a 250GB computer hardrive, a 1TB external hardrive, and I want to have a 2nd external hard drive that will be the location to store the "back-ups" (using time machine) which will be either a 2TB or 3TB harddrive.
I am in dire need of help....

Yes, just make sure that they are not excluded in Time Machine.

Similar Messages

Can we use Time Machine to back up data on Time Capsule from the outside of network?

I have Time Capsule at home. Can I use Time Machine to back up data of portable nootebook when I am working at office?

If you mean over the internet, you can but it will be so slow and more than likely so unreliable it is a poor method to use. Remember all internet is limited to upload speed.
Lion does a temporary backup onto local hard disk.. which is useless of course if the hard drive is damaged.. but helps if you delete an important file. Then when you go back home and it discovers the TC is available it will then backup again from where it left off.
I think it is only a major issue if you are away from home for major lengths of time, weeks or months.

Can I use time machine to back up via a hard drive connected by USB to a HomeHub router?

Can I use time machine to back up via a hard drive connected by USB to a BT HomeHub router? Is there a better way to back up and store files than via the USB port on my new MacBook Pro? I'd like storage to be accessible from my earlier version MacBook too.

I think you want to make backups without connecting a hard disk via USB. In other words, you want to have the data storage be shared in your home wirelessly.
If this is the case, I recommend using a Time Capsule.
Time Capsule works great with Time Machine. You can set up all your devices to automatically make backups on the Time Capsule wirelessly and effortlessly.

How can I use time machine to back up and play media?

I just bought an external hard drive that I wanted to back up some media files onto (music and photos). I also want to stove videos/movies on the hard drive and play them from there. A few questions:
1. Is that the same as backing up with time machine or is it referred to as something else?
2. Can I use time machine to add new files, or should I do that manually?
3. Once the files are on my hard drive, can I remove them from my computer or should I keep them there?
I know that these questions may seem obvious, but I'm concerned about losing files because I don't understand what time machine actually does. Please feel free to ask me questions if you need to understand my question better. Thanks!

Time Machine makes a backup of your hard drive, which you can restore from, but not use as a repository of data.
Time Machine automatically makes incremental backups as you change things on the Mac HD.
Time Machine is not an archive, meaning if you make a backup, and then delete the originals from your Mac, Time Machine will eventually delete the copies it has made.
However, if you copy the files directly to the external, then you can remove them from the computer. But, those will be your only copies. If that disk dies, they'll be gone. So, that's really not a backup. It's the only source.
You can back up to Time Machine and also store other files on the same disk.

Can I use Time Machine to back files on an External Hard Drive

My MacBook Pro hard drive filled up with movies, pictures, and music, so I bought a 2TB Time Capsule. I have a external hard drive that is about the same capacity as my MacBook hard drive. Sine the Time Capsule is by far the largest drive I have, I moved all my movies, music, and pictures to the Time Capsule and am using it as an external hard drive. I attached a 500GB external hard drive to the Time Capsule and I use that as the backup drive for Time Machine. However, the problem I am encountering is that I can't seem to direct Time Machine to include all of my files on my Time Capsule in the back up on to the other external hard drive.
Can I use Time Machine to backup data that I store on my Time Capsule to a external hard drive? If not, what is hte best method for backing up my files that are on my Time Capsule?
Thanks,
David

You need to use a different utility .. eg CCC or Chronosync to backup from the TC to yet another drive.. the problem is, that drive should be connected to the computer.. if you use a USB drive on the TC.. the file copying will be slow as slow as you will not believe.. all files are copied to the computer, then back to the TC.. it cannot copy directly to the TC..
As Neil said.. one way or another you need to use an external drive on the computer, even if you don't use it all the time.. the danger of course is not doing regular backups.. and forgetting their importance.
A true NAS will have automated backup incrementally of the files stored.. The TC is not a NAS in that sense.. it is a backup target for TM above and beyond anything else.

Is it possible to use time machine to back up a hard drive?

Is it possible to use time machine to back up a 1 hard drive onto another, then periodically update the backups just like I usually do with the Mac HD onto an external?
Thanks!

kidboy wrote:
Is it possible to use time machine to back up a 1 hard drive onto another, then periodically update the backups just like I usually do with the Mac HD onto an external?
Thanks!
I don't know what you usually do but Time machine is a backup software. it does back up one (or more) hard drives to another. it's not a mirror utility though. it makes and keeps regular incremental backups and you can restore from any time point in the past you have a backup for. i suggest you consult pondini's FAQs at the top of TM forum
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1964018
also see TM 101
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
check out this tutorial too to see it in action
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics
Message was edited by: V.K.

Can you use time machine to back up an external hard drive?

I haven't used Time Machine so far and setting it up now.
Because my retina MBP has the limited hard drive size of 500GB, I'll be using a 2TB G-Tech hard drive as external hard drive.
I'll be partitioning it, 500 GB for the MBP as a time machine back-up, the rest as a hard drive for photography RAW files.
Can I set up time machine to back up the larger partition (the one with the RAW files) to a second external hard drive? Or does Time Machine only handle back-up from the main computer hard drive?
thanks!

Try reviewing this information.
Time Machine FAQ
You will definitely need more than 500 GB to use Time Machine - see question 1.
Time Machine works with the main hard drive and any locally attached storage, but I don't know of any way to make it backup the second partition without resetting the Time Machine Preferences. You can do that with a cloning program.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Two backups are better than one. Drives do fail.

Can I Use Time Machine To Back Up a FAT32 Disk Containing Image Files?

New iMac User Here. I just bought a brand new but mid-2010 27" i7 iMac. Although I've used recent MacBooks when traveling I've got no experience with Time Machine or other similar third party back up software.
I moved to the iMac from a desktop PC running Windows XP Pro SP3. I use the computer(s) mainly for photo image storage and processing. My workflow is based upon Adobe Lightroom (now v3.4.1) and I plan to stick with it. In the PC I had three internal hard drives, 2 of which were dedicated to image files. They were formatted as Windows NTFS. In preparation for the switch I formatted an external drive as FAT32 and copied all the image files to it. Now with the iMac I have Lightroom installed on its internal hard drive but keep the image files on the external hard drive and access them as needed. So far, so good.
The problem arose when I tried to set up Time Machine to back up both the internal hard drive and the external external drive. It will back up the former but not the latter. It tells me it does not interact with FAT32 disks.
Any thoughts, explanations and/or solutions for establishing a simple, single back up routine for both internal and external drives will be most appreciated.

Thanks very much for the quick response. You confirm my intial suspicion, but your suggestion relies on my memory to accomplish on a regular basis (not the best of solutions) and further would be an extended disk run every night because it would not just be backing up new additions but the whole large disk, right?

I can't use Time Machine with a USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme.

I connected an external drive to the USB port of an Airport Extreme, intending to use it with Time Machine and one of the laptops in the Wi-Fi network (call it Laptop). The drive is visible from the Disks tab of each computer’s Airport Utility but from nowhere else, in particular not to Laptop’s Time Machine preference.
Laptop is relatively new and arrived with Mavericks. Time Machine used to work on Laptop before I upgraded the rest of the network (a desktop Mac Pro and another laptop) from OS X 10.6 to Mavericks.
The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I have tried other external hard drives, with the same behavior. The desktop correctly use Time Machine to back up its internal drive to another internal drive. Another possibly relevant factor is that our DSL connection has recently been upgraded, and now uses a 2Wire modem that provides its own router, so Airport Utility’s Network Router Mode is set to “Off (Bridge Mode)”.
I would be grateful for suggestions of what to try next.

Here is one from Pondini, who was the foremost Time Machine expert in the world.
http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
And another from Apple. Info near the bottom.
AirPort base stations: About USB disks
And another miscellaneous from Apple:
AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility

I would like to use time Machine to back up to a network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it

I currently have a mini server (OSX10.8.5, server 2.2.2) that I am using Time Machine to back up 4 external drives that are connected to the server via firewire 800. I would like to use Time Machine to back up to a windows network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it for use.
Can this be done
Thanks for any and all help

The supported targets for Time Machine backups are local (direct-connected) disks, and network targets include Time Capsule, a disk hanging off the current-generation AirPort (though not earlier AirPort devices), and OS X Server systems.
The Time Machine storage is based on the HFS+ file system, so I would not expect TM to work with SMB file services.
While there are hacks to allow Time Machine to access network drives, I would not consider those to be reliable. Skim the forum and the 'net for related details, and for previous discussions of setting this up and the related issues that can arise.
Remember to test the recovery with whatever you decide to use; whole point of backups is the ability to restore the data, after all.
If you want to learn more about Time Machine, Pondini is an excellent resource.

My Macbook won't start, and I must reinstall the disk. I haven't used time machine to back up, and I want to use an external drive to back up now. How can i do this from the utilities page?

I am currently in Zambia on missions work and my computer is constantly exposed to heat. I have just been trying to avoid using it during the hottest part of the day. Today though, I started it up and it was stuck on the grey page with the rotating circle for over an hour, then once the circle left, it remained frozen on the gray page. I used command + r at startup to go to the utilities page to analyze the disk. It found that there were problems with the disk, but then it could not fix those problems and told me to backup as much information as I could and reinstall or redo it all. I haven't ever used time machine to back up any of my information, but i have an external drive that I can use right now to backup my files. I can't get into my computer though to backup the files. How can I use this external drive to backup my files while the computer is currently messed up? Please help.

Emergency Backups (Data Recovery)
A)          Format an external disk:
          (This will erase all data on the external disk.)
          Boot in recovery mode (power then Command-R).
                    Alternative: Network recovery boot (power then Command-Option-R keys)
          To format (and erase) the destination recovery disk:
          Plug in the drive you are about to erase.
          Select the volume that is NOT your system disk.
          Click on Partition.
          Pull down under Partition Layout to 1 Partition.
          Click on Options…
          Select GUID Partition Table.
          Name: Emergency Backup (or whatever you prefer)
          Format: Select Mac OS Extended (journaled)
          Click Apply.
          Click Partition.
B)          Try to boot in Safe Mode (power then Shift key).
          (This will be a slow boot. Be patient.)
          If it won’t boot in Safe Mode, jump to C.
          If it boots in Safe Mode, try to boot in normal mode.
                    If that fixed your problem then start a Time Machine backup.
                    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
                    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4055
          If not, boot in Safe Mode again.
          Go > Computer.
          Double click on the system disk.
          Drag the Users folder to the recovery disk.
C)          To clone the disk:
          Boot in recovery mode.
          Select Disk Utility.
          Try to repair the system disk twice.
          Whether or not the repair succeeds:
          Drag and drop the system disk to Source:
          Drag an drop Emergency Backup to Destination:
          (Take care not to reverse this order.)
          Click Restore (the lower Restore button).
Once your system is healthy, maintain two reasonably current backups. (Time machine restores can fail.)
Create either two Time Machine backups (good) or one or more Time Machine backup(s) and one or more bootable-clone backup(s) (better).
          Use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to create bootable-clone recovery disks.
          See https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
          and https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro. I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive? If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

Can I use Time Machine to recover backed-up files from a stolen computer?

Hi everyone,
I used Time Machine to back up my MacBook Pro but unfortunately it was stolen this week. I'm going to buy a new MacBook Pro and would like to recover the backed-up files from my old computer via Time Machine, though not necessarily transform the new computer into a clone of the old one. Can anyone point me to step-by-step directions for how to do this with Time Machine? Is there a way of using Time Machine to select, a la carte, which backed-up data you want to restore to your new machine, or is it an all-or-nothing deal?
Thanks for your help and advice!

Yes. Use the migration assistant.
First, I'd set up the new computer and choose not to migrate any data (this sometimes causes issues). Run all software updates, then run the Migration Assistant (In applications). It will allow you to choose a time capsule to migrate information from. You will be able to choose what information to pull from the time capsule: it won't simply clone the old computer.

HT201250 I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

Use Migration Assistant on your new Mac:
Click Continue:
On the next screen, choose your Time Machine backup disk.
Don't bother to migrate Applications unless you know they will work on your new Mac. For example, PowerPC applications won't work. Just migrate your user account which will copy all your photos, music, movies, and other documents.
Note: you will not be able to migrate the information to same account in which you are already logged in. Migration Assistant will tell you that and recommend what to do. It can migrate the information to a new account, but you will have to give it a name you might want to change later. One way around this is to create a temporary account, log in to it, and run Migration Assistant which will replace your normal account. Then, log out of the temporary account, log in to your usual one, verify everyting works as you expect, and delete the temporary one.
All this can be avoided when you set up a brand new Mac by running Setup Assistant which essentially does the same thing to create your new account, but most people are too excited to do that and elect to migrate later.

Can't use time machine due to corruptness even after reinstalling snow lepoard how to fix?

Yes, someone stole my original apple id in 2009. Now i bought another iphone in late 2012 , Created another apple id due to Apple not being able to help me access my original apple id. Which now since 2 months ago someone or company, or bank stole my second apple id. My iphone 4s with Sprint has no celluar connection supossedly due to no internet that is what sprint said but I looked it up on apple and it stated that there is a cellluar block on my iphone4s.
So I guess I will have to go in person to Sprint so they can explain that to me and why I was lied to on the phone earlier. Back to my 2nd stolen apple id that I registered my macbook,airport express router, and iphone4s and apple TV. So who ever stole this apple id obviously took over all my mac products I had registered to it. Enough about that back to trying to use time machine....Everytime i do, my macbook just starts acting all screwed up. I bought a WD external drive for Mac but I believe someone must have claimed it too. Since there is 75gb on it that I can't access. Kind of like my Macbook stating I can't save or have access to the Root . That is another thing after reinstalling snow lepoard which works great until I update it. Which is a problem because everytime I update it to 10.6.8 All the permissions are changed the graphics look horrible and I get redirected so bad its not funny. The email account is a joke. Also I notice my stationary for email is in Spanish not sure why and on Iworks the document samples are also in spanish. Now I dont speak any other language except ENGLISH AND HAVE LIVED IN UNITEDSTATES MY ENTIRE LIFE. But my internet provider Fibrant which swears they are local shows it is in the UK also when i try to access my email for that account it states it is not safe , certificate is expired and someone might be trying to impersonate my server. Needless to say it is getting old. I had this same problem with Timewarner and Att except att would just remove my ethernet driver then laugh when i would call and ask what the problem was. Then later I find out when I had DSL that somehow the phone number they had listed was change to being a digit off from my DSL account which again they laughed and thought it was funny. Enough about that. I need to know how to get access to my Apple id. I gave up on the first one but the second one I did have access to until I registered all my apple products. What is up with every thing I have with a usb port being corrupt. I have also notice anywhere in town where I live my phone is English until I come home it is arabic,hebrew , spanish any language except English. Shouldn't I be safer in my home??????????????? But I am not I am safer in town or anywhere but my home. EVerything states international in my home and this has been going on since 2009.....No one can tell me why. My power from Duke reads that OTHER Is costing me the most $$ every month what ????? This is a joke. But yet no one can tell me why or how to fix the problem. Going on 5 years , I have been cut off from everyone I know. Can't keep contacts on a phone or email accts. They all disappear. All so I am in Eastern time zone but all my computers and tv seems to think I am in pacific timezone. No one can fix this problem either. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix at least one of my 5 year problems I would be grateful. I try to create a new email account but either I am locked out right after or someone turns it into an alias account which doesn't help me. When I was layed off in 2009-2010 I went back to school/college. Needless to say they took my School email acct too.
Back to my iphone 4s problem. My icloud email account gets alot of spam starting about 2 months ago and I can't stop it. I try to foward it to Spam @ me but it hasn't helped.My iphone can only connect to the internet with wifi. Sprint swears that there is not a block but according to apple there is.
About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt?? I have tried several times and it is always the same. I won't to connect my iphone to itunes to try to restore it but it states I have to update it to 10.6.8. When I do that my computer is alot worse off. Also how can I use TimeMachine with out my Macbook getting messed up? Something in my house has taken over anything with a usb port actually years ago and probably now something kept turning all my computers and phones or any electronic I owned it to a printer. I actually can't even use a printer in my home thats the funny thing. When I try to connect one when I used windows it stated I had no rights to it and couldn't use it. Since I switch to Mac not much better. When I try to print a test page it is all crooked and too small of half off the page. So it is upsetting that I can't use a printer but something keeps turning all my electronics into printers. If anyone knows how to fix this problem that would be great or to stop all this international stuff going on in my home that would be wonderful. I try to buy brand new pcs but soon as I start them up something had already taken over. This is with nothing electronic in my home on. Turn everything that a power switch off or unplugged it. Still I lost rights and access to anything in my home. Now if I am away from my home and try to use one of my laptops they look completely different and almost usable. Unfortunately I can't afford to move. I thought about it but I am still in bankruptcy and don't have the money. In the last 4 years I have not been able to reinstall in backups that I have created. Not sure why oh wait it states I have no rights to do that. My macbook I lost access to a week after I bought it and connected my iphone too. You don't know how many times I wish I had never backed my iphone 4s to my Macbook. Right after I could not log into it. Even used the disk to reset the password nope still couldn't log into it. Try to type the formula for resetting the password and nope it didn't work either.
Any suggestions would be appreciated---Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
Thanks, Suzanne
UnitedSTates
Eastern timezone

Didn't really read much at all of your post. Much, much too long, irrelevant details and & no paragraphs.
Can't use time machine due to corruptness
Post over here -> Mac OS X v10.6 - Snow Leopard forum
About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt??
Same as above. Post in the correct forum.
Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
-> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5625

Can I use time machine to back up computer hard drive AND contents of an external HD (contains only photos) onto another external hard drive (standalone HD for backups only)? PLEASE HELP!!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for