Must I leave the back up hard drive on all the time?

I'm just moving up to the new iMac. When I use time machine must I leave the backup hard drive on continuously, or can I turn it on and back up incrementally?
Suggestions will be appreciated

After your first backup, all Time Machine backups are incremental.
To protect you best, leave the drive on and connected with Time Machine turned on at all times; Time Machine will do an incremental backup hourly. Backing-up less often will save very little space on your TM drive, and very little CPU.
External drives are built to run 24/7, but if you use the drive only for Time Machine, it will probably spend most of it's time sleeping.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

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I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

A erase of the drive or boot partition is not always necessary.
Flashing question mark at boot could be a easy fix, sometimes it's the firmware that simply forgot what bootable volume to boot from.
Try holding the Option key down while booting the machine, a choice of bootable options appears, select your OS X and boot up.
When you get in, head to System Preferences > Startup disk and set it again new. This will tell the firmware what to boot from. Test it to see.
Now if you don't have a selection of bootable options, it could be that the drive is dead, or OS X is erased or corrupted so it can't boot.
You'll have to run through this list of fixes to see what's going on, if you need a hardware fix or what, I've also included links if you can't fix it and need to recover your data etc.
(If it's not remmebering your boot selection then also run through the list to reset things.)
Step by Step to fix your Mac

HT201250 I had files stored on a hard drive that were not on my Mac. I used the hard drive for my first Time Machine back up, but it was not enough hard drive space to finish. Now those stored files are gone. Is there any way I can recover them?

I had files stored on a hard drive that were not on my Mac. I used the hard drive for my first Time Machine back up, but it was not enough hard drive space to finish. Now those stored files are gone. Is there any way I can recover them? No, they were not part of previous Time Machine backups, and I have checked both the hard drive the documents were lost on and the new one that I now use for backups. Any suggestions would be helpful, as the lost files are old pictures that are gone forever. :[ Thanks!

1. Yes, if both drives are formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
2. Reformat the drives if needed, open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and remove the drive with the pictures from the list of items set to be excluded.
(110331)

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

Hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

When you boot the new machine for the first time, you'll be prompted to import your data from a Time Machine backup.

I have Imac (OSX10.6.8) and 6 days of emails that were in my inbox have disappeared. They've also gone from gmail server and my back up hard drive. But if I look at "All Mail" on my Iphone the emails are there!! Have I got settings wrong somewhere?

I have Imac (OSX10.6.8) and 6 days of emails that were in my inbox have disappeared. They've also gone from gmail server and my back up hard drive. But if I look at "All Mail" on my Iphone the emails are there!! Have I got settings wrong somewhere?

"One of the benefits of Match, right? Saving hard drive space."
I would not use iTunes Match as a backup. There are too many bugs and I don't think that's what they intended it to be anyway. The main advantage of using it is to make your music available on OTHER devices, not to replace the music on your original computer.

I just installed a larger hard drive, and used my Time Machine Backup to transfer my info back to the new hard drive. When I open Iphoto, my thumnails are there, but they aren't linked back to the actual photos.I see the photos in my HD. What should I do

I just installed a larger hard drive, and used my Time Machine Backup to transfer my files back to the new hard drive. When I open Iphoto, my thumbnails are there, but they aren't linked back to the actual photos. I see the original photo files in my HD. Is there a way to link the Iphoto thumbnails back to the original files?

Use the Firewire cable and t boot the old Mac's hard drive to the new Mac's desktop and transfer your entire iPhoto folder.
Use Disk Utiliy to erase'format HFS+ Journaled your TimeMachine drive and use the free Carbon Copy Cloner and clone your new boot drive to the external, it's hold option bootable.

Is there any way to put all the music FROM my iPod back onto my computer? My school tech person not only wiped out my iTunes, the wiped out my back-up hard drive.

Is there any way to put all the music FROM my iPod back onto my computer? My school tech person not only wiped out my iTunes, the wiped out my back-up hard drive.

Hello cgbuehling
You can, but only the purchases that were made from the iTunes Store. Other content that was imported from a CD or other sources will not transfer over.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1848
Regards,
-Norm G.

When I attempt to open iphoto, I get the loading icon in the working space/picture area. If I try to reinstall ilife '11, will I lose any pictures? Where, on the hard drive, are all my pictures actually stored?

When I attempt to open iphoto, I get the loading icon in the working space/picture area. If I try to reinstall ilife '11, will I lose any pictures? Where, on the hard drive, are all my pictures actually stored?

You won't lose anything because you have a back up, right?
Most Simple Back Up
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex:
Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Back up Hard drive and I-Tunes

I had a hard drive crash. I had backed up my hard drive, previously. I did not do anything specifically for I Tunes. I got a new hard drive, upgraded the hard drive and went to OS 10.6.8.
Background. I spent the last 10 months in China. I could not use my MacBook so when I came back, I had Tiger 10.4.11 and an outdated I Tunes app. I could not synch my I tunes from what I had on my Tiger 10.4.11 Apple said that I needed at minimum Leopard, got snow leopard now.
Now I have everything upgraded and updated, I cannot get the Itunes library that is on the back up hard drive to the new I tunes app. I think my first mistake is not specifically doing anything with Itunes on my Tiger 10.4.11 back up. I assumed that the back up put all those songs podcasts, audio books onto the back up drive and then when everything is updated that I could just somehow get the old stuff onto the new app. It is not allowing me to do this and I know I am not doing something right.
Also, I asked the updated I tunes to transfer the purchases into my Itunes. It did not do this. I am just learning how to do all this. I may have lost music and I think I can get some of it back. I want what is on my I touch now to go to the app and get the stuff like apps and things like that to open up and I can click on them and get them back onto my I touch. For example, while in China, I did not have wifi, so I unclick apps such as ESPN and the Weather Channel because without wifi, they did not work. So I hope I can get some of my stuff back without losing everything.
The computer in China that had my Itunes on it, I think I trashed it and also deauthorized the computer.
Please help.

All your iTunes media is stored in /Music/iTunes Music/ so if you backed that up onto your HDD then it should be safe and sound there.
You should be able to add your backed up music to your new iTunes by going File > Add to Library and then finding the /Music/iTunes/iTunes music/ folder on your backup drive.
If you want to bring your purchased music/apps from your iPod/iPhone to your new iTunes library you'll need an app. I can't seem to find a good one but:
http://thelittleappfactory.com/irip/
looks pretty good an the littleappfactory make great software. You might be able to find a free alternative.
Best of luck!

Can I restore a new hard drive from a previous time machine back-up?

Hi there,
My MacBook Pro 13 inch is 4 years old.
The computer began to freeze/stop working, so I took it to an Apple care centre and they informed that my hard drive has crashed and has to be replaced.
Luckily, I backed up my old hard drive a few days before with an external hard drive using Time Machine. My question is: can I restore this new hard drive with my old time machine backup that is on my external hard drive? If so, how do I do this?
Thanks

Of course! If you couldn't, Time Machine would be rather worthless, now wouldn't it?
For instructions, see:
How do I restore my entire system?

Transferring music from iPhone back to hard drive

The external hard drive with all my music on it malfunctioned, so I had to delete everything. All the albums are still on my iPhone. I'm trying to work out how to transfer all the albums back from the iPhone to the hard drive. Does anyone know how to do it? It's driving me mad!!

Usually you are able to transfer your purchased songs from a device back to your computer. This is done by right clicking on the device in iTunes and selecting transfer purchases. To get other music files, you should use a third party program which will copy your songs over. Several are available, such as Pod to PC.

HT1451 restore iphone data from back up hard drive

I lost my iphone 4 and leptop with itunes programm. All I had left is back up of my leptop hard drive. Now I have new leptop and new iPhone 5, can I import telephone contacts and music from back up hard drive, they should be there somewhare?

If you had a backup in the backup of the old computer you will want to restore the computer backup to the new computer and then make sure that the newest iTunes is installed. Then you should be able to use iTunes to restore your backup.
Hope this helps!

What do I have to do to set up my old G4 as a back-up hard drive ?

I want to connect my iMac with my G4 with a firewire, but I need to know a few things: a) How do I start up this system ? Do I start up my old computer or just plug it in? Will my iMac recognize the G4? b) Do I need to format the old hard drive? I still have back up information on that and want it saved. I know that I can't use the old Classic system on it, but if I start up the old system on my G4 will it mess up the new iMac? I have never done anything like this before so I'm in need of advice from someone who has had this experience or has the training to advise me. Thank you for your assistance.

As far as saving your old info from the G4, you didn't mention which OS X you are using on the G4, so start by referring to this article:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1872713&#1872713
If you're planning on using the entire G4 computer as only a back-up hard drive, that seems as if it would be rather a heavy user of electricity to perform a job such as using Time Machine with an external hard drive. For one thing, the external hard drive for Time Machine needs to be larger than the drive that you'd be backing up. It will also be very inconvenient to always be starting up in Firewire Target mode just to backup with Time Machine.
You could either buy a self-contained external hard drive, or instead a hard drive enclosure (such as an Icy Dock) into which you could insert a bare hard drive which you already own or purchase separately.
Message was edited by: myhighway

Must I leave the back up hard drive on all the time?

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