Move external HD to a new drive, but have Time Machine think it's the same?

I have two external drives, one for data and one for Time Machine backups. Time Machine backs up both my internal HD and my external HD. My external HD is dying, so I bought a new one and plan to migrate the data over.
Is it possible to somehow move the data to the new HD and still have Time Machine think that the new HD is the old one, since the data is the same? I usually just use Finder to move files from the old HD to new one (and then remove the old HD and rename the new one to use the same name), but from what I understand that wouldn't copy over the Time Machine data, however.

In most of the cases, that Disk Utility message means that the hard drive is damaged.
However, you can try to erase the disk and restore the Time Machine backup to see if it works. Follow these steps:
1. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and press the C key while your Mac is starting.
2. Go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk. If there's an error during this step, take the Mac to an Apple Store to get a new hard drive.
3. Close Disk Utility, go to Utilities menu, choose the option to restore a Time Machine backup and follow the steps.
If the computer is slow after doing this, take the Mac to an Apple Store as soon as you can

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Were you not plugged in via USB to begin with?
I would recommend performing some resets just to be on the safe side. Unplug the external HD, and try these steps:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

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I have a book file that I need to export into an epub.

Synching has nothing to do with the version you use. Synchronizing would change formatting and if the styles are defined different it could result in a mess.
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I moved my iMovie event folder and my itunes music folder to a new internal drive on my Mac Pro. When I back up my data, time machine says that I don't have enough space on the drive. I want Time machine to recognize the new folder locations with out backing them up as two separate folders. How can I fix this? I don't want to erase time machine and start from scratch.

What kind of external drive do you have and do you have software installed that came with it?
Pete

New TC but now Time Machine can't find network backup drives

I had a 2 GB TC replaced under warranty (many thanks to LaPastenague who suggested I may be able to get a replacement under warranty). Configured the TC using Airport Utility, and after a bit of messing around (had to delete and re-find the USB printer) everything seemed to be working fine. However ....
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Manually mount the directory in finder.
This is so much more important on Mavericks than it used to be due to its default to SMB networking.
I guess I also do not know if you should mount this via AFP or SMB but try both.
So in Finder.. Go.. connect to server.
Type in the actual name or IP of the device.
AFP://MBW.local/WD_Backup (where MBW is the network name of the device. local is the domain (assuming it is connected to the TC))
No luck try AFP://MBWIPaddress where you simply type in the IP.
You might find it is easier to pick up the directory from the other Mac where it is working.
Click on Get Info and look at the directory URL info.
If no luck use SMB://MBW.local etc.
Come back to us if it still does not show up.

HT201250 I have 2 Lacie external drives connected to a Windows PC. What is the best scenario for backing up files on both computers? I would like to save all my files on one backup drive and have Time Machine backup that external drive to the other.

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I'm in a similar situation including movies I've purchased from iTunes...
Here's my setup:
I have all my iTunes data (music, movies, etc.) as well as about 10 GB of photos stored on a nework storage device that uses RAID-5 with SATA disks. This is basically a little toaster-sized NAS machine with four hard drives in it (www.infrant.com). If one of these drives dies, I get alerted and can insert a new one without missing a beat since the data is stored redundantly across all drives. I can also just yank out any one of the four drives while the thing is running and my data is still safe (I tried this after I bought it as a test).
That's how I prevent problems with a single disk... Redundancy
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Nightly, my little RAID toaster automatically backs itself up to an attached 250GB USB drive. However, these backups are only of my critical data... documents, photos and home movies... I don't bother backing up my "Hollywood" movies since I can live without them in a disaster.
... I actually don't permanently store anything I care about on a laptop or a desktop. It all goes on the NAS box (Network Sttached Storage) and then my other computers use it as a network drive. It's attached via Gigbait to my main computer and via wireless to most everything else.
My achilles heel is that I don't store anything outside of my house yet. If I was smart, I'd alternate two USB drives attached to my NAS box and always keep one of them somewhere else (Safe Deposit Box?).
...and that's just one way to do it.
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When backing up using the G Drive on using time machine my wife drops the icon into the trash icon on the loading dock. I told her this was not correct. Who is right? Thanks in Advance.

Folks,
I found my wife dropping the icon of her backup file into the trash icon on the dock. She had just completed using Time machine and when to uninstall the Gdrive. I told her this was an erroneous practice. She disagreed. Who is right?
Thanks in advance.

http://www.g-technology.com/kbase/files/G-RAID-Manual-Unmount.pdf
Hope this helps.

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*Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
*AdwCleaner: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
*SuperAntispyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/
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I have suddenly become unable to access photo library iPhoto (vers 9.5) on my external drive. And time Machine will no longer back up to the same external (LaCie) drive. Appreciate all suggestions. The drive does show up on my desktop....

I have suddenly become unable to access photo library (iPhoto vers 9.5) on my external hard drive. Also time machine isnt backing up to same external hard drive (LaCie). The drive does show up on the desk top, but when i open iPhoto the library isnt listed, so I cant option click.

First, one should not try to run an iPhoto library from the same volume/drive that is being used by Time Machine for backups. TM will continue to fill up the drive thus squeezing out iPhoto from being able to be opened and used. Also that doesn't allow you to let TM backup your library as it does with other files on your boot drive.
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OT

Backing up External drives to Time Machine - what happens if the drives are not connected at the same time?

I have 2 x 1 TB drive that I use interchangeably. 1 holds Video and the other Photos. I only have 1 connected when I'm working (using Premiere or Lightroom). I have a 2 TB NAS for making redundant copy of the other 2 drives.So far I've been doing the copying manually.
I'm considering of using Time Machine to make proper backup sets (though I'm always only interested in the latest set). I know that I can set Time Machine to backup to Nas over the network and include any external drives connected to the mac at the time.
The questions now are:
Will Time Machine fails if it can't find any of the external drives?
Does Time Machine handle backing up the external drives one at a time - only when it's connected - without thinking the files on the "missing" (or disconnected) volume had been deleted?
Thanks

Hi Ronald,
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http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html

Help!Traded baseline retina for mid-level. Used time machine to restore files but now time machine ridiculously slow. WHY??

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See Pondoni's tip - Backup is slow or seems "hung" - maybe it will be of some assitance.
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Essentially, I just want to turn on my laptop and be ready to roll, start up Time Machine and start the copying of files to the new HDD...
Can this be done?
Thanks!

Hi petrucci666;
You will be using an external for Time Machine?
If you have your system and Time Machine on Partition on the same drive when you lose the drive, which is the most common occurrence, then you lose everything.
Allan

I use an external hard drive as a Time Machine back up, but I want to use another external hard drive to save movies, photos on it, but it won't give me the option to save anything on the new external hard drive. Nothing is wrong with the external hard.

I use an external hard drive as a Time Machine back up, but I want to use another external hard drive to save movies, photos on it, but it won't give me the option to save anything on the new external hard drive. Nothing is wrong with the external hard.

Hi Clarkett99,
To use an external hard drive for your iTunes library, see the steps in this article -
iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
iPhoto can be used in a similar way, follow the steps in this previous discussion -
how do I save photos and their albums...: Apple Support Communities
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3744259
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

HT201250 Hi, I hope this question won't seem too basic but if I want to use a new larger external drive for my time machine backups, will it do a new full backup the first time I plug it in and if so, do I really need all the old backups on my smaller ext

Hi, I hope this question won't seem too basic but if I want to use a new larger external drive for my time machine backups, will it do a new full backup the first time I plug it in and if so, do I really need all the old backups on my smaller external drive?

50maz wrote:
Hi, I hope this question won't seem too basic but if I want to use a new larger external drive for my time machine backups, will it do a new full backup the first time I plug it in
Yes, it will do a full backup.
and if so, do I really need all the old backups on my smaller external drive?
Only if you want to be able to go back in time to those previous Time Machine backups. When you plug in the new larger external drive, you will only be able to go back as far as the first day you plugged it in and ran the first Time Machine backup on it.

Move external HD to a new drive, but have Time Machine think it's the same?

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