External Drive Backup and Partition Problems

I'd like to setup Time Machine to back up a smaller external drive (250 gigs) onto a larger external drive (1 TB). This is all I want to backup, nothing on the internal drive.
However, when I go to the exclude list, my smaller 250 gig hard drive is listed by default and I cannot remove it as it is "greyed out". Could this possible be because it's FAT32 formatted?
Additionally, I'd ideally like to format the 1 TB drive into 2 partitions - 1 to backup the 250 drive (so maybe like 400 gigs) and 1 to use for other things (600 gigs). I tried to do that with Disk Utility, but it keeps giving me an error and telling me to "try reducing the amount of change in the partition size".
If not that, is there any way to cap Time Machine's backup size otherwise? Sorry for the multipart question, let me know if you have any other ideas of how to make this work. Thanks!

Could this possible be because it's FAT32 formatted?
Yes. Time Machine can't back up a FAT32 drive.
(50585)

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How can I back up to an external drive with three partitions using Time Machine?

I have an external drive connected to my MBPro. The external drive has three partitions: one dedicated to the MBPro, one dedicated to my iMac and one for Photos. How can I be sure that when I backup my MBPro, it does so to the dedciated partition?
Also, I eject each of the partition icons on my desktop through the Eject selection in Finder menu and then I turn off the external drive and disconnect it. However, when I connect and turn the external drive to start it up again, the a message comes up that it has not been ejected properly. How am I supposed to eject the partitions and drive?
Thanks for you helpl
Vernon

When you set up time machine you should select which partition to backup to, after that it should be automatic, mine is.
I have not encountered your second problem, after ejecting the disks do you immeadiatley switch the drives off or leave them for 10-15 seconds to let them write the info stored on the disk drives internal buffer to disk?
I usually use the CNTL Click on the drive and select eject, but that should not be any different than using the Finder menu.

Lion 10.7.4 on an external drive with 2 partitions

I have an external drive with 2 partitions one of which is used for Time Machine Backups. The other is 300 gigs and I want to install lion on it for study but the installer will not let me do that. It might be because of the larger partition that I use for Time machine but I don't see why as it is a separate volume on the same drive. I keep getting the not able to install the recovery HD message. I also made sure to erase and reformat the drive (journaled extended). Any ideas why I can't do this?

Hey Kap
Tried to shrink the volume by 2 gigs but I get a partition failed error: This operation requires a newer version of Mac OS X for this disk. I am running 10.6.8 on my cpu and the partition is empty as I erased it. also it is extended (journaled). I don't understand this message. wierd.

Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?

Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?
Is this because of hardware changes? Or firmware changes? Or is it just and Apple Inc. administrative fiat?

@Steve Holton: Sorry Steve, but you're wrong about that one . I'm using 10.8 (purchased and downloaded) on the internal HD of this MBP8,3 (2.2 GHz, 17"), and I am also able to boot into 10.7.4 and 10.6.8 from external FW800 partitions.
However, I DO have problems with my MBP9,1. It came with 10.7.4 installed and ran fine. Then I purchased and installed 10.8. It ran fine but could no longer boot from 10.7.4 on an external partition. I then reinstalled 10.7.4 on the internal HD and discovered that it is still unable to boot (even 10.7.4) from an external FW800 partition.
One of Apple's Senior Support Advisors has done some remote troubleshooting but the case is still open and unresolved. An earlier Apple Support case suggested that when, I installed the downloaded copy of 10.8, there had been a "firmware update" (behind the scenes) that is now causing the problems with booting from my external partition(s). This apparently is "a bug": it is not what is supposed to happen.
So - I believe - "the problem" really has nothing to do with hardware capability. It is strictly about Apple's strategy for "managing its future customer base". If you don't like it - use something else - I am seriously considering Ubuntu as an alternative.
If there's a hidden caveat in all this it's probably "Read Appple's Licence Agreement VERY Carefully".

Hi, I have a macbook pro with a new hard drive installed. My WD external drive backup on time machine now wont let me access the files. I get a prompt saying 'you do not have permission to access the files'

hi, I have a macbook pro with a new hard drive installed and restored. My WD external drive backup on time machine now wont let me access the files. I get a prompt saying 'you do not have permission to access the files' After my new drive was installed I plugged in time machine and it started backing up. I paused it when I realised that it was running for more than a few minutes. I now realise that it probably started backing up the new hard drive all over again. Which makes me think that the original back up must be on the WD back I cant seem to access it. Any ideas would be helpful.

See E-10 in the first link.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time Machine - backup System Drive and External Drive to 2 partitions? Help

Hi all, I'm a bit confused with Time Machine. Here's the situation:
I have my internal system drive (500GB) and an external FW drive (500GB). I have a backup drive (1TB). I would like to partition my backup drive and have Time Machine backup my system drive to partition 1, my external drive to partition 2. The Time Machine interface does not make it obvious how to do this. Is it possible? How?
Thanks!
js

js,
No, Time Machine will not do this. While it can back up both volumes, it will do so by creating two folders within the "Backups.backupdb" folder, each named for one of the volumes being backed up. In other words, it backs up both volumes to the single volume.
You'll need to carefully consider whether or not it makes sense to use it with both. Obviously, the backup drive (1 TB) will need to have just one partition to contain everything. Additionally, Time Machine really needs at least twice the amount of space required for the initial backup. Closer to 3X, if it can be managed. This is to insure that it will always have enough room to "do its thing" with subsequent backups. In order to evaluate this, you'll need to add the amount of data being stored on both source volumes, then estimate how much that data might change and/or grow over time. I would recommend strongly against using Time Machine to backup both volumes if you think the total might ever exceed 500 GBs (that is, the total used on the two source volumes). Even if you think it might come close, this would tend to recommend against using Time Machine.
If you really have the kind of data that fills up 2 500 GB drives, especially if one of those is your boot drive, you should seriously consider some hefty file management. This doesn't rule out Time Machine; quite the contrary. However, you'll need to separate your data into "live" data, and that which can be "archived." Your installation of OS X, all your applications, and your day-to-day "user files" would obviously be considered "live." To this total, you would add any files on which you might be working, in various "projects."
Anything and everything else is a strong candidate for "archival." These files would be best stored separately, where their need for constantly updated redundancy is eliminated. If they can be archived to DVDs, all the better (I would want to do this in addition to storing them on a relatively static and rarely used external drive).
If you adopt such a routine, you should realistically be able to whittle down your boot volume to no more than 100 GBs. Perhaps a little more if you are using Pro apps such as the CS suite, FCP, etc., along with their attendant template libraries.
Under such a scenario, Time Machine would work very well in backing up your boot volume and any external drive you would use for additional "live" project files. Everything else could be stored on an external drive that you would use only when you need access to the old archived data, and it could be made redundant by you, manually, as and when you see fit. Since this data would be and remain "static" in nature, it would not need regular and recurrent backup.
Scott
For example,

External drive storage and Time Machine backup.

I don't want to keep photos on my hard drive anymore as they take up too much disk space.
1. Can the "Pictures" directory that exists on all Macs be assigned a new location on an external drive? ie, I save photos to the "Pictures" directory and they automatically go to the external drive.
2. If I store all my photographs on an external drive can I have Time Machine back them up to another external drive I currently use for backing up my HD? If so, how do I set this up in Time Machine?
Merci buckets!

werdup wrote:
2. If I store all my photographs on an external drive can I have Time Machine back them up to another external drive I currently use for backing up my HD?
Yes, as long as it's formatted for a Mac, and you tell Time Machine to stop excluding it (externals are excluded by default).
If so, how do I set this up in Time Machine?
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations.

USB External Drive Backup & Erase Woes

I have been using a Lacie 500GB USB external drive allocated as a backup disk for time machine. Over the last couple of weeks, the disk has been spontaneously ejecting itself from the desktop. This could happen when not backing up to time machine, or during the backup.
I am not a daily time machine backup-er, as I don't have much to backup on a daily basis (and I weekly backup to an alternative disk using Super Duper). What I had noticed with the time machine disk, is that the preparation prior to the backup beginning was a massive 40+GB, certainly not the amount of data which would have been 'new'.
To try to resolve this, I have used disk utility to verify the disk, and the snow leopard disc to check my boot disk on the Macbook Pro... there has not been a problem identified with either.
Today, I decided to erase the time machine disk, zero the data, and re-allocate the drive for time machine backup. After setting these preferences in disk utility, and clicking 'erase', the disk again erased itself, with the error message :
'Disk erase failed with the error: Assert: internal error, or unimplemented'
I then had an external disk which was not present on the desktop, and apparently in some sort of limbo between erased and mounted!
I was able to do a simpler format function on the disk via disk utility, the disk will mount, but the allocated disk space previously used by time machine is still present, and the format has only done that remaining space on the disk.
Anyone know what the above error message refers to, am I able to reformat the disk using the 'zero function', or has the disk failed and become unrecoverable?
Answers / suggestions kindly welcomed.

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
When you use Disk Utility to erase totally you need to click on the LaCie drive name not the name that appears on the desktop. Select how many partitions you want and give each partition the name you want it to have and perhaps also the partitioning scheme and other options that are available, then erase.
Doing this will of course make all that is on the drive unavailable to you.
These are LaCie's directions for their drives.
Some LaCie drives might also have firmware updates available - worth a check on their website.
Note that LaCie seem to have 2 yr warranty on their drives, at least the one I looked at on their website. If the drive is younger than this you might have a warranty claim.

Time Machine doesn't like external drives with multiple partitions

I've had a problem with Time Machine on both 10.5.0 & 10.5.1 - Time Machine could not create the initial backup regardless of all the things I tried.
I have a Powerbook with a 300Gb Maxtor connected via firewire 800. This drive had been partitioned into three partitions (which I've used with other backup tools without problem).
Apparently the problem I had been having with Time Machine was that there were three separate partitions on the external drive. As soon as I took a chance and wiped all of those partitions and made a single partition, everything was fine.
I had called Apple Tech Support shortly after I got Leopard and when I discovered the problem with Time Machine. I specifically asked if there would be a problem from the multiple partitions and they didn't think there would be, but they were sure. Looks like Apple was wrong.
If you are having problems with Time Machine with a drive that has multiple partitions, trying changing your external into a single partition drive.

You will note that I was referring to a Powerbook and the Apple Partition Scheme. There might be something different happening for Intel/GUID users.
10.5.1 did address other issues with other partition types. Time Machine seems to have trouble with certain partition schemes. I'm not surprised that multiple partitions and GUID works because of things like bootcamp. Apple probably tested specifically for that type of config. They may not have worked all the bugs out of multiple partitions on a Apple Partition Scheme.

HT3986 Boot Camp and Partitioning problems

Okay I've had this problem a few times it keeps coming up with this every time it formats the disk.
"The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved"
Then it goes on to say that i need to format my disk and stuff and ive done that already
what does this mean like i back up my computer and everything is right so any help here

The easiest way is to clone your Mac to an external hard drive with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Boot from the cloned exernal drive and use Disk utility to reformat the internal drive. Then clone to the Mac with the external drive as a source. Regardless of how you proceed you better have a backup if you value your data. Time Machine is not bootable so is of limited usefulness.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.bombich.com/

Buslink External Drive 300 GB Firewire Problem

I purchased a Buslink 300 GB external drive that has both USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 connection. I use the drive to hold dv files that I have downloaded from my video camera. I formatted the drive for mac because the dv files are larger than the 4gb limit for FAT32. Everthing was fine using the firewire connection until I got to about 140 gb of data on the drive. No further files would copy to the drive. I now have to use the USB connection, and have gone up to 250GB without problem. I like the performance of the firewire connection better than the USB connection.
I formatted the external drive Mac OS Extended into one 279 GB partition. I found nothing on BUSLINK's web site about a driver, is there a fix for this? Is anyone using another external drive with firewire that will work properly to the limit of the drive?
Thank you
G5 Dual 2.3 Mac OS X (10.4.9) 3.5GB ram

I have 2 external firewire HDs - both worked prefectly until recently... I am getting Error -36... I have used the Disk Utility - no errors founds. Despite this conclusion, I decided to reformat them both.... and still getting the same error -36... any suggestions?

Use external for backup and personal storage

Hey all,
I was wondering if I could use my external for time machine backups and personal storage. I have a seagate 250 and time machine is currently working great. The only thing is that my apple hd is filling up. Even if I lose all my current backups, is there a way to set maybe 50 gigs a side for movies and use the rest for backup?

Partitioning the drive as joshz suggests is the best route at the moment. Unfortunately Apple does not provide any way to limit the overall size of the database directory. You could also create a blank disk image on the backup drive in which to store other information, but this is almost the same as creating a separate partition. Remember that the two partitions will display as two individual volumes, so it will appear like you have three disks attached (your main one, your backup one, and your storage one).

Backing up client to server external drive with Time Machine - problems...

Hi,
I'm running 10.5.2 server on a MacMini (G4 1.25GHz/1GB) which has an external firewire drive that has been set as a sharepoint for Time Machine backups. The problem is that from the client MacBook (10.5.2 - connected on a wireless g network) I can select the drive in the Time Machine preferences but when I accept the changes it resets to the 'off' position.
Hmmm? Any ideas?

The server wasn't set up in Advanced. I'm not trying to back up the server itself but the client.
Can anyone offer any ideas!?

Time machine keeps spinning my external drive up and down...

What's the reason for this madness? It spins my external hard drive up and down continuously, even when I'm not using the machine! My computer is in my room it's waking me up because it clicks every time it spins up or down.
I'm also concerned this will effect the life of the hard drive. It's a continuous cycle, it spins down for about 20 minutes at a time, then spins back up for about about 20 minutes, then again... So much stopping and starting continuously can't be good for the drive.
What's causing my machine to think it needs to back itself up even when I'm not using it?

Because it does a backup every hour maybe?
Even when you are not using it.
Just because you are not using it doesn't mean that new files aren't being created or destroyed, which may need to be backed up.
It would perhaps be nice to be able to configure the frequency of the backups.
I have three machines backing up to the same backup drive, which keeps it pretty much always humming. I would consider dropping the frequency on a couple of the lesser used ones down to a backup every few hours, or even once a day.
Cheers, Ed.

TIME MACHINE EXTERNAL DRIVE BACKUP DISK CANNOT BE MOUNTED

Hello,
Last week i brought a WD MY BOOK LIVE NETWORK DRIVE.
I hv 2 Windows PC and 1 MACBOOK. All data residing on these 3 computers i intend to back up.
One Windows PC i was able to successfully connect, 2nd Windows PC not yet connected.
Macbook connected on teh first day of WD installation. After that day it gives an error "THE BACKUP DISK IMAGE COULD NOT BE MOUNTED".
I hv tried various methods to rectify this error as discussed in many forums, but none seem to be helping.
Can anyone suggest how should i solve this.
I called WD, they told me to call APPLE as its a time machine problem.
I call APPLE and they are asking me to call WD.
i AM USING MACBOOK - MAC OSX VERSION 10.5.8

My book world
Check here
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8422/p/247,264/c/0
I just solve the problem after 45 minutes with the lervel 3 WD support. You have to return to firmware 1.02.06 since the 1.02.10 version has a network card driver error and in some configurations (a lot more) the disk just stay connected for a couple of minutes. To do that you have to manually return to old firmware but WD do not has the file as public so you have to call them. One way to stay connected a bit more is making a permanent ping to the disk.

External Drive Backup and Partition Problems

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