How to send doc's pic's vids etc to an external hard drive from a macbook pro?

Hi,
I am new to apple technology and have just transferred from a PC.  I am trying to back up the mac to my external hard drive, can you tell me how I do this as I can't seem to find an easy way to do it like on a pc the option is "send to drop box or external hard drive"
Thanks in advance
Jo

Are there files on the drive right now or is it empty?
If there are files on there DO NOT PROCEED YET
Time Machine will erase and reformat the drive
Time Machine will make
-Hourly backups for the past 24hrs
-Daily backups for the past month
-weekly backups for all previous months
The oldest backups are deleted when the disk becomes full
You can access these backups at any time to restore individual files (and versions of files since it backs up hourly) or to restore your whole computer. This all happens automatically as long as the external drive for Time Machine is plugged in.
Since you have a MacBook you can plug the drive in and run Time Machine manually whenever you want so that you don't need to leave it there.

Similar Messages

  • How can I move my project from external hard drive to my macbook pro?

    How can I move my project from external hard drive to my macbook pro? every time I try to do some editing, the sequence is very slow, thanks in advance

    Try here...
    Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC

  • How do I a setup an external hard drive on my Macbook Pro?

    How do I a setup an external hard drive on my Macbook Pro to my primary hard drive for my iTunes library?
    I ask this because every time I try to do this it my Mac book pro always wants to use the external hard drive I plug in as a time machine back up rather than my primary hard drive. I figured it would be cheaper and more efficient to use an external hard drive rather than have apple charge me an arm and a leg to replace and upgrade my current hard drive in my Mac book pro.

    I responded to this in your duplicate posting at: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2690347
    I recommend giving a first post a chance before posting a second time, especially since it may result in a lot of duplication in effort from the people volunteering their time here.

  • How do I transfer an imovie from an external hard drive to my macbook pro iMovie 9

    How do I transfer an iMovie from an external hard drive to my macbook pro iMovie 11?

    The easiest way would be to just attach the external drive to the MacBook Pro. iMovie should see it next time you open iMovie.
    If you are going for portability, you can attach the external drive to the MacBook Pro. Then open iMovie.
    Then click VIEW/EVENTS BY DISK. You should see your external drive listed in the Project Library and the Event Library.
    To make a COPY just drag the icon for your project to the icon for the external drive in the Project Library List.
    To MOVE it, hold down the command key while you drag.
    If you want to edit the project, you will also want any Events, Photos, or Music referenced in the Project. To get those, click on the Project to select it (it is now on the MacBook Pro) and click FILE/CONSOLIDATE MEDIA.

  • How do i transfer external hard drive content to macbook pro?

    How do i transfer external hard drive content back to my macbook pro?
    I do not see the hard drive icon or a back up icon, where should it be?

    What kind of drive is it - a large drive with a power cord, or a portable drive? Can you tell if the drive itself is actually on? (Is there a light, or a power switch, etc, can you hear it?)
    How is it attached to the Mac?
    On your Mac, click on the desktop, then go to the Finder menu (top left), click Preferences, then under the General tab, make sure that everything is ticked.
    If that works, you should then get the external HD icon appearing on your desktop.
    Hope that helps.
    Matt

  • HT201250 How do I get my information from my external hard drive to my MacBook Pro?

    I have the WD My Passport for Mac external hard drive and backed up my computer last night.  Had my hard drive replaced today and now trying to get all my info back on my computer.  Tried using Time Machine, but I cant figure out how to get Time Machine to automatically put my info from the external drive onto my computer. Help please!

    What follows assumes that you have been using Time Machine, backing up to that external drive.
    The easiest way would be to connect the external drive, then reboot into Recovery HD. When you restart and you hear the chime, hold down the option key until the screen appears with the different drives displayed. Click Recovery HD.
    In the screen that comes up, choose Restore from Time Machine Backup. You will then be given a choice of full backups to restore from; you would try the most recent one first.
    Reply with problems or results please

  • How can I download a external hard drive to my MacBook pro ?

    they have to replace my Macbook Disc , and before the exchange of the disk I back up my pictures, videos, music,etc.. to a external hard dirve disk. now I have my macbook with me with the new disk , please somebody tell me how to pass the external hard drive disk to my macbook..thanks

    Just open the disk image in Finder, and drag all of your files to the folder you want them to go to.

  • HOW DO I TRANSFER PC ITUNES FILES FROM WESTERN DIGITAL EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE TO NEW MACBOOK PRO?

    I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT MY NEW MACBOOK PRO AND ITS SUPPOSE TO BE HERE TOMORROW! THERE IS ONE MAJOR CONCERN I HAVE THOUGH, I HAVE ALL MY MUSIC FILES ON MY WESTERN DIGITAL ELEMENTS HARD DRIVE (1TB). THE HD IS FORMATTED FOR WINDOWS THOUGH. I WATCHED YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON HOW TO REFORMAT THE HD TO MAC BUT IT ERASES EVERYTHING OFF THE HD. SO TWO QUESTIONS,
    1.HOW DO I TAKE MUSIC OFF OF MY EXTERNAL HD AND PUT IT ON MY NEW MAC EVEN THOUGH ITS WINDOWS FORMAT AND NOT HAVE IT ERASED WHEN I FORMAT TO MAC?
    2. HOW DO I REFORMAT THE EXTERNAL HD FROM PC TO MAC AND WHAT OPTION SHOULD I SELECT?
    THANKS

    I'm very glad your excited about getting your first Mac.
    On the Internet, it's not polite to use ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT MEANS YOUR SHOUTING!!!
    So with that out of the way.
    efromlancaster wrote:
    1.HOW DO I TAKE MUSIC OFF OF MY EXTERNAL HD AND PUT IT ON MY NEW MAC EVEN THOUGH ITS WINDOWS FORMAT AND NOT HAVE IT ERASED WHEN I FORMAT TO MAC?
    First your Mac is going to need to read the external drive.
    Mac's can read exFAT (since 10.6.5), FAT32 and HFS+ (Mac format) external drives.
    I'm going to assume your drive is formatted NTFS, the Windows format that is also on the boot drive of Windows machines.
    For that your need to install a free piece of software on the Mac here (bookmark this page!)
    NTFS Mounter (for WindowsNTFSdrives)
    That will allow your Mac to read the NTFS formatted drive.  You then get all your files off that you want to save.
    efromlancaster wrote:
     2. HOW DO I REFORMAT THE EXTERNAL HD FROM PC TO MAC AND WHAT OPTION SHOULD I SELECT?
    Once you have gotten all your files off, in the Applications/Utilities folder on the Mac is a program called Disk Utility and it looks like this.
    You select your external drive on the left and click Erase > Format > exFAT and click Erase. A warning will pop up and you say ok.
    The exFAT format can be read on both Windows PC's and Mac's. Allows for large file sizes over 4GB.
    Now this format is for going between Windows and a Mac. Windows Vista and 7 can read this format fine, if you have XP you need to download a free update for exFAT from Microsoft (its easy to find, just search for  "exFAT XP microsoft")
    Now! however there has been one report that the exFAT formatted on a Mac didn't work on the PC. So if that happens, just format the drive exFAT on Windows first, then the Mac should see it. So check first before doing anything and have a copy of the data elsewhere just in case.
    Now if you intend to use the external drive for TimeMachine or a Carbon Copy Cloner/Superduper clone (like "Ghosting") of the OS X boot drive, then you need to format the drive HFS+ journaled in Disk Utility and it cant' be read natively in most cases by a PC unless you install adiditonal software on the PC. (and likely the PC can't read a TimeMachine drive, I don't know I haven't tried it, so your on your own on that)

  • I have three versions of itunes backed up between 2 different external hard drives and a macbook pro. I recently got a new macbook pro and want to consolidate all music into one library on my new computer. How can I do this?

    Because each library is named "iTunes Music" anytime I go to bring one library on to the same external harddrive as another it asks me if I want to REPLACE one library with the other. I don't want to do this because each file has different variations of music files. Ideally, I'd like all three "iTunes Music" music files to live on the same computer or at least the same external harddrive. Thanks for the help!

    Hello cmc313,
    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
    For more information on this, take a look at:
    iTunes 10 for Mac: Consolidate your iTunes library
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ph990
    You can consolidate all the files in your library in the iTunes folder so that, for example, it’s easier to move your library to a new computer.
    Best of luck,
    Mario

  • How to set up a Toshiba external hard drive on my Macbook Pro?

    Hi there,
    I just bought a Toshiba external hard drive that says on the package it is compatible with Macs. I plugged it in, installed the Pogoplug PC for Mac (no idea what this is) and Tuxera NTFS for Mac (it was in the "Mac Driver" folder). Now what? Is my data now automatically going onto the hard drive? Do I need to install anything else? This seems too easy! What am I missing here?
    Thanks!

    New hard drives out of box should be formatted for your Mac
    go to DISK UTILITY and verify what it says your HD is formatted as under the "ERASE" tab
    HFS+ above is the "mac format"
    Format (erase) it in "mac osx Extended journaled"
    AFTER THIS YOU CAN DRAG AND DROP FILES AS YOU LIKE 
    To show HD on desktop
    go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES  then GENERAL tab
    then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
    There is no such thing as a MAC or PC hard drive,.....they can all be formatted as you wish for either PC or Mac (or both)
    FORMAT TYPES
    FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
    Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    Maximum file size: 4GB.
    Maximum volume size: 2TB
    You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
    NTFS (Windows NT File System)
    Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
    Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
    AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
    Maximum file size: 16 TB
    Maximum volume size: 256TB
    You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
    HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
    Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
    Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
    To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
    Maximum file size: 8EiB
    Maximum volume size: 8EiB
    You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
    EXFAT (FAT64)
    Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
    Not all Windows versions support exFAT. 
    exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
    AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
    Maximum file size: 16 EiB
    Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
    You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive.  See "disadvantages" for details.

  • How can I restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. Using Migrat

    I would like to restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. When I tried using Migration Assistant it only gives me my internal hard drive as an option to restore to. The internal hard drive on my macbook isnt large enough to store the files.

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    OS X can only restore data to the drive where Time Machine backed up files from.
    If you want to restore files from the Time Machine backup onto an external drive, your only option is to access to the Time Machine drive manually (open a Finder window and choose your Time Machine drive in the Finder sidebar), navigate through its folders and copy the files you want to the external drive

  • I need help on how to properly use my external hard drive on the macbook pro

    Whenever I try to store some files (e.g. images)
    The image I've copied and pasted into the external hard drive disappears or gets deleted as well when I delete the original image from the internal hard drive, why is that?
    Is it because it was just a copy of the original image that if you delete the original image the copied image in the external hard drive will get deleted as well?
    So does that mean I have to put the original image in the drive or will that get lost too?
    Sorry for the multiple questions,
    I'm just struggling with my new external hard drive.
    Model of the external hard drive: Seagate Backup plus slim portable drive 1 tb

    What are you trying to accomplish here?  Time Machine is used for backing up files on a regular basis but you don't have to use it.  You're getting ahead of things.  Have you managed to drag a file from your main drive to the new one successfully?

  • How do I boot from an external hard drive if my MacBook Pro only recognizes the internal drive?

    Hi there, I recently got the white screen of death (w/ circle slash) on my 13" 2009 MacBook Pro. Most people are saying that it is hard drive failure, so I am trying to boot it from an external hard drive to save some of my data before having it repaired. Unfortunately, every time I press "option" while it boots, it only shows the internal drive on the grey screen. I have my external drive connected, but it won't recognize it. What should I do?
    Thanks!

    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
    You can only start from an external drive if OS X is installed there. If not, it won't appear as a bootable volume because there isn't any operating system inside it.
    As you have a Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, it's better to start from the Mac OS X disc that came with your Mac. Insert it and hold the C key while your Mac is starting. After starting, go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar and repair it. If you can't get it repaired, take the computer to an Apple Store.
    If the hard drive can't be repaired, the only option to recover your files is to use an application as DiskWarrior, but it's expensive and it's not sure that it will work, because it may fail

  • How can i run an application from an external hard drive on my macbook air, since I've got less space on my SSD

    Ive got a 128GB SSD on my macbook Air and i know as time goes on ill eventually run out of space so i want to know if their suggestions on how to run applications like google chrome, Skype etc on an external hard drive with out installing int on my SSD.

    Double click on them.
    You could create Aliases and store them in a convenient place.
    Drag the folder with the apps to your Dock and launch them from the folder on your Dock.
    Make sure Spotlight indexes your external disk, then use Command-Space -> name of app -> return

  • My hard drive on my MacBook Pro stopped working and I had to replace the hard drive.  I cannot get my playlists and photos to appear in my iTunes and iPhoto.  Does anyone know how to resolve this?

    My hard drive on my MacBook Pro stopped working and I had to replace the hard drive.  I cannot get my playlists and photos to appear in my iTunes and iPhoto.  Does anyone know how to resolve this?

    Peace Lilly wrote:
    ...  Will I loose everything if I connect the iphone to the itunes as a new device?
    To avoid that...
    See these 2 Links...
    Syncing to a New Computer...
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
    Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

Maybe you are looking for