If I saved something on my external drive as a back up / time machine can I delete from laptop without losing anything?

if I saved something on my external drive as a back up can I delete from laptop without losing anything?

No. Eventually, Time Machine will delete it from the backup. Time Machine is not a storage concept, it's a backup concept. If you need permanent file storage, then get another drive for that.

Similar Messages

  • HT201250 Is there a size limit for an external drive to be used with time machine?

    I have an iMac with a 2TB drive. I have a 2TB WD drive used for Time Machine that is full. I would like to go to the bigest WD (type) external drive that will work with Time Machine. Is there a TB limit for TM in OS X Lion?

    Welcome .  I have also used a 2TB WD My Book ext HDD for Time Machine backups for the past year and have had no problems.  They seem to get a  very bad wrap.  Perhaps we are a few of the lucky ones.  The two brands recommended by macjack are very, very good brands.

  • Hi can someone keep this simple for me! my iPhone is due for a renewal. but my old laptop that it is backed up to no longer works! how do i go about saving all my songs pics etc to a new laptop without losing anything? please help!!!

    hi can someone keep this simple for me! my iPhone is due for a renewal. but my old laptop that it is backed up to no longer works! how do i go about saving all my songs pics etc to a new laptop without losing anything? please help!!!

                     Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive

  • How can you delete an app without losing saved data/progress?

    How can you delete an app without losing saved data/progress? Is there a way through iCloud? I have an 8gb 4th gen iPod touch. I have a lot of music, so with 8gb, space is limited. Some apps I have take up 20-30 MB. Some of these games I don't play that much, but I don't delete them because I have made a lot of progress (levels, scores, acheivements). It would be nice to delete some of these 30 MB apps that take up precious space, and them redownload them in the future when I have more space, but without having to start the whole game over.
    Also, I read somewhere that there might be a way to do this with iCloud, but I don't really know how.
    Thanks!

    This is the only way I know of.  It is messy though.
    How to transfer game saves between iOS devices, without iTunes, and without jailbreaking | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

  • Wouldl like to use an large external with my mac book-if so how can I shut the lid without losing the screen?

    Wouldl like to use an large external with my mac book…if so how can I shut the lid without losing the screen?

    This is the article on the subject:
    Mac notebooks: How to use your computer in closed clamshell (display closed) mode with an ...
    But it does not cool as well when closed. I suggest you arrange your workflow across the two screens side to side, or put the Big Display up on blocks and open the laptop below it, and use both screens in Extended Desktop:

  • My 2TB external drive is not full, but Time Machine thinks it is

    If Time Machine really is deleting the oldest backups as it goes, then why am I suddenly getting this error message?
    The external drive dedicated strictly to Time Machine use is 2TB in size, and it's been running fine for almost a year until now.  What gives?

    Here's what Time Machine looks like as it starts ...
    ... and here's what happens shortly afterward:
    Now why it's showing no backups at all on a supposedly empty hard drive (when it's getting ready to run) is odd enough, but then halting and saying the **** hard drive's full is extremely strange.  Both cannot be simultaneously true.
    What the heck's going on?

  • WD External Drive Won't work with Time Machine or anything else

    I am really hoping someone can help me. I have been using Time Machine to backup my hard drive on my Macbook and using a WD drive. Everything worked until right before Christmas. Something happened and I don't know what and I am not sure the last backup worked. I can no longer see the external drive in the finder, but I can see it in Disk Utility and it shows up in About this Mac. When I've had the drive connected today, the disk is turning and the status light is flashing. I can see data being written in the activity monitor which makes me think something is happening with the drive. In Disk Utility, I can eject the drive, but can't select it to do any first aid or other activities. Anyone have any suggestions?

    You might want to try resetting your MacBook's FireWire Bus to see if that cures the issue: http://tinyurl.com/7p6jfx.

  • Back-up on external drive, in addition to the time machine external drive

    Quick question: I am using Time machine on an external drive next to my laptop. To protect against fire/theft, I want to do a monthly back up on an other external drive which would be kept at work. Does time machine allow 2 external back up drives and remember what needs to be updated on each, or do I need to use SuperDuper or similar to do my monthly back up?

    You can do what you want by going in to System Preferences > Time Machine > Change Disk whenever you rotate disks. Time Machine will keep track what modified files belong to its respective backups on the two disks. However, it's always a very good idea to diversify risk in your backups so using different software for your second set of backups would be something to seriously consider. SuperDuper is not yet Leopard compatible but Carbon Copy Cloner is. You can use the "Copy selected items" function in CCC to do incremental backups.

  • Why doesnt my external drive show up in the time machine window when im trying to set it up wirelessly

    my external hardrive doesnt show up in the time machine window for disk selection . i connected it to a usb hub it shows up when i do the manual setup but it still doesnt show up in the disk window . any help am i missing something ?

    The supported targets for Time Machine backups are local (direct-connected) disks, and network targets include Time Capsule, a disk hanging off the current-generation AirPort (though not earlier AirPort devices), and OS X Server systems.
    The Time Machine storage is based on the HFS+ file system, so I would not expect TM to work with SMB file services.
    While there are hacks to allow Time Machine to access network drives, I would not consider those to be reliable. Skim the forum and the 'net for related details, and for previous discussions of setting this up and the related issues that can arise.
    Remember to test the recovery with whatever you decide to use; whole point of backups is the ability to restore the data, after all.
    If you want to learn more about Time Machine, Pondini is an excellent resource.

  • How can I back up to an external drive with three partitions using Time Machine?

    I have an external drive connected to my MBPro. The external drive has three partitions: one dedicated to the MBPro, one dedicated to my iMac and one for Photos.   How can I be sure that when I backup my MBPro, it does so to the dedciated partition?
    Also, I eject each of the partition icons on my desktop through the Eject selection in Finder menu and then I turn off the external drive and disconnect it.  However, when I connect and turn the external drive to start it up again, the  a message comes up that it has not been ejected properly.  How am I supposed to eject the partitions and drive?
    Thanks for you helpl
    Vernon

    When you set up time machine you should select which partition to backup to, after that it should be automatic, mine is.
    I have not encountered your second problem, after ejecting the disks do you immeadiatley switch the drives off or leave them for 10-15 seconds to let them write the info stored on the disk drives internal buffer to disk?
    I usually use the CNTL Click on the drive and select eject, but that should not be any different than using the Finder menu.

  • Can i partition an external drive that im using for time machine? its not an actual apple TM....

    I'd like to partition my drive to make a separate place just for itunes music , is this possible? if so, how ?
    thanks!

    tamckellar wrote:
    im just trying to make a separate area on the ex drive that i use for tm, to store just my itunes library .
    Not a good idea...If that drive fails (and they All do at some point in time) you will lose both your TM and iTunes Backups.
    Invest in another EHD for iTunes.
    Moving iTunes >  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    Also...
    Have a look at these 2 Videos...
    http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-library.html
    http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html

  • Backing up an External Drive to a Mini using Time Machine

    My Old (Very Old) G5 iMac just died... (So Sad...) anyway, luckily for me I've been real good about doing daily backups to Time Machine on an External Drive.
    I no longer am able to access the iMac at all, but have all my Time Machine backups stored on my External Drive.
    I plan on buying a new Mac Mini in a couple of weeks and want to transfer all my applications that were on my old iMac onto my new Mac Mini.
    Since I can't access the iMac at all and only have the External Drive as the source of my files and applications; how hard is it to move them from the external drive to the new Mac Mini without loosing all the "New" features of the Mac Mini.
    The External Hard Drive has no Firewire, it only has a USB 3.0.
    Thanks in advance for any help...

    Many apps will likely not work since using apps designed for a Power PC processor like the G5 require Rosetta to work on the newer Macs that have an Intel processor. However, Rosetta is only supported up to and including 10.6.
    Migration assistant will not work from less than 10,6 so you will have to enter the TM from the new Mac and copy what you need
    Also see:
    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
    http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

  • External Drive not showing up on Time Machine

    I bought a seagate external Drive to backup my Mac through Time Machine. It said it's Mac compatible in the box...
    Now it doesn't show up when I try to choose a drive at Time Machine...
    Help!

    Ok, already solved it. I had to Reformat the Drive for a MAC format.
    Here's a helpfull link:
    http://www.macworld.com/article/1132140/timemachine2.html
    Thanks!

  • External Hard Drive with Time Machine, Will it Delete Files that aren't Backups?

    Hello reader,
              My concern right now that I need help with is backing up with Time Machine. I went down to an Apple Store and they formated my External Drive 1TB to work with Time Machine then I backed up my MacBook Pro and all is well. However, now I want to do this again, BUT now I have added files onto the external drive that are newer but I didn't want to do a complete backup for. Like new pictures or iMovie events. So instead of redoing a complete backup after adding like 3 big files and nothing else, I just tossed them on the Extrernal Drive no problem. Now I feel like it's been a while and I should do a full backup for all the littler files I have now. But there is now 1 "Backup" File on the external drive that "Can't be modified" or I would have just dragged the 3 quick large files into the backup that I made and been happy. But I couldn't do that so I put it in some blank space on the external drive.
    But my question for you, reader, is if I backup again, will the files that ARE NOT in the backup folder that was created from an ACTUAL backup from Time Machine be deleted?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Backup Files from First Backup                      These 2 are things I added                                                                                                                                                                                             that I didn't feel I had to waste                                                                                                                                                                                     another 100GB on unchanged                                                                                                                                                                          things with another complete backup.

    TimeMachine is designed to perform one full backup when it is first connected to your computer and from then on back up only the files you add or edit. Opening the TimeMachine drive's backup folder from the Finder is basically a no-no. Access TimeMachine via the TimeMachine application.
    Assuming you frequently plug the TimeMachine drive in and let it backup and assuming the newer files are on the computer - they are being backed up and TimeMachine will be able to restore the entire drive if/when it is needed.
    Just keep these things in mind. TimeMachine runs every hour (when it is connected to your computer - so be sure to connect it at least once a day and let it do a backup) and backs up new and edited files. It is guaranteed to keep any file that is currently on your computer. If you delete a file from your computer TimeMachine may delete it if extra space is needed. The drive you use for TimeMachine really shouldn't be used for any other purpose.

  • Time Machine will not delete the oldest backup when external hard drive is full

    I may not understand this timemachine thing, but....
    I have macbook pro, 15", mid 2011, mountain lion......I have a WD Passport Studio I have ben using to back up with time machine periodically. I tried to back up today and it says i do not have enough room on my external drive. I tought the time machine automatically deletes the oldest back up?

    I agree with Linc's response but you also have to realize that it will keep the oldest backup and start removing snapshots if it can.
    It is my undestanding that time machine does what is called a full backup the first time and then the snapshots done after that are changes since the first backup. I'm not sure if time machine then does periodic backups or just snapshots.

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