HT201250 Using Time Machine

I just bought a new hard drive, and when I try to open up Time Machine I am getting an error code and it is not even opening up the application. Any help? I am running OS X 10.6.8. I recently upgraded the

You information is incomlpete, as is your question.
See here TM 101 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

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HT201250 Using Time Machine as an external hard drive

I backed up my iMac with an external hard drive using Time Machine; can I delete all the data from my iMac now? My real goal is to use the 1TB external hard drive I just got to store all my music, photos, and other files on. I want to clear all the space off of my iMac, and may by a new Macbook. I want to be able to access all the files from my original computer on either, while cleaning out the iMac. Was it pointless for me to use Time Machine? Thanks so much for the feedback!

You cannot use the files in the Time Machine backup and while it is possible to partition or otherwise use free space on the Time Machine drive as external storage Apple does not recommmend it. Your best solutions are either replace the existing hard drive in your MacBook Pro with a larger capacity drive or add a bus powered external HD. A 1TB USB 2 or 3 drive runs just a bit over $100 and the internal drive about $20 less. In either case remember the Time Machine drive should have two to three times the space of the drive(s) it is backing up.

HT201250 Using time machine/ external hard drive to transfer data to new iMac?

I just purchased a new iMac and do not want to use migration assistant to transfer all the data from my old iMac to the new iMac. Does anyone know if I can just connect my external hard drive that was used as a Time Machine to the new computer to be able to access all my old data?

Yes, you should be able to do that. Visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ should you need help.

HT201250 using time machine to transfer files from mac to mac

i just bought the new iMac 27inch. My previous Mac was Mac OSX Version 10.6.8. I want to transfer files from my old mac to my new mac. I learned Migration Assistant does not support this transfer because my old Mac is too old.
I want to transfer photos that are on my old mac --- such as my itunes, photos that are in iPhoto and CS 5.0, and a few other files on desk top and in documents.
What do i do?

What if you won't have both computers at the same time. In my situation I'm selling my machine and using the money to purchase a new machine. If I backup with time machine and then run migration assistant on the new machine can't I copy everything over to the new computer with time machine?

HT201250 Can I back up more than one computer (i.e. my iMac and MacBook Pro) on the same hard drive using Time Machine?

I'm wondering if I can plug in our new external hard drive (a 2TB Western Digital) and back up two separate computers using Time Machine without fear of the files from the second computer overriding the first.

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

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 Do I need to partition my external hard drive if I'm using Time Machine and other storage?

I never used Time Machine before. I was storing select files on my external hard drive as well as using my libraries (IPhoto, ITune, IMovies) directly off of the external hard drive. That hard drive is giving me problems, so I bought a new one. I want to set up Time Machine on this one, but I also want to keep my active libraries on it. Do I need to partition the external hard drive?

You can partition the new drive, just don't make one of the partitons a TimeMachine drive, save a TM for a entire drive with more space than the boot drive as it saves "states" thus requires more room than most people expect.
I highly advise one drive to one drive for backups, and not placing too many backup eggs in one vulnerable hardware basket basically.
Drives are cheap, data is not. Hardware can fail just as often as software, so you need a multiple backup and storage stragedy to protect even against theft and fire.
Most commonly used backup methods

HT201250 If I use Time Machine on my MacBook can I use the hard drive on the same MacBook as the back up drive ?

I want to use Time Machine but instead of using a hard drive outside of the MacBook, would I be able to use the hard drive that is in the computer?
Would I be able to use a memory stick ?

It defeats the purpose of having a backup if you keep it on the same drive. That's your safety if your drive fails.
Also, you should allow about double the space of the volume you are backing up.
EDIT: Time Machine does keep local snapshots on your drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
See this for more good TM tips...
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

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.

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 What is Airport Utility and why do I need to access this in order to backup my iMac using Time Machine...PLEASE??

What is Airport Utility and why do I need to access Airport witeless devices in order to backup my iMac using Time Machine...HELP!!! PLEASE??

AirPort Utility is required to configure an Apple AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule.
Time Machine can use a Time Capsule or a locally connected volume. You only need to use AirPort Utility if you are using a Time Capsule.

HT201250 How to backup the Time Capsule to an external drive using Time Machine?

Most of my data is on my Time Capsule since the hard drive on my iMac is too small for my music/movies/pictures and also so multiple devices can wirelessly access the data. I want to back up the files from my iMac and the Time Capsule on an external hard drive using the Time Machine. However, it seems that the Time Machine ignores the Time Capsule as a data source. How can I get this to work?

No, I don't believe this solves your problem.
TIme Machine can be used with a Time Capsule as a backup solution from connected macs and their drives but not from network drives, NAS or Time Capsules.
Thus, if you store files for LAN access on a TC internal drive, and want to back them to the USB/external drive attached to that TC, you cannot use Time Machine to do so.
Time Machine has not way of backing up ANY Time Capsule or NAS or WInPC or other networked drive, as far as I can tell. You will have to use some other backup software.
This is exactly what I bought the TC for myself (tried to use the internal drive on the TC as a NAS for my LAN, storing my music and photos and documents and bought a LaCie 2TB USB3 extneral drive to connect to the TC and hoped to be able to use Time Machine to backup the internal drive to the LaCie drive....but this does not work, as TM cannot backup from a network drive or TC device.

HT201250 Will using Time Machine on my external drive, reformat or wipe my external drive?

I need to backup my whole computer, and was wondering if I can do this with Time Machine using my external hardrive. The problem is, that I am using this same external hardrive for other things and I don't want to lose that data. Will using Time Machine wipe my external hardrive? Apple did not make it so clear in their guide on using Time Machine, but I have a feeling that it must reformat the hardrive. If my hunch is correct, is their any other way I can backup my computer using an external hardrive without having to wipe it? I was thinking about just dragging Macintosh HD into a folder on my hardrive and letting the file transfer. What are the downsides of doing this?
NOTE: Don't know if this makes a big difference, but I am running OS X 10.8.3

If the drive is not formatted correctly for Time Machine, then it will have to format it. But, it won't do that automatically. It will ask if you want to use that disk for Time Machine when you attach it.
You can have Time Machine on a drive with other data. See Pondini's Time Machine FAQ: http://pondini.org/TM/3.html

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 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

HT201250 Using Time Machine

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