External Drive with Time Machine Disappears

I use time machine to backup my hard drive to a Book Studio External Hard Drive. But after a day or two, the icon for the backup will disappear off the desktop and the system stops doing the automatic backcups.
It is relatively easily bring it back online but within a day or 2 the icon will disapper and the backups stop again.
Thanks for any help
All my best and Thank you

You are using Lion.. it is a statement almost.. but it seems lion has 10x the issues with forgetting its own name as well as every other network device.. but you can say I am in error.
There is probably no fix until apple decides it really should do something about it.. in the meantime the windows solution is the only useful one.. turn it off and on again.. !!
There was one suggestion.. which I find hard to believe.. that if you prevent the disks spinning down in the computer then it will stop the issue.. how that relates to anything I don't know but it gives you something to try.

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Using the same external drive with Time Machine on new mac?

I recently got a new mac because my old one broke. Thankfully, I had a fresh backup on Time Machine ready to restore onto my new computer. But when I try to use Time Machine with my new computer, it keeps wanting to do a whole new backup. It won't recognize the latest backup to only add new or changed files.
Here's a breakdown of my events:
new computer
restore Time Machine on new computer at install
want to continue using the external drive with Time Machine from where I left off (only adding new files since the last backup) on my new computer
Time Machine wants to do a whole new backup
Question: How can I continue to use my existing external hard drive with Time Machine on my new computer, picking up where I left off (not a new, complete backup)?
My old computer was Snow Lepoard, my new one is Lion.

Bergers wrote:
new computer
restore Time Machine on new computer at install
That should have left a "trail" in your SystemMigration log, so Time Machine can figure out what happened and automatically "inherit" the old backups. But sometimes, obviously, that doesn't work.
Since it didn't, there's a chance you can do it manually. See #B6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Had to wipe my drive so I could do a clean install of snow leopard Now I look every where on how to move bookmarks, address book and I cal settings. I have them back up on a external drive with Time machine but can not move, copy or restore my old sett d

Had to wipe my drive so I could do a clean install of snow leopard. Now I have look every where on how to move bookmarks, address book and I cal settings. I have them back up on a external drive with Time machine but can not move, copy or restore my old settings. The instructions I have found or no help or needs more clarafication on what to do.

Use migration assistant to move your files. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini (256gbSSD + 2tbHDD)?

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup what I have on my Mac Mini?
My Mac Mini has one 256 SSD and one 2tb HDD. I want to use Time Machine to do a backup of everything.
Would an external 2tb My Passport Drive by Western Digital work for the backup?
It seems like it would not work because the total storage on the Mac Mini is 2304 gigabytes (SSD + HDD).
And the external Western Digital drive is only 2048 in gigabytes versus 2304 gigabytes the Mac Mini has.

No. A Time Machine backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drive it backs up. You would need at least a 4 TB backup drive for Time Machine.
Might I suggest as an alternative that you not use Time Machine but a third-party backup utility that simply overwrites older files with new ones such that the backup drive can be the same capacity as the drive backed up.
Suggested Backup Software
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Others may be found at MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

External Drive with Time Machine, booting from external drive with utilitie

I'm using Time Machine now with
a LaCie 1TB external hard drive.
Everything works fine.
But, I've been wondering:
Can I place a program like TechTool
on the external drive (that Time Machine uses)
and boot from that external drive.
I would like to be able to do that,
because diagnostics and repair programs
only works properly and fully when they run from
external drives. Anything on the internal drive can be repaired
and examine. Impossible to do if Techtool is on the same
drive that's been examined.
Any thoughts as to what I should do?
Thanks
iMac, Leopard, Time Machine, Lacie Quadra 1TB drive.
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?

pitou wrote:
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?
As V.K. says, you can't boot from TM backups.
But you can restore your entire system from any one of them, per the procedure in #14 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
You can also selectively restore from them, while running normally. See #15 in the FAQ Tip.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip.

HT201250 Backup using lacie external drive with time machine

Hi, I recently backed up my macbook with a lacie external hard drive using time machine. However, when i try to open my photos, which says there is 11.67GB there, nothing happens. It only opens an empty file. After my backup i deleted the photos from my laptop, after all i was trying to clear disc space on my macbook. Can i resolve this or can i open the file in a different way? Help

One should always confirm copied stuff is where they think it is before deleting the original stuff. See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Trouble backing up external drive with time machine

I have a small USB stick that I use to store important documents but documents that I don't access very often. I have an additional 500 GB hard drive that I use for backing up with Time Machine. I want Time Machine to backup both my internal hard drive (Macbook Air 2011 Lion) as well as the small USB stick. I've searched the forum and discovered that I needed to reformat the USB stick, which I did (it is now Mac OS Extended). The USB now appears in the list of excluded drives in Time Machine preferences, which I removed. Thinking that Time Machine would be backing up my USB stick now, I backed up and then turned the computer off. The next day, I looked at the external drive, and it didn't seem to have a backup of the USB. I entered Time Machine and the USB is "greyed out" which means it wasn't backed up. I've retried backing up several times by including the USB in Time Machien preferences, but it seems that when I click "save" it doesn't actually save because when I open Preferences up again, the USB stick is in the list of excluded items again. Have I done something wrong? Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

I don't use Time Machine but my view is that it is too dangerous for sticks which may be removed - I understand that it may delete previous backups if it discovers that the stick no longer exists.
You could:
manually copy the stick to your main drive from time to time
use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup the stick
use a utility to mirror the stick to your main drive

Retrieve iPhoto files from external drive with Time Machine

I can retrieve all other files with Time Machine (including photos in Pictures) but not my iPhoto pics. Have read a few suggestions but having trouble following.
Thanks in anticipation, Ernest.

If you are trying to restore individual photos saved in iPhoto, you cannot do that. Instead, you need to restore the whole iPhoto library.
To prevent the lose of the most recent photos, go to the folder where you have got your iPhoto library (by default, Pictures) and copy it to another folder. Then, in that folder, open the Time Machine app (in /Applications/Utilities), navigate through your backups and restore the iPhoto library you need

Can't use two external drives with time machine

I have 2 external drives. I tell time machine that I have 2 and it asks if I want to use both. I say yes and it says it will alternate between them. However, after backing up to both, it then will invariably say that one doesn't have enough room for backup...as if it is trying a new backup...... rather than just adding changed files. Why is it doing this and how do I remedy?

It then will invariably say that one doesn't have enough room for backup
Unfortunately, these kinds of things are common with Mavericks. All that you can do is erase the drive and start over again with a new backup. Or, if you do not want to erase the drive, set it aside in a safe place and add a new drive....and Mavericks will make a full backup to that one to start things off.

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!?

External Drive with Time Machine

We have an iMac and use an external 500 Gb drive connected by firewire to use as the Time Machine Backup. It works just fine but when we shut down the iMac the drive LED remains on and you can feel the drive turning. If the iMac is powered down how can this happen?

Colin Cadle wrote:
when we shut down the iMac the drive LED remains on and you can feel the drive turning. If the iMac is powered down how can this happen?
I believe that some of the ports of an iMac remain powered when the iMac is off. If you unplug the iMac I'd expect that drive to lose power.
By the way, you posted your question in a discussion section for Apple's Time Capsule Wi-Fi router. Your question might have been more appropriate for one of the iMac sections: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=132

After partitioning external drive network Time Machine instance can't back up

This is a re-post with additional background information requested by several responders:
I recently added a G-Speed Q RAID array to my MAC PRO to use exclusively for back-up with Time Machine. I purchased this RAID array from the Apple store, so assume that means it's acceptable to use for this purpose. Maybe that's a bad assumption on my part. In any event, it worked great with Time Machine on my MAC PRO. The G-speed array is connected to my Mac Pro via Firewire 800 port for now. I am awaiting delivery of an eSATA expansion card for the Mac Pro which I intend to switch to when it arrives. In any event, it is not configured or capable of acting as an NAS device. It is a shared external drive on the MAC PRO.
My next step was to share the external device over my hardwire gigabit LAN with my wife's iMAC so she could back-up with Time Machine as well. It also worked great. Both Macs are connected via hardwire gigabit, supported by an Actiontec Q1000Z router. The LAN performs flawlessly for all other purposes, including over 30 network devices connected via either hardwire or 802.11n. Both machines are running Lion 10.7.4. (not server)
I then started reading posts that suggested the two Time Machine instances would compete for space on the back-up array and eventually it would fill up and I'd have problems. The solution, everyone says, is to partition the external drive and assign one to each Time Machine back-up. It makes perfect sense to me. I did this following the step-by-step instructions (#22) from Pondini's site. Both partitions are formatted with MAC OS Extended (journaled). Everything seemed to be working great until the remote client tried to run back-up. The remote Time Machine instance fails with the "Disk does not support AFP featues" error message.
Current status is as follows, local time machine back-up works fine on its partition. Remote machine finds and connects to its assigned partition once I provide correct user name and password, but fails while Time Machine is "searching for backup device" with the AFP error message. The remote (sending) machine is connecting as a dedicated user and not as "Guest".
I can write test files directly to the remote back up partition from either mac and I can read, modify and save files directly to this partition from either mac.
Please let me know if any additional information related to configuration is needed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

In my "dispute" with Pondini in the other thread, I came across some information that will certainly explain things, but not in a good way.
Apparently you cannot use an external drive as a Time Machine repository. People who use Snow Leopard and Lion Server to provide Time Machine services have already discovered this.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3327294
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2472139
It may work better when your eSATA card comes in. My theory is that a Thunderbolt RAID would show up as an internal drive and would be useable as a Time Machine repository. There is a chance that an eSATA card would do that too. You'll find out. Apparently, one of the things you get with Lion Server is a warning pop-up if you try to use an external drive with Time Machine.
While I'm a big fan of Time Machine, I still consider it Apple Black Magic. You can use it, but don't get too clever. I don't like to take chances with backups. Simple is usually better. Time Machine isn't simple, but it is so convenient that I like to ignore the incredible complexity of it.
If the other machine were a notebook with local snapshots I might say you could manually plug it in to do backups. With two iMacs, I would recommend just getting another external drive.
Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves.
- Gandalf

Hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

When you boot the new machine for the first time, you'll be prompted to import your data from a Time Machine backup.

If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

No, and that shouldn't be done with an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.
(66017)

External Hard Drive with Time Machine

I have an iMac MID 2011 21.5".
Regarding an external HD with TIme Machine :
1. Is there a difference between 5400 rpn and 7200 when using TIme Machine ?
2. Is the lower HD ( 5400 ) can slow the iMac more then the 7200 ?
Thank you

1. The 7200 rpm hard disk is faster than a 5400 rpm one, so I recommend the first to use for Time Machine, if you can't afford a SSD.
2. They have nothing to do. The only difference between them will be that the read and write speed of the hard disk will be slower with the 5400 rpm, so it will take more time, but it won't affect to the Mac

External Drive with Time Machine Disappears

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