I'm attemping to back up my system, entire computer, hard drive w/ LaCie 500gb external drive.

I am attempting to back up my entire computer w/ an LaCie external drive. I don't have "airport", so I guess time machine will not apply, ? work. ? I am theathered w/ firewire 800. I have formated the disk, and need to know how to copy - back up the entire system, hard drive, ? I tried to click and drop it, but...
How do I accomplish this task. I want to have a back up of everything in case, (God Forbid), it happen's. And I have to turn my computer, and Iphone over to a frenesic firm to establish my surfing record. I could use any advice you have there as well. I tried the Apple store, but they just do repairs.
Thanks, Blessings, Bob

You certainly can use Time Machine. Firewire 800 is a great way to go.
You just have to activate Time Machine from System Preferences and tell it to use that LaCIe disk.
Mac 101: Time Machine
charlie

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I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". How do I incorporate this folder back into the itunes library?

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". I previously cut and pasted itunes TV shows to this folder to free up some space. How do I incorporate this folder (TV shows) back into the itunes library?

assuming the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked in preferences > advanced, drag the folder into an open iTunes window while holding option (⌥).

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

Exactly what did you do?
The correct steps are
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
My guess is that that you have not switched iphoto to use the external drive yet - opttion launch and select libary
LN

Apple physically replaced the HD on my Imac. I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive for Mac. I went through the motions to restore my Iphoto Library back to my computer. Can't find them!!!!!

Apple replaced my hard drive on my Imac. I'm lucky I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive via Time Machine . I followed directions in order to restore my iphoto library , but I can't seem to find it on my computer. Are the files locked?

No reason to assume they are locked. The library will be restored to the location it was backed up from, unless you specified somewhere else. Have you looked in your Pictures Folder?

Everytime I start time machine, my computer backs up +/- 250MB, then freezes. Tried it with 3 different external drives, all stop at about the same point (they all work fine on other macs). Any suggestions?

The drives I have are Seagate 1TB GoFlex portable drives (one has UBS 3.0, the other USB 2.0), and a WesternDigital 1TB passport (USB 3.0). I originally tried to backup with Time Machine using the Seagate USB 3.0, and when that didnt work, Seagate suggested maybe since my operating system is a little older, that I try with a USB 2.0, so they sent me another NEW external hard drive, with the USB 2.0. Had the same issue. Frustrated and convinced that Seagate just sucked, I went and bought the 1TB WesternDigital passport (USB 3.0). Have the exact same issue again. Every drive was new, and formatted for mac. When I started time machine it started to back up my files, but froze after copying give or take 250 MB (usually 252.5MB, to be exact). I went and tried the drive on several other macs, and none of them presented any problems. I also tried dragging individual files, but it still freezes on pretty much anything bigger than +/- 100MB. Disk Utility says that all the drives are fine. Obviously this is a problem with my computer, and not the 3 brand new external drives. I thought about upgrading to OSX 10.6, but don't know if this'll help or not (plus, I'd really prefer to have all the files backed up on a drive before doing that, just in case). I dont know what else to do.. called apple, but I'm not about to pay them $50 to have them MAYBE give me a solution (done that twice now for previous unrelated issues, and each time they just told me to take it to a computer repair place.) Just seeing if anyone out there has a solution before I cave and take it back to the certified computer guys for them to figure it out.. Also, I live in Montana and theres no apple store anywhere close (not suprising), so taking it to an Apple Store is just not an option.
Side note: Seagate tech support is awesome; they tried everything to solve the problem, and they even bent their rules a little to send me a new drive, even though it wasn't a malfunction issue with their drive. Really helpful, friendly people, which is much more than I can say for Apple at this point...

this is what you need to do to exclude everything apart from desktop.
on time machine preferences, click on Options
click plus sign, on the new window, click macintosh HD
do a Control + A then deselect users then click okay
go to options again, plus sign, go to users, control +A then deselect your user account
go to options again, plus sign, go to your user account, control + A, deselect desktop
start the back up.

I had backed up my iPhoto library from my old mac onto an external drive. When I got my mac book pro this year I could not open the files. The program recognises the folders and opens the rolls but the image is greyed out.

My old power book used an older version of iphoto, when I bought my macbook pro recently I tried to upload, from an external drive, my backed up files. The program opens with all the relevant folders down the left side but none of the image files will open; the boxes that would contain them are there, but greyed out.

I am now using iphoto '11 version 9.4.2, the original images that Im trying to recover from the ext HD are iphoto version 6. The EXT HD is formatted for mac and has been ok for all my other files that have been backed up.
When I boot up iphoto version 11 it looks like it always does and will open my current library of images. If I try to get images from the ext hd in this program the folder info is ok (down the left side) but the image boxes are greyed out.

TS1550 Time machine failed... has backed up before. Have 235 GB uses on LaCie 1 TB drive - format is Mac OS Extended (journaled). Any ideas or help appreciated. Worked OK until today,

Back-up has worked fine until today. Cannot completelately -"Back-up failed. Stopped all programs and tried again - no go.Have LaCie 1TD drive, 235GB used.
Format OS extended (journaled) on the drive.
Mac OSX 10.8.8.
iMac 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
Any ideas appreciated.
Have same drive on newer iMac - appears OK.

Hi Joseph, was hoping the resident TM expert Pondini would drop in, but I guess not.
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
Repair the external/backup drive also.

TS3683 Not enough space on my Mac HD to back up my iPad. My iTunes library is on an external drive. Can I use this same drive to Back yup my iPad?

I don't have enough space on my Mac HD to back up my iPad. Actually, my iTunes library is on an external drive. Can I use this same drive to Back up my iPad?

1. First make sure iPhoto is not running. If it is, quit it. Use the Finder to copy your iPhoto Library file to your external drive. Unless you've changed it, its located inside your Pictures folder and is named "iPhoto Library".
2. After the copy is complete, start iPhoto while simultaneously holding down the option key. iPhoto will bring up a dialog box. The file in the list is your existing Library on your internal disk. Click the "Other Library" button and navigate to your external drive. Select your freshly copied iPhoto Library file and click "Open". iPhoto will from now on open and work with this library on the external drive.
3. After you've confirmed iPhoto is working properly with the newly copied library you may wish to delete the original library in your Pictures folder to recover the disk space.
Don't forget to keep a backup copy of your library on a separate disk. It's not a matter of "if" your external drive will fail but "when". You need to make regular backups or you'll be sorry someday.

Backing up entire computer hard disk

Can anyone tell me how to back up my entire computer? I want to back up the entire contents so that in the event of hard disk damage, I can re-load my hard disk exactly as it is. I plan on backing up to an external hard drive and have firewire capabilities. I have an iMac G5, non intel, with 20 inch display. I am also wondering if the procedure would be the same for my iBook G4.
Thank you.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Scott:
In addition to Super Duper which Allan recommended, I use Carbon Copy Cloner, which is quite easy to use. In terms of organizing your FW HDD you may get some ideas from Dr. Smoke's Backup and Recovery. Although Dr. Smoke recommends the use of Retropect, which I found a bit cumbersome, his article full of good ideas.
Good luck.
cornelius

How does iPhoto back up using time machine if the library is on and external drive

I'm looking to store my iPhoto library on an external Lacie media drive so I have a central point for images. I intend to do the same with my iTines library although I understand there will be less availabitlity for the music.
My question is.
If the library is stored externally does that mean that Time Machine will not back these files up and will I have to have to have a 3rd party software to back the Lacie media drive up for safety?
Regards Graeme

Yes - unless you exclude it - check the TM preferenced to see what is being excluded
and what format is the Lacie media drive? the iPhoto library MUST always be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)
LN

HT4718 How do I install the seperate system recovery partition after installing OSX on an external drive?

My Mac Mini (2011 - Mountain Lion) died on me and I'm trying to get Internet Recovery (or ANY recovery) to work. I have done the hold down D on boot hardware test and the extensive test and it says all is well. However Internet Recovery downloads (or appears to) and then I just get a never-ending spinning wheel and Apple logo.
I just installed Lion 10.7 from my older Mini that can't run Mountain Lion onto the newer Mini's hard drive as an external disk. How can I get the recovery partition added to that disk too?

Google recovery disk assistant. Hopefully that'll be what you need.

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro. How do I do a backup on the new internal hard drive using my existing LaCie external drive without re backing up the entire internal drive. Just want to backup most recent changes

I have a mid 2009 15" MacBook Pro. The existing internal drive was about to fail so I had it replaced with a 500GB western digital drive. I have been backing up my system with a LaCie 500GB external drive. I want to perform a new backup using Time Machine but I only want to backup any changes from the last 30 days or so. I want to avoid doing a total system backup thus duplicating most of the data on my external drive and pretty much filling it up. Any suggestions appreciated

Look at this web site devoted to Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
I suspect that this portion will address your situation:
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html
Ciao.

Can I back up an external drive and an airbook with a third drive

I would like to back up an external drive and an airbook with a third drive. This was the setup I used with my Imac. The third drive was linked to the external drive which was linked to the imac. I used time machine. Both the third drive and the external drive were visible on the desktop of the imac. Now I want to use this system to back up the airbook and the external drive, but the third drive doesn't appear on the airbook's desk top, in fact it is invisible and doesn't seem to be recognized in finder or anywhere else from the airbook. Is there some distinction that prevents the airbook from allowing this back up configuration, but that allowed the imac to work in this configuration.
Thanks,
Daviiiiiiid

Of course, always that the external drive is formatted in “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”. Apart from that, you shouldn't have any issue,
Then, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and remove the external drive from excluded items. The next backup will include your external drive.
Note that you may not be able to back up the external drive if it's connected to your Time Capsule. If it doesn't work, connect the external drive to your computer

Time Machine not backing up external drive

Recently set up TM using a WD 1TB Firewire 800 Drive. All works fine but...
Have a Lacie 500GB drive that had a power supply failure so had to wait for that to be replaced. That is now done so I put the Drive back into the system. Unfortunately, despite being able to see the drive (Two partitions actually) in the TM Finder window it only shows 'now' for the drive. I can see how to exclude these drives but I don't seem to be able to force them to be included. The Lacie drive was added two days ago so I would expect it to have some sort of back up image by now.
Guidance please.

Well, I've gone and done it now
I started again with the none TM drive and gave it the exact same name as before(changing the format to 'journalled" (it was just Mac OS extended before). I then restored the files onto it using the Clone function in Intego's backup X4 All okay so far and all the important files are now on a pristine 'new' disc. The problems started when TM started it's routine. I now get an error message:-
"*Time Machine Error*
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while linking files on the backup volume."
I then excluded the drive from the TM Backup and TM was happy with next Backup so it must be the none TM drive that is failing. I reinstated the drive into the back up and I get the error again.
Is there a prefs file or something that I can dump to clear this or should I start again? i.e. Reformat both drives, reinstall the files onto the none TM drive then start TM again. Or just reformat the TM Drive then restart from the beginning letting it pick up all drives to back up?

Backing uo external drives

I have two external drives, A and B, that I wanted to have TimeMachine backup along with my internal drive. Both these externals are LaCie 250 GB Porche FW drives, are partitioned and formated the same (Apple Partition Map and Apple Extended - Journaled). Neither drive is excluded from TM backup. I initially connected A on 18 Feb and it was backed up successfully. I then connected B on 21 Feb and it backed up successfully. On 24 Feb, I ejected, disconnected and powered off both drives. On reconnecting them today, TM wanted to re-backup all of drive B, but none of drive A. I cancelled the backup and then looked at what TM had previously done. What I found was that TM indicates that drive A is backed up on every backup (daily and hourly) since 18 Feb, while drive B only exists on backups for 21 through 24 Feb.
Can anyone suggest what is going on here?

Will Time machine/Time Capsule back up the external drives I have connected to my iMac?
Yes Time Machine will back up drives connected via USB or Firewire to you Mac.
To make that happen, open System Preferences-> Time Machine-> options and remove the external drive from the exclusion list. Time Machine will now back it up along with the Mac's internal drive.
How much space will be required to back up all 3 TB?
To backup 3 TB you will need at least 3 TB. If you want to be able to recover old versions of files or deleted files you would need more than that.
It will only backup the actual files you have. So if you are currently only using 2 TB the backup will only require 2 TB.
If there is not enough space on the Time Capsule, what else can I use?
One solution is to connect a drive greater than 3 TB to your Mac and cinfigure Time Machine to use that drive as the backup location.

I'm attemping to back up my system, entire computer, hard drive w/ LaCie 500gb external drive.

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