Can you use time machine with 2 drives

I'd like to make two Time Machine backups - one per external drive - so that I can keep one in a different location.  Is that possible?  When I switch drives will each backup know where to pickup? 
Thanks. 

Yes, although that's not the best way to keep secondary backups.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for details.

Similar Messages

  • Can you use time machine on a networked hard drive

    Can you use time machine on a networked hard drive? 

    See if this helps: Using Time Machine with a networked hard drive

  • I am trying to get an answer to whether or not I can successfully use Time Machine with an external HDD connected to an airport extreme?  Some forums say yes, some say no.

    I am trying to get an answer to whether or not I can successfuly use Time Machine with an external HDD connected to an airport extreme.  Some forums say yes, some say no.  I'm also curious about formatting the hard drive to work both on my wife's MacBook Pro and my PC.  Any help would definitely be appreciated.

    You may be going on a recollection, that I share, that at one time Apple stated this would be possible:
    In fact, Apple’s Time Machine Web page touted this very capability as recently as last Tuesday, as you can see from Google’s October 16 cache of the page
    Effortless meets wireless. With a hard disk connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, all the Macs in your house can use Time Machine to back up wirelessly. Simply select your AirPort Disk as the backup disk for each computer and the whole family can enjoy the benefits of Time Machine.
    But if you look at the current Time Machine page on Apple’s Web site, that text is nowhere to be found.
    That was a long time ago, it has never been officially implemented, and at present they specifically say it cannot be done.
    In summary, it may work, but probably won't, and even if it does it may not be reliable.
    Reference:
    Disks that can be used with Time Machine
    Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk connected to an AirPort Extreme, or...
    and
    Mac OS X v10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks

  • Can you use Time Capsule with any wifi extender?

    Can you use Time capsule with any wifi extenders?

    No, since Apple designed their routers to only work with other Apple routers.
    I suppose that it is possible that another brand might work, but since you won't know this until you try, it would be a good idea to have a clear understanding of the store's return policy before you decide to gamble.

  • Can i use time machine with a airport extreme and a external hard drive

    I have connected a hard drive to my airport extreme.
    Now i would like to use time machine to back up my computers, and would like to do this on the hard drive which is connected to my airport extreme.
    Next step is that i would like to be able to approach my external hard drive via the internet.
    Is this possible or not?

    Both are possible. However, Apple does NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks attached to the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn). Doing so will potentially lead to data corruption and is highly not recommended. Please check out this excellent Pondini article for more details. This article also provides the Apple Support references that states Apple's position. Bottom line? If your backups are critical to you, then you may want to rethink your backup solution.
    As far as accessing the AirPort Disk from the Internet, the following is the basic steps to do so:
    Start the AirPort Utility > Select the AEBSn, and then, note the IP address shown.
    Select Manual Setup.
    Verify that Connection Sharing = Share a public IP address is selected on the Internet > Internet Connection tab.
    Select Disks, and then, select File Sharing.
    Verify that both the "Enable file sharing" and "Share disks over WAN" options are enabled.
    Verify that Secure Shared Disks = With a disk password. (Recommended)
    Verify that AirPort Disks Guest Access = Not allowed. (Recommended)
    Select Advanced, and then, select the Port Mapping tab.
    Click the plus sign to add a new port mapping.
    For Service, select the "Personal File Sharing" option. (Note: This option would only allow Mac clients to access the AirPort Disks. If you want both Macs and PCs to connect, you would need to leave this field at its default value and enter the appropriate SMB ports to the mix of ports to be opened.)
    In the Public UDP Port(s) and Public TCP Port(s) boxes, type in a 4-digit port number (e.g., 8888) that you choose. In the Private IP Address box, type the internal IP address of your AEBSn that you wrote down in step 1. In the Private UDP Port(s) and Private TCP Port(s) boxes, type 548. Click Continue.
    In the Description box, type a descriptive name like "AirPort Disk File Sharing," and then, click Done.
    Click on Update.
    To connect to the shared AirPort Disk from a remote location using a Mac:
    From the Finder > Go > Connect to Server.
    Enter the Pubic (WAN-side) IP address of the AEBSn, followed by a colon and the Public port number that you choose in step 11 of the previous procedure. For example: afp://www.mydyndnsdomain.com:8888 or afp://123.456.789.123:8888
    Click Connect.
    You should be prompted for your user name and password. The user name can be anything you like; the password should be the Disk password for the AEBSn that you created in step 6 previously.
    Click Connect.

  • 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.

  • How can i use time machine with a network drive

    I have a Western Digital Net N900 wireless router with a 2TB internal H/D. How can I get Time Machine to reconize it?

    Relying only on TM to me is iffy but I would bet you have clones in addition to TM like I do.  I agree with everything you said but to the OP question, it is possible.  A time capsule or AEBS+HD are pretty similar but one is officially supported while the later is not.
    Since I'm rambling a bit I will add this.  I only use TM for the times I delete something and then wish I had it back.  All my restores or migrations are done from my clones.  One clone is made weekly and is a snap shot of my system.  One clone I keep remotely located and is updated monthly.
    My system:
    Internal 1TB
    Ext HD1 2TB (1TB data, 1TB clone)
    Ext HD2 2TB time machine backup (internal + HD1 data, not the clone)
    Remote 1TB clone
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  • Can i use time machine with a hard drive connected to the airport extreme?

    Just wondering if there is any news on this since the last post was in 2008.
    The Apple website info regarding the Airport Extreme mentions attaching a hard drive to the Airport Extreme, but I can't see whether that could be used for a Mac using Time Machine.

    You can attach a hard drive, but Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme are not supported by Apple, so it's not possible to say what your actual results might be.
    If you decide to try this, it would be wise to have a secondary backup plan in place as well.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html

  • 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

  • Can I use Time Machine with a Network Storage Drive?

    I just picked up this drive http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Macally/NSA2S350NAS/ and I would like to use Time Machine for backups, and also use a different location on the drive for sharing files on our network. But this article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html says that network server must use AFP. How do I set that up? I just have a simple network using a 4 port wireless router. I have no idea what protocol the network is. I just use the "Network" option to connect to my new drive at smb://192.168.1.105.
    Is this going to be possible or do I need to buy some other backup software???

    On a Mac G4 I'm running OSX leopard with Time Machine. I have my other Mac (8600)networked. The 8600 was upgraded with a G3 Sonnet and IDE card, so it'll support OSX and large hard drives. I want TM to back up to the 8600, is this possible?
    Thanks

  • Can't use time machine with a network drive anymore

    I am not able to use my network drive any longer now that I loaded Lion OS. Does anyone have have a work around. I tried the sharing of a folder trick that I had for snow lepard. I have a HP media smart server and 2TB of storage available it seems like a big waste not to be able to backup to a safe place.
    Al

    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

  • How do you use Time Machine with more then one mac

    I just bought a new external hard drive and want to back up my iMac & MacBook Pro using Time Machine. But I do not want to use my airport network.
    I will keep the hard drive connected to the iMac, but want to, as needed, plug my MacBook Pro into the Hard drive to back up.
    Is this possible? Do I have first partition the new backup hard drive?
    Any help is appreciated... Jim

    Ok... I am back again.
    I decided to plug my backup drive into the USB port on the Airport extreme.
    On my Macbook Pro, which I connect wirelessly, I was able to start Time Machine... Time Machine saw the backup drive and did a backup.. Yes it took a long time Anyway all is cool with that.
    My iMac is connected to the Airport Extreme by Ethernet. On the iMac when I started Time Machine, it does not see the backup hard drive. I can see and share the hard drive... works fine. But no luck with TM seeing the hard drive on the iMac.
    Questions is will Time Machine work with a computer that is connected to airport extreme by ethernet. If yes how o you set it up and what might be wrong??
    I might mention that the reason I have the iMac connected with an ethernet cable and not wirelessly is because the iMac does not stay connected well to the internet and when it is connected has a very slow connection. My MacBook Pro is all the way across the house and has a great connection.
    I have guessed the slow connection was because the Airport Extreme sits right next to the iMac and maybe there is some kind of interference.
    Thanks.... any help is appreciated.

  • Can you use Time Machine to...

    Back up and restore a system?
    I'm planning on backing up my hard drive so I can reformat and reinstall os x... is time machine the correct way to back up my data to use when I reinstall, or is it intended to be just for retrieving lost files, etc... if so what's the best method of backing up my stuff? Hope that makes sense...

    Qdelta wrote:
    Okay thanks, that sounds like a plan... my HD is 250gb, and the time machine backup is 140gb or so, so plenty of room if I make say, a 30-40gb windows partition I guess...
    yes, that should be fine.
    And I think it'd be better to use time machine because I've already got everything backed up with it, and also I wouldn't feel as safe using third party software... especially if it was a trial version or something.
    safety is exactly why I prefer the cloning method.
    those programs are not trial. both superduper and CCCloner are very reliable programs and people trust them a lot more than they do TM. I certainly do. TM on the other hand is still extremely buggy. if something goes wrong with the restore from TM process you have nothing to fall back on as the old internal drive is already erased. the chances of that with the cloning method are basically nil. and even if the cloning process fails you still have your original drive intact.

  • Can you use time machine without using the airport router

    Can you use the time machine and not the airport router?

    Time Machine is software on your Mac computer that allows it to back up the data on the Mac to another hard drive.
    More detals here:  Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support
    A Time Capsule is a wireless router with a built-in hard drive that is desgined to store Time Machine backups from a Mac computer.
    More details here: AirPort Time Capsule
    Please provide more details on what it is that you want to do.
    What devices will connect to what other devices on your network?  How will they connect?  Wireless? Wired?

  • Can you use Time Machine to find Web sites?

    I am hoping I can use Time Machine can get me into a website I visited last month. This website (a museum website in China) is now blocked due to a 403 error. Any ideas on how to do this would be appreciated.
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    Hello Marcia:
    I thought about your question for awhile (intriguing).
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    As always, be sure you have a backup before you do anything that is software-related.
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