External working and backup setup - Thunderbolt or NAS? Working location photographer

Lifestyle photographer, work on location. Meaning I shot a lot of files per shoot day (1500 per working day) and I'm on location, away from my studio and main computer (Cheese-grater Mac Pro).
My current archive and backup is on a multi bay e-sata JBOD, which is old and in need of being brought up to date.
My desktop is a Mac Pro, no Thunderbolt, infact it's still USB 2, though if I keep it as my main studio machine , I can put in a USB 3 card.
My location laptop is a MBP with Thunderbolt.
I'm trying to decide if I should go Thunderbolt external HD for my external archive, backups and even working files (which would mean working off my MBP and essentially ditching the Mac Pro box), or if I should go NAS, which is still only available as USB3, but which gives me the ability (from what I've heard) to access my image files from the cloud when I'm on location and a client wants images.
I'm using Lightroom as my main image interface more and more with the way my business is moving. I still prefer to do final polishing of colour treatments / grading in Photoshop, but I'm not doing much heavy work - compositing etc, with Photoshop.
Would love to hear pro's and con's of the two setups from other who shoot a lot of image files and are on the road a lot.
Thanks!!!

Trevnew wrote:
when looked in preferences the old location was still there, eventually changed in preferences
Trev,
changing iTunes media folder location via preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where the current content is.
also, with your library now on the NAS, you must make sure the NAS is mounted on your desktop before launching iTunes.
... still showed an issue with the file locations and the exclamation marks.
you may have done something wrong initially (during re-locating your library to the NAS) because the exclamation marks usually appear when media files were moved using the finder and iTunes lost track of their location.
you might be able to use this script:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."

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Best setup for external drives and backup

I'm using Aperture to organize several thousand photos. I've gotten good advice her before about how to get started on this. I'm not a professional and I'm not an experienced user of Aperture, so don't assume a lot of knowledge when you answer. I'm wondering what the best way to set up the file storage would be. I use a MacBook Pro, so obviously that's out for storage, and financially, purchasing a more powerful desktop is out for the time being. I was thinking of purchasing a mirror drive system, like this: http://www.newertech.com/products/gmax.php
But then, there still remains the problem of backing up the photos in case of a fire or theft, etc. I have many of them on DVD, but not with all the metadata that I've added. Can I back the external drives up to a cloud-based storage system through the wireless on the MacBook?
Or, is the answer none of the above? What recommendations do you folks have for managing this?

more:
Paula-
Mirror drives are very much less than ideal for images backup. Mirroring occurs in real-time, so errors, breaks, etc. simply get copied. With images work (unlike fanancial work, for instance) we do not need real-time backup we just need regular accurate backup. Just have 2-3 external drives and rotate them regularly, always having one drive off-site (could be in your car or whatever). Back up manually rather than automatically so that you can be reasonably certain that the backup is not backing up something that just broke.
I suggest the below workflow. Note that most important is that original images from the camera card are copied to two locations before reformatting the card and before importing into Aperture or any other images management application.
Original images never change, so I prefer to manually copy them to two locations asap after capture: one location is the computer drive and the other is an external backup HD that itself gets backed up off site regularly. That assures me that "the pic is in the can." Until two digital files exist on different media I do not consider the pic in the can.
Then reformat the card in-camera, not before.
The Masters then get imported into Aperture from the Mac internal drive by reference (i.e. "Storing Files: in their current location" on the Mac internal drive). After editing is complete (may take weeks or months), from within Aperture I relocate the referenced Masters to an external hard drive for long-term storage.
I do use Time Machine routinely on the MBP, but for the daily-volatile activities going of the MBP. I prefer not to have TM be my backup-of-originals protocol. Instead TM backs up the Mac internal drive on the TM schedule and I back up original images asap based on my shooting schedule. Also the TM drive is a different drive than the drives used for long-term original image files archiving.
TM does back up my Library because the Library lives on the Mac internal drive but I do not assume that TM works for Library backup. I back the Library up to Vaults (on the same drives I put archives of Masters on) independent of TM. IMO one should back up image files and back up Vaults manually after verifying that what is being backed up is not broken, because automatic backup will just back up a broken Library or whatever.
Note that Masters need only be backed up once (but to multiple backup locations) and that backup should happen immediately after copying to the hard drive from the camera card, before involving Aperture or any other images management app.
Sorry for the redundant verbosity above but some was copied from previous posts. Also, I reinforce what Léonie said about DVDs. DVDs are way too slow, unreliable, etc. Instead rotate multiple hard drives to achieve redundancy.
HTH
-Allen

Can I store my photos, music and films on external harddrive and backup everything to time capsule?

Hi
I have just bought my very first mac this week. I have the iphone 4 already but have been used to using windows my whole life.
I have purchased:
21.5inch iMac 2011
2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
4GB RAM
500GB Harddrive
Latest version of Lion OS
Its only been a couple of days and already I dont know how I ever lived without it.
The predicament Im in is this: I want to use apple Tv to stream my music, photos and films to my TV in the living room. But I would also like to store all of this on an external harddrive, rather than filling up my internals with it then not having enough room for anything else.
Can I store my films, music, photo's etc on an external harddrive and still stream to apple tv? Does it need to be a specific external harddrive? And whats the best way to back everything up? Would a 2TB Time Capsule backup my mac and everything on my external harddrive?
Sorry for all the questions, Im very new to this and dont know much about harddrives.
Thanks in advance..
Gem

Yes. However, it gets more complicated. Time Machine is better for archival backup, and typically requires twice the space for the data as the original. Streaming from external drives while possible can get laggy on video unless you use Firewire or Thunderbolt. If you have any old 802.11b or 802.11g devices, you'll want to keep them on a separate network. A better investment is a couple external hard drives for backup and one for any excess stuff that won't fit on your main 500 GB drive, and to use cloning software instead. When you need archival backup, burn to CD or DVD that is prepackaged in jewelcases. See my FAQ* on good media and backup http://www.macmaps.com/cdrfailure.html
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
When backing up make sure nothing else is happening on the machine from your end.

Time Capsule as External HD and backup in an existing wireless network

I have had some difficulty having the issue solved. I have also had an an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar to solve the issue but was unsuccessful.
I am trying to see if I can use the Time Capsule in an existing wireless network as an external hard drive and backup.
I am unable to use Time Capsule as a wireless networking device because our wireless network at home is already configured for Vonage (Voice Over IP) and our DSL is with Verizon. We had to have a specialist come to our home to set up that network and I hope to not interfere with it unless I know what I am doing.
Is the Time Capsule a device you can use to store and retrieve data? My Macbook's HD is nearly full and I want to clear up some space but would like to have easy access to the data. Is it possible to use it as a backup as I would simultaneously use it as an external HD?
I was told to put the Time Capsule in "bridge" mode to solve my networking issues. Could I use the Time Capsule in bridge mode wirelessly as an external HD to store and retrieve data and backup data without interfering with my wireless internet network? Is this only possible with ethernet?

@Joop
TC can handle TM and other backups at the same time.
The TC is much slower (and more expensive) than a "normal" external drive, because everything has to go via WiFi. Especially when you are going to place Libraries on it.
So I suggest that you acquire an exeternal backup disk.
Second:
if you want to place Libraries on the same disk as your backups/TM: when that disk goes down you do not have any backup for your Libraries (even when you partition the disk to separate between backup and libraries). Think about that. Imagine how you feel when you loose your photo library....
Third:
So all in all, I suggest to have two SEPARATE external disks.

Time Capsule as external HDD and backup drive

I'm looking to buy a Time Capsule; can I use it as an external hard drive for my movies, and as a backup drive to work with Time Machine? I want to have my whole iTunes library on the Time Capsule so I can store everthing there to free up space for my Mac, and still be able to use Apple TV with those movies. In addition I want to use the rest of the space to back up the rest of my Macs files with Time Machine. Is that possible?

@Joop
TC can handle TM and other backups at the same time.
The TC is much slower (and more expensive) than a "normal" external drive, because everything has to go via WiFi. Especially when you are going to place Libraries on it.
So I suggest that you acquire an exeternal backup disk.
Second:
if you want to place Libraries on the same disk as your backups/TM: when that disk goes down you do not have any backup for your Libraries (even when you partition the disk to separate between backup and libraries). Think about that. Imagine how you feel when you loose your photo library....
Third:
So all in all, I suggest to have two SEPARATE external disks.

**eMac External 40 GB Firewire 400 HD and backup software?**

I resently experienced a partial data loss for no logical reason. The screen froze, I couldn't force quit, so I had to power down the computer. Something that I never like to do as I was informed that it can damage the HD. All the folders on the desktop disappeared without trace. I back-up to CD ROM every month. All my important data was intact. However some data was lost. It occured to me that I should have a perfect duplicate back-up of my internal hard disc.
My emac has a 40 GB HD.
Can anyone suggest a good firewire External HD and backup software? In order that no data can ever be lost!
eMac 1 Ghz Combi Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1GB SDRAM

For backup software, CarbonCopyCloner has a number of fans; I use SuperDuper!. A bootable clone of your HD would be a minimum. Better yet, get a 100 GB or greater HD, partition it, and use SuperDuper to put a bootable clone on the first partition, updating that regularly, and use the other partition(s) for either additional storage or a redunant backup of key data. You can for instance move your iTunes Library or move your iPhoto Library to an external HD.
The actual make and model of an external Firewire HD is less critical than having one in the first place (and regularly backing up). I have several LaCie drives at home and work (one cowaorker has about 12 LaCie HDs chained off his Mac, an impressive sight); or you can check the expanding your eMac forum for any of the posts in which Patrick (PT) describes how to roll your own, so to speak: buy a cheap bare HD, buy a Firewire enclosure, put them together and format.

How do I move my iTunes Library to an external drive and retain everything?

I'm sure this is a common [stupid] question, but I couldn't find a clear answer and I want to be sure I'm doing it correctly.
To clarify; I want to move/relocate my iTunes Library folder to an external drive (FW800 two-disk RAID1) to free up my system drive and have a backup. Do I redirect iTunes to the new location and use File>Library>Consolidate Library, or, can I just move or copy the 'iTunes' folder to the external drive and then change the iTunes 'music folder location' to the new location? Will this now save all subsequent imported/purchased music, movies,,..etc to the external drive and retain all my library details?
Message was edited by: Sakahara

Hello, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Below you will find more information about your options of relocating iTunes Library and backing it up.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
How to back up your media in iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

How to copy a networked TimeMachine backup to an external drive and restore from it?

Hi,
I backup my MacBook Air with TimeMachine to my QNAP NAS which offers a TimeMachine backup service and I can restore data from it OK.
Working in IT, and being a bit paranoid about important data loss, I am concerned that if I was robbed or my house burnt down I would most likely lose both the MacBook and the TimeMachine Backup on my NAS :-(
To protect against this I have backup my (linux based) NAS to an external drive that I keep offsite. This drive is encrypted to keep my data secure with a Linux form of encryption (cryptsetup) and hence can't be plugged into a MacBook to try and restore from it - I doubt this would work either as the TimeMachine data is not located in the root of the drive.
So what I have done to test my restore process is to mount the encrypted NAS backup that include the TimeMachine backup folders on a Linux machine and then copy the TimeMachine data to the root of an HFS+ formatted external USB drive.
But, now I am stuck as how to try and restore something from this to my MacBook to see if the copy of the TimeMachine backup is good. If I press the Alt key on the TimeMachine icon, I can select an alternate backup device and when I enter TimeMachine to browse the data, I can browse the structure but there is no option to go back in time !! It seems like it is not possible to restore from this copy of the TimeMachine backup.
Does anyone know if this should be possible, and if so, what am I doing wrong here?
Rgds
Gary

Try un-mounting the drive from the Linux computer and see if you can access it as NAS.

OS 8.1 - Trying to partition an external scsi drive and backup data.

Have an Apple PowerMac 6000 series minitower at work. It runs a program called 4D, that is a database we use to catalog images. Since I've been with the company, there has been no backup of the database, as an external scsi drive had died and never been replaced.
Since the system is running OS 8.1, I wasn't sure how I could do any sort of network backup, and in the end I managed to get a new 50-pin scsi 50GB LaCie External Hard drive with the 25-pin cable to connect to the PowerMac. Connected it yesterday, and it did appear on the desktop as you'd expect.
But when I went to point 4D to the drive, it didn't seem to recognize the file system. I tried erasing the drive, but it had the same probem. Norton Utilities is on the mac, so I tried replacing the partition. Specifically, I tried creating two partitions. One that's 40GB, that I could do 4D backups to. The other, the remaining space (about 7GB) so I could try to copy the entire drive to that partition and maybe even boot from it if the other drive failed.
However, the drive was still mounted when I tried to repartition and it ended up causing an error. I tried rebooting, and the drive wasn't showing on the desktop, but it still wouldn't repartition. Not knowing was else to do, I low level formatted the drive, told it to write zeros to it, and then create the two partitions. Given I was doing all this on a Saturday and didn't know how long it would take, I left it running in the background to check on Monday.
Anyone have any experience with OS 8.1? Is there a program like Carbon Copy Cloner that works with that OS? And any thoughts on what I'd need to do to get this drive working as indicated above? I started using Apple again with OS X, and it's quite a bit different than 9 and previous. Could sure use some help.

Hi, merkman2001 -
I would use the Apple utility Drive Setup (which comes with a normal OS 8.1 install) to initialize and partition the drive, rather than Norton or any other third-party utility.
As far as the format type goes, select Mac OS Extended when asked.
<hr>
Is there a program like Carbon Copy Cloner that works with that OS?
Generally such is not needed with OS 9 and earlier OS versions. All pre-OSX OS's and software can be copied using a Finder (drag and drop) copy process, and remain usable.
This means that the System Folder on the internal drive can be dragged to the icon of the external drive and dropped into it. Ditto any/all additional folders, those containing the programs and documents.
You should be able to successfully do a test boot using the freshly-copied OS on the external drive; this is the best way to verify the integrity of the copied OS.
Can't recall if aliases were used in OS 8.1. If they were, it may be necessary to 'fix' any of them used, since the pathname contained in an alias is not corrected when it is copied to another drive - it continues to point to the original original.
You can also copy the entire source drive to the external one in one action - drag the iccon of the internal drive to that of the external one and drop it in.
After Finder gets done copying everything (this may take some time, so disable any sleep mode or screensaver), there will be a new folder on the external volume - this folder will be named the same as the internal drive. Inside that folder will be a copy of everything that was on the internal drive, including everything left lying around on the desktop and anything left unemptied in the Trash (these will be placed in new folders named "Desktop" and "Trash" respectively).
In order to make that external volume bootable using the freshly copied OS, move the System Folder out of the folder it was copied into, so that it is at the root level of the drive, meaning visible in the window that appears when you first open the drive's icon.

My MacBook w/ OSX 10.6.8 cannot access my external Time Machine Backup USB Drive. It says it is a Read Only drive. When I went to change permissions I found all pernissions were listed as "Custom" and I could not reset them to "Read Write". Any help!

My MacBook w/ OSX 10.6.8 cannot access my external Time Machine Backup USB Drive. It says it is a Read Only drive. When I went to change permissions I found all pernissions were listed as "Custom" and I could not reset them to "Read Write". Any help would be appreciated.

This can be done easily with ethernet.
Please follow the instructions strictly.
To make it easier I want you to do this overnight so you can turn off all your current connection to the internet.
Just go to the airport fan in to the top right and turn airport off.
Get ethernet cable and connect the laptop to the TC lan port.. ie <-> ones.
Press and hold the reset on the TC for about 10sec. until the front led flashes rapidly.
Open the airport utility.. go to manual setup and change the wireless to off. (so other people around you cannot join your network of one).
Ignore all the errors.. they won't stop the backup working.
Go to the TM and reselect the backup target disk as the TC.
It should start after 2min and run through to completion.
That is it.. for a backup of many GB it might take a few hours.. so make sure the laptop has power plugged in and the sleep is off.. (on early ones I think this is needed but I am a late arrival to the scene).. sleep doesn't affect later OS.

External mouse and keyboard no longer work after 10.8.5 upgrade

Today I upgraded from OSX 10.8.4 to 10.8.5 on my macbook pro 17". This upgrade caused by external mouse and keyboard to completely stop working. I tried installing the 10.8.5 "combo" install (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1676) and also tried resetting the PRAM, but neither action had any effect.
I also tried restoring to an older time machine backup with 10.8.4, but could only figure out how to restore files, not the entire system.
I've lost a day of work at this point, I need help... How can I get back to 10.8.4 or get the mouse/keyboard working again on 10.8.5??

Try booting into the Safe Mode. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application uninstaller. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.
Safe Mode
Safe Mode - About

Hello. I keep my IPhoto library (about 90GB) on an external HD and am trying to back it up to another external drive. Both are formatted Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled). Recently, backup has failed from the start due to error 36. Howtoresolve?

Hello. I keep my iPhoto library (about 90GB) on an external HD and am trying to back it up to another external drive. Both are formatted Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and both check out when scanned with Disk Utility. Recently, backup has failed from the start due to error 36. Any ideas how to resolve? Also, what's the maximum recommended size for an iPhoto library file? Thx!

Since you can't drag the library to the other EHD for the backup see if you can duplicate it (if you have enough room on the drive) by selecting it and typing Command+d (duplicate).
If you do rebuild the library without a backup and it goes awry you won't lose your photos but you may lose your orgnaizational efforts. So try the following:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library in the location of your choosing based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
NOTE: Fix 2 above might be the method you might want to try first with iPLM creating the new library on your second EHD. If it works that would get your backup copy on the second EHD at the same time as repairing it. If it does'nt work then go back to Fix 1.
OT

Various network setups for media serving and backups

Are there any good sites, blog posts, etc that show different home network configurations with a Time Capsule, external HDs and Macs for handling backups and media serving? Right now I have a simple Setup where my TC backs up my MBP. I also have a couple externals HDs w a lot of music and video that's not in my iTunes library on the MBP, the HD of which is at capacity. I know I want to be able to easily access all of that content on my MBP, AppleTV, iPhone, iPad. I also want to have a good backup solution (possibly even a backup of the backup for redundancy). I just don't know the simplest way to do it and haven't found a good resource to see the alternatives and/or pros/cons of different configurations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

This is as I posted a Self help forum the only BT presence are the forum moderators your very likely to get help from other forum users it is just a matter of waiting until some one with gaming knowledge reads your post
If you want to say thanks for a helpful answer,please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side If the reply answers your question then please mark as ’Mark as Accepted Solution’

Can you buy any type of external HDD and it'll work with any mac or do you have to buy specific ones that cost like €999?

can you buy any type of external HDD and it'll work with any mac or do you have to buy specific ones that cost like €999?

You can buy any disk with FireWire, Thunderbolt or USB. If you've got a 2010 or early MacBook Pro, buy a FireWire disk, or if you've a newer computer, a Thunderbolt disk. They'll be faster than the USB, but you can buy an USB hard disk

External working and backup setup - Thunderbolt or NAS? Working location photographer

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