HT201250 Is it possible to use Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive as the backup disk for time machine?

I have a MacBook Pro for which I have not set up Time Machine. I have a Dropbox account and a Microsoft OneDrive account, each with plenty of space to serve as backups. Is it possible to use either of these as THE backup disk for Time Machine? It doesn't appear intuitive from Time Machine on my MBP.
Thank you.

No. Time Machine does not work with "cloud" drives.

Similar Messages

  • I have used my 2TB TC for wifi and as principal backup disk for Time Machine for a few years.  I would now like to begin using another external HD for Time Machine.  My question is.... Can I repurpose the Time Capsule to use as storage for libraries?

    For example - I plan to use 2TB TC to house my iTunes Media Library and iPhoto Libraries - permitting access from my network.

    I believe based on your notes that I need to forget about moving the iPhoto library.... even though I have found in Apple support:
    http://help.apple.com/iphoto/mac/9.5/#pht6d607c42
    That document says.. and I quote.
    You can move your entire iPhoto library to a different computer, a hard disk, or another location on your computer.
    Note that none of those locations are network.
    A different computer is not network.. a hard disk is a location on the same computer as is computer location.. they are saying the same thing.
    Here is what apple says about networks.. which I referenced above.. and Bob referred to.
    It's recommended that you store your iPhoto library on a locally mounted hard drive. Storing your iPhoto library on a network share can lead to poor performance, data corruption, or data loss.
    These are not inconsistent.. you can move the library.. what you cannot do is use it from a network location.. it must be locally mounted.
    And do you think the new Photos will change any of this  (though presently I am still on 10.9.5)
    This is what we don't know yet.. it does look like photos will be more network aware.. do you want to be on the bleeding edge and discover it fails??
    You can use any drive you like locally for TM backups.. however if you plug that drive into the TC and make it a network drive then it will become super slow.. since the TC only has USB2 port. You also cannot use TM backups on a local drive and then move it to the network.. TM backs up differently in network cf local drives.
    You must partition the drive. If you want to use the one and same drive for both backups and files, partition it before hand.  if you mix the backups with actual data files on the same drive.. you have no backups if the drive fails.. You must have all files on at least 2 drives. For iphoto let me suggest more than 2.. since photos are irreplaceable and it is so easy for things to go wrong.. including fire, flood and theft. Make up a USB drive and park it with relatives.

  • Can two macs use same disk for Time Machine backup with Airport Extreme?

    Hi
    I use a Western Digital disk as a wireless Time Machine backup connected to the USB port on my Airport Extreme and it works great. My question is: can my girlfriend use that same disk for Time Machine backup from HER computer too? (I don't mind formatting the disk if needed.)
    If she can't, is it then possible to connect a USB hub and have two disks hooked up to the Airport Extreme?
    Thanks for helping. I am constantly in awe of all the help people like you give people like me. Thanks!!!
    Jakob

    I've gone through the manual setup and the assisted setup and can't seem to get my MacBook to use the Time Machine. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
    Well, as the Jolly Giant points out....+this type of configuration is not supported by Apple+, so it's difficult, if not impossible, to provide a fix for something that Apple says that you cannot do. Reference these Apple Support documents regarding this topic:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
    Your situation is not unlike other users who try this and find that one computer may backup...(usually for a limited time before corruption issues start to creep in)...but another computer cannot backup. Count me as one of those users who thought that because things seemed to work that I had somehow "beat the system".
    I started getting the corruption error messages after 4-5 weeks of successful backups, so I figured that it did not make sense to continue to try to get a second computer to backup (yes, I too could not setup a second Mac to backup).
    Sorry, I could not get a second machine to backup, so can't tell you how to accomplish that goal. If you want to continue to try backing up this way, you might want to also think about a second backup strategy...just in case backups become corrupted on the WD drive.
    Maybe if Apple says you cannot do this, they just may be right?
    Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

  • My external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive. Same thing has happened with Final Cut Express.

    My new LaCie external hard drive is 'seen' by my iMac and I can go into the Finder and open files and folders. I am using the hard drive for Time Machine back up. However Time Machine says it can't find the drive.
    The same thing happened recently between Final Cut Express and my other LaCie external hard drive used as the Scratch disk. It fixed itself.
    I've run out of ideas. Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

    have you done some searches on FCPx and time machine? Is there a known issue with using a TM drive with FCPx? dunno but ...wait...I'll take 60 sec for you cause I'm just that kind of guy....   google...." fcpx time machine problem"  Frist page link 
    http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/fcpx-bug-best-practices-for-using-external-hard- drives-and-final-cut-pro-x/
           You cannot have time machine backups on your hard drive if you intend to use it in FCPX.
    booya!

  • Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

    Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

    You cannot partition a TC disk.
    See pondini about mixing data and backups.. but remember this.. the TC has no way to back itself up and TM cannot backup files on the TC. Anything not backed up on the TC will be lost at some future point.
    http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html

  • I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine.

    I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, but it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine. Any ideas please?

    " now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. "
    Do you have a few words missing in the original question ?.
    When i upgraded from LION to MOUNTAIN LION it made NO difference at all to my MyBook Live !!!
    reading the original post again and again, do you in fact have two My Book Live units, an old one and a new one ?
    tim

  • How to turn off the 'Use disk for Time Machine?' warning

    I have Time Machine set to OFF.
    I use cloning software instead; "SuperDuper" with a "Voyager Q" unit attached via FW 800
    I rotate my external backups HDs using 2 x 3.5" HDs.
    How do I get rid of the annoying message; ‘Use disk for Time Machine?’ each time I attach an external HD?
    I have tried the solution at;
    http://www.macworld.com/article/133175/2008/04/105notmdrive.html
    but doesn't work for me.
    Mind you, the article was written for 10.5 and I was hoping the same solution would apply to 10.6.
    Anyone have an answer?
    Many thanks in advance,
    Michael.

    Think I just found the answer to my own question.
    External drive has to be mounted on the desktop BEFORE the following command is run.
    defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES
    this assumes you've setup TM
    Now I don't see that annoying message.

  • Anyone find a way to use an airport disk for Time Machine?

    Apple says it is not possible ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306833 ). Yet I have seen some posts of people who claim they are doing it. How?

    Here's the workaround that has been posted ...
    (NOTE: Caution!!! There is a reason Apple did not include Air Disk support for Time Machine in the current release of Leopard. I would strongly discourage implementing any workarounds, especially if the data you are backing up is critical to you. However, if you're just curious to see if it is possible, then proceed with caution.)
    Here's a workaround for the Airport disk problem that may or may not work for you:
    1) disconnect airport disk and plug into computer as a USB drive directly.
    2) Set up time machine to use this volume.
    3) In terminal cd to volume "cd /Volume/HDD"
    4) In terminal "touch .com.apple.timemachine.supported" this will create an invisible file.
    5) In terminal "sudo chown root:admin .com.apple.timemachine.supported"
    6) In terminal "sudo chmod 1775 .com.apple.timemachine.supported"
    7) In terminal "ls -l -a" the .com.apple.timemachine.supported file should be -rwxrwxr-t
    8) eject disk, unplug from mac, plug into Airport.
    9) mount at mac using connect to server in finder (command k) and afp://airportname.local./HDname
    10) see if time machine now sees the drive and tries to use it.
    As reported at Macrumors (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4387985&postcount=50)

  • Can I use a USB drive with the Airport extreme (not the new one) for Time Machine?

    I thought I heard that using USB drive for Time Machine over wifi will work with the new, tall Airport Extreme, but not with the previous model, which I have. Anybody know for sure?
    thanks.

    It is not recommended.. Apple says it doesn't work.. for some people it does for others it is unreliable.. do you really want unreliable backups.
    See http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html

  • Using 1 disk for time machine and to back up and windows machine

    ok so my parents need to back up their machines, my mother on a mac and my dad on a pc (has to use it for work). we have a single disk drive from OWC and im trying to figure out if i can partition it so my mom can use TM and my dad can still back up his machine on it?
    if i partition it on mac both the partitions get in the journaled format, and if i leave free space on the drive it doesnt show up on mac (didnt try to see if it shows up on my dads pc)
    how should i go about doing this or will it not work?
    -matt

    Some more info would be helpful. Depending on the Mac your mom has it should be partitioned to APM (PPC) or GUID (Intel) although this has been called into question. It should not be MBR.
    The external HDD needs to be plugged into the Mac for Time Machine to work. For Time Machine, that partition needs to be formatted HFS+ (Mac OS Extended - Journaled). The PC partition may not matter as the PC should treat that partition as a network share. However, if your intent is to occasionally plug that external directly into the PC, you need to format that partition FAT/FAT32. The Mac can read and write FAT/FAT32, but it cannot write NTFS (without a paid third party app), hence why I didn't recommend that format. Leave lots of room for the TM backup (2-3 X the Mac's content) as that will gradually grow in size.

  • Using a FAT32-formatted drive as backup disk with Time Machine

    For strange and perverse reasons of my own, I'd like to use a FAT32-formatted external hard drive with Time Machine. Is this possible?

    No, Time Machine needs a HFS+ formatted drive for its backup folder:
    Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended Journaled.
    _A solution_ if you still want to use the same drive for TM backup and for some Windows files:
    Partition the drive before you start using it.
    1) Format it (using Disk Utility) as Mac OS Extended
    2) Make two partitions.
    3) Now you can format Partition2 as FAT32, so you have then two different volumes with each its own format.

  • Can Not Use Air Disk for Time Machine Backup

    I have my Lacie 750 GB drive plugged into my AEBS, and it shows up on my network. I can not get Time Machine to recognize it so I can backup. I would appreciate any specific setup info. anyone has that can fix this problem.
    Thanks -
    Dudley Warner

    Have you installed the most recent Airport updates? BTW, while the update now allows AEBS with a tethered drive to be used for TimeMachine Apple doesn't support it. So far I've had no trouble, backing up and restoring, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be hidden problems waiting to get us. Also, since Apple doesn't support it, if there are problems, we are on our own.

  • Invalid Checksum when trying to use Seagate Backup Drive for Time Machine

    Hi,
    I'm trying to use a Seagate Backup Plus Drive with my Mac.  It was originally used with a Windows machine.  It does have the Seagate Dashboard Installer.dmg file.  When I try to install it, it gives me an "invalid checksum" error.
    I've also opened it in Disk Utility and attempted to reformat it into the Mac OS Extended (journaled) format, but it says it could not unmount the disk.  I cannot see that it has any opened files that would be causing this problem.  Any suggestions?
    Thanks!

    Tim,
    I just switched from Entourage to Mail (for many reasons). Thus far, I love Mail. You may want to get the Widescreen plugin for it if you like the three-pane configuration of Entourage.
    You should also be careful with Address Book if you have syncing set up in Entourage. In other words, probably should turn it off, along with any daemons you may have running. I lost data twice (once before my very eyes!) until figuring this out. Used Time Machine to restore a previous address book with all my contacts.
    Thanks for the other information on this thread. Since I should be upgrading my old external drive anyway, it will help in purchasing a new machine for use with TM.
    Message was edited by: SPD

  • Can I use iPod as a backup device for Time Machine?

    I have tried to set up Time Machine using my iPod as the storage device without success. When I tried to set up Time Machine it would not recognize the iPod as a valid storage device. Can anyone tell we why this is not allowed or am I doing something wrong.
    Thanks. All answers welcomed.

    I don't know if it is allowed or what you are doing wrong but I can tell you why it would be a bad idea. The iPod hard disk only runs briefly to load data off into flash ram and then stops. The music you hear is being played from flash ram. Time Machine use would be a lot more intensive than this. This causes two problems:
    (1) I have read that iPod drives are rated for a life of 20,000 hours versus 750,000 for a desktop drive but worse is
    (2) The iPod is only designed to dissipate the heat created by these short bursts of use. If you run it more than this you risk doing some damage due to overheating.
    I installed Mac OS X on my iPod once to see if I could. It worked but it also got very hot.
    I thought there was a technote on this but I can't find it.
    Michael

  • Can I use my time capsule for time machine back ups and as an external storage device?

    I have a time capsule and have set it up so that my time machine back ups are saved on it, but I would also like to use it as an external hard drive. Is this possible?
    I know nothing about computers so please tell me in very basic terms. thankyou!

    By external hard disk we usually mean one plugged into the computer by USB or Firewire or Thunderbolt.
    None of those works on the TC.. it is plugged in by ethernet or use wireless connection.. that means it is a network drive.. not an external drive. The difference might not mean much to you.. but it is totally different to the computer. In the former case the computer has full control of the disk. In the case of the network drive, the disk is controlled by the TC firmware and the files are stored and accessed by network. This has large implications.
    So here is my standard response.
    Store files on the TC.
    This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
    The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
    Major issues.
    1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
    2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
    3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
    The following are controls on the hard disk side.
    Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
    4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
              Even apple btw say don’t do it.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32           it adds network drives.
    5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
    6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
    7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
    Read pondini for some work arounds.
    Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

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