HT201250 Time Machine backup of internal AND external hard drive

I have an iMac with an internal hard drive for everything BUT photos and music and an external hard drive for only photos and music. If I hook up a second external hard drive will Time MAchine back up both my external (music/photos) hard drive AND my internal hard drive?

You will be able to back up the external drive, but you will have to modify settings. Time Machine only makes backups of your OS X partition by default.
Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and remove the external drive from excluded items, so it will be backed up. I recommend ot have your external drive formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

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Time Machine backup? pictures and external hard drive

I know this question has been asked before but I just wanted to make sure of something. Does a basic Time Machine backup backup all photos? And also a real basic question-- Is a Apple Time Capsule the same as a external hard drive?

You can save the pictures in Time Machine backup.. that is not a problem and what the TC is designed for.
You cannot off load the pictures from the internal disk of the computer and use the Time Capsule as the drive for a running library.. that is when it will get corrupted.. if you need more space for a library use External drive that plugs in by USB or FW or Thunderbolt. And it must be formatted standard Mac OS extend journaled.. then Time Machine can backup the drive to the Time Capsule.
I should also use the language more carefully.. the TC is fine for files even of pictures.. but it is unsuitable for an iphoto library or aperture library. I am always assuming on a Mac when people talk about pictures then they mean a library.. but if you save raw pictures from the camera onto a TC directly that is fine. The only issue that then arises is no automated backups.. TC is not a NAS in the normal sense of the word.. Every NAS has a built automated backup.. TC does not. You also cannot backup files on the TC using TM.. it was designed as a Target for Time Machine backups Not as a source. There are other backup products that will work.. but then you will need to figure out where to back up file to.. and the worst possible place is the USB on the TC.

How Can I Migrate My Time Machine Backups To A New External Hard Drive?

I have a external hard drive that has 500 GBs left, but I want to buy a larger drive.

ivan wrote:
How Can I Migrate My Time Machine Backups To A New External Hard Drive?
I have a external hard drive that has 500 GBs left, but I want to buy a larger drive.
Hi iVain
Fire up *Disk Utility*, click the Restore tab, then drag your old and new TM drives into the Source and Destination fields. Click Restore, and a complete copy of your old TM files will be made on the new drive. Go to TM preferences and select the new drive, and it will continue backing up just as it left off.
Hope this answers your question. See:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2595485&tstart=0

HT201250 Time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme

How can I setup a time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme? Even better for time managment purposes I want to use the Eithernet Thunderbolt connection for the first back up and then through the wifi there after for daily routine Time Machine back ups.

You can attach a hard drive, but Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme are not supported by Apple, so it's not possible to say what your actual results might be.
If you decide to try this, it would be wise to have a secondary backup plan in place as well.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html

HT201250 Can Time Machine backup files stored on external hard drive

Can Time Machine back up files that are stored on external hard drive and save them on a different external hard drive?
I have my pictures stored on an external hard drive connected to my iMac. I want to make an exact copy of the pictures folder on a separate external hard drive. Can Time Machine do that?
If yes, how?
If no, what's a good way to create a mirror of the folder on External Hard Drive #1 (the original) on External Hard Drive #2 (the backup)?
I am not opposed to manually copying every couple weeks or month, but (1) it's less convenient and (2) I got an error message the first time I tried this saying the files couldn't be copied because some of the files being copied had the same name as each other (not exactly that, I'm at work and don't have the message in front of me right now, but that was the gist of it).
Thanks!

1. Yes, if both drives are formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
2. Reformat the drives if needed, open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and remove the drive with the pictures from the list of items set to be excluded.
(110331)

How can Time Machine backup automatically when your external hard drive isn't connected?

Everywhere I search, it says that Time Machine will automatically backup every 24 hours and so on.
However, I was wondering - how can these automatic backups take place if you are backing up to an external hard drive which is not always connected?
Is this to say that if you do not connect your external hard drive for a day, no backups will be done that day?
Thank you

If the drive is not connected then TM pauses until the drive becomes available. Yes, if the drive isn't connected then there are no backups.
A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

Time Machine Backup not possible (normal external Hard drive)

Hi,
has anyone else had the problem that after the Lion upgrade its not possible to even really access your external time machine?
i have a 1TB Samsung HD103SI Media and when it tries to boot up it wont show in finder, i can see it in the disk drive utility and try to repair it but it only gets me an error saying i have to reformat that drive?
i hope this can somehow be fixed otherwise all my backups are gone

Hi,
Sorry to hear about your Issue...
Was your Samsung Formatted to Mac OS Entended (journaled) when you first started using it with TM...?
If so see the Troubleshooting Section in this Link to Pondinis excellent Tips on Time Machine...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Index.html
Cheers,
You may also find the TM references in this Link of Interest...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/LionChanges.html

Checking time machine backups with a new external hard drive

Is there a way to make sure that my backups are complete looking at time machine? All I see is the front page for each backup and dont see how to open it and look at the files that were backed up? I have a new LaCie ext hard drive that Im using and want to make sure it is working properly. Also, do I need to change my sleep settings to allow Time Machine to have adequate time to back up, or does it take care of everything?

Cumby wrote:
Is there a way to make sure that my backups are complete looking at time machine? All I see is the front page for each backup and dont see how to open it and look at the files that were backed up?
Are you going into Time Machine from your desktop? If so, TM will show only the desktop in your backups. Try starting from a Finder window of, say, your home folder, then go into Time Machine. You should be able to select a backup and navigate within it just as you would normally, and see the complete "snapshot" of everything that was there at the time of the backup you selected.
Separately, Click here to download the TimeTracker app. It shows most of the files actually saved by TM for each backup (excluding some hidden/system files, etc.).
I have a new LaCie ext hard drive that Im using and want to make sure it is working properly. Also, do I need to change my sleep settings to allow Time Machine to have adequate time to back up, or does it take care of everything?
TM will do all that for you. If your Mac falls asleep, TM will just do a backup when it awakens. If you manually put it to sleep (or power off) while it's doing a backup, it will just pick-up and continue when it's awake again.

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme.
Sorry, but no.
Time Machine will backup your Mac, but not the hard drive attached to the AirPort Extreme.
Time Machine will back up a hard drive only if it is attached directly to your Mac via USB or FireWire.

Backup internal and external hard drives-TC and offsite

I now have Mavericks 10.9.3 on my iMac with a 2TB (1.25 TB used) internal hard drive.
I also have some external drives attached to my iMac with older iPhoto libraries and other files (total file sizes 940 GB and 505 GB). I primarily use Aperture now on my internal hard drive, but still access those iPhoto libraries on my external drives on occasion. I have Time Machine backup my iMac internal hard drive on my 2TB Time Capsule regularly.
My primary question is in regards to getting another copy onto a larger external drive that covers my internal and external drives so I can have a backup off-site. Online backup services seem to always exclude external drives. So a physical drive I can have offsite seems to be the best option.
A year ago I changed the destination of my Time Machine backup to be on a 3TB external drive (backed up iMac internal hard drive and the two externals). However, when I changed the destination of the backup back to the Time Capsule, the TM initiated a brand new backup (it did not recall that I had backed up prior to that on my Time Capsule).
I want to backup monthly, if not quarterly for my off-site storage. But, if every time I change the destination drive for TM, a new backup profile is created, it will overwork my drives unnecessarily.
Is there a backup program or a process on "disk utility" I could run parallel to TM that I just use quarterly capturing only the changes/additions in those few months for both the internal and external hard drives? Also, is there a way to add an external drive to my Time Capsule that is solely used to wirelessly backup the two externals on a regular basis (i.e. keep the internal 2TB drive backing up to the Time Capsule; and the external hard drive attached to Time Capsule via USB used as the backup drive for the external hard drives)?
Summary: I need to backup regularly to the local Time Capsule/additional external hard drive. The data will come from my internal hard drive and my two external hard drives. I also want to do quarterly backups of the additions/changes to all three drives to have on an offsite external drive that I manually backup to quarterly. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Carbon Copy Cloner is not on the App store.
Correct.. it is not approved because Apple do not like the fact that CCC (and most likely superduper) which are the most popular backup software for Mac because it makes a bootable clone. Apple will never approve of that. But let me assure you that is the genius of it. If the internal disk fails, you simply boot from the external. It is $40 but you can use on all the computers in your home.
CCC is a clone.. ie when it does the backup, any changes on the drive are changed on the clone. It does not work like Time Machine which simply piles up incrementals until the drive fills up. The idea of CCC is a backup of the drive as it exists at any point in time. TM btw is also not a reliable archive, ie it thins backups constantly.. so you should never rely on it to archive old versions.. but in the middle of a project it does a good job to keep various versions of your files. That is why I specifically said in my last post do not stop using it.
and you can keep using the TC just for the internal drive.
Keep TM running to the TC.. that will then keep a current hourly incremental of your drive. You can set CCC in a way which is a lot more flexible. ie backup just at the end of the day. There is no need for constant hourly backups. So to answer the second question.. you are still using your TC and TM.. but I suggest you only backup the internal drive.
Please read a bit from forum expert Pondini on the value of clones and TM.
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html
That's why many folks use both Time Machine and a bootable clone, to have two separate, independent backups, with the advantages of both. If one fails, the other remains.
Now the ports issue.
You can of course continue to use USB2. Just that moving large volumes around will be slow.. as doubtless you already know.
On your particular Mac since you missed out on USB3 which is a pain.. you can buy a Thunderbolt to USB3 adapter like the belkin.
http://www.belkin.com/au/p/P-F4U055/
I suggested the Thunderbolt to Esata (it is an older interface and the adapter is rather cheaper but I hear more reliable.. check reviews for both).
http://store.apple.com/au/product/H8875ZM/A/lacie-esata-hub-thunderbolt-series
Sata is the interface of the hard disk.. Esata just means external sata.. so it is native and without conversion.
I was merely suggesting ways to speed things up. But as long as you don't run CCC on more than daily basis then I think you will be fine just with USB 2. It will take a while on the day you do the swap over for the archive volume, but if you turn off the power saving in the Mac and leave it run overnight it should be able to do most of it.. you need to realise it will have to deep scan both the disks.. to compare files.. but CCC is based on Rsync and it is extremely fast and efficient. I am just not sure I know how long it will take to do. Anyway.. there is a plan.. tweak and adapt as you see fits your needs.

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer? also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard

If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer? Also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard 10.6.8?

No and Yes
Don't use TM for this purpose, clone your drive to an external, plug the external into another MBP and reboot from it. Please note that booting a machine that came with Lion may not be possible from a drive with Snow Leopard.

HT201250 I have thousands of pictures on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac I don't want them lost. I do time machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough for making sure my pictures don't ever get lost?

I have thousands of photos on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos. I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?

tgs6164 wrote:
I have thousands of photos on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos. I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?
Purchase a couple of these when they go on sale.
Start burning all the photos onto DVDs.
At least you'll have all your photos if your computer, time machine or any other backup you use goes bonkers.

Time Machine says both of my external hard drives require reformatting to case insensitive. What do I do?

I have been successfuly using Time Machine to back my iMac to an external hard drive (via usb) and everything has been fine for the last year. I have been using TM to back up to a HD called Terra LaCie via usb.
A week ago, my iMac hard drive was full--so I spulrged and bought a 6 TB external hard drive (Western Digital My Book-Thunderbolt). I set up the new Thunderbold HD to use RAID 1 (mirror) and copied most of my iMac hard drive over to the Thunderbolt HD.
I kept my working photographs (most recent) on my iMac and felt good to know my older photographs are on my new Thunderbolt hard drive.
For a few days, Time Machine seemed to work fine (backing up my iMac to Terra LaCie HD. I haven't been concerned with backing up the Thunderbolt drive (as I feel that mirroring is same as backing up).
Yesterday, Time Machine indicated the lastest back-up failed (for the HD called Terra LaCie). Now, when I go into Time Machine, the dialog box indicates the following message:
"Are you sure you want to erase the backup disk “Terra Lacie”? Erasing will destroy all information on the disk and can’t be undone.
The disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because a disk you are backing up is case sensitive, but the backup disk is not."
When I open Time Machine to look at my external hard drives (I also have a third usb portable drive); two of the three drives indicate the following:
"reformat required; case insensitive disk".
The small, portable hard drive (that I'm also using) doesn't say it needs to be reformated (but my new Thunderbolt and my old usb HD both indicate the same message (above).
What should I do? I just spent days transferring my photographs from my iMac to my new Thunderbolt. Should I just not use Time Machine any longer and work from my Thunderbolt drive?
Am I to understand that my iMac suddenly become case sensitive? Sorry if this was too much information about my hard-ware set-up.
Any help someone can provide me would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I need to understand Time Machine and perhaps my Thunderbolt better.

Hi BDAqua,
Bravo, you helped me solve my problem.
The Case Sensitive Disk was the small portable hard drive that I was using termporarily.
I just disconnected it and I started TM machine and everything seems to be working just fine.
Thank you very much!!!!

Time Machine not backing up other external hard drive

Hi,
I recently upgraded to Leopard and am trying to use Time Machine. I have one external hard drive that is used specifically for the Time Machine Backup, it's called "Backup Drive". The other hard drive is called "Captured Memories" and is used to store my graphic design files. Time Machine seems to backup my iMac because there is a folder called iMac and it contains the files, but the folder for Captured Memories is blank. I was getting errors saying that the backup failed but when I clicked the "Back Up Now" option on Time Machine, it doesn't list the error - but the Captured Memories folder is still blank so it didn't back up that external drive. I also changed the Spotlight preferences so that it does not search the Backup Drive.
Both the Backup Drive and the Captured Memories drives are the same, they're both Seagate Free Agent Pro drives, 1TB each.
The Free Agent Pro drives both have a sleep timer that I cannot adjust, does that have anything to do with why Time Machine won't backup the Captured Memories drive? If that is the case, what other software can I use to backup the Captured Memories external drive? I want it to sync to the Backup Drive because I am constantly saving and moving files around on the Captured Memories drive.
I was using a Memeo backup software that came with the Free Agent Pro drives but the problem I was having is it would make copies of files rather than move them. For example, I have a folder on the Captured Memories drive that is called, In Progress and one that is called In Proofing. So once a project is complete, I move the file to the In Proofing folder. The Memeo software would copy the file to the In Proofing folder rather than move it. So I'd end up with 2 copies of the file, one in the In Progress folder and one in the In Proofing folder.
Does anyone know how I can simply have the drive backed up like that?
What do I do?
Please help! I really need to make sure that the Captured Memories external drive is being backed up!

I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

HT201250 Time Machine backup of internal AND external hard drive

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