Hardware options for Time Machine?

Background
I'd guess that if Leopard topped 2 million sales in the first weekend that probably means there are about 1.9x million of us (self included) looking for a neat drive arrangement in order to keep Time Machine running sweet. I'd further guess that a percentage of those 1.9x million of us seek a good practice solution as detailed below.
Solutions?
My initial searches suggest that e-sata is the way to go (any corrections or advice on this will be appreciated by my self and I am sure by a wider community).
With a Mac Pro there seem to be two possibilities for the e-sata route:
http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=E9B89841&fnode= home/shopmac/macaccessories/storage&nplm=TN741
(link to PCI Express e-sata card)
or possibly
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?productid=17983&categoryid=59
(link to an e-sata backplate and, of course, it relies on a spare SATA point somewhere in the machine).
The above is possible at least in theory.
*Best practice solutions?*
For all of us seeking a good external hard drive with best option transfer rates are there any best practice solutions?
It seems a composite type question that relies on software and hardware combined solutions that will live well under Leopard (and in my case also with XP Pro in Boot Camp)
*Future proofing solutions?*
(Sometime down the line I can imagine some sort of virtualisation on this machine as well in order to jump between some important software tied in to Windows.)
Apologies
Apologies if this post should be directed into a hardware forum but the composite skills and critical factors seem to be shared equally between Leopard, Time Machine, present hardware and best practice proposed hardware solutions.

Howdy,
I think firewire is fine without any need to add a new card to your Mac. I've been using the Lacie triple interface hard drives extensively with good results. This being said it looks like they have Quadro drives now (added esata): http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10894; you could go esata later if you really wanted to. Like I said, Firewire 800 should work great.
+R

Similar Messages

  • Changing Options For Time Machine

    I am wondering if I can change the settings for TM so it does not back up my system every hour. I have a Mac Book Pro and I only want to back up my system when I connect my external HD. Any way of doing this? I have went thru the preferences for TM and I did not find an option to change it.

    BillyJack wrote:
    I have a Mac Book Pro and I only want to back up my system when I connect my external HD. Any way of doing this?
    Time Machine won't try to backup to a drive that isn't connected so that much requires no preference setting. You can manually force a backup when the drive is connected with the "Back Up Now" option available from the popup menu on TM's dock icon.
    BTW, unless you change a lot of files between backups, each new backup should take very little time & use very little additional drive space, so you need not worry about leaving the drive connected for a few hours after forcing a backup.
    TM actually works best if you just let it do its thing whenever it discovers that the designated backup drive is connected.

  • Can't find battery power option for time machine

    I'm semi new to macs. I've been messing around with my wife's for the last week or so.
    I first upgraded her OS to 10.5. After the initial upgrade I was given both the
    a) battery power option and
    b) time machine in menu bar option.
    Unfortunately after messing around with her sparesimage I corrupted it and had to do a clean install last night. After this clean install these two time machine options are missing.
    Can anybody lead me in the right direction on how to restore both of these options?
    Working with a Macbook with an intel processor. Pretty sure last night did all the software and OS updates, so I should be running 10.5.5.

    a) I don't need my laptop's battery status... I want the option to disable time machine backups when my computer is running on battery power.
    b) As my original post states, that option is no longer on the Time Machine preferences screen. It has disappears since I re installed the OS.

  • HT201250 Can I partition my external hard drive and use one partion for time machine and the other one for data that i may want to use in different computers?

    I have this doubt. I've just bought an external drive, especifically a Seagate GoFlex Desk 3 tb.
    I want to know if it is recomendable to make a partion exclusively for time machine and let another one so I can put there music, photos, videos, etc that I should need to use or copy to another computer.
    May half and half, 1.5 tb for time machine and 1.5 tb for data.
    I have an internal hard drive of 500 GB (499.25 GB) in my macbook pro.
    Any recommendation?

    As I said, yes. Be sure your Time Machine partition has at least 1 TB for backups.
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • Can I use my 2TB Time Capsule ONLY as an external hard drive for Time Machine backups?

    Hi...wondering if somebody could help me out there.
    I currently have an older Apple 2TB Time Capsule (previous generation) which I'm using as both my WiFi access point, as well as my Time Machine backup location for both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.
    We've been having slow WiFi issues in our home, and seeing as how this Time Capsule is a number of years old, were thinking of upgrading to the faster WiFi routers with 802.11ac capability.  I'll be honest when I say we were considering other options, beyond the newest Time Capsule.
    My question is, can we somehow use the 2TB of storage on our current Time Capsule for the purpose of backing up our computers with Time Machine, but NOT use the WiFi functionality of the Time Capsule itself? 
    I'm assuming if I manually plugged either my iMac or MacBook Pro (wired ethernet) into the Time Capsule, I could likely get that computer to recognize and use it for Time Machine purposes, but I'd like to use it to backup both computers, ideally wirelessly on the MacBook Pro.
    Any help would be great. 
    Right now I'm running a DSL line into a DSL modem, which then runs ethernet into my Time Capsule.  From there, I have a 4 port switch connected for wired devices (we wired our home with ethernet jacks in almost every room).  We also have an Airport Express to extend the range of the network.
    Thanks,
    Jason

    You can bridge the TC and plug it into whatever wireless router you buy.
    There is no need to turn off the wireless in the TC.. but you can set it up as a secondary wireless network. That is totally up to you. I find the Gen4 TC very fast on 5ghz.. but you need it to be close to the computers.. in your case that should be dead easy.. simply plug it in by ethernet in the same room as the iMac say.. and set it up with bridge and the imac plugged into it by ethernet.. one computer then can access the internet and backup via ethernet with huge speed improvements.. the laptop can then use whatever your new router wireless network.. or the TC one if it is close enough..
    So there are plenty of variations and your setup is easy to handle with the large amount of ethernet you have.
    Just post again if you need specifics.. but I need specifics to give them!!

  • Use TC 2TB for Time Machine Backup and Storage simultaneously?

    Hi
    I am planning to buy a TC 2TB.
    I would like to know if the TC can be used as a Time Machine backup device and for storage simultaneously?
    for example:
    Can I use 1TB for Time Machine backups and 1TB for storage.
    Please let me know if this is possible?
    Thank you

    I tried for ages to seek a relatively easy way to do this.. i.e. partition it, it's a huge pain! You can, but i'm pretty savvy and got bored and confused! What I did do was switch the TM back-ups to manual so they don't end up filling the disk. Trust me it's the easiest and best option!

  • Use a DMG for Time Machine Disk?

    Hello everyone,
    After extensive googling, it seems at first that Time Machine will not allow you to use a mounted disk image for a backup drive. I was wondering if there was a way to rig it up so that it would work, somehow disguising the mounted image as a hard drive.
    My situation is as follows: I have an external FireLite Smartdisk hard drive for Time Machine backups. And yet, the drive is plenty big, while my computer's hard drive is fairly small. I want to have the backups not take up the whole drive, as they have. I attempted to partition the drive via Disk Utility, but it gave me the following error:
    Partition failed with the error:
    Filesystem resize support required, such as HFS+ with Journaling enabled.
    I tried it with all file systems, including free space. I finally decided to try a sparse bundle disk image, with a size of 100 gb. I mounted it, went into Time Machine prefs, and it did not appear on the list of available disks.
    Does anyone have any ideas?

    I'd quit trying to outsmart the backup system (Time Machine is picky already) and focus on the hardware. I don't have one of those drives, but I'd be looking at why you can't repartition or format the drive. Firmware? Using a hub? Does it have a USB port you can try?
    Many hard drives like the MyBook series have had problems with FW on Leopard and there are firmware updates for them. The USB ports worked fine.

  • Use ext. harddrive for time machine or just as additional storage?

    I was wondering, given the problems some people have had with TM, should I maybe just use it to store stuff and free up space on my laptop, or can I use one drive for both my TM backups as well as additional storage?

    Mark_Clemons wrote:
    I was wondering, given the problems some people have had with TM
    First, take what you read here with a grain (or large block) of salt. This is the ER for Time Machine, and no more representative of the average user's experience than your local bricks-and-mortar ER is of the health of your community. Second, most of the problems here are either misunderstandings of how TM works and how to use it; or hardware problems that would be the same with any backup app.
    should I maybe just use it to store stuff and free up space on my laptop, or can I use one drive for both my TM backups as well as additional storage?
    You can do both, but if you do, your best bet is to partition the drive so TM has it's own, exclusive partition. And TM can back-up the other partition. See item 5 in the +Frequently Asked Questions+ post at the top of this forum for instructions.
    Still, this isn't a very good solution, as both the original and copies of those files will be on the same physical disk drive: when (not if) it fails, you may lose both. So you may want to archive those files to DVDs instead of (or in addition to) TM.

  • I want to use my 1TB Seagate Hard drive for time machine and transferring files from Mac to PC.

    For about a year I've been using my 1TB external hard drive for only time machine. To be honest, it wasn't until today that I tried to connect my hard drive to a PC and realize it isn't compatible. I read about partitioning the hard drive so that it can work both for time machine and transferring files between pc and mac. I'm not what you would call tech savvy, so I was wondering if I can get some advice on how to do this.
    Thanks in advance.

    To do it, you have to partition the hard disk, so you will have one partition for Time Machine and another one to store files and use them in a PC and Mac. To create the partition, follow these steps > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html
    In order to read and write in the external disk on the PC, you have to select "MS-DOS (FAT)" as "Format". If you choose any other option, the PC won't be able to read your external disk. Apart from that, note that you can't use files bigger than 4 GB with FAT. If you want to use the external disk with files bigger than 4 GB, you have to format your new partition in exFAT, and you have to do it on a PC

  • If I don't want to use my Seagate hard drive anymore for Time Machine...How do I go about this?

    I want to use the external hard drive still, but not as my back up disk for Time Machine anymore. How do I make it so that my Macbook doesn't associate this specific external hard drive with TM when I plug it in?
    Thanks

    chenango232 wrote:
    Missing a pretty big step here....  How does one install a new OS on an external drive?  You can't install an OS without first booting into an OS.  I don't have a disk to boot to, but have gotten as far as downloading the install software.  Perhaps the answer you should be providing is that I need to create an install disk somehow?
    Is not the current HDD in your MBP a boot drive?  If so and you have Yosemite installed, you can boot into the recovery partition.  From the 4 option menu you can use Disk Utility.  If you have the NEW HDD connected to the MBP it will appear in Disk Utility.  Click on that drive to format in Disk Utility>Erase.  After formatting, go to the 'Reinstall OSX' option and install the OSX onto the external HDD.  When finished swap the drives.
    Ciao

  • HT201250 How do I find out what portable drive was the drive I used for Time Machine Backup?

    Hi, I have 10.7.4 and need to figure out what drive I was using for Time Machine Backup.  I have three drives and I have connected each of them to my macbook pro, but I get an error, "Time Machine Error, The backup disk is not available" when I hit the time machine icon on the top of the screen and the "backup delayed" prompt.  If I try Back up Now I get message, "Time Machine could not complete the backup.  Back up disk is not available."  I am trying to figure out what the time machine back up would actually look like as a file on the drives but I don't see a folder/file name Time Machine.  If I enter Time Machine I can see in the far right column, in purple, the last back up date (Sept. 12, 2012), but when I hit it nothing happens.  In the Time Machine preference box the select disk has, in red and to the right, "Delayed" with an "i" within a circle, and the option indicates, "Next backup: when disk is connected."
    I know I have a years worth of backups on one of the three drives, but I can't figure out how the heck to find them or how to determine what was the last drive I used for the backups within Time Machine.  Help please.

    Hi, I have 10.7.4 and need to figure out what drive I was using for Time Machine Backup.  I have three drives and I have connected each of them to my macbook pro, but I get an error, "Time Machine Error, The backup disk is not available" when I hit the time machine icon on the top of the screen and the "backup delayed" prompt.  If I try Back up Now I get message, "Time Machine could not complete the backup.  Back up disk is not available."  I am trying to figure out what the time machine back up would actually look like as a file on the drives but I don't see a folder/file name Time Machine.  If I enter Time Machine I can see in the far right column, in purple, the last back up date (Sept. 12, 2012), but when I hit it nothing happens.  In the Time Machine preference box the select disk has, in red and to the right, "Delayed" with an "i" within a circle, and the option indicates, "Next backup: when disk is connected."
    I know I have a years worth of backups on one of the three drives, but I can't figure out how the heck to find them or how to determine what was the last drive I used for the backups within Time Machine.  Help please.

  • External hard drive used for Time machine is full and having a hard time backing up. what should I do?

    External hard drive used for Time Machine is full and having a hrad time backing up. What is my best option moving forward? NAS?

    For All things Time Machine see Pondini's Excellent Infirmation here...
    http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
    Start with FAQs and Troubleshooting.

  • Can I use iPod for time machine back up?

    I have several iPods that I don't use, and would like to use them as time machine back up drives, for multiple computers.
    They are 30gb iPod videos. I am aware they aren't as reliable as an actual external hard drive and that this much read/write can cause the iPod to burn out, but for these purposes I don't care.
    I have 300 computers that I want to restore to one master, as they are all used for the same purpose, but currently they all have OS 10.5.x of varying versions. I currently use a time machine backup on an external hard drive to restore the systems, but I have 15 iPod videos, and I would like to use 2-3 of them, to speed the process up.
    I use carbon copy cloner once I get a system restored, to restore the stations around it, but time machine is about 15% faster than using CCC, so I would like to use these iPods to increase my ability to restore these systems on a regular basis without having to buy external hard drives or enclosures to make external HDs.
    I have tried:
    Erasing the iPod in disk utility.
    -It will erase the volume as HFS+ (extended journaled) but it won't erase the main device as it shows in Disk utility, it consistently stays as Fat32.
    --Same idea if I recreate the partition. I tried GUID partition scheme, Apple Partition Map and Master boot record, but all produce the same result.
    I also selected the iPod and attempted a zero-out of the whole iPod using the security options in disk utility. The system still will not let me use it for time machine.
    Has anyone been able to use an iPod for backup? Are there any other techniques anyone can suggest to get this iPod to work?
    Thanks for your help.

    And to clarify, originally I made sure disk usage was enabled on the iPod.
    I have also tried dragging and dropping the contents of a time machine backup to the iPod, but it's still not seen as a backup volume. I suspect there are some hidden files that enable a volume as time machine capable. Any ideas on how to maybe copy the hidden files or any other methods that might work?

  • HT201250 How can I revert to my internal drive for time machine backups after using an external drive?

    Hi. I've been using an external drive for time machine back ups and decided to revert to my internal drive, but it isn't available in the time machine options. The only available option is to set up a time capsule, which I don't own.
    Is it because not enough space is available on my internal drive (approx 50GB)?
    Thanks!

    50 Gb free on your internal drive is relly very low and of course not enought for a any kind of backup.
    How big is your internal HD ?  If you have left only 50 GB free it is probably 90% full. Let's imagine you have a 500 Gb. This means 450 Gb data and 50 Gb free.  How can you backup 450 into 50 ?
    Second point. The backup on your internal HD is a nonsense evenif it is big enough. If it stops working you will have no bakup.
    Do you have an iMac or a portable ?
    The portable automatic uses the internal HD if the external is not connected, but this is intended for a short time.
    This could give you some more links to read about  https://discussions.apple.com/message/20726927#20726927

  • HT4848 Is it possible to partition an external hard drive that is already being used for Time Machine backups without it being erased?

    I'm want to use my current external hard drive, which I use for Time Machine Backup, as a recovery disk for Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2. From what I have read, the recovery disk assistant will erase all data on the external drive unless it is partitioned. Can I partition my current backup drive without erasing it, even though it is already being used for Time Machine?

    It's very simple to test.  Turn off your computer.  Have your time machine backup plugged in.  Hold option and turn it on, keeping option held.  Do you see your time machine drive?  If so, select it and press enter. You'll end up in recovery.  If it works, there you go.  Then just click the apple and restart to get back to your regular desktop.  Then you'll know for when you're ready to do the deed.
    Edit...
    I'm not sure if time machine will think it's an entirely different computer, though, when a hard drive changed, making an actual restore not doable.  Either way, you could still reinstall mt lion fresh and then just migrate after, skipping the need for SL.

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