Is it possible to set up a backup between two external drives

Is it possible to set up a backup between two external drives?
i use time machine to back up my imac onto an external 2T.
i also have two external 3T drives.  i am looking for redundancy of data, tried software RAID and it failed.  i also see some limitations with RAID that a backup would avoid.
thanks for sharing your expertise.
be well,
tony

so thanks to all of you, particularly rkaufmann87 i have decided to stop the plan of setting up a software RAID set.  instead i have downloaded ccc and am in the process of setting up the secone 3t external drive as a clone.  i will use time machine to back up the internal hard drive only and if possible see if i can clone that as well onto one of the 3t's.
this gives me the peace of mind i sounght and avoids the problem of total corruption that exists with the raid solution i was exploring.
thank you all for making this an enjoyable and informative experience.  what a powerful community.
be well
tony

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine backups to two external drives?

    Hi,
    I'm wondering if there is a way to use Time Machine to back up the same data to two or more external drives?
    For that matter... I only have certain folders I need backed up. Can it be set up to do this?
    I don't have it yet and couldn't find a definitive answer.
    thanks,
    Andrew

    I'm wondering if there is a way to use Time Machine to back up the same data to two or more external drives?
    You can use Time Machine to backup to multiple drives, but you'll have to manually switch target drives in Time Machine Options when you want backups to go to a different device.
    For that matter... I only have certain folders I need backed up. Can it be set up to do this?
    Not easily. Time Machine backs up everything unless you exclude each item that you +do not+ want to be backed up. SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner may do what you need to do a lot more easily.

  • Is it possible to backup between 2 external drives?

    I've searched answers in the community and can't find one that specifcally addresses my needs.
    Let me first provide some context for my question.
    I am a writer and author, and plan to move from an early 2009 iMac to a MacBook Pro Retina. I plan to use it as a desktop with an external monitor and keyboard and have the benefit of occassional using it as a portable on it's own. The storage space is more limited than on my iMac. Therefore, I'm planning to have a lot of my files such as photos etc on the external drive and probably have some of my documents stored on it as well.
    Given that my writing is my living, I am paranoid about losing data. I currently back up to an external drive that I use for Time Machine, and also using other means back up to two additional external drives. In addition my writing backsup to cloud storage.
    This may seem a bit paranoid but I did have the experience a few years back where the drive failed on my Mac AND the external drive failed. So now I take care because a loss could mean losing years of reasearch and work.
    So, my question is, with now files being stored off on an external drive, is there software that will automatically synch, back up or replicate one external drive to another? This would be in addition and supplemental to backing on on a drive reserved for Time Machine.
    Thanks!

    Hi Gemma,
    This happens because your original IE window is being used to display the second web site, thereby removing the first.
    To have two open web sites you need two IE windows so that you can switch between them. In effect you open the second web site in a new IE window. If you click on 'file' then 'new -> window' this will open a second IE window where you can browse independently of the first window. You can have multiple windows open in this way.
    regards,

  • Can Time Machine Backup to Two Different Drives?

    I have many Apple Computers, and I was wondering if it were possible to have time machine backup to two different drives.
    I want it to back up My documents, Mail, and other files/folders that I access often to a partition of my internal drive every minute.
    And
    I want it to back up Everything on my Mac to my external each night upon connecting it to my mac.
    I take my MacBook everywhere with me and I need to make sure that the files I work on the most stay Perfectly Accessible no matter what, and I don't want to sacrifice too much space for that procedure. I would rather just be able to do constant backups of my most used files and folders, and then do a system backup each night to make sure I always have what is needed.

    Let me add some more observations. I use two disks, one at home (its a mounted volume on another Mac at home) and the other is a portable disk that I attach to my MBP at work. This works fine.
    About your details - TM backs up every hour. If you look around you'll find some posts that give instructions on changing the frequency (I haven't paid attention to these, so I can't help you). However, backing up to another partition on the same drive is not what I'd recommend. If the drive dies, you may lose both partitions.
    As for doing constant backups of the most used files and at night doing a system backup - it seems to me you aren't "getting" TM. This sounds like the type of backup strategy one uses with "regular" backup software. I don't think I'd recommend backups every minute, but for short intervals, why not just do a default backup of everything. It doesn't really back up everything, just things that have changed. The only time it does a complete backup is the first time you use it with a specific drive. After that it no longer does complete backups, unless you reformat the drive and start from scratch.

  • Time Machine Backup across multiple external drives

    Hello all-
    I have about 1.5 TB of data in my computer (video editing- fills things up fast)... I was wondering if it were possible to tell Time Machine to recognize multiple external drives as the backup volume? I'm not talking about creating cloned backups of my data on different drives, I'm talking about plugging in three 1TB external drives and having Time Machine use them as targets for the backup image.
    Thanks

    Yes, you can use Disk Utility to create a +Concatenated Raid Set,+ also known as a JBOD (Just a bunch of disks). See the Help for Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
    This is kind of the opposite of partitioning: it combines 2 or more disks into a single volume. The three disks won't appear on your desktop or Finder sidebar individually, just the one volume.
    I'm not sure that's necessarily the best solution, though. Is all that data on a single internal HD, or do you have, say, OSX, applications, and most of your data on one drive, and media on a second? If so, it might be better to use TM on your main OSX drive, and something else, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! on the media.
    That would greatly reduce the time needed for a restore, as you'd only have to restore the drive that failed.
    It could also reduce the amount of storage needed, as you might not need (or want) TM's hourly backups of the media files, and keeping all the previous versions. Using another app would allow you to back that data up somewhat less frequently, such as once or twice a day.
    But, of course, it all depends on your situation and preferences. As usual, there are many options.

  • Time machine backup with 2 external drives?

    i got myself an external hard drive to use with my MBP. I do a lot of filmwork in imovie for my artwork, and have found my internal hard drive filling up fast.
    So i bought a second hard drive yesterday. I'm hoping to backup my files on the external drives so i can erase the files on my MBP and keep it fairly free to record more film.
    Is there a way to simultaneously backup to both external drives? or to move files from one external drive to another quickly? I am a complete newbie to macs (and technology for that matter) so simple words work best smile
    thanks!

    dman8950 wrote:
    Hello
    Does anyone know if it's possible to use two separate external drives in Time Machine to backup different parts of my mbp hard drive? That is, I want to use ex.drive1 to back up work files at work and ex.drive2 to back up personal files at home. In time machine options, I can set the folders for exclusion, but currently have to set those each time I back up at home/work.
    There's no easy way to do that with Time Machine. As you see, it only has one set of exclusions and one destination drive at a time.
    In theory, and if you're careful, you might be able to manipulate the preference file where all that's stored. Set TM up for home, say, then copy or rename that version. Then set it up for work and do the same.
    The file is at the top level of your drive, not in your home folder:
    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
    You could probably write an Automator workflow or AppleScript to simplify swapping the files.
    Otherwise, two alternatives:
    Back up everything in both places.
    Use Time Machine at home, and a different app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, at work, or vice-versa.

  • Splitting backup between two EHDs?

    I hope to buy a new iMac this week. The HD is 640GB, if I remember right. My EHD for backups is only 300 GB, which is enough for right now, but I'm not sure what to do when I get more than 300 GB of data on my computer!
    Would it be better just to buy a bigger EHD? Or can I use Time Machine to split my backups between two smaller EHDs? (For example, my jpg-containing folders would always back up to one EHD, while my png-containing folders would always back up to the other.)
    I'd really rather just buy a second 300 GB EHD, if possible, because then I can start using it right away for selective duplicate backups of my really important stuff. Just not sure how that will work when I get more than 300GB of data on my computer.
    Thanks!

    Time Machine can not work with more than one backup drive.
    The rule of thumb for a TM drive is to size it to twice the size of the drive you want to back up. TM is not just a simple backup program. One very important reason to use TM is to be able to restore deleted or older versions of files. This requires more storage than just the size of the boot drive.
    External hard drives are usually fairly easy to upgrade by purchasing a larger drive and installing it into the external case.
    You can also choose to exempt certain large collections of data from the TM backup, like music, video, photos, or folders and then use a program like SuperDuper to run a schedule to back those folders up to a different drive on a regular basis.
    You could also use your exising drive as a bootable backup with your OS and most important files copied on a regular basis with a program like SuperDuper! so that you have a bootable backup to test with, or to continue work with in the event your main drive fails.

  • Transfer Time Machine backup from one external drive to another

    Surely this has been covered, but I can't find it.
    If you have your time machine backup on an external drive and get a new (larger) external drive, what is the best way to transfer the backup from one drive to the other (and define the new drive as the backup drive)? Straight copy ? Then to define the new drive, rename old drive to something else and name new drive the backup name?

    I haven't tried this yet but a few other methods are described at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071128055047339

  • Had PSE 8 installed on PC Windows 7 with a catalog backup on an external drive. Now have a Mac with OS Mavericks. If I install PSE 12 or Lightroom on this Mac can I use the cat. backup from Windows or must I start from scratch

    Had pse 8 on a Windows 7 PC with a catalog backup on an external drive. Now have a Mac with OS Mavericks. If install pse 12 or Lightroom on the Mac will I be able to use the old catalog backup or must I start from scratch.

    If you made a full catalog backup using the organizer's backup command, and you did it to a removable drive, yes, you can restore it to the mac. A backup made on discs will not work, though.

  • Is it possible to store all iTunes files on an external drive?

    Is it possible to store all iTunes files on an external drive? I'd like to free up space on my Mac Book Air and iTunes is the largest space hog. What can I store on my 1TB external drive and delete from the laptop's hard drive?

    Drag the iTunes library there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and navigate to that instance of it.
    (85793)

  • Is it possible to run my iTunes solely from an external drive?

    I'm a college student and don't have my own computer anymore, and I currently use campus computers and library computers (No admin priviledges).
    I currently have all my previous iTunes music backed up on my external drive, and I have the iTunes package (The install package you download from Apple) also on there as well.
    I'm basically wondering if I can install iTunes onto my external drive, open it from there, and also be able to access my music from there as well?
    To give more clarification, I want to be able to go to a college or library computer (These computers are running on Windows XP or 7), be able to open iTunes from my external drive, and be able to manage and use my library from there.
    With college and library computers, you don't have the admin rights to install iTunes. However, I do have friends that will let me use their computer to install iTunes onto my external drive (If that is possible). So not being able to install iTunes because of lack of admin priviledges is a barrier I can get through.
    How ever I don't know if it's possible to run, and open iTunes from an external drive, and be able to open and use my iTunes library from there.
    And help would be great.
    Thanks in advance!

    how would I go about putting my iTunes library on an external drive?
    It depends on where your library is now and how it's organized. If you have all your content and library files in a single iTunes folder, drag the entire iTunes folder (the _entire_ folder, _not_ just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Shift key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location. Note that this procedure assumes that all of your tracks are contained in the iTunes Music folder. If they're scattered around your volumes, moving them becomes much more complex. Don't delete the tracks from the old location until you've confirmed that they're working correctly from the external drive
    Also is it possible to get past administrator rights, to install iTunes and delete iTunes each time I use a computer that I don't have administrator rights to? That way I can still use iTunes.
    No, it's not possible. As with most applications, you need administrator rights to install iTunes.
    Regards.

  • Errors when transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive.

    Hello,
    I need some help transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive. Let me explain what happened.
    I have a Mac OSX Mountain Lion that was upgraded to Mavericks when the upgrade came out. Prior to upgrading, I've been backing up  WD Passport Mac with the proprietary software "WD Unlocker on it". It worked flawlessly but after upgrading to Mavericks, I decided to backup and noticed that once i inserted the WD Passport, my screen will flicker, windows will close and reappear.
    I decided to read up on this and discovered that Mavericks is not compatible with the "WD Unlocker " program on the Passport drive. Since I already have a backup in place, i decided to restore my computer to factory settings and when I attached the Passport drive with my backup on it, My device will see the backup but it will keep spinning for hours without restoring my backup. I decided to read further on this and I got the same Mavericks compatibility conclusion.
    I then copied my entire backups.backupdb folder to my Mac desktop and formatted my WD Passport external drive and got rid of the proprietary software "WD Unlocker".. Once this was completed, I then tried to copy my backups.backupdb folder to my external drive within finder. Each time i tried, i get error messages and permission messages. Even when i changed the permission on the backups.backupdb folder to read & write for everyone, i still get the permissions error.
    Please helppppp. I have over 500gb of vital data in my backup.
    Thank you.

    Since you don't really have a question, I will give you a very broad information source for the next time you have a Time Machine question.
    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
    Oh, you cannot use a computer whose only disk drive is the target of a an OS X cloning operation regardless of what software is used for the clone. You can, however, use the source drive except if you try to clone using Disk Utility.

  • I had a HD failure on my MBP, luckily i had a full backup on an external drive. However, my new drive had Maverick installed, my photo's were in a 9.2.3 version of iPhoto. Now I can't move my library across. Help !

    I had a HD failure on my MBP, luckily i had a full backup on an external drive. However, my new drive had Maverick installed, my photo's were in a 9.2.3 version of iPhoto. Now I can't move my library across. Help !

    my photo's were in a 9.2.3 version of iPhoto. Now I can't move my library across. Help
    What exactly is the problem?
    You are now running Mavericks. What version of iPhoto do you now have installed? If you restored  an iPhoto 9.2.3 version, it will not work with Mavericks, you first need to update iPhoto to the current version 9.5.1.  Check, if you are seeing an update on the "updates" tab of the App Store, when you sign in with your Apple iD, or on the "Purchased" tab in the "Accept" portion of the tab.
    What kind of backup of your iPhoto library do you have?

  • Can't set up Time Machine to backup to WD external drive

    Hi, I have a WD external drive that I want to use to back up my Mac book Pro 10.8 files.
    I connected the WD to the computer's USB and it appears in the "Devices" list in the Finder Window.
    I opened "System Preferences / Time Machine" switched it to "On", clicked the option "Other Time Capsule" and the "Set up..." button
    A new screen opened and I couldn't find the option to choose the WD drive as the Time Machine backup location.
    This screen only says:
    "no new Airport base stations discovered"
    "no remote Airport base stations discovered"
    "no configured Airport base stations have been found. AirPort utility will continue searching"
    Am I doing something wrong? Why can't I find the option to save the backup to the WD drive?
    Thanks

    Not only should it be OSX Extended (journaled), it should also
    be repartitioned to a GUID partition format.  Click Partition tab
    is Disk Utility (make sure you have the WD drive selected),
    reset to create one or however many partitions you want,
    click the Options button.  Select GUID partition map, then
    repartition.

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

    I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
    The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
    I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
    I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
    What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
    Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
    If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
    Thanks
    Andrew

    Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
    Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
    Appreciate your help Csound1.
    Regards
    Andrew

Maybe you are looking for