How create a mirror'ed set up on 2 external drives, using disk utility?

I Do a Time Machine Backup (external HD#1) of my entire system, but I want to do a manual bakcup of some data too in another external HD (external HD#2). As weel, I want to mirror in another external HD (external HD#3) the data of the HD#2. How can I do that? Because now, I am doinf it manually, and sometimes I don't know which HD has the newest files. Thak you.

Use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to backup or clone or archive for each volume.
Clone your system:
How to Clone a Volume
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
See also
Erasing a Drive, How and Why to Partition a Drive, RAID.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
A mirror is just in case of a drive failure. Having multiple backup sets is more important and even though you said "mirror" I don't think you want to use RAID1 (mirror) for your backups, not yet. Maybe to experiment with. TimeMachine and one or two clone of your data and system, yes.

Similar Messages

Setting up XServe mirrored drives using disk utility

We are getting ready to format a server and reload the OS. We currently have 4 drives (250gb) each. I want to know the best way to set the drives up so they will be redundant. Do I include the first drive, which will contain the server software? This is an older G4 XServe box with 2gb of memory. I do not have a RAID card in this server. This will be software RAID.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Scot

Depending on how much redundancy you're looking for you can do it a number of ways, but here are the basics.
1) Boot from your installation media
2) After you choose a language you can invoke the Disk Utility
3) Use DU to wipe the disk and create a RAID 1 - add desired disks to the RAID*
4) Once the RAID is finished it will appear as a single drive
5) Quit Disk Utility and return to the Installation process and install the OS on the "Disk" which is actually the new RAID.
The set-up you want dictates the "desired disks" in step 3 above. Usually people create one mirror of the system disk so they have a disk to boot from if the primary drive fails. If the main system disk fails you simply pop out the bad drive and reboot off the mirror. You could do more than that but it really is overkill. If you really want more protection use the other disks for making back-ups so you can rollback or find accidently deleted files rather than more copies of the same disk.
Hope that helps,
=Tod

How Do I partition an external hard drive using disk utility?

I have a 500 GB external hard drive that I want to set up so that half the space is for Time Machine backup and the other half as a simple flash drive that will be compatible with all types of computer operating systems?

A terrible idea. Never use a backup drive for anything but a backup drive. Get another drive for experimenting.
You can partition an external drive no differently than an internal drive.
Drive Preparation
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 desired from the drop down. 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.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

How do I capture footage from camera to an external drive using a macbook

i'm trying to use my external drive to store my project because otherwise i don't have enough memory. however, there is i think only one firewire port on my macbook. if i connect the camera directly to the external drive it doesn't seem like fce can find it in easy set up. how do i connect my macbook, camera, and external drive so that i can work off my external drive? anyone?

I have the same query with my macbook which only has 1 firewire 400 port.
I haven't bought an external drive yet, but want to buy the one that has the right connections.
After you connect the camera to the ext. hard drive what connection do you use between hard drive and macbook? Ethernet?
Also, any recommended hard drives, I've heard Lacie are a good one but which model?
Thanks in advance.

How do you resize Hard Drive Using Disk Utility?

so I wanted to do a fresh reset of my computer so I created a new partition and installed mavericks on it. I backed up all my files and then deleted my old HD partion. Now I am left with "free space" and It wont let me make my Mavricks side bigger. Any one Know how to fix this?

Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the newly made first or top volume. Source means the old second or lower volume.
Alternatively, you can use the latest version of Carbon Copy Cloner 3.5.4 to clone your bottom volume to the top volume.

How do I unlock my hard drive (using disk utility or otherwise)?

Help!
I accidentally locked my Mac hard drive where I know the system password, but now it won't boot up. When I go to disk utility to try to change the password or unlock the drive, I see my hard drive, but when I click on the drive and go to the file menu, I don't have the option that I've seen in some solutions to this problem posted on this site (including one by Dr Mac that describes going to the command under "file" as "unlock drive name" - which doesn't seem to be an option for me) (Instead, my options are new window, new, open disk image, close, get info, and unmount (name of my hard drive)). In grey, and not available, are the options - "eject, enable journaling, change password, and turn off encryption."
How do I get to a point where I can enter the system password and get back into my computer? Any assistance you can offer would be hugely appreciated!
Jim

Boot into recovery mode (hold down the ⌘R keys on restart), select the Terminal app from the Utilities menu option, and copy & paste in these one liners into the window that pops up, following each with hitting the return key. At the Password: prompt, enter your admin user password and hit the return key.
sudo chflags 0 /volumes/*
sudo chmod a+rx /volumes/*
Then, select Startup Disk from the Utilities menu, select the normal boot volume, and click the Restart button.

Creating a mirrored raid set with a hard drive that already has data on it.

I have a hard drive that I keep my photos on, and want to create a mirrored raid set that includes this drive, with its data, and another drive. How can I do this without erasing the drive with my photos on them? I am running 10.7.5 if that matters.
Thanks for any help.

Creating a Mirrored RAID reformats the drive and loads a substantial RAID driver and some tables onto it. When completed, the drive is inherently a member of a RAID set, and will continue to be so even if moved to another Mac.
because of this, you cannot create a RAID directly on a standard drive that contains data already in any reasonable, risk-free way.
To amplify what The Hatter has said above, Mirrored RAID is not Backup. Mirrored RAID only increases mean time to repair to keep a drive failure from becoming a Data Disaster. You still need a Backup. Mirrored RAID does not protect you from deletions from user error, crazy software, or "just because".
I run a mirrored RAID in my Home Server, which contains all the Users files for everyone in the Household. And I also recognize (after being burned by it) that Mirrored RAID is helpful, but not a sufficient Backup by itself. I back up the Users Drive automatically to an External drive using Time Machine. [So what I am advising is not just theoretical, I am living what I am advising.]
With WD Black 1TB and other very good drives in the under US$100 range, there is really no reason NOT to invest in several drives for such an undertaking.

How do you create a bootable back up of the hard drive w/ disk utility?

I think it's pretty incredible that the most basic of basic topics, how to create a back up of your hard drive using the native software Disc utility, is nowhwere to be found. I tried searching "create bootable back up" and amazingly enough nothing comes up. Anyway.... can anybody let me in on this top secret information, I would really appreciate it. Once again the objective is to make a bootable clone of my hard drive onto an external disk. Thanks for the help,
-BK

    Are you saying I could still use Disk Utility's Restore function to clone a 90GB startup drive, that had 40GBs used, to a clean 60GB backup drive?
Correct. The size of the source drive is completely irrelevant – as Kappy is saying, it's just the size of the data to be copied that counts. (An explanation that some people like is that "empty space is not copied").
    I've always used a dedicated backup drive that was larger than my startup drive
Nothing 'wrong' with that, but unnecessary. Same size would be large enough for any future possibility. Theoretically, if you had a 250GB internal drive but knew that you would never have more than 20GB of data on it, a 40GB backup drive would be considerably more than sufficient (a bit of a silly example, but true). Other considerations: 1. you already know about the 15% free space recommendation, and 2. with drives, 'bigger' is nearly always a better investment for the future. I would always advise someone about to buy a drive to multiply the size they were thinking of by at least 4.
    always reformatted and zeroed it
Again not 'wrong', but overkill. A simple 'erase' (2 seconds) would suffice – erased is 'clean' enough. Consider that those, like myself, who do "synchronized" backups (copying only added or changed items for the saving of time) NEVER erase the target, or just once in a blue moon. If your backup drive is stationary on your desk the chances of it developing another bad block are close to nil. The time when a re-zeroing (mapping out of bad blocks) becomes imperative is immediately after the cat knocked the drive onto the floor! We are in the main talking here about a software solution (the mapping) of a hardware problem, physical imperfections on the surface of the disk.
=-=-=-=-
Regarding 'other stuff' on the backup/target drive, our suggestion for CCC users is:
[Note that this is NOT for the situation where the target is to be erased every time.]
    For your first cloning you should find a temporary home for that stuff on the external drive so that you can prepare the drive correctly [instructions…] After that you can move that 'other stuff' back onto the external drive.
    If you absolutely cannot find the needed 'temporary home' you can proceed anyway but you must take responsibilty for any consequences due to inadequate preparation of the drive (e.g. not 'zeroing' it to map out any bad blocks) – you should be OK but it is a question of luck. For subsequent clones, and for this first one if you wish to proceed, you do not need to move that 'other stuff' if you do as follows…
    You have to ensure that the clone will not interfere with that other stuff. Put all that 'other stuff' into a folder (with sub-folders as you desire) on the target (at root level, i.e. what you see when you dbl-click on the disk icon) and give that folder a unique name, i.e. a name which you know you will never use on your source drive. If you did have such a folder on the source the cloning would make the folder on the source overwrite the one on the clone, so choose the name with some thought. (How about: "Nevercall_methis"? ;=))
A dedicated backup drive is, beyond doubt, to be highly recommended as the best arrangement. 'Other stuff' on that drive is possible, easily 'do-able', but is often the cause of complications at some stage. (Buy another drive! ;=)).
"Buy another drive" is not just me being facetious. If you data is vital to you, you should have TWO backups on different drives. Consider this: while you are cloning/backing up, you actually have NO backup – a power outage and all, source and backup, could be lost at the same time – unlikely but not impossible. I do hate to be a harbinger of gloom, but…
Happy cloning! ;=)
Moderator, forums.bombich.com

I got 3.95GB available on my flash drive and need 4GB to reinstall lion osx how can i create space on usb using Disk Utility ??!

I got 3.95GB available on my flash drive and need 4GB to reinstall lion osx how can i create space on usb using Disk Utility ??!

What is the capacity of the flash drive?
You might also be able to reinstall Lion without a flash drive, by booting up the computer holding the Command + R keys, and choosing Reinstall OS X.

How to properly create disk iimages using Disk Utility?

Can some one help explain how to properly use Disk Utility? When making an image of a CD, should I click on the CD drive and click on NEW IMAGE, or should I click on the mount name, which is indicate just beneath the CD drive?
Thanks!

"read only" means just that that the disk image is read only and you can't add files to it once the disk image is mounted. but as I said, if you want to make a backup of the original CD then you have to choose "CD/DVD master". then, when you burn the disk image to a blank CD it will be formatted properly.

How to use Disk Utility to back up the HD

I'm trying to back up my HD onto an external HD as described in "The Missing Manual" (Tiger ed.), p. 389. I choose my Macintosh HD, read/write, no compression, and the appropriate partition of the external HD as the target.
But just after telling me it's creating the disk image (I guess I can't just drag the whole HD without using Disk Utility) it stops, saying, "resource busy).
What am I doing wrong?

You cannot backup your entire hard drive to a disk image. Essentially there isn't enough space to do that nor is this the best method for doing a full disk backup. Full disk backups should be done to an external hard drive using proper backup software. You can clone your hard drive to an external drive using the Restore option of Disk Utility but DU cannot do incremental backups. For that you need backup software:
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
To clone with Disk Utility do the following:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Can I set an alarm when external drive powers off?

I must be one of the few people who have no trouble at all with TM! I use it to back up about 1TB of photos (I am a semi-pro photographer) to two different drives - keeping one offsite at the office and rotating them regularly.
However - my external drive is hidden at home when connected. When we have a power outage (all too often here in MA) then the drive powers off and does not power on again (I am using MacAlly enclosures - have tried several, these are the most reliable to date).
Given that TM works so well, I never think to check if it has backed up so if the power has cycled I don't notice that TM has not run. Is there any way to set an alert (dialog box popup, auto email etc) to tell me when TM cannot access the drive as it is powered off. Is this buried in Leopard, or does anyone know of a 3rd party app?
Thanks

I could not agree more with Kappy.
I would never plug either my Mac or my external into anything but a UPS. They've gotten much less expensive lately, and even a fairly small one ($100 to $130 or so) will run my Mac and external for an hour or so.
But you don't necessarily need even that much; just enough for your Mac to power itself down in an orderly manner.
If you have a power failure to either your Mac or external disk, it can corrupt your data. I'd recommend using Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) to do a +Repair Disk+ (not permissions) on your external, and a +Verify Disk+ (not permissions) on your internal. If the internal shows errors, you'll have to use the copy of DU on your Leopard Install disc to fix them. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

How do you change "Owners Enabled" for a drive in disk utility?

Hi all,
I just got a new Mac Pro and added a couple of internal drives to it. After formatting them in disk utility I noticed that "Owners Enabled" is set to "No" for them. This concerns me. How do I set it to "Yes"?
These are the things I tried:
- I verified that "Ignore ownership on this volume" is unchecked in finder. I actually toggled it on and then off.
- I used "vsdbutil" in terminal to enable permissions for the volume and verified, using it, that they are indeed enabled.
- I unmounted and remounted the drives in disk utility.
- I restarted my machine.
Basically nothing I've done has been effective at turning on "Owners Enabled" for the drives. How do I do that? And what exactly does it mean if it's set to "No".
Thanks for any help, I wish this was all clearer.

FYI, 755 only allows write by owner, group is read and execute only. 775 would allow group write as well. 777 is read, write, execute for everybody.
Anyway, a coworker pointed me towards diskutil which seems to be the current best way to muck with disk settings.
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man8/diskutil.8.html
It specifically has an "enableOwnership" command which would be run something like this:
diskutil enableOwnership /Volumes/DriveName
or
diskutil enableOwnership /dev/disk2
You can do all kinds of other stuff too with diskutil. It looks like an excellent way to quickly screw up your drive.
Thanks again for your help, I have quite a number of things to try now.

How do I make a data disk using Disk Utility (Panther 10.3.9)

I am trying to back up some of my data to disks, so I can upgrade my OS to Leopard. I have done this in the past but either forgot how or it isn't working right (some things are not working right on my computer at present..?? my Final Cut Pro won't open, that's why I decided to upgrade) Could you please tell me how it is supposed to work. I think I have made a disk image okay but when I highlight it in disk utility and hit burn it says invalid argument?? If I install Leopard will I loose all my files?

Not necessarily, but you should never do a major upgrade without having a bootable backup of your system. In fact you should never be without backups:
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
8. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
9. Data Backup (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
Upgrading does not have to be difficult unless you choose to make it so. You have three installation options. I would recommend an Archive and Install option when feasible:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

How can I Copy/backup photos in iphoto to external drives smaller than iPhoto library

How can I Copy/backup photos in iphoto to external drives smaller than iPhoto library? I have several 128 GB SSD's that I want to use to copy/backup all my iPhoto photographs for a permanent archive due to stability...but my iPhoto library is larger than the drives (about 234 GB) so it would require two of the SSD's...how best to get the original photos onto the SSD's? I'm running Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6...thx.

Terrence - Can you explain what you mean by data loss? In the iPhoto Library? Or on the copy?
Larry - In what way is each photo "degraded"? Quality? Isn't it simply making an an exact copy, in this case a jpeg, as would happen if I dragged and dropped a different file type? Is there another type of degradation?
I am working on trying to create a correct backup as well (per your instructions) but I wanted to use this as a "put in a fireproof safe" archive on very small SSD's that would never have a mechanical hard drive problem (we've lost a couple over time so aren't real confident in their staying power)...I also recognize that I I won't have newer photos in this archive group but at least it would have 98% of our photos in another off-site location...at least that's the thought...
Thx for your input and look forward to more in your reply...

How create a mirror'ed set up on 2 external drives, using disk utility?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for