HT201250 I want to switch to a bigger HDD. Can I use Time Machine?

Hello everyone! I just bought a new HDD and wondered which software is the best for moving my data from my old HDD (which will be removed and no longer used) to a new HDD. Will Time Machine do the work easily or is there anything else I need to know before I start the process?
BTW I have an external Firewire Backup Drive.
Many thanks!
Ivo

greyskiesblack wrote:
would it be okay to delete the Time Machine back up then and use the external hard drive as a normal back up of all my stuff copied over to it by drag and drop?
Leave the TM drive alone, it's a extra backup as you should have two separate hardware backups of your data at all times. Use another new drive for a copy of the files until your safely up on the fresh install, then erase and reset the TM drive to your new configuration.
It didn't occur to me that TM would keep the system as it was...and I'm just now learning about TM. I'm glad I have decided to ask before I proceeded to install!!
TM copies stuff over in a general manner, trying to keep what you have just like what you had, which unfortuntly if something goes wrong that isn't the best course of action because you don't want the old junk back on the new machine.
So since it's incrediably difficult to cherry pick exactly what you want when restoring from TM, it's better to have the user files on a regular drive (no TM) when doing a fresh install.
It's really not that hard restoring manually, just create the same named user and drag and drop the contents of the User file folders (music, pictures, documents, movies) right into the new folders on the new user.
You do a fresh install in this manner.
1: Backup files manually to a external drive, disconnect all drives.
2: hold c boot off the 10.6 disk, erase the drive and reformat (wipes all contents)
3: quit and install 10.6, reboot and go through setup, create the same named user as before
4: Software update to 10.6.8
5: install all programs from fresh sources
6: last files cherry picked from backup (do not transfer Users/Library)
In that spefic order for best performance.
It's not excactly as perfect as TM restore, but then you don't get all the problems back.

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HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro. I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive? If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

I am going to buy a bigger hard drive. i am operating on Lion. how do i install my os on the new disk? i can't use time machine.

i am going to buy a bigger hard drive. i am operating on Lion. how do i install my os on the new disk? i can't use time machine.

Plug this new drive as an external drive, boot from lion recovery "command-R" more info here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
Open disk utility, format and partition the disk at your will (allways Mac OS plus...) and go ahead with the install, don't care if it tells you to whait thousands of hours, I did get installed in 2 hours and a half last week.
If you can't plug the disk as an external one, you'll have first to do an USB disk recovery utility, as easy as download the recovery utility and install it in an USB disk, you can find anything from the link above, plug the disk as a single master, and boot from the USB you created before.
Tell me how it went!!!

I want to do a clean install, but how to use Time Machine to get my data back?

I want to do to clean install of my Snow Leopard OS system...all my data is backed up on my TM. I heard if I restore from Time Machine any system errors created then will have an effect on the clean install? Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose? So how am I supposed to get around that?
Any help would be appreciated, since it would be my first clean installed ever performed (I'm a bit scared, lol).

greyskiesblack wrote:
would it be okay to delete the Time Machine back up then and use the external hard drive as a normal back up of all my stuff copied over to it by drag and drop?
Leave the TM drive alone, it's a extra backup as you should have two separate hardware backups of your data at all times. Use another new drive for a copy of the files until your safely up on the fresh install, then erase and reset the TM drive to your new configuration.
It didn't occur to me that TM would keep the system as it was...and I'm just now learning about TM. I'm glad I have decided to ask before I proceeded to install!!
TM copies stuff over in a general manner, trying to keep what you have just like what you had, which unfortuntly if something goes wrong that isn't the best course of action because you don't want the old junk back on the new machine.
So since it's incrediably difficult to cherry pick exactly what you want when restoring from TM, it's better to have the user files on a regular drive (no TM) when doing a fresh install.
It's really not that hard restoring manually, just create the same named user and drag and drop the contents of the User file folders (music, pictures, documents, movies) right into the new folders on the new user.
You do a fresh install in this manner.
1: Backup files manually to a external drive, disconnect all drives.
2: hold c boot off the 10.6 disk, erase the drive and reformat (wipes all contents)
3: quit and install 10.6, reboot and go through setup, create the same named user as before
4: Software update to 10.6.8
5: install all programs from fresh sources
6: last files cherry picked from backup (do not transfer Users/Library)
In that spefic order for best performance.
It's not excactly as perfect as TM restore, but then you don't get all the problems back.

HT201250 How can I use Time Machine to reinstall Itunes 10.7? Itunes 11 is just horrible.

Itunes 11 was installed by accident. I hated it instantly and after two hours with it, hated it even more. I removed it but didn't know that this terrible software is a virus. It infects dozens of files in the OS and you can not go back to an earlier version.. Any version I install won't recognize either of my Ipods and gives me all kinds of errors. There must be a way to clean my system of this terrible malevolence and get me back to a good version of Itunes. I have talked with two technicians at Apple. One didn't know what to do at all and the other told me to erase my hard drive. In other words, they have no clue what this viral software does or how to deal with it. I know there are people out there who know more than Apple technicians. That wouldn't be too hard. Can anyone help me rid myself of this nightmare?

I'll tell you why. It is not only the library that is altered by 11. I was told by Apple support that it alters root files deep in the system making it virtually impossible to remove completely. What is a virus? It is unwanted software that buries itself in the system so you have to get special tools to remove it. And a virus often also alters other files to make them ureadable and causes strange sustem errors. I have all of these problems
I was updating other software that had nothing to do with itunes when this happened. A window came up saying my software needed updating. I thought the window came from the software i was trying to update but apparently it was the Apple Software Update. Why it came up I do not know. I went ahead with it and it installed 11. Itunes 11 is not a "needed" update at all. So, I have software that is not wanted or needed that buries itself in the system, causes sytem errors, alters files to make them unreadable and can not be removed. That's a virus.
I don't care about the library. I can replace that anytime. What I want is a detailed procedure from Apple developers listing what files were changed and how to safely remove and replace them to give me a working version of Itunes 10.4 that I was using before.
This Itunes 11 update is terrible beyond words. I should not have had this forced on me and neither should anyone else. Apple had no right to create this monster that has caused hundreds of people to lose data by being forced to go back months to an old OS system that isn't infected by the Itunes 11 virus.
Thank you for the response. If I am forced, I suppose I will have to restore. A drastic step for something that was entirely the fault of Apple Computer.

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on more than one computer?

I have a new Mac Air and would like to back up to my existing Time Machine which I also use for my older Macbook. Can I use back up both on time machine?
thanks

General rule of thumb is you need a drive about 2-4 times the size of the total amount of data being backed up. See #1.
Time Machine FAQ
I backup 2 computers to the same drive and have never had any problems.

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine to backup a LaCie Hard Drive connected to an Airport Extreme onto a My Book that is connected directly to a Mac Mini?

I have a LaCie 2TB hard drive connected to a Airport Extreme Base Station. I also have a 1TB MyBook connected to a Mac Mini. My question is can you backup selected files (photos) from the LaCie drive to the MyBook drive using Time Machine, or any other software? If it will cost a fortune, I guess I can always just copy the newer files over.

Thank you for such a lightning-fast response Niel :-) Can I just double check with you the following ...?
The external drive where my iPhoto library is located has three partitions - Time Machine Backup, Pictures (where the iPhoto library is located) and SuperDuper Bootable Clone.
When you say 'Remove the external drive from the list of items set to be excluded from the backup, and then add everything else on it' - am I correct in thinking that I should remove Pictures partition from the items to be excluded but leave the Time Machine Backup and SuperDuper Bootable Clone as excluded items?
On my 2TB external drive (the one I'm backing up to) there are 5 partitions - Time Machine Backup, SuperDuper Clone, Pictures, Photo Archive and Document Archive. The Time Machine Backup is 700GB of which I still have 473GB available - when I include the Pictures folder that contains the iPhoto library that will use up another 148GB but I think there's still plenty of room to use it.
When you say if the partition contain the iPhoto library isn't dedicated to it it may be easier to create one which is, the only item I have on the Pictures volume is the iPhoto library so I think that it's dedicated to it. I was going to add images from the Pictures folder on my MacBook Pro but haven't done so at this stage so I won't do so. It wouldn't matter though, would it, if I copied the images from the Pictures folder on my MBP to the 'Photo Archive' partition of the EHD?
Thank you once more for your reply.
Tricia

Before downloading lion, i want to backup my computer with time machine and a G-DRIVE Slim. But how can i use time machine to only backup my system once?

Just wondering, how can i use time machine to only backup my system once? Just this once and not on a weekly basis?

Upgrade. My three year old Mac Pro and year old MacBook Pro have no problem. Both seem faster.
And there's your problem reading entirely subjective views on forums, from people that might or might not have decently maintained systems, good operating practices, or whatever....
Strangely, when most companies issue new software, it is because they believe (and believe they have checked) that it is better than the previous version.

I am using a 3GS phone and want to switch to a 4, how can i transfer my current game scores to the new phone?

i am using a 3GS and want to switch to a 4, how can i transfer my current game scores to the new phone?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2109

HT201250 Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine. Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents.

Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine? Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents. How do I know if they are included in the backup process?

Yes, if they are not exclude then TM backs them up.
Allan

HT201250 I'm using Time Machine. Its Full. Deleting older backups as it goes. My desktop Mini is full. I want to delete all files on my computer. How will this affect Time Machine?

I'm really wanting to make room on my Mac Mini. I have about 70 gb left. I'm not sure what to do. I'm using Time Machine to regularly backup my computer and its already full and deleting older backups. I used to, in the past before Time Machine, just drag and drop files into an external hard drive and empty the file from my computer. Should I follow a similar procedure here? If I have time machine backup up, and I remove all my files from the computer, will Time Machine begin to backup a "clean" machine onto the external drive and begin deleting past backups? What would be the best way to approach my backups, remove all my files from my computer since a variation of them are already on time machine, and not lose viable backups? Thank you.

If you erase the hard disk and you install a new Mac OS X copy, Time Machine will start a new backup and will stop using all backups you made in the past.
One option you have is to reinstall Mac OS X and restore a Time Machine backup, but restoring only some files: for example, instead of restoring everything, restore only your user files, and not your applications, so you will have more free space. Also, doing this, Time Machine will continue backing up to your old backup, because Time Machine will detect that you have "the same computer with the same files and the same Mac OS X version", but it's not.
If you have more questions about Time Machine, see this site > http://pondini.org

HT201250 I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

Evetually yes.
If your pictures have been in the same location (same folder, same subfolder, ...) for more than a week, then copies if them will remain in your TM backups until it fills up. They are then vulnerable to being deleted.
If they've been there for less than a week, TM could delete them as early as a month from now. If they've been there for only a few hours, chances are TM will delete them tomorrow.
This is why TM is not the best tool to use to archive data that you will be deleting from your main hard drive. Copy them to a dedicated external drive, or burn DVDs.

HT3275 Continue using Time Machine backup history after switching disk from local to Airport Extreme?

I have been using Time Machine on my iMac for backups for quite some time. The disk I've been using is a single disk connected via USB. Now that I got an AirPort Extreme base station, I wanted to switch the disk drive to the AirPort Extreme, but continue to use my existing backup history and not start a new one.
When I did that, Time Machine complaint that the disk does not have enough space left to do the initial backup. Again, I don't want to start a new backup history but rather seamlessly append to and continue with my existing backup history that's already on the disk.
Is this possible and how?
Thanks,
Torsten

torbu_us wrote:
I have been using Time Machine on my iMac for backups for quite some time. The disk I've been using is a single disk connected via USB. Now that I got an AirPort Extreme base station, I wanted to switch the disk drive to the AirPort Extreme, but continue to use my existing backup history and not start a new one.
As the other poster says, that's usually unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.
When I did that, Time Machine complaint that the disk does not have enough space left to do the initial backup.
That's because Time Machine stores backups differently when they're done over a network. See the blue box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17 for an explanation.

I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?

I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?

no.

HT201250 I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer with my external hard drive. I am getting a brand new iMac this month and was wondering what is the process of using this back up to restore my new computer exactly how my old computer was?

I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer with my external hard drive. I am getting a brand new iMac this month and was wondering what is the process of using this back up to restore my new computer exactly how my old computer was? I want to make sure I will still have various important files on my new computer, like my songs in iTunes, my photos in iPhoto, etc, etc. Thanks so much in advance!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
When you turn on the new iMac for the first time, Setup Assistant will ask you to restore a backup, so connect the external disk and follow steps to restore all your files to your new iMac. Your new Mac will have the same settings and programs as your old computer.
In other cases, I would recommend to restore the whole backup without using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant, but a Late 2012 iMac uses a special OS X build, so the OS X version that you're using on your old Mac won't work on the new one. For more information, see > http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

HT201250 I want to switch to a bigger HDD. Can I use Time Machine?

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