IMac 5,1 Backup and extension of hard drive strategy

I have an iMac 5,1 500 GB, 20-in running Time Machine on a Seagate 1TB FreeAgent. Both have worked great since I got them. I recently decided I needed a more robust backup strategy and also needed to consider extending my hard drive space. After researching this site, CNET, Amazon and others, I narrowed it down to four including LaCie Rugged 1T, WD My Passport Studio 1T, G-Drive 1T and OWC Mercury Elite. I decided on buying two external drives. One is the 1.0TB (1000GB) OWC Mercury Elite Pro High Performance 7200RPM FireWire 400+USB2 Solution, and the other is 2.0TB (2000GB) OWC Mercury Elite Pro 'Quad Interface' 5900RPM 64MB Cache Solution with eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2.
My question is, what is the best way to make use of these three external drives to have redundant backup and to extend my hard drive, which is now 40G from its limit? What I want to accomplish is
a TM backup
a clone
a second clone
more usable hard drive space
My thought was to do the following:
Keep TM the way it is with the Seagate 1TB
Partition the OWC 1T such that I can clone onto it and also have some usable space to extend my hard drive
Partition the OWC 2T such that I can clone the iMac and clone the 1T partition that is hard drive extension, if that makes sense.
Am I making this too complicated? Is there a better way? Is it OK to partition an external hard drive for both clone use and extra usable space? Can I clone from the 1T to the 2T as I suggested?
Thanks for your suggestions. This is my first post that I hope doesn't get me thrown off the boards.

I implemented the backup plan I outlined above but have experienced an issue I can't resolve. For some reason, the OWC Elite AL Pro 1T will not boot with the FW400 connection even though it appears in the Startup options. I does not appear as an option when I hold the Option key on startup. If I connect via USB, it works fine and boots as expected.
So, I called OWC Support and they did not have a solution. I decided to return the OWC 1T and bought another 2.0TB (2000GB) OWC Mercury Elite Pro 'Quad Interface' 5900RPM 64MB Cache Solution with eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2. The other one I bought cloned and booted just fine.
So now I am experiencing the same issues with the new 2T drive that I experienced with the 1T. Connecting via USB works fine, but connecting via FW400 will not boot. The drive is recognized in Finder and otherwise works as expected when connected via FW.
Anyone have any ideas as to solution?
Thanks.

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I have just installed a new hard drive in my imac intel 20" (2006) and now the hard drive does not show up in the 'select destinations' folder of the install program.

I have just installed a new hard drive in my imac intel 20" (2006) and upgraded the memory and now the hard drive does not show up in the 'select destinations' folder of the install program. I can see the hard drive in the disk utilities window however it wont let me do anything.
It is a seagate 1TB SATA II drive however it is displaying it as a 7.3 TB.
If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.
I have tried to erase and partition and get the same error message each time, 'Input/Output error'.
I have tried starting the thing with the install disk which is Mac OS X (Tiger?) which came with the computer. No good.
Anyone?

Thats correct. I can see it in the list however when I attempt to erase it or partition it it's like it's not being found or recognised and it throws up the input/output error message. I am pretty sure that the sensor it attached correctly and it is a SATA drive. I can see all the infor regarding the drive when disk utility is open and it all looks good but I cant access it or do anything with it. It's taunting me!
The install disk is in the drive and the install program runs right up to the point where you have to select the location for the install and there is just nothing in the box where you have to select the hard drive icon.
I have my suspiscions about the drive but any help would be appreciated.

Time to Backup and Reformat My Hard Drive... Guidance Appreciated

Hello everyone, I'm hoping for a bit of moral and tech support... I have a 1.8 GHz powerPC G5, currently with 1GB of RAM (I have another gig, but was crashing with it so it's out for the moment). I installed Leopard a few days after it was out and made the mistake of not doing an archive and install. Initially I was having kernel panics, most of my Apple (mail, safari, ical, ichat...) and non-Apple apps were crashing too (quicken mostly). I removed one of my new ram chips and that helped some - the kernel panics seem to be gone, but the apps still crash daily.
As I type this, I'm doing a time machine backup to an external hard drive and am thinking that it's probably time for me to wipe my hard drive clean and do a fresh install of 10.5. So, what all should I do, besides backing everything up, as I reformat my hard drive and start fresh with Leopard?
Thanks for your help. I love so much about Leopard but can't get much done with my applications shutting down on my all the time.

I have just been through this hoop and there are two main options after you have erased and installed:-
1. Reinstall all your apps and data manually. This is the most sure fire way of avoiding problems but the most work.
2. Import apps and data from the Time Machine back up at the end of the erase and install process or with Migration assistant. Less work but you may be reimporting problems.
I actually erase and installed and then imported apps and data from a clone, and it seems to be good so far.
There is an option at the end of the erase and install, before creating a user account, to import user account etc from another machine, disk or TimeMachine. This seems easier than creating a user account and then running Migration assistant to do the same thing. Don't know if there are any pros and cons between these.
It might be worth running the Apple Hardware test from you original install disk to check there is nothing else wrong.

How can I use Time Capsule for backups and an external hard drive?

I have a large file/program on my iMacs hard drive that is 62GB and I would like to keep only things I need on my iMac. I have a 2tb time capsule currently used for backing up. It has roughly 1.66 TB free. How can I move the 62GB program onto my Time Capsule and still use it for backups? Also, is this stable? And don't worry about backing the program up because it came on 8DVD discs.
Thanks.

1. Mount the Time Capsule as a drive and drag the application over to it. If the application requires system components, those won't be transferred; if those are only data files, you may be able to drag them over as well and then create a symlink or alias to a folder enclosing their current location.
2. The application may work slowly if this is done. Note that Time Machine will eventually use up all the free space on the Time Capsule that isn't reserved by being allocated to a disk image.
(66649)

How do I backup and reformat my hard drive?

I have a gray loading bar during startup and it forces me to wait 5-10 minutes for my computer to start. This happens during every startup but does not happen when I start up using Windows 7 on my Bootcamp partition. I researched the problem and it told me to run Disk Utility. First, I verified and repaired the disk to see if that was the problem. Disk Utility fixed some errors, but the problem persisted. I verified disk and it said that my disk needed to be repaired. I booted up using my Mac OS X Snow Leopard disk and ran repair disk. It said that I should backup my data and reformat my disk. How do I do this? I've never done something like this before. I know that an external hard drive is required, so I'm prepared to order one. Additionally, how would I also backup my Bootcamp partition? I have researched that and found out about a program called WinClone that backups your partition somehow. I would appreciate it if someone could explain this to me as well. I have a Windows 7 partition. Lastly, how do you format an external FAT32 external hard drive into HFS+? And would you be able to use a HFS+ formatted hard drive on Windows 7 to store data? (Not necessarily backup)
Thanks!

Basic Backup
Get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
Silver Keeper
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
When formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the OS X installation.

IMac Had Many Issues and Now Internal Hard Drive is named Media and...

My iMac had the error where when you turned off the iMac it would freeze at the apple logo. I then tried verifying it using Disk Utility and it failed. So I just said because I have it backed up Ill reinstall mac and install the backup, but now my Internal HD became named Media and now claims to only have 0 bytes, help!

Your HDD is dead, contact Apple and see what they can do.

Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
Is there a way for me to set Time Machine to backup both my iMac's internal drive and the external hard drive that would contain my movie files? I've been using Time Machine for my backups for a few years now, but backing up the external as well has me stumped. If Time Machine could be used then all the necessary file accociations etc would be safely backed up as well - that's why I don't want to have to manually backup the external.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

7string48 wrote:
Thanks so much Pondini!! You just quickly answered a question that none of the Mac people in 3 stores or Apple Care have been able to answer.If you can format it HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
I'm not too surprised about the Apple Stores, as they don't get much training on Time Machine. But AppleCare sure ought to know.
Oh...what about if the external drive is an array...like a Drobo with it's own proprietary formatting...I guess that would not work...??
I've never used a Drobo. A number of folks here have used them as their Time Machine drives, but I don't recall seeing anyone try to back one up with TM, so can't say for sure. But if you can format it as HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
At least part of the reason is, Time Machine uses the File System Event Store, a hidden log of changes that OSX keeps on each Mac-formatted disk/partition, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up. See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of backing-up multiple volumes with Time Machine.
However, even if it will work, that may not be your best strategy, depending on your circumstances:
Since Time Machine keeps copies of things you've changed or deleted, the destination needs to be considerably larger than the data being backed-up. How much larger varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a general "rule of thumb" is, it needs at least twice the space to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
If you have a large internal HD, fairly full, plus a large external HD, and the files on the external don't change frequently, you might want to use Time Machine for the internal, and a different app to a different disk or partition, on a different schedule, for the external. Especially if space is a consideration, you might not need to keep previous versions of files on the externals. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for some alternatives.

Can time machine back up an imac and an external hard drive?

I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
Regards
Toekoms

toekoms wrote:
I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
yes, given enough space on the destination drive (your library may grow over time). also, the drive needs to be connected directly to your Mac.
you might want to make sure the drive is not excluded from TM backups by checking in system preferences > time machine > options.
also, as for moving your iTunes library, see this read for tips/instructions.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my IMac desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

Since you didn't mention what type of error message you were seeing, I'm going to guess on what is happening.
I'm guessing that since you threw away Time Machine backups, that Time Machine is probably active on your Mac. There is a chance then that the files you tossed are marked as in use. You can't delete files that are in use.
Try turning Time Machine off, then restart your Mac. Then try deleting them again.
Once done, turn Time Machine back on.
Tom

Why do I have 200 GB of "backup" on my main hard drive? Any how can I find and erase them?

I have a MBP that was recently subjected to some liquid damage and taken in for repair. While it was being repaired, I purchased a second MBP. My newest MBP is now my personal laptop, and I'm converting the old one over to a work laptop. In that process, I've upgraded to Lion, and now I'm trying to free up as much hard drive space as possible. I have already deleted all of the music, photos and videos from the hard drive. However, when I go to see how much free space I have left, it shows that I have over 200 GB of "backups" on my main hard drive.
I have never created any backups on this drive. I only used an external HD to do Time Machine backups. How can I locate these backups and delete them in order to free up the hard drive space?

When you open FINDER, is there a folder titled 'backups? If not, have to tried 'search' or 'spotlight' to locate 'backups? By any chance is your disc partitioned?
You state that you have deleted all music, photos and videos from this drive. The graphic that you included in your query shows that these are still on the disc.
The simplest way of achieving your desired result is to open Disk Utility and erase all user data. However that does not tell us what 'backups' is. Pure speculation on my part, but if the disc is partitioned, maybe that is how it is represented on the graphic.
Click on the HDD on your desk top using Command 'I' and see if available space correlates with the the above graphic. If not this suggest a software issue.
If it does, you have to locate 'backups'. As alluded to previously, try SEARCH and SPOTLIGHT. 200GB is hard to hide. Another technique is to open finder and press COMMAND 'J'. Click on 'size' and 'calculate all sizes'. If one of those files is over 200 GB, you have located your culprit.
Better yet wait for someone who knows exactly what the problem is and will give a simple answer. I admit I'm grasping at straws here, but maybe I've at least given a bit of a starting point. Good luck.
Ciao.

HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

The external drive must be connected to the Mac using either USB or FireWire
You must remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are "excluded" from backups in Time Machine Preferences.
Here's how:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Options
Look for the name of the hard drive in the list of "excluded" items and click on it to highlight it
Click the -- (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of "excluded" items....so it will now be backed up
Strongly recommend that you do the first backup using Ethenret from your computer to the Time Capsule since the entire contents of the external drive will be copied on the first pass. Ethernet will be 3-5 faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will nornally be much smaller....unless you add large files to the external drive.

Had my hard drive replaced and I've restored from TimeMachine backup. I have changed my username and now I can't access my old backups on my TimeMachine hard drive

I've recently had my hard drive replaced in the Apple Store.
I used time machine to backup and after I got my mac back with the new hard drive I restored all my files which are now on my computer and I can access it with no problems.
The problem is that I've changed my username (admin) and when I enter time machine, I can't access the backups of my old hard drive which is really frustrating.
A red negative sign appears on most folders. Also in macintosh HD/users there is a folder named with my old username and I get the same red negative sign in the folders.
Any idea what can be done about this?
If you need more info just ask.
Thanks in advance

Turn Time Machine OFF temporarily in its preference pane. Leave the window open.
Navigate in the Finder to your backup disk, and then to the folder named "Backups.backupdb" at the top level of the volume. If you back up over a network, you'll first have to mount the disk image file containing your backups by double-clicking it. Descend into the folder until you see the snapshots, which are represented by folders with a name that begins with the date of the snapshot. Find the one you want to restore from. There's a link named "Latest" representing the most recent snapshot. Use that one, if possible. Otherwise, you'll have to remember the date of the snapshot you choose.
Inside the snapshot folder is a folder hierarchy like the one on the source disk. Find one of the items you can't restore and select it. Open the Info dialog for the selected item. In the Sharing & Permissions section, you may see an entry in the access list that shows "Fetching…" in the Name column. If so, click the lock icon in the lower right corner of the dialog and authenticate. Then delete the "Fetching…" item from the icon list. Click the gear icon below the list and select Apply to enclosed items from the popup menu.
Now you should be able either to copy the item in the Finder or to restore it in the time-travel view. If you use the time-travel view, be sure to select the snapshot you just modified. If successful, repeat the operation with the other items you were unable to restore. You can select multiple items in the Finder and open a single Info dialog for all of them by pressing the key combination option-command-I.
When you're done, turn TM back ON and close its preference pane.

Time machine will not backup to empty external hard drive after replacing Mac's internal hard drive and restoring

First - I live in a tiny fishing village in Belize, so getting support here is virtually non-existent. There is no one else in my village who even uses a Mac. Recently, my hard drive in my 2012 Macbook Pro 13" went bad (said it suffered a "shock"?) and I was traveling to Cozumel, Mexico, so had it replaced there. We used an external hard drive backup to restore the data to it's last time machine backup (October of 2014). Everything was working fine, until I returned home, added some pictures, and wanted to do a fresh backup. Now, time machine will start the backup, but gets about 113,000 of 181,000 done, and it locks up. I can do nothing - everything freezes, and I have to eventually power down the computer. I even tried deleting the old backup from the external hard drive, erasing it completely, and reformatting the external hard drive using disk utility. Still locking up. It is a 5 GB external hard drive, so space shouldn't be an issue, and it was backed up to the same external hard drive previously with no issues. I'm still running Mavericks, and don't want to try to upgrade to Yosemite until I can be sure I have a backup of my old data and pictures. I am a writer, and use that to make my meager living LOL
I'm stumped. I've looked through the files endlessly but can't find anything similar to my issue. Any suggestions? I know just enough to be dangerous, and don't want to lose everything we worked so hard to retrieve when my hard drive crashed last month.
Thanks!

SMH5206 - I tried letting it sit and crank overnight twice. First time I thought it was my error causing it to lock up. Now I know better. I haven't changed any of my time machine settings - and actually never used time machine regularly. Only reason I had a fresh backup from last Oct was because I did one before I upgraded to mavericks. Everything worked fine then - and we used that to restore when the hard drive crashed and was replaced. I have actually deleted hundreds of pictures off my hard drive and one entire user, so it should actually be a much smaller backup - so if it did it before on the same external hard disk, I don't understand why it won't now. I'm really confused.
Kahjot - the external hard drive is the same one I backed up to previously - and I have completely erased it and reformatted, and the information I'm backing up now is less, so there should be no reason why it doesn't have enough room now, when there is actually less information on my current hard drive (see my reply to SMH5206). When I plug it in, it says it is a 500.07 GB WD "My Passport"
I've even tried to have time machine only backup certain files, and not the whole thing. Still locking up.
I'm sure it's my error somewhere, - I just don't know how or where

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
See #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

IMac 5,1 Backup and extension of hard drive strategy

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