Can Time Machine be used to back up iTunes?

I use Time Machine to back up my computer, and recently used it to set up my new computer. But I always exclude iTunes because my current library is at 1.41 TB, running off an external drive. I would like to make a regular back up of our iTunes library, say every week or so. That's why the DVDr route is not appealing, it's not fluid enough. Can Time Machine be used in this way? If I set up another dedicated external, and set it up with TimeMachine, but told it to exclude everything except the iTunes external, and made sure I did this every week, would it work? Thanks.

I'm not sure I understand your question, but there's no reason why you should treat the iTunes library any differently than other data for backup purposes. The first TM snapshot that includes it will take a long time and a lot of space, but once that's done, the files won't change and therefore won't need to be copied again.

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Can time machine be used to back up one external drive to another external drive?

I use the photography program Lightroom to organize and develop digital photos. All my photos are stored on my iMac internal drive. The internal drive is almost full so I want to move my photos to a new external drive. At present, I have an external drive devoted to backing up my iMac using time machine. I have no need to change this arrangement. I would like to use a new external drive to serve as the primary location for my pictures, which I will move from the internal drive. Then I would like to backup that drive to a third external back up drive. Can time machine be used to automatically back up the second drive to the third drive as well as for continuing to provide ongoing backups to my internal drive as it is currently doing?
Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Jeffery t wrote:
Thanks for the links, but I don't see in the pondini links, the scenario I am asking about.
Time Machine can easily back up multiple internal and/or directly-connected external drives and partitions simultaneously (but Time Machine cannotback up data that's on a network).
From the first link.
Jeffery t wrote:
... Please note that my iMac internal drive is backing up to external drive number 1 using time machine. I want my pictures on external drive two and those backed up to external drive three. So are you saying that if I have 500 GB of pictures on drive number 2, I will need a third drive that is at least 1 TB?
the confusion starts in your above statement...
There should be Only One Time Machine Drive.

Can Time Machine be used to back up my server?

I've got 10.6 Server running on an Xserve. I was told that Time Machine can't be used on a Server, but I do have the TM icon on my dock. Does TM work with server or not - are its backups flawed in some way for Server?

Michael
Whoever told you that you can't use Time Machine on OSX Server was not wholly wrong or wholly correct. As ever it all depends on what roles you want your Server to perform. It is not recommended to use Time Machine to back up OSX Server if it's an OD Master and/or a Mail Server and/or running a SQL Database. This is because those databases are more likely to be constantly changing - think about it. Most people would say the 'sensible' thing to do is to stop the Services - or curtail in some way access to those databases during the backup - effect the backup and then re-start the Services or allow access to the databases again. This is something Time Machine does not know how to do. As ever it's not so much backing up that's the problem. The problem generally arises if you have to recover data after a Server or Drive failure. More often than the recovered databases exhibit all sorts of problems and corruption. Probably because the databases were 'mangled' by Time Machine when they were backed up.
If all you want from your server is simple file sharing, iCal, iChat and Web Services then you can use Time Machine and safely recover from the backups. In my experience this works for me consistently well. As ever YMMV.
HTH?
Tony

Can Time Machine Be Used to Back Up Files from An External Hard Drive?

Please let me provide a little more information to clarify the question.
The hard drive on my computer is not large enough for all my photo and video files so I am planning to purchase a new external hard drive and move my "Pictures" and "Movies" folders to the new external hard drive as a way of freeing up space on my computer. A different external hard drive is now used for backup of the computer's hard drive.
My question is about how backups will be handled if I upgrade to Snow Leopard.
I understand that Time Machine will take the place of the software now being used to back up the MacHD, but back up is still needed for the photo and video files which would be moved off of the MacHD. Will Time Machine back up those files too? That is, will Time Machine back up specified folders which are being stored on one external hard drive and place the backups on a different external hard drive? And, will Time Machine do that in addition to backing up the MacHD? If so, are separate partitions needed for the MacHD and the Photo/Video backups, or will Time Machine put everything in the same partition?
Any advice and/or suggestions for handling this in would be most appreciated.
Thanks for your help.

As captfred says, yes (as long as the drive is formatted for a Mac, not Windoze).
You might want to review the [Time Machine Tutorial|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics] and perhaps browse [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).

Can Time Machine be used as a normal router?

Sorry my ignorance on this type of Apple's products.
My question is simple:
Can Time Machine be used as a router? I know it backs up files, but I'm not sure about this function.
Thanks in advance!

Yes, it does function as a "normal router".
In addition to its ability to function as a "normal router" (ie a device to share a cable/DSL internet connection) the Time Capsule will also:
1. function as an a/b/g/n wireless access point
2. network attached storage device, for Time Machine backups as well as general purpose file storage
3. point of attachment of one or more USB printers, which can be shared with all computers on the network
4. point of attachment of an external USB hard drive, for storage space additional to the built in hard drive

Can Time Machine be used to backup BootCamp?

I wish to use my Time Machine to backup Bootcamp. But is that of any use? My purpose is not just to backup the data. I wish to have the OS to be backed up also. So that upon restore the entire OS should be present as it was during the Last TM Backup.

Time Machine doesn't directly back up the Boot Camp volume. If you use the third-party utility "WinClone" to image the volume in a file, that file will be backed up, but it's a very inefficient way to back up your Windows data. You should do that from within Windows, using a native backup tool.

Can Time Machine be used for extra drives?

I have a Mac Pro and currently have two drives in it, a system drive that's using as the startup disc and for most of my use. The 2nd drive is more like a server drive which is used on that system but also shared with all computers on my home network. i use it for things like clipart, backups of itunes from the laptops, media files, etc.
I just installed a 3rd hard drive and have been planning to set it up as a Time Machine drive for my Mac Pro. I have several questions though.
I assume when I do this it will just work as a Time Machine drive for my main system/startup drive, correct?
Is there a way I can use Time Machine for the 2nd drive in my system? In a sense setting up two Time Machine backups, one from the main drive to this new backup drive and the 2nd from the server drive to a 4th drive I can add in the future?
If the 2nd question is a No, is there a way I can set it up so that Time Machine simply backs up both the main drive and that 2nd, server drive, to the Time Machine drive? I really prefer not to use this option since both drives are 1TB and the hard drive I have just gotten as the time machine drive is 1.5TB. I think that should be okay for my main drive since it is only 30% used or so but with backing both onto it I don't think I have enough space to do it well.

Time Machine will back up all and any Mac-formatted drives connected to the system. You can tell it not to (in TM Preferences - Options), but by default it will back up all drives. You can't customise the destination for individual drive backups - they'll all go to one drive (so make sure your TM drive is large enough for all sources - 2 or 3 times as large as the total data usage, preferably).
If you don't want to use TM in this way, you can limit it to one source drive, and back up the other drive to a 4th HD another way - for example, using SuperDuper. This is a clone backup rather than a versioned solution, though.
Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Clifton

After installing 10.5.2 can Time Machine be used to restore 10.5.0 ?

If I install 10.5.2 and then decide to go back to 10.5.0 - can I do a clean installation of Leopard from the DVD, and then use Time Machine to restore data onto the 10.5.0 clean instal. Or does Time Machine back up elements that are specific to the current Leopard update, i.e. 10.5.2 ?
I ask this beforehand, in case the upgrade to 10.5.2 goes awry, whereas I am having no problems with 10.5.0

The reason why I'd possibly need to go back to 10.5.0 is that, according to macpolls survey, 8.39% of people who installed 10.5.2 either had major problems or worse. As I see it, 8.39% is pretty close to 10%. That's a whopping big number. You're probably among the 91.6% who had no problems. For me, I use my iMac for my business, and I literally cannot afford for things to go wrong. As I see it, a risk of 8.39% is pretty huge in terms of the entire business shutting down if all computer records cannot be accessed on a critical day, e.g. when there is a critical deadline for submitting documents. Hence, before I install 10.5.2, I need to know how to get back to 10.5.0.
In your answer, you said that if I backup certain folders, I cannot go back to 10.5.0. Can you be more precise, because it doesn't actually tell me how I can ensure I can go back to 10.5.0. Right now, I have no control over what Time Machine backs up. It just backs up everything. If I don't back up the folder you referred to, will that adversely affect my reinstallation ?

Can Time Machine be used to backup both internal and external drive?

I have a Mac Book Pro with Lion OSX installed. I have an external fire wire hard drive connected which contains my iTunes Library. I would like to use Time Machine to backup both the internal drive and the attached external drive. Can this be done?

Yes, make sure the drive is not excluded under the Privacy tab in Time Machine.
System Preferences > Time Machine

Can Time Machine be used to restore system after format?

Hi,
I need to format my Macintosh HD because Boot Camp Assistant cannot partition it. Now I have it all backed up with Time Machine, can I just format and then restore from the Time Machine drive and everything (Leopard, apps, settings & files) will be back to normal?
Thanks

I've just done it and it works faultlessly, the problem is, that after the restore, Time Machine wants to do a complete full backup for it's first backup, rather than realising that it already has a backup folder and continuing on from where it was. Consequently it tells me that I have insufficient space on my hard drive.

Can time machine be use like an external hard drive

like to put a windows partition on time machine use it for more espace

305Sebas wrote:
like to put a windows partition on time machine ..
Do not do this... TM works best on its Own Dedicated Hard Drive.
Would suggest another EHD for your windows usage.

Can time capsule be used to back up an imac and macbook?

I use time capsule with my imac and I have recently bought a macbook. Can I add the macbook to the time capsule so that both devises are backed up on it?
Many thanks
G

Yes, that is fine. .the two devices automatically setup different backup sparsebundles.. a disk image in effect.

Can time machine and carbon copy cloner use the same backup drive?

Can time machine and CCC use the same esata backup drive?

Yes, but you will need to first partition the drive so that TM and CCC will backup to their own respective volumes. This way the CCC volume can accommodate a bootable clone.
Be sure the TM volume has adequate space. A TM backup volume should have about twice the capacity of the volume it backs up.

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

Can Time Machine back up to a Western Digital "My Passport Wireless" over wifi?

I bought a Western Digital "My Passport Wireless" external hard drive / NAS to use as a Time Machine backup for my new MacBook Pro. I plugged it in via USB, formatted it to HFS+, and ran Time Machine. All good.
This hard drive has a wireless chip in it, so one can connect to it via wifi, either directly or through a router. When I dismounted the drive and connected via wifi (via my router), my expectation was that I could run Time Machine and do periodic back-ups without having to remember to plug in the drive, etc.
I can see the drive and read/write to it. I am connected as 'admin', not 'guest'. It is named "MyPassport", both when connected via USB and via wifi. When I try to use the drive via wifi for Time Machine, I'm asked: "Do you want to stop backing up to “MyPassport” and use “TimeMachineBackup/TimeMachine” instead, or back up to both?" When I select "Use both", I'm then told: "Time Machine can’t access the backup disk “TimeMachineBackup/TimeMachine”. The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 2.)"
Should it be possible for Time Machine to recognize the same archive, whether connected via USB or wifi?
If I cannot, can I at least back up a new archive over wifi. I recognize that the first go at this would take a long time due to slow wireless transfer speed. What does OSStatus error 2 mean?

So you think that you know better than Apple.
NAS is not supported by Time Machine, you can take all the risks you like but do not advise others to do so. It doesn't matter what WD say, they want you to buy one, Apple are the deciders of what is supported or not.
Here's what WD say:
Note: WD does not provide technical support for Time Machine related issues. For assistance with backing up to a WD NAS drive, using the Time Machine application please contact Apple. As the backup application is built into the OS, they are the only ones qualified to diagnose a Time Machine related issue.
Good luck.

Can Time Machine be used to back up iTunes?

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