External drive not being backed up by Time Machine

I have 2 external HDDs, both USB 2. I'm using 1 for backups using time machine and one for my photos and music. Time Machine appears to backing up my internal drive but is not backing up the external data drive. The external data drive does not appear in the excluded files box in Time Machine setup but it is not being backed up. What am I doing wrong?

newbie Vanc wrote:
What I've done now id exclude it from the backup and tried to include it again and the minus sign does not come up when I select the data drive.
The data drive is a fat 32 drive. Will that make a difference?
It will indeed.
TM only backs-up HFS+ partitions (any variant of Mac OS Extended). This is because TM uses the hidden +File System Event Database+ that OSX puts on such drives, tracking all the changes to the data on the disk.
Your only recourse to back it up with TM is to find a place to copy that partition or drive temporarily, then erase and reformat it. See item 5 or 6 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum for instructions.
Otherwise, you'll have to use a different app. I think that either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! may be able to do that. Check them out via Google, VersionTracker.com, or MacUpdate.com.

Similar Messages

HT201250 Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine. Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents.

Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine? Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents. How do I know if they are included in the backup process?

Yes, if they are not exclude then TM backs them up.
Allan

Notes App note being backed up by Time Machine.

I'm having issues with the new Notes application in Mountain Lion not being backed up by Time Machine. If it is being backed up then the new OS is keeping me from accessing the time stamps or backups. Normally I could just open up an application and enter into the time machine to find the stored local time stamps but the Notes screen minimizes and the finder window opens automatically keeping me from accessing stored backup of the new Notes app. Is anyone having this same issue?

Thanks a million for your assistance.
I did disconnect first the Mac from Internet and restored the contents of ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes directory. It worked like a charm as I could see again all my previous notes listed in the main window of Notes app.
The hiccup is that it only lists Icloud folders and I can't seem to find a way to create 'On My Mac' folders so that I can copy them to a local folder. The moment I turn internet on, there are automatically deleted as you rightly suspected. If I only wanted to restore them and have them on Icloud that would be just fine. In my case, I want them away from Icloud and only stored locally hence the initial decision to untick the sync with Icloud which triggered the whole havoc...we are getting close though...

Home directory is not being backed up in Time Machine

Problem: It turns out my home directory does not have any backups in Time Machine for the last year. I've never received any error message indicating it wasn't doing the full backup.
Goal: I'd like to get Time Machine to back up my home folder (which contains 100% of the content I care about) again, ideally in a way where I can keep my history from the last time it backed up successfully.
How I found out:
- I opened Time Machine and realized all the "pink bars" were dimmed all the way back up to Sept. 2011 when I navigated to my home folder or any folder within it.
- I cloned a file within my home folder, did a manual Time Machine back up, opened Time Machine and verified that the backup volume did not contain the cloned file.
- I did this again while watching the Console and verified that it did not make a large enough backup to include the cloned file.
- I explored all the backups in Finder and realized that indeed all the backups that corresponded to the dimmed pink bars in Time Machine had no home folder.
- I did an "ls -a" in the backup volume in Terminal and realized that it was not the case that the home directory was present but merely hidden.
What I've tried:
- I created a new admin account, logged into that and did a manual Time Machine backup from there. The new account was backed up, while the original home directory still wasn't. This continues to be true in subsequent backups made while logged into the main account.
- I examined the exclusions list in Time Machine preferences. The only items were the backup volume itself and another partition of that external drive I use for other backups, as expected.
- I did a "Full Reset of Time Machine" (http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html), with a reboot before re-enabling Time Machine. The plist file did change to become much simpler, but the home folder is still not being backed up.
Other notes:
- I run Dropbox, and have those contents in a folder one level under the home directory
- I run Git
- The existing backups have only used 500GB or so of a 1TB partition, so it's not filling up.
- I ran Verify Disk in Disk Utility on both my backup volume and the mac's HD. The backup volume appeared OK, but the mac HD was "found corrupt and needs to be repaired". I could boot into the Recovery HD and repair it, but I feel like this is a risk and I'd like to have a working backup before I do that (I don't have another external HD around to make a temporary backup). Could the corrupted drive be the reason Time Machine has been silently skipping the home folder?
- My home folder is named "apple". Might this be a problem? I'd rename it, but that's a risk and I'd like a verified backup before doing that.
- The Time Machine plist file in /Library/Preferences is pretty hard to read in pico, TextEdit, etc (maybe this is normal?)
I've scoured the forums and pondini's very thorough troubleshooting pages to no avail. Please let me know if anyone has ideas. Thanks.

Latest update: Bought a new external harddrive, set that up as the new Time Machine volume, but got the exact same results (all but my main user directory are backed up). This is after another Time Machine reset (deleting the .plist), starting up in Safe Mode, and trying to initiate the backup from both the account that doesn't get backed up and another administrator account.
Here is some of the output from the Console when filtering messages for "backupd":
10/5/12 2:51:23.572 AM com.apple.backupd[13529]: Backup content size: 481.57 GB excluded items size: 11.31 GB for volume Macintosh HD
10/5/12 2:51:23.572 AM com.apple.backupd[13529]: Found 1437613 files (470.25 GB) needing backup
10/5/12 2:51:23.573 AM com.apple.backupd[13529]: 564.3 GB required (including padding), 1.5 TB available
10/5/12 2:51:23.581 AM com.apple.backupd[13529]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
10/5/12 3:40:33.297 AM com.apple.backupd[13529]: Copied 763432 files (21.54 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Put the relevant parts in bold. No messages about why it only backed up 21.54GB when it found 470.25GB that needed to get backed up.
Does this make sense to anyone??

Mac air with external hard drive - not being found on Finder, Time Machine, Migration Assistant

I have been using an external drive (Imation Apollo) to access only, old files from previous computer (PC) on a new Mac Air. I had not transferred them across to new computer (didn't want to do that) just accessing them from the HD. It had been working fine until recently. Each time the external drive had been connected Time Machine would come up and ask if i wanted to use this drive for back ups, and I always chose 'Decide later'. So, as yetI hadn't as yet configured Time Machine to do back ups.
Recently I noticed that the extrnal HD was no longer showing up on Finder. Slight panic as i have 5 or 6 yrs of work saved on that HD
Further investigations - it's also not showing up either on on Disk Utility, or on Migration Assistant.
I've done the following:
Tried HD in each of different USB ports - made no difference, HD still not showing up
Tested different Hubs in each port with HD attached - no difference HD not showing up
Tried USB flash drives in the USB ports - These are working fine and show up on finder
Tried the HD on other comptuters (a PC though, don't have access to another mac to do this test)- working fine, the HD is showing up and is accessable
Interrogated the Console logs to try to see if the act of attaching the HD creates a log entry - couldn't find anything
Rebooted computer via shut down, power disconnect - no difference
Reset PRAM - no difference still not showing up
Reset SMC - no differnce still not showing up
So I think I have established that all the USB ports are functioning correctly and able to access other external drive devices, using hubs with external powersource is not the issue, identified that the external hard drive is working OK, and it appears that the Mac itself is functioning normally.
What would be the reason the Mac now does not allow this specific external HD to be identified and accessed. The only possible things I can think of are
if I had in fact pressed 'Do not use' when Time Machine asked 'do you want to use this drive for back ups'. Would that mean that the Mac now totally rejects this HD from being a source of accessible files - I hope not!
I also think that my husband may have disconnected the hard drive from my computer to access some stuff and he just yanked it out rather than use the safe eject method. Could this create an issue? The Hard drive works fine on his PC.
Why is my Mac Air now rejecting this HD and what can I do to access my historical files now.
Any assistance anyone can provide would be very greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Anna

I can't answer why it isn't accessing it, but I have a slightly related issue w my back up drive starting to get noisy.
Realizing that redundancy is safety for critical data. I talked to my brother about my situation the other day & he said he has 3 small Western Digital portable HDs that he rotates for backup. He even keeps 1 in the safe deposit box.
I have read for some time that we should have multiple back ups & also have our critical stuff backed up off site. Amazon HD reviews had a woman telling about how she was very backed up on multiple computers & hard drives, but they were robbed or burgeled & all of them were stolen including her thesis that was on the computers.
Hard drives aren't that expensive. I just bought a new Western Digital 1 TB drive for $89.99. I plan to use it to back up the Seagate that is getting noisy & then maybe alternate them.
Also, when I came back to Mac, I moved practially all of my documents to Mac. I think I just dragged & dropped or something. Photos, Office, & pdfs do fine that way. & then you could back them up to a couple of different external drives & remove from your MacBookAir.
Unfortunately I think most of us do not back up until crisis & then it may be too late.
Also use Time Machine. For the 1st time in my computer life, my computer is well backed up--although now realizing the need for redundancy so will start backing up to at least 2 different HDs alternatly.
So, not sure why it isn't working & hopefully you have come up w a solution by now.
I think what I would do in a situation like this, since you can access it on the Windows machine would be to transfer the data to the Windows machine & then transfer it back to a different back up.
I'm looking into backing up what I still have in Windows using a thumb flash drive. I think it should all fit ok now that they have the larger drives & I don't have very much left in Windows format.

Formatting a drive after being backed up by Time Machine

I just bought a Time Capsule and am cleaning up the drives on my system. My question is: after backing up a drive to Time Machine within the Time Capsule, can I reformat that drive and rename it in order to give it a fresh start, and still have its file history available to me in Time Machine? Or, will I lose the ability to restore the files formerly contained on that drive?

Welcome to the discussions!
+after backing up a drive to Time Machine within the Time Capsule, can I reformat that drive and rename it in order to give it a fresh start, and still have its file history available to me in Time Machine?+
I'm a bit confused here. It is not possible to "reformat" the Time Capsule drive unless you physically remove it from the Time Capsule and place it in a separate enclosure, (which will void the warranty). Even if you wanted to do this, any type of reformat will completely erase the drive and all of its contents.
If by "reformat" you simply mean "erase", that can be done using AirPort Utility. But again, all data will be wiped on the disk if you do this.
If you simply want to rename your Time Capsule and keep the existing files on the disk, that can be done using AirPort Utility. Post back if you need instructions on this.

I'm not sure if my iPhoto library is being backed up by Time Machine. I am backing up to a LaCie external hard drive. I can open photos that are in folders but not those that are in iPhoto.

I'm not sure if my iPhoto library is being backed up by Time Machine. I am backing up to a LaCie external hard drive. I can open photos ont the hard drive that are in folders but not those that are in iPhoto.

Do a restore from Time Machine. That will tell you.

Once I upgraded to ML, I'm now finding that my Seagate Free Agent external hard drive is no longer being backed up by Time machine. Do I have to wait for Seagate to update their drivers for this hard drive?

Once I upgraded to ML, I'm now finding that my Seagate Free Agent external hard drive is no longer being backed up by Time machine. Do I have to wait for Seagate to update their drivers for this hard drive?

I tried your suggestion, and it's been giving me the message "Preparing for Backup" for the past 8 hours. Does this mean TM is backing up my hard drive? I'll give it a few more hours, but if nothing else happens, I'm not sure what else to do. I'm not sure if there are any new external hard drives that are compatible with ML yet.

3?'s: Message today warning lack of memory when using Word (files in Documents) something about "idisc not working" 2. Message week ago "Files not being backed up to Time Capsule"; 3. When using Mac Mail I'm prompted for password but none work TKS - J

3 ?'s:
1 Message today warning lack of memory when using Word (files in Documents) something about "idisc not working"
2. Message week ago "Files not being backed up to Time Capsule";
3. When using Mac Mail I'm prompted for password but none work
Thanks - J

Thanks Allan for your quick response to my amateur questions.
Allan:     I'm running version Mac OS X Version 10.6.8     PS Processor is 2.4 GHz Intel core 15
Memory 4 gb 1067   MHz DDr3 TN And @ 1983-2011 Apple Inc.
I just "Updated Software" as prompted.
Thanks for helping me!    - John Garrett
PS.
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro6,2
Processor Name:          Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:          2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache (per core):          256 KB
L3 Cache:          3 MB
Memory:          4 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed:          4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version:          MBP61.0057.B0C
SMC Version (system):          1.58f17
Serial Number (system):          W8*****AGU
Hardware UUID:          *****
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State:          Enabled
<Edited By Host>

How can I check and see that my photos are being backed up by time machine?

How can I check and see that my photos are being backed up by time machine?

http://pondini.org/TM/8.html

HT201250 I want to add another external hard drive to be backed up by time machine how can I do this?

I recently had an external hard drive die on me. It had all my work files on it, so it was really important to me. When I went to retrieve the lost files from time machine, it didn't appear to have backed up anything from that external drive (and before anyone asks it's a different external drive to where my time machine files are backed up onto). I sent my old hard drive away to a data recovery company, and luckily they were able to retrieve all the data. Now I want to check that my new external hard drive does get backed up this time, but I can't seem to find out how to include this in the back up as it doesn't appear to be doing this automatically! Any ideas on how? Many thanks

Check System Preferences/Time Machine/Options to make sure the external drive isn't excluded.

Can I backup the contents of an external drive to a network location using Time Machine?

I have just installed a Lacie Thunderbolt external drive as I want the speed to access large volumes of photographs. If I configure it as RAID 0 I will need to back up the data on that drive. I have a NAS drive which I already use for Time Machine and which works well. Can Time Machine be configured to include the external drive in the backups to the NAS?

You may find these useful:
Mac Basics
Mac OS X: PC to Mac
PC to Mac Guide - OS X Tips, Tricks & Tutorials

External Drive connected to Airport Extreme, need Time Machine 3 Mac's Help

I own an Airport Extreme and just recently added two new Macs with the Time Machine feature to our household. I would like to use Time Machine to backup to my Airport Extreme that has a 500 GB hard drive connected. It seems Apple has this blocked since they have released the Time Capsule version of the router. Is there a work around this feature so I don't have to go out an purchase what I basically have already got? Please help. We would like to upgrade our older macs to Leopard and us the same system to back them up as well. Please advise. Thank you.

I had my USB drive on my APE working with Time Machine under 10.5.1 very reliably. A few days ago however, I needed to suspend a backup operation, and when I came back to restart it, time machine refused to mount the disk image on the drive. After several attempts to get it to connect with no luck I decided to delete the image (the sparce image file) and start over. Now TM refuses to create a new image.
BTW, on the Mac OSX hints site there have been suggestions to start a backup with the drive directly connected, then stop the backup, move the sparce image file to the root of the drive, reconnect the drive to the APE base station to get it working. I tried this again, but I think Apple has changed something in 10.5.2, because when directly connected TM no longer creates a sparce image file.
Anybody else seen this behavior after upgrading to 10.5.2?

TS1550 OSX Upgrade (Mountain Lion) turned external drive to "read-only" and now I can not do back-ups on time machine. How do I fix this?

I recently upgraded to mountain lion, latest version OS and now my external drives are read-only. They are formatted Mac OS Extended and I have been using one of them for Time Machine. How do I fix?
Thanks

http://pondini.org/TM/C6.html

USB External Drive not mounting after use with Time Caplule

I have a 1TB external Lacie hard drive I have been using to store data via connection to my Time Capsule USB port.
I purchased a new HD to replace the Lacie and would like to use the Lacie as an external drive for my Macbook Pro.
Issue:
I erased all files on the Lacie before disconnecting it from the Time Capsule.
Connected the Lacie to my Macbook Pro via USB port.
Lacie disk spins, but never mounts - disk image never appears, disk just keeps spinning.
Ran Disk Utility. Lacie image shows up. Tryed to erase, but got an error that it wont mount.
Tryed to repare disk, but got the same message.
This also happens when I try to connect the Lacie to my iMac.
So, hooked it back up to Time Capsule. Disk shows up just fine.
What's going on???

Where does it show up - Finder or System Preferences/Time Capsule?
Try ejecting the drive, turning it off for awhile, restart the computer, and then restart the drive and plug it in.

External drive not being backed up by Time Machine

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for