Can TimeMachine be set to back up to a thumb drive?

I realize that Apple recommends using an external hard drive equivalent in size to your computer's internal hard drive, but all I need to back up are Final Cut Express project files (I back up AVCHD video files on CD separately). Since the project files are quite small, rather than buying an external hard drive, can I set TimeMachine to back up these small project files on a USB thumb drive? Or does TimeMachine require an actual hard drive to work?
I'm new to Macs, and have never used TimeMachine. Thanks very much for any advice you can offer.

The Time Machine Preference panel has an 'options' button that lets you exclude any folders that you don't want to back up. It's easy enough to exclude everything except one or two folders.
I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't accept backing up to a thumb drive.

Similar Messages

Backing up to a thumb drive - time machine doesn't delete older backups when it's full. I will have to erase and re-do the drive. Why?

Backing up to a thumb drive - time machine doesn't delete older backups when it's full. I will have to erase and re-do the drive. Why?

You are both right.
Time Machine can backup FROM:
It cannot back up a USB thumb drive.
Time Machine can backup TO:
•A USB thumb drive (but most aren't large enough, and are very, very slow)

Can I get my bookmarks back after installing new hard drive?

Can I get my bookmarks back after installing new hard drive?

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
Your old Profile is located here in Vista & Win7: <br />
''drive'':\Users\''Windows login user name''\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\''profile_name''

How can I move photos from my computer to a Thumb drive?

How can I move photos from my computer to a Thumb drive?

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16881894#16881894
2 way to get the icon...
Finder>Preferences>General, check what you want to show on Desktop.
Finder>Preferences>Sidebar, check what you want to show in the Sidebar of all windows.

How do i completely get rid of my Macintosh HD so I can start fresh and install mac os x Lion thumb drive

I just purchased the thumb drive for OS X Lion. As far as I know, because I only have 10.5.8 and I do not want to purchase Snow Lpd. I can just delete everything and start from scratch (according to an employee at the Apple Store). The problem is that I have no idea how to "start from scratch", its not as easy as dragging my Macintosh HD icon from my desktop to the trash can. HELP!

If you really want to start fresh and you have ANY PERSONAL files already backed up, or you don't care about them, stick the thumb drive in the USB port and reboot the system. Hold down the Option key when you hear the apple startup sound, let it go after about 15-20 second. That will give you a screen where you select which drive to boot off of, select the thumb drive. Once that has booted go to Disk Utility and RE-Partition the drive. That will wipe all information off it. Once that is done close Disk Utility and you will be back at the original screen. Select Install OS X Lion.
Have fun.

Backing up itunes on thumb drive

I saw the instructions for backing up your itune library on an external hard drive- consolidate then go into windows and drag whole itunes folder to external drive- *is that both the file in my music and program files*? AND is this the same procedure for backing them up on a _thumb drive_?????

Dawn214 wrote:
I saw the instructions for backing up your itune library on an external hard drive- consolidate then go into windows and drag whole itunes folder to external drive- *is that both the file in my music and program files*?
Yes. Once you consolidate, the iTunes folder contains all the song files plus the library data.
AND is this the same procedure for backing them up on a _thumb drive_?????
Yes, but since thumb drives have less capacity than external drives, make sure it has room to hold your library.

Error "One or more items can't be copied" when backing up to USB hard drive

I just bought a 160 GB USB2 external hard drive for use with my PowerBook. It seems to work just fine for the most part, as long as I'm working with one or two files at a time.
One motivation for the purchase, however, was backups. The first thing I wanted to back up was my home folder. Feeling like the savvy Macintosh user I logged out of my account and logged back in as the root user, and dragged my Home folder to the external HD. After watching it "prepare" to copy for a few minutes it started. Then stopped almost immediately with the warning "One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaining items?"
Seeing as how I didn't know which items stopped the copy, I didn't want to skip them. A backup with holes is not a backup.
Thinking I'd bitten off too much, I started moving one folder at a time. Music, Documents, etc. But each folder ran into the same error.
I've tried dragging folders over from inside my own account, thinking that perhaps root (yes, I know this sounds absurd) didn't have privlidges. No go, I still run into the error, even when copying files I know aren't in use (my Music folder, for example, when iTunes isn't running).
I have way too much in that folder to drag individual files for backup. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I have another 10 days to return this HD, and if I don't get this working soon I see no reason to keep it.

This problem can occur for several reasons. One, is that you aren't logged in as the root user. Keep in mind that your admin account does not convey root user privileges. Second, when trying to copy system files that are in use you will get that error. Third, you cannot make a proper clone of your system using drag and drop. Instead do the following:
First, prep the external drive properly:
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Next, create the clone:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the startup volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the startup volume to the Source entry field.
5. Select the backup volume from the leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Keep in mind that according to Apple you cannot start up OS X from a USB drive. If one of your goals was to be able to boot from the external drive, then you should have purchased a Firewire drive.

Can I pull iWeb files back from MobileMe after hard drive failure?

I suffered a recent hard drive failure and while I had my pictures backed up I didn't have my iWeb files back up and don't want to start the website from scratch if at all possible. Is there any way to save the files I uploaded to MobileMe back to my computer so I can continue my website?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Chapter 2.3 of the iWeb FAQ.org site has tips on using some of the existing image, audio and/or video files in the published site in the reconstruction of the site.
OT

Can't switch startup disk back from CD to Hard Drive

I wanted to install Tiger, but it told me that my disk drive had errors that it couldn't repair, so I bout Norton, and but the disk in and told the system to use the CD as the startup disk. Big mistake. I should have just held down the option key while booting and used the Startup Manager. Anyway, I decided that I wasn't ready yet to use Norton, and tried to go back to my usual disk startup, and I can't find a way to get back. Both the Tiger and Norton CDs come up and see the Hard Drive, but neither those CDs nor the Startup Manager will find the Hard drive startup disks.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Chapter 2.3 of the iWeb FAQ.org site has tips on using some of the existing image, audio and/or video files in the published site in the reconstruction of the site.
OT

My PC browsers are not working, How can I download the entire Firefox browser onto a thumb drive at work to install on my PC at home ?

My Laptop is running WinXP & has IE & Firefox browsers loaded. Both have stopped working due to unrelated problems. Since I cannot connect to the Web to download the Firefox browser at home, I want to download the entire browser to my USB thumbdrive here at work, and then install the browser at home from the thumbdrive. Does the Firefox Setup 4.0.exe file (12.286 MB) contain everything needed to complete the installation from the thumbdrive ?

You can grab a "full" installer (.dmg file) from this page (scroll down to your preferred language):
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/

How to set a back up in cd

I am a teache and l bought a mac pro 13'3 and did not have cd installation as l do not live in population area and sometimes internet is not working l do need to set a physical support as are the cd, please someone can help to set the back up for my laptop
thank you

MacBook http://www.apple.com/support/macbook (this is not notebook community)
Macs now do not come with installer DVDs (would need dual layer DVD) as of OS X Lion
Even for those with good fast internet, downloading Lion 4GB can be long and very slow.
Amazon, Newegg, OWC is a good place to look for external drives and Mac upgrades
http://www.macsales.com/firewire
You should have a "clone" working bootable backup at the minimum, and have two such backup sets (one is always off line).
CD and even DVD is very limited. And Blue-Ray is not supported but you can use it to burn and backup - in addition to clones and TimeMachine.

Can TM be set to backup an external drive

Let's say I want to store all my digital photos on an external, instead of an imac's internal drive. Can TM be set to back that volume up to a second external (or, I guess, to another partition on the same external)?
Thanks,
Corey

Yes. Open Time Machine Preferences. Then click options. You will see a window that says *Do Not Back Up*. Find the hard drive or partition you want to be included in your back up and remove it from the list. It will come up in your Time Machine window when you use it. I use it to back up my storage drive where I have important stuff.

Can I install Mt Lion directly onto USB thumb drive?

I want to tryout Mt Lion without a lot of reinstalling of Snow Leopard issues. Can I just install Mt Lion onto a USB thumb drive or external HD via Firewire 800 to demo Mt. Lion and if I don't like it then I won't have to reinstall SL.

Yes, if the Thumb drive is big enough. I installed it on an External Drive myself... & went back to 10.5/10.6 for getting work done.
Also, the Installer "conveniently" erases itself after install, so to save a huge download if needed again... make a copy of it before you install.

FedEx/Kinkos and StaplesPrint Can't Read MS-DOS (FAT) Formatted Thumb Drive

Lately, when I take a thumb drive that I've formatted using Disk Utility to MS-DOS (FAT), the computers at FedEx and Staples can't mount them. I've tried multiple thumb drives and multiple stores--same thing, they won't mount.
Shouldn't a MS-DOS (FAT) formatted thumb drive work? Or, an I missing something.

Fortuny wrote:
Hi,
thank you for the valuable informations about the MacDrive on these stations.
But are you sure about the APT partition scheme ?
Shouldn't it be GPT (GUID Partition Table) in conjunction with Mac OS Extended file system ?
Never used such stations, only trying to avoid confusion.
Stefan, you're incredibly helpful and don't need to worry in the least about me taking your posts the wrong way.
The combo of APT (Apple Partition Table) and HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) is the most compatible across platforms. GPT doesn't offer any advantages to a USB flash drive unless you are intending to use it as boot drive on an Intel-based Mac. GPT also limits the backwards compatibility (possibly not an issue) with older versions of the Mac OS.

I have problems with seeing my bookmarks, file, view, edit...buttons. I tried other shortcuts. I noticed that all of my bookmarks are located in the Internet Explorer browsers, how can I restore setting back to Mozilla Firefox?

I have problems with seeing my bookmarks, file, view, edit...buttons. I tried other shortcuts. I noticed that all of my bookmarks are located in the Internet Explorer browsers, how can I restore setting back to Mozilla Firefox?

Is the menu bar missing (the one containing File, View, Edit etc)? If it is, the following link shows how to restore it - https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Menu+bar+is+missing

Can TimeMachine be set to back up to a thumb drive?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for