Does Time Machine backup External HDDs?

Hello everyone, I plan to use a Mac-Mini as an HTPC, and want to use a large external HDD connected DIRECTLY to the mini as my storage (call it HDD-A).
If I connect a second external HDD dedicated for TM (HDD-B), will it backup content from HDD-A as well as the OS?
Q2: Are there any special settings in TM necessary to accomplish this?
Q3: Separate TM question: Anyway to get TM to backup an External HDD that's connected to an AEBS?
Thanks much in advance!

I am in the same situation, riesar. I have 2 time-machine-enabled macs connected to a 500GB Time Capsule. My Mac Pro has 4 drives (boot, bootClone, Video Archive, Video Archive Clone) I use Time Machine to backup my Main boot drive, with a couple of exclusions including all other HD's. I excluded my Parallels folder since Each windows installation is about 10GB and the ENTIRE file changes each time you open your virtual PC. I also exclude my parallels installation from my iMac Time Machine file as well.
Every couple of days, My Boot drive clones itself (using SuperDuper!) to the BootClone and the Video Drive clones itself to the Video Clone. I don't have incremental backups of my video (or Windows installation) but I save SIGNIFICANT space by excluding certain things from time machine. My iMac clones itself to an external firewire drive as well.
If you were REALLY cramped for space on the Time Machine volume, you could simply include only - say - the User folder. You'd sacrifice the ability to restore your system to a previous state, but you'd have incremental backups of all your regularly changing data files. Your clone could restore your system, but if you ever had to restore your system, your recovery is only as good as you last clone. YMMV.
Tom

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Time machin backup external hdd Problom

hi
Unfortunately I've got a problem with my external hdd which i used as time machin backup. when i atache the hdd to my mac a warning say this disk is not readable and in disktools after verifing it said that disk need to be repaired and there is an issue with boot sector.
what should i do to fix this issue without data loss ?

Open Disk Utility>First Aid and run Verify and Repair. Data should not be lost.
Ciao.

HT201250 Does Time Machine backup and restore Bootcamp?

I am replacing defective hard drive in an iMac that I primarily use as a pc under Bootcamp. I have to find some way to clone and restore the bootcamp partition. I was told today by a Genius at the Apple store that I should buy a 2 TB external (which I did for $150) and run Time Machine. He assured me that my bootcamp partition would be backed up along with the entire mac partition and that I would be able to restore everything perfectly on the new hd. Now that I am home and continuing my research, I can't find anywhere that says it will work. Documentation on Time Machine fails to mention bootcamp. So, does Time Machine backup and restore bootcamp or not? And will it be bootable after the restore? Help!

I think you've got it! I have never used WinClone so I cannot attest to how well it will work, but it's pretty much all lthere is. You will have to create a new Boot Camp partition on the new drive, and it should be the same size as the partition you cloned.
Be sure you prep the new hard drive:
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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.) Click on the Security 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 can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. Quit DU upon completion and return to the installer. Now install Snow Leopard or restore from your Time Machine backup.

How do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved from old computer and system

how do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved off old computer and system. It's not letting me open the folder???

Once again here's how to restore an iPhoto Library from Time Machine:

Does Time Machine backup iCal?

I had a problem with some lost todo items the other day and checked to see if I could see a backup calendar as a quick way to solve the problem. If I am on address book and enter time machine, I see backups of my old address books and if I am on mail, I get all my old mail messages on the screen (though the todo item is grayed out), but if I am on iCal, I simply get the Finder window.
Does Time Machine backup iCal or do I need to do a manual backup and then let Time Machine backup that file from finder?

Since reading some of the first messages, I have been backing up my calendar each week and putting the backup file in my documents folder. I know that file is backed up, so I assume in case of a major problem, I could pull it from Time Machine and restore the data.
Out of curiosity, though, I explored the folders in my library/calendar path and found a number of folders, each containing a file that was dated either today or within the last few days. I assume each folder is for a different calendar and that in case of total disaster, I could restore these from Time Machine.
My question at this point: When I export the calendar from iCal, if the All Calendars option is checked, am I safe in concluding each of the separate calendars would be there? If I accidentally had one calendar highlighted, would only that calendar be backed up?

My time machine backup external hard drive has failed. I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it?

My time machine backup external hard drive has failed. I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it

http://pondini.org/TM/21.html

HT201250 Every time I add/delete music to itunes, does time machine backup my entire library? If so can I limit backup just to added music?

Usimg time machine-every time I add/delete music in itunes library does time machine backup entire file? If so,an I set it up to just backup added music?

It shouldn't be backing up the whole thing again, just the changes.

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?
If so how do you locate them in the Time Machine interface?
If I go into Time Machine mode and type say "/usr/local" in the Time Machine search bar I get nothing although I can open a terminal application and cd to /usr/local and see bin, lib, include, etc.
Of course I can never see /usr/local in Finder either ... only at the command line.
Thanks.

John, another tech pro ("baltwo") suggests:
Run this in the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1
OPTION-click and hold on Finder's Dock icon->Relaunch which reveals all hidden files. Then, look for that file and delete it. To hide all of those, use the same command, substituiting zero for the one, and relaunch the Finder.

Lacie 1TB external HDD recently stopped doing Time Machine backups. Disk Utility recommends that the disk needs to be repaired.

I've been using my Lacie 1TB external HDD for my Time Machine backups for quite sometime. Its never given me any problems until now.
It recently stopped doing the backups, so I checked Disk Utility and it recommended that I repair the disk. How long does it take for Disk Utility to repair a 1TB external HDD?
Other things to consider:
- Cant find the disk in the Finder, I used to be able to do that before.
- When I tried to go a Time Machine backup, it said the disk was not available.
Upon using disk utiliy, I successfully verified the disk. Then I initiated the disk repair process.
The current status:
- checking file system
- Volume repair complete
- Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
The progress bar says "Verify and Repair volume "LaCie"" - the progress bar does not indicate how much has been done or how long it will take.
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,476,416 Bytes)
Mount Point: Not Mounted
Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
All other status fields blank.
Any one know how long it will take for Disk Utility to repair the external HDD? Any other ideas as to how I can get the Lacie HDD to reconnect with the Macbook and resume normal operations? i.e. Time Machine backups, accessing contents through the Finder.

purduegrad_macguy wrote:
I've been using my Lacie 1TB external HDD for my Time Machine backups for quite sometime. Its never given me any problems until now.
Mine Failed after 3 years and 4 months of using it as a Dedicated TM Backup drive...
When I used Disk Utility for repairs... it went from 7 minutes to 4 hours and after about 10 minutes it was saying 40 hours...
So I just replace it with a New EHD...

Does Time Machine backup other external hard drives?

I am using a Seagate 500 GB to backup my data. Will Time Machine backup another external hard drive on which I store my iMovie projects? If so, how do I access them in the Time Machine mode? Thanks in advance.

nachdenki wrote:
strange, my external HDs were added to the exception list automatically. maybe because they wouldn't fit on the time machine volume.
It seems to depend on when the drives were connected. When you first turn Time Machine on, it only excludes the TM drive itself, and any drives not formatted HFS+.
If you connect a drive later on, that drive will be excluded automatically.

Can I have two Time Machine backup external drives on one Mac?

I have been using Time Machine for over a year and like it very much. The thought occurred to me that I should buy a new external drive that I can backup to and store at a remote location. I plan on making a backup each week, then taking this new drive to my office. That way, if my house ever burns down, I have a backup at my office too that will be a fairly recent backup.
When I unplugged my older external drive and tried to launch a backup using the new one, my Mac said it couldn't find my Time Machine drive. Won't it let me backup to two different drives? Or does it always need to backup to the same one?
Thanks!

polishedstaple wrote:
Won't it let me backup to two different drives?
Yes. All you have to do is tell it you've changed destinations, via +Time Machine Preferences > Select Disk.+ (Use different names for the drives, so you know which one is which.)
Try not to go too long between "swaps," though. After several days, especially if there's been a large volume of changes, Time Machine might do a new, full backup, instead of an incremental one.
However, I've learned over the years (mostly the hard way, of course ), never to trust my backups to a single app or piece of hardware: no app is perfect, and all hardware fails, sooner or later.
Like many here, I keep both full Time Machine backups, plus a "bootable clone" on a separate external HD. I use CarbonCopyCloner, many use the similar SuperDuper. That gives me the best of both types of backups, plus of course a completely separate, independent backup.
CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
And/or, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

Time Machine Backups external drive developed problem which the disk repair utility cannot fix, so suggested reformat. I can't reformat because the "Resource Busy". How can I reformat this drive?

My Western Digital external hard drive which I use as a Time Machine Backup stopped working. I tried repairing the disk using the Disk Utility program,but got the message that the utility can't repair the disk and to erase and reformat the disk. When I try that, I get the message the operation can't be completed because "Resource Busy", even though Time Machine is turned off. Any suggestions for repairing the drive/disk?
Thank you.

See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

Does Time Machine backup items on the time machine disk?

If I designate disk B as my Time Machine disk, are items on disk B, that aren't part of what Time Machine puts there, backed up? In other words, can I use a disk for both storage and Time Machine backups and have those stored items backed up too?

If you intend to use disk B as both a Time Machine Backup Disk and a Data disk to hold your files, the only way to do that would be to partion the Disk B volume.
How do I partition an external hard drive ?
When an external is connected to a mac, the computer sees that Hard Drive as a Volume. Paritioning the volume is the ability to "Split" the volume in more parts that are limited by size. Time Machine will use the entire partition of a volume if the whole volume is used as a single partition. If you use the right tools and "Split" the external hard drive in smaller logical volumes then you can comfortably use the external hard drive for both your Time Machine Backups and your Data that you want to carry on an external drive.
The easiest way to partition a volume in more the one partition or logical volumes is to use the Disk Utility application that comes with every mac. Use the Finder to go to your Utilities folder and open Disk Utility, or search for it in Spotlight. Whit Disk Utility you can select your external Hard Drive and either change the partition to add a second one or erase all data on the existing external hard drive and create 2 Partitions that you can adjust in size. Remember Make sure you understand that if you choose to erase the existing external drive to make room for a new partition , that all data present on the external drive will be deleted.
Now that you have your two new partitions you can assign one to Time Machine and use the second one for Data. And with Time Machine Options you will be able to exclude or include your new external data partition to backup to your new Time Machine Backup Partition !

Does Time Machine Backup irritate wireless Mighty Mouse?

Hi there. I'm having a strange issue here. With an iMac that came with bluetooth mouse and keyboard, OS out of the box (no software updates installed because there's no internet connection), each time Time Machine is backuping files, the Mighty Mouse is acting weird. It actually feels like someone else is working with it. Even if I do not use it and leave it alone, the pointer goes wild on the screen. Trying to work during Time Machine backups is impossible, because I cannot use the Mouse properly.
Does anyone of you have a similar, if not, the same issue? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
later, Stephan

I am having a similar problem with my IMac and Time Machine. During wireless Time Machine backups, the wireless mighty mouse and wireless keyboard disconnect. If the mighty mouse remains connected, it moves very slowly and is virtually unusable.
So far I've thought of two potential problems to troubleshoot:
1. I experience this problem when I connect to the Time Machine through the "802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)" wireless connection (set in the AirPort Utility), but I don't experience the same problem when I connect to the Time Machine through a wired ethernet connection. So it appears the b/g compatible setting is causing interference. I haven't tested to see if the "802.11n only" wireless connections causes this problem or not.
2. I also wonder if the IMac does not have enough RAM to complete the wireless backup. My IMac has 2gigs of RAM, and during backups it maxes out. I plan to upgrade to 4 gigs to see if the problem continues. (Stephan, how much RAM to you have installed?)
peace,
Marcus

Does Time Machine backup sparesebundle?

Hi, I'm a newbie mac user and a little paranoid about backups. I tried searching under support and forums, but did not seem to find the answer to my question:
Does Time Machine automatically backup a separate partition that has been created:
1) I created a separate sparsebundle where I store my iPhoto library/files in order to be able to share the library between multiple users based on this Apple knowledge article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198.
2) The sparsebundle is located under Users -> Shared -> and named "iPhoto Library.sparsebundle" and automatically set to mount at login.
When I go into Time Machine, I don't see the mounted partition, but it looks like the sparsebundle under the shared directory is backed up. Just want to confirm that if my machine goes down, I can restore the backup of my iPhoto files from the sparsebundle even though the partition does not show as mounted.
Apologies if this is a basic question, just making sure that there is not another setting I need to specify for additional partitions that have been created.
Thanks in advance!

george in sf wrote:
Hi, I'm a newbie mac user and a little paranoid about backups. I tried searching under support and forums, but did not seem to find the answer to my question:
Does Time Machine automatically backup a separate partition that has been created:
1) I created a separate sparsebundle where I store my iPhoto library/files in order to be able to share the library between multiple users based on this Apple knowledge article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198.
2) The sparsebundle is located under Users -> Shared -> and named "iPhoto Library.sparsebundle" and automatically set to mount at login.
When I go into Time Machine, I don't see the mounted partition, but it looks like the sparsebundle under the shared directory is backed up. Just want to confirm that if my machine goes down, I can restore the backup of my iPhoto files from the sparsebundle even though the partition does not show as mounted.
yes, you can. the sparse bundle is backed up by TM unless you specifically exclude it from backups.
Apologies if this is a basic question, just making sure that there is not another setting I need to specify for additional partitions that have been created.
Thanks in advance!

Does Time Machine backup External HDDs?

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