External Hard Drive Configuration

Hi All,
Recently bought my first mac and am trying to get my WD external hard drive to connect.
At first it at least registered the device and I changed the format of it to exFAT as according to another discussion forum, but now the device wont register at all.
It will however come up in disk utility, but whenever I try to change anything on it I get a messge saying it could not configure the drive.
Any suggestions/solutions would be much appreciated.
Cheers!

Exactly what model WD drive do you have, and is this the first time you are trying to use it? How are you connecting it to your computer? USB, FW, etc. Do you have any other external devices connected at the same time?
Does the WD drive have its own power supply or is it a portable drive that uses the USB cable for power? I have seen quite a few "portable" USB powered HDs that don't really work - the drive spins but the computer acts as if there is no HD connected; it seems to be a power issue.
Also, if both your Mac and your pc can't "see" the drive, then maybe your drive is bad, or perhaps it's the cable.
And while I appreciate the convenience of using ExFAT, just be aware that ExFAT wasn't really designed for hard drives and you are not alone in having difficulty using it. If it were me, I wouldn't even consider it. There are other ways to use an external HD with Macs & pc's.

Similar Messages

External hard drives configuration

I have a G5 - just bought an exteral hard drive to use as a back-up utility.
I have also just purchased a Sony Camcorder and want to get into video editing and storage. Can i add another hard drive as a sectioned off "camcorder" drive so that ti does not affect storage capacity and performance on my G5?
Any suggestions on decent drives for under £100 for this use?

Hi-
Do you have a second internal drive?
If not, this will give you much better performance and not cost as much as a good external.
The Western Digital WD6400AAKS is highly recommended by myself and many others.

Formatted external hard drive from PC to Mac - Data Recovery Needed

I formatted an external hard drive configured to (PC) for a Mac.
I clicked erase data by accident during the process of formatting -- My old files are no longer there now.
Is there a way to recover the old files that I had on there before the reformat?
Someone please say yes and tell me it's possible......

Not very likely.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

How do I get COnfigurator to use my external Hard drive?

I have a Macbook Air with a really dinky hard drive with which I am supervising 100+ iPods and other devices with Apple Configurator. I filled up the hard drive after six months with Configurator stuff. I bought a 2 Tb passport that I hooked up to the macbook and it immediately showed up. Will the Macbook automatically start adding new files for Configurator onto the external drive as if it were additional space on the hard drive? Will I have to move Configurator to the external hard drive? How do I go about doing this?

disclaimer: I do not know here apple configurator save the data. I assume it saves the data in the home folder of the account on which it is run. ~/Documents is most likely.
1) I'd move our home folder of account you run apple configurator under to the external hd. Here is how:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1164891/keeping_mac_os_and_data_on_separate_driv es.html
( your going to have to scroll down a bit. there are a lot of ads on the above page. look for "Keeping Mac OS and data on separate drive
You could create another account for daily office use when you do not have the external hd attached.
2) another option would be to copy your entire "hd" to the external hd & boot from the external hd.
fyi: Holding down the option key then power on. This brings up the startup manager. Click on your hd. Click on right arrow key.
Carbon Copy Cloner will copy your startup drive to an external firewire drive. You can boot from the external drive to verify that you have a good clone. When you upgrade your existing startup drive, you can at any time boot from your external drive and go back to your existing system.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless. Its incredibly clear, friendly interface is understandable, easy to use, and SuperDuper's built-in scheduler makes it trivial to back up automatically. And it runs beautifully on both Intel and Power PC Macs!
Give SuperDuper a workout on your own system. Clone to your heart's content — for free. See what else is possible. When you're convinced that SuperDuper is a terrific solution — and a great value at $27.95 — you can register right from the application and start using its advanced features immediately!
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
here is some more info on the subject.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21650443#21650443

How to configure iPhoto in my setup with external hard drive

Hi there,
I've been digging around for answers but I'm still not clear on what the right path is.
I have a new MacBook Air. For the obvious reason (space) I don't want to keep my photos on it. I have a functioning MacBook with a dead backlit screen. I can run it easily with an extended monitor. I have a new 2 Terrabyte Seagate Go Flex Home external drive that is my Time Machine backup.
I'm thinking that I should be able to have all my photos on the external hard drive and access them from my MacBook Air. But I don't know what the "best" or "easiest" or good route is to follow.
1) Can I move the my current MacBook iphoto library to the external Seagate Go Flex HD? ? There's an issue of the right formatting, yes? How would I know?
2) Should I skip using Iphoto and simply store photos? I don't love that idea.
3) Should I keep my old photos on the MacBook and access them from my Macbook Air? I have a 500 gig drive on that machine. If so, I need to make sure it never goes to sleep, yes?
4) If I do that can I set up the Air so that the photos go tot he MacBook?
4) Macbook has iPhoto '08. The Air has iPhoto '11. Is that an issue?
Is this all easier than I'm thinking? Or is is complicated?
THanks for your help,

You can move your iPhoto library to any directly connected hard drive that is formatted Mac OS extended (Journaled)
You can NOT share a single volume between a Time Machine backup and any other dynamic files ike the iPhoto library - TM continues to fill the drive until it is full and at that time iPhoto would quit working
You can not share a library with different versions of iPhoto
IMHO using a MBP as the drive for a MBA wouod not work well and might cause problems
My suggestion is to move your liberary to a new external drive -
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
And create a new library on your MBA for protable use and for current photos and use iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - to move photos between the iPhoto library on the EHD and the MBA
LN

Backing Up Your System & Setting Configurations Using External Hard Drive.

We just purchase A external hard drive to back up our system. I believe the product name Is "Lacie" Anyway, the question is what is the best way to set up to an external hard drive so that my computer runs @ it's best speed. Recently I found out that I had about 5GB of hard drive space on my computer and this is why we made the purchase. Now is it wise to install logic on the new external or keep it on my internal drive. Basically for the best possible performance how should I set up everything and transfer data where I can keep a great work flow.

What's your goal? Do you want to back up your data or make a clone of your HD? These take two different approaches.
A clone of your HD is an exact copy which can be used to restore your main HD in case of drive failure/data corruption/severe data loss. Do a search for "Carbon Copy Cloner" to do this.
If you want to back up your data (Logic songs, etc.), use the HD just for this purpose and no other. And NEVER work on those backup copies. They're "safety" copies, not to be altered ever. If you need to work on a backup copy of a song, make a copy of the copy and work on that.
To make backup of Logic songs easier, always save your songs as projects and simply backup the project folders. Makes life easy.

Help/explanation needed - Using an external hard drive

Hi everyone,
I bought an external 250gb hard drive as my MBP was very close to full capacity. Yesterday, I had a bit of a scare...
1. I backed up my Aperture Library onto the external hard drive.
2. I had about 500 of my favourite images rated 5 star and so I selected these and set up a new project.
3. I went through my Aperture library deleting folders/projects that I have completed.
4. I went back into the 5 star ratings and they did not exist. I assume this is because I deleted the master files.
5. I wanted to have the 5 star images on my laptop and so I connected my external hard drive once again. [This is where I felt I lost control and understanding of what was going on].
6. I looked for the seperate Aperture files but could only find a file called Aperture Library. I clicked on this but nothing happened at all [I had thought that it would open up Aperture with the previous library].
7. I dragged the library onto my desktop and waiting for all the images to reload onto my laptop. I then saw that everything was as it was previously, i.e. all the files and images existed. However, my hard drive space was even lower [I assume this was because the current workflow that I had left on the laptop was now duplicated?].
8. Then I got a message saying my iDisk space is critically low and may damage my Aperture library. Moments later the majority of my images disappeared and a red space appeared where every photo had previously been. Since I have 2 weddings that I am yet to deliver I was very panicked. I tried to drag and drop the Aperture library once again and the message came back that the operation could not be completed due to the current file already existing.
9. I unplugged the external hard drive and the photos re-appeared [much to my delight]. However, my concern is that I really don't understand what happened and more importantly why. I will need access to the data on the external hard drive in the event in the near future and am worried that the same thing will happen next time I connect it.
As a result of all this I have some questions, as follows:-
- Have I adopted the completely wrong approach to backing up data?
- Can the master files be compressed as I shoot RAW and these are huge files?
- Why could I not use the Aperture library stored on the external hard drive without downloading it back onto the laptop?
and a more general question about file storage...
- I am confused as to how much hard drive space is being used on my MBP. I have 13gb in Aperture, 1gb in iTunes and 1gb in iPhoto. However, I only have 50gb available, so half the capacity is currently being used. I know that Aperture and Garageband applications use about 10gb between them and there is of course the operating system, but 50gb in total seems a lot. On investigation in the finder screen I see that on my personal drive the Aperture, iTunes and iPhoto data is stored there. However, it is also stored under pictures and music respectively. Does this mean that it is storing duplicate copies of this data and that is the explanation for such high hard drive usage? If this is the case, can one be removed?
I appreciate that this has been a long email, but I felt it was important to illustrate the steps I have taken. As you will no doubt glean from this post I am not the most computer literate person. Any help/explanation would be most appreciated.
Many thanks,
Jamie

Hi Jamie.
I am not sure what went wrong with your setup but I will let you know my configuration as an example and you can decide if you think it is a good way to have it. I am asuming you are using ver 1.5?
Like you I have only a Laptop (G4 17" 1.5Ghz 2 Gig Ram - would love a macbook) so hard disk space is a premium. I also have an external firewire drive to hold all the HiRes RAW images. When I download my images from the Camera I do it manually into folders on the external drive (Cataloged by Date and maybe description of location). I then Import the images from those folders into Aperture but use the option when importing to "Store Files - In their current location".
My Aperture library file is on my laptop so all that it has to store is the "Preview" file that gets generated automatically (in the preferences I have it set up to the resolution of my laptop 1440pix so that if I did a slide show it is only as big as my screen - anything more is a waste of disk space IMO.)
I do it this way so that it is easy to find and work on my files with other programs such as Photoshop by going straight to the image rather than exporting from Aperture.
Obviously I cant edit the RAW files while the drive is disconnected but I can still do ratings and keywords without the original files being there.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Andrew
G4 17inch Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 Gigs RAM

Time Capsule - OS Upgrade and External Hard Drive

Hi, This is my first request and am happy to have found this community helpful so far. It has answered many of my previous questions because somebody else had already asked. However, this time I’m not able to get all the answers since I have specific questions. Please help.
I have a Macbook (late 2008 Aluminum) with 2GB memory, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GHz running Leopard. I just went and bought these to start an upgrade project–
a. CD for Snow Leopard
b. Time Capsule
c. 4 GB memory (2*2GB)
d. 1 External Hard Drive – 1 TB Seagate GoFlex (running out of space in 160GB macbook)
I will buy these applications via Mac App Store after I have the OS upgrade:
e. iPhoto ‘11
f. iMovie ‘11
I have successfully connected time capsule and configured it as my router and have set it up as the time machine backup device (what a breeze!). Also, I have taken the first full backup of macbook and am ready to go. Before I go ahead with next steps, I have few questions:
Should I install the new memory first and then Snow Leopard or doesn’t matter?
Any advice for my memory upgrade? I found the instruction manual in Apple’s site and am planning to do it myself.
Any advice for my Snow Leopard upgrade or anything to be cautious about? I believe the instructions after I pop in the CD will be self-explanatory.
After I have done the Snow Leopard Upgrade, I believe I will still have access to my files in the time machine backup in TC from before the OS upgrade? The reason I ask is I am planning to delete/move files after the OS upgrade.
FYI – After the Snow Leopard Upgrade, I will upgrade to iPhoto ’11 and iMovie ’11 from ’08. I have the latest iTunes.
After I have Snow Leopard, iPhoto/iMovie ’11, I will connect the EHD to the TC USB port and am planning to move the iTunes Media and iMovie project/events to the EHD (found the instructions on this) and delete the media from the macbook internal drive to relieve space. Say, just in case my EHD crashes in the next 2 days after I do this, will I still be able to recover the previous media/project files from Time Capsule? Or do I need to copy the iTunes Media and iMovie project/events into the Time Capsule manually before I move it into EHD? Basically, I want to make sure I have 2 copies of my media, 1 in TC and 1 in EHD, since I am deleting it from mac’s IHD.
Now say I have the EHD connected to TC via USB and have moved my all media and movie projects into the EHD. So macbook is accessing the EDH wirelessly, as the source for iTunes and iMovie media. For performance or portability, if I plug my EHD directly into the macbook, can it seamlessly recognize it as the media source for iTunes and iMovie or are there any settings involved? I am just wondering since via the TC it was a shared drive, and now it’s a plugged-in EHD.
I know that Time Machine does incremental backups. Is there an explanation on this as to what is meant by hourly, daily and weekly backups and what are the copies made? I heard the hourly are replaced by daily backups and the daily are replaced by weekly, what does that mean?
This may not impact me now, but may be soon. Is it true that once TC is full, time machine will delete copies of the oldest backup? My concern is that I want to somehow conserve today’s backup for good. Is that do able?
Should I be concerned that time machine backs up every hour, since it may reduce my macbook’s performance during the backups? I know a way to reduce the backup frequency, am just trying to understand if it’s necessary to do so?
How do I use my time capsule as an external hard drive? The reason is I have another PC from which I want to copy files and store in TC as a backup.
I know I have many questions, but am hoping to get your expert advice. Thank you.

Hello, seems like you wanted to do pretty much what i wanted to do. that is free up space on lap top. But still have instant access to your itunes stuff. I found a solution that works for me.
I have a portable WD hdd attached to my time capsule via usb, i then access both through the capsules wireless connection, using the TC for time machine.
The Apple tv then accesses my itunes lib through my MBP via TC's wireless. I did however connect the WD Hdd directly to my MBP for the initial transfer to the apple tv, but itunes seems to find the lib as long as its there, doesnt matter if its connected to MBPs usb or the TCs usb. Sometimes it might revert to the default location, but i've found that if you click on a song it still plays, then if you close then reopen itunes every thing goes back to your external hdd...
Which means if you go away or want your itunes lib on the move you just need a little WD hdd.
I'm not totally sure if its worked yet but i connected my WD hdd to my MBP vie usb and told the TC to back up that too by going to options in TM preferences, seems to have worked, not sure if it would work while connected to the TC usb connection, doesnt seem to.
NB:Before you do this do a back up of everything in you Itunes Lib on your TC incase you screw up.
(For easy transfer of your itunes lib go to preferences on itunes and create a folder called iTunes Music on your Hdd then close preferences and allow itunes to do its thing, then in itunes go to
file - library - consolidate library, itunes. Itunes then makes a copy of all music on your new hdd. I then deleted the tunes off my MBP)
Just make sure you open your finder and click on the TC to wake the drive before you open Itunes other wise you'll have to go in to preferences and keep altering the location for your itunes folder. which can take i tunes a while.
This method seems to cope with video and music just fine.
Well hope that wasn't too confusing, as i confuse myself at times.
Good Luck.........

Is it possible to keep all iTunes media on an external hard drive and not on my Mac Book and have ITunes still function?

Let me begin by saying I'm new to the Mac world as well as to the realm of online forums so I apologize if this is a question that was already asked and/or if it is a very noobish question...
But anyway, I just recently got the new Macbook Pro 15" with RD and I am curious if I can keep all of my Itunes media on an external hard drive without keeping any of it on the Macbook itself and have Itunes still function (when the HD is connected of course). I am trying to keep the computer memory clutter free and not fill it up with music and stuff so I want to keep all of my media on a 1T Buffalo external hard drive so the computer stays like brand new for a long time..Right now I have about 5G worth of music on my hard drive and I thought it was only on the hard drive and I just recently found out that it is also within the music folder on the computer itself. Any thoughts? Sorry if it is an odd question, I can try to rephrase the question if need be. Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
If you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)
Longer answers if for any reason you do not think all library files are inside your iTunes folder (changed preferences settings at some point):
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168
2011 ilounge article: Transferring your iTunes library - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/ - An article with good background information (similar to the links above), particularly if you are not sure your media files are all grouped for quick answer above. Unfortunately under the single term "transferring library" it describes two very different moves; relocating just your media (not really transferring your library and not recommended unless you really need this configuration), and relocating media+database (really your whole "library"). Make sure you understand the difference before electing to move only media.

Time Machine is causing my external hard drive not to be recognized or read

I have been using Time Machine on my MAC. I don't like it. I now have gone into preferences and stopped it from further backups. Now, I want to restore my Toshiba External Hard Drive and have it backup. When I look into my Macintosh HD, it does not "see" the drive. It doesn't appear in Finder. I am assuming that Time Machine configured it or reformatted it? So, how do I get it "back" from Time Machine? One person commented that this is an issue of formatting my hard drive, but the problem started with Time Machine. Where should I post this question, if not here?
Thank you!

I'm guessing that Time Machine hides it from Finder as most users aren't going to want to be mucking around in it. Try opening up Disk Utility and see if you can see it. You can reformat it from there as well.

My efforts to remove malware from a network external hard drive connected to my Intel based iMac is now causing programs to hang when I try to open them.

I own an iMac, recently updated with OSX 10.75. It is the core computer on a home network shared with an iPad, Apple TV, two network printers,my wife's laptop, two iPhone, a BlackBerry and a BlackBerry Playbook. I am experiencing three if not four problems that are overwhelming.
My original problem is associated with Windows emails files or documents stored on my external network hard drive. One or more has malware and is sending malware laced files across the Internet to points unknown. As someone pointed out in a forum my iMac may be hosting,sharing and propagating Windows malware. I originally used Trend Micro software on my IMac to monitor any viral activity. Two weeks ago I noticed a number of notices from servers around the world saying my message was not undelivered. Since I had sent messages to the people I simply deleted the emails. Next I noticed the emails on my BlackBerry and my BlackBerry playbook.I configured the Trend to do a complete scan and although it did a complete scan it did not perform a full network scan. It did identify a series of .x27 document files with the same name tbut each had a sequential number. I assumed hat these were the source files that had sent out the email documents selling Viagara and othernproducts. I manually deleted thousands of the source documents and the files. This caused some disruption to my computer but it did not produce a hardware or software problem. By following this effort in conjunction with security scans I do believe the malware was activated by Iranian students who were able to activate the malware through my BlackBerry and BlackBerry Playbook. I learned this from an encounter I had when trying tondelete these files on my computer and my BlackBerry.
When using my PlayBook after deleting the files from my computer I noticed more messages being returned from servers. I realized that email accounts connected to my BlackBerry and BB Playbookn were not protected from this problem. As I searched for remedies I learned about turning on the firewall in the previous version of Lion but that did not stop the BlackBerry problem. Each time I deleted a source file on my computer more documents were released. I eventually received McAfee from my ISP. It provided security on the entire network. My first full scan of my external drive identified two malware files. One of them was associated with the Cialis ad the other was from a firm in the Middle East called ADP. it could not remove the latter file.
Moreover each time I attempted to remove the source file from my hard drive a file labeled A239A076F would show up on my Blackberry. As I removed them thousands of these files would show up. Ultimately I eventually disconnected the external hard drive and removed the battery from the phone and not use the email accounts these messages had used to enter my iMac. I am contacting ATT about BlackBerry data security and switching to a different phone for business purposes. I will probably change to an iPhone or Android phone for business purposes. I am also looking at ways to resolve the malware on that drive. There are a number of business and personal files on thatbdrive that I hope to keep. I dread having to pay McAfee to configure the software to eradicate the malware.
Moving on...last week I updated my iMac to 10.75. It simultaneously updated every Apple based program as promised. It did not update the non-Apple programs. I am not an IT professional and assumed that it had done so. On Saturday I attempted to download a file associated with my router extender using my untethered Playbook and BlackBerry desktop software. The program hung. I attempted a reboot and it reopened with the hung program. It created an alias file on the desktop. My inclination led to put the alias file in the trash can and delete it. My computer did not respond well to that action. It has been rebooted with Cmd-s-esc tens of time to see if that would activate a file check. It did not. I was able to run a disk utility check. And in spite of the hung process it eventually said the drive was okay.
Long story in a nutshell. My iMac is responding as if it is looking for a subprogram to complete its a function. Or it is attempting to finish the BlackBerry operation it began on Saturday. I hope this makes sense to someone and the know how I can restore functionality to my iMac.
Thank you.

I think the McAfee suite will do the trick when I pay them a one-time fee of $69 or $179 for a year for unlimited support.
Your call of course but IMO a waste of money. Please read this first:
There are many forms of ‘Malware’ that can affect a computer system, of which ‘a virus’ is but one type, ‘trojans’ another. Using the strict definition of a computer virus, no viruses that can attack OS X have so far been detected 'in the wild', i.e. in anything other than laboratory conditions. The same is not true of other forms of malware, such as Trojans. Whilst it is a fairly safe bet that your Mac has NOT been infected by a virus, it may have another security-related problem, but more likely a technical problem unrelated to any malware threat.
You may find this User Tip on Viruses, Trojan Detection and Removal, as well as general Internet Security and Privacy, useful:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2435
The User Tip (which you are welcome to print out and retain for future reference) seeks to offer guidance on the main security threats and how to avoid them.
More useful information can also be found here:
http://www.reedcorner.net/mmg/

How do I set up a RAID array with an external hard drive?

Im trying to backup my hard drive onto a 250 GB external hard drive (connected by Firewire) via a RAID 1 configuration. What is the best way to do this?
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.6) Intel-based, Windows XP Pro is installed via Boot Camp

There are times when a mirror is fine. SoftRAID in their example of uses, has a situation with someone who doesn't backup, has a laptop (where failures seem higher) and might also want to be able to take the external mirror and take it with them.
One backup is never enough. What if something goes wrong during the backup? power failure or crash? the backup is now corrupt.
Having a mirror and a 2nd copy would be fine. And you can do that. I find DVDs have been too small and slow in the past to use regularly, I use disks, and burn a DVD of important stuff on a 3 month or longer basis, and some stuff is even less.
so while there is always going to be "mirror raid is not a true backup mantra" it is still useful for what it does. Even if it is instant and copies the good and bad. Just don't rely on it as your ONLY backup, you should have another disk drive as well (and DVDs).
Also, FW400 is not a speed daemon - 35MB/sec or less is not uncommon.

I keep my library on an external hard drive 4TB. It's full. Can I use more than one hard drive to keep my library on?

I keep my iTunes library on an external hard drive 4TB. It's full. Can I use more than one hard drive to keep my library on? Like two 4TB next to each other.

Create a concatenated disk set
Increase storage space with a concatenated RAID set (also called “Just a Bunch of Disks” or JBOD). If you need one large disk, but you have only several smaller disks, you can create a concatenated disk set to use several small disks as one large disk.
Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.
Select one of the disks that you want in the set, and then click RAID.
Click Add (+), and type a name for the RAID set.
Choose a format from the Format pop-up menu. Usually you’ll choose the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Choose Concatenated Disk Set from the RAID Type pop-up menu.
Drag the disks you want to add to the set to the list on the right.
Click Create.
Exerpt from:
Disk Utility 12.x: Create a RAID set - Apple - Support
Note that the biggest CON to concatenated RAID configurations is vulnerability to volume failure. If either disk fails, the whole volume fails. If you choose this option, I would highly recommend backing up your music to a cloud service. There are very cheap per GB/storage, and some of the most reputable actually offer unlimited storage:
Five Best Cloud Storage Providers - Lifehacker

Time Capsule as external hard-drive, as back-up drive with Time Machine

Two questions today:
I understand that I can use the Time Capsule as an external hard-drive while using it as my back-up location, using Time Machine. It has been suggested that to do this, it is best to partition the Time Capsule to prevent the TM program from confusing the files it manages, the data files from the backed-up files. (I hope I got that right.) I believe I read in this forum that one can partition the TC after the fact, and not destroy any data on it. Is this possible? A clerk at the Apple Store in San Francisco told me that I would want to partition, but that it would require that I erase the TC. Which to believe?
Secondly, how does TM create the back-ups? I have used SuperDuper and appreciated the difference in how (and what) it backs up. My example: my first back-up involved having an 80gb external drive attached to my computer and TM backed up both my HD and the External Drive. I then turned off the TM. Today I turned it on and allowed it to back-up every hour as it is designed to do, but without the 80gb External drive attached. When I checked the newer back-ups, they all showed the original configuration of HD and 80gb external drive.
So for it's incremental back-ups, does TM back up new files and updated files without deleting missing files? Is it an additive process? Or does it at some point delete missing files from it's most recent back-up? Or since it recognized that it was backing-up two different drives, it will always keep them separate, maintaining one (80gb External drive), even as it backs-up and changes the other (the HD)?
O.K. a third request. Has anyone published a manual on TM and/or TC with this level of understanding so we can make the most of it's 1 TB storage capacity?
Thanks in advance, LeRoy

LeroyHoward wrote: So, does this mean that TM never deletes a file?
It will when it starts to run out of space and it should likely be the oldest deleted files first.
As I understand it, as long as I have a multi-linked file icon on the TM, I have the original data. And everytime the TM backs-up, it recreates every multi-linked file icon on the previous back-up. Right? So, if you delete a file by mistake, you can go back and find it. But I see a contradiction here. If you delete it on your desktop, shouldn't it be deleted from the back-up of that desktop? We expect it to be on earlier back-ups, but not the most recent one right? So, eventually as the TM fills up and begins deleting earlier back-ups, that data will be lost.
The newest timeline will not point/display the deleted file(s), but it still exists on the backup until the backup drive fills up and needs to erase deleted data.
I'm trying to understand this aspect of the TC and TM, because we want to use it as both an external HD and as one of our back-ups. Any light you can shed on this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, LeRoy
Read Glenn's response to dedicating TC to TM backup and the difficulty in partitioning the TC HDD.
Glenn Carter wrote:
However, this is not an option for Time Capsule users as there is not an easy way of partitioning the Time Capsules’ internal had disk without elaborate effort. In this case, use the Time Capsule hard disk solely for Time Machine backups. Then attach an additional hard disk to the Time Capsules USB port and store additional files there. This added disk will still be available to all Macs that can access the Time Capsule.
This works to share the files on the USB HDD attached to TC, but if you want this drive backed up by TM (and this drive is formatted HFS+), then it needs to remain plugged into the Mac directly for TM to back it up.

Can I connect an external hard drive to my time capsule to add virtual hard drive space?

I would like to make a 4 TB external hard drive available wirelessly on my home network. I have heard that I could connect it to my router or my Time Capsule to do this. Is this possible? Is there any special setup I need to do to enable this to work?
Additionally, I have two Macbooks in the house and have recently purchased a second Time Capsule. I would like to back up each computer to its own Time Capsule. Is there a configuration that would make this possible?
If the two Time Capsules are connected together via an ethernet cable (in extend the network mode), and one elects to back both of their computers up to the primary Time Capsule, does the primary use the secondary Time Capsule's hard drive space to continue backing up once it becomes full?
Thanks in advance for any advice you all may have for me in this situation!

See if Pondini can help http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

External Hard Drive Configuration

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