Can time machine work if i don't have and don't connect an external hard drive to it?

will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?

thebunnys wrote:
will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?
Yes, if you partition your internal hard disk into at least two volumes, and use one of them to run Mac OS X from, and the other for TM backup.
This method protects against directory damage and mistakes. However, it offers no protection in case of hard drive failure. Since all hard drives fail sooner or later, it's much better to use an external hard disk for Time Machine.
Optimally, you should have at least two working, up-to-date backups, made with different methods (eg, a Time Machine backup and a Carbon Copy Cloner backup).

Similar Messages

Can Time Machine backups for more than one Mac be sent to the same external hard drive?

It's pretty straightforward, really. We have two Macs, both running Mountain Lion. Can we use the same external hard drive for Time Machine backups of both?

It would be best to partition the HDD - one volume for each Mac (you cannot partition a Time Capsule).
Note that by doing so, you will lose both backups should the drive fail.

I've been getting the error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by the computer". I can't open system preferences, disk utility, or Time Machine. I'm guessing it has something to do with my external hard drive, although it hasn't been touched.

I've been getting the error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by the computer". I can't open system preferences, disk utility, or Time Machine. I'm guessing it has something to do with my external hard drive, although it hasn't been touched lately, but I can't figure out how to solve the problem. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Thanks for your quick response. I had a look at your discussion... I tried it on a Windows machine and I thought that was compatible with ExFAT?
Therefore I need to attempt to use my external hard drive with a machine that boasts OS X 10.6.5 or above and then it should work?
Thanks

HT201250 How long should an initial time machine backup of tack for 675 GB?s with a USB external hard drive?

How long should an initial time machine backup of tack for 675 GB?s with a USB external hard drive?

Not much faster than 40 GBs-60GBs per hour. So, minimally, around 12 hours.

I have an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine backup on my IMac. I want to add a second external hard drive and put my Aperture Photo Library on it. Is there a way to have the photos on this second hard drive automatically back up to the Time Mac

I have an IMac with an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine for automatic backups. I want to add a second external hard drive and load my Aperture Photo Library on to it so that the library can be shared by both me and my wife. Is there a way to automatically backup the photo library that will be on the second hard drive to the Time Machine hard drive?

Open System Preference > Time Machine
Click Options....
Ckick on external disk in list and hit the - button below the list to remove from the Exclusion list
Allan

I bucked up my files with Time Machine, but I am not able to see my pictures from the external hard drive

Hi all,
When I open the iphoto library in my hard drive, its says that I have to open iphotos with the "control" option. So I did it and opened a "different library" and try again to do it from the extrenal drive, but again, its says the same thing. Please help! I would like to be sure all my back ups pictures are there and be able to watch them
Thanks in advance!

A Time Machine backup of the iPhoto Library is not useabel by iPhoto until you Restore it with Time Machine. To restore the library go into Time Machine, go to the date you want, located your Pictures folder, select the library and use the Restore button.
Be warned that this will overwrite your current library so if it's just a test select Save Both in the window that comes up.
OT

How does Time MACHINE work with the Verizon Fios Router and External Harddrive??

Hello,
I just got a laptop MBP for my daughter who has got Verizon FIOS as her carrier. The Router has wireless capability and ethernet capable connections.
I want to set her up with an external hard drive for Time Machine Backups and to make it easier, I was wondering if I can somehow connect the external hard drive to the router so she can use her laptop anywhere in the house and have it backed up.
I clearly recognize that I can hook it up direct to the laptop but I thought if someone had an idea, this approach might be easier for her.
I haven't gotten the external hard drive yet so I thought I would ask before I do.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide me,
Skip

You can restore from the larger disk since Time Machine makes a complete copy of the Mac on the first backup on any new disk.
So, the first time your Mac backed up to the larger disk, the entire contents of your Mac's hard drive (minus any files that you excluded) were copied over. Then, Time Machine began to back up the incremental changes on all subsequent backups.

HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

I connected my external hard drive to my new imac to put all of the information from my macbook onto it. i have been working on the macbook now and want to reconnect the external hard drive so my imac is updated with the work. How is that done?

I connected my external hard drive to my new imac to put all of the information from my macbook onto it. I have been working on the macbook now and want to reconnect the external hard drive so my imac is updated with the work. How is that done? or is it possible?

As I said, I don't use Time Machine, so it'd be best to wait for an "expert" answer, but, with my very limited knowledge, I'd say: probably not - so, for now, I'd suggest you read up on Time Machine:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Home.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&src=support_site.home.search&local e=en_US&q=time%20machine
And, you might be attracting more knowledgeable answers if you were to post this question in the Time Machine Forum (part of the Snow Leopard forums).

Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule for off site back up?

I like having a copy of everything at another site in case of a house fire. Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule to make a duplicate of what is on Time Capsule? I would store that hard drive at work and bring it home monthly or something to back up Time Capsule. Thanks!

Can I connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule to make a duplicate of what is on Time Capsule?
That is exactly what the Archive function on the Time Capsule is for. Connect a USB drive and click Archive, and a mirror image of your Time Capsule will be copied over to the USB drive. It's a slow process that will take 4-8 hours depending on how much data is on the Time Capsule, so best to start things late at night and let them run overnight.
Another option would be to use a commercial application like Carbon Copy Cloner to keep your backup. The advantage to this approach is that once the first "master" backup is done, the application will only back up the changes on the Time Capsule that have occurred since the last backup. So, subsequent backups will be much faster, probably only taking about 10-15 minutes.

My backup hard drive does not have enough space for time machine to perform a back up even after erasing entire contents of bu hard drive

My backup hard drive does not have enough space for time machine to perform a back up even after erasing entire contents of bu hard drive. The hard drive has been in service for almost two years performing this function with no sign of failure. How do I adjust time machine perameters?

The only way to limit the size of the backup is to exclude data from the backup, which you can do in Time Machine preferences.
If you use multiple browsers, have you tried clearing your browser caches? However, that's just a stop gap if it works. You either need to limit what you backup or get another drive.

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

This is a tricky one.
Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....." You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

I cannot connect my external hard drives (1 WD My Passport and 1 LaCie Porsche Design). The drives were connected and worked perfect, the WD is used as a Time Capsule, the LaCie is formatted as exFAT and used for miscellaneous. They are both USB 3.0

I cannot connect my external hard drives any longer. I have one WD "My Passport" used as a Time Capsule and one LaCie Porsche Design used for all different kind of data, formatted in exFAT. They worked fine, connected direct or through an additional USB hub or also attached to a Dell monitor. The Lacie helds my iTunes Library and the iPhoto library.
After I moved the iTunes library to the external drive, from time to time the drive went into a never ending loop and I had to shut down the laptop (MacBook Air).
The last time starting again the drives were not recognized any longer. I tried to connect them to another MacBook, which didn't work.
Starting with Windows 7, the WD is also not recognized at all (perhaps because of time capsule format?) and the LaCie gives an error.
Could anybody tell me if there is a chance to get them alive again? When I connect them now, they start to heat up quite fast without anything else happening.
Thanks

Hi,
Just want to clarify, have you checked to make sure the cords are not damaged (going from hard drive to computer and or any power source )?
You have also check to make sure that usb ports are working correctly?
If you have checked these things it may be that the external drives have failed.
I would google the error message from the LaCie drive before I do anything.
There are several ways that I know of, one is to put the hard drive in the freezer for a while (make sure you wrap it air tight) if this works it is not a permenint fix. You might be able to transfer information to another source.
The other method is to plug the hard drive into a hard drive connector a product like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707192
to do this you would have to remove the hard drive from its enclosure and still this is not a guarantee it will work.
The finally way I know is using a recovery service. This can be rather expensive, and there are no guarantees

I connected a external hard drive to the Time capsule but I can't get it to connect, I connected a external hard drive to the Time capsule but I can't get it to connect

I connected an external hard drive to the Time Capsule but can't get it to work.

And are you using a powered USB hub? The USB port on the Time Capsule is under powered, so you almost always need to use a powered USB hub, even if the hard drive has its own power supply.

HT1386 I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix

I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix it? Alan

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data - How-To Geek

If i connect an external hard drive to a time capsule, can i access this drive via internet?

If i connect an external hard drive to a time capsule, can i access this drive via internet?

If the drive can be accessed in local lan, then it can be accessed from internet assuming you have setup using one of the remote access methods.
See remote access here.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/wireless/airport?view=documents

Can time machine work if i don't have and don't connect an external hard drive to it?

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