Need a good Desktop HD for Time Machine

I'm in search of a good Hard Disk for my iMac that will be used solely with Time Machine. I recently purchased (and returned) a LaCie P'9321 due to it incompatibility with a Mac. So I'm looking for a HD that will give me no problems and is in the range of $150. Thank you.

There are many good ones, though of course none can be guaranteed to never have a problem. I've been quite happy with the units from OWC. I have several of the Mercury Elite Pro and have never had any problems.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
Regards.
Disclaimer: any product suggestion and link given is strictly for reference and represents my opinion only. No warranties express or implied. I get no personal benefit from the sale of any product I may recommend in any of my posts in the Discussions. Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited. You must be this tall to ride. Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear. Preservatives added to improve freshness. No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

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Need advice on best approach for Time Machine on Macbook

I have several external disks attached to my iMac, one of which is the Time Machine disk for that computer. I just got a Macbook for my wife and I am trying to figure out the best way to use Time Machine with it. I am thinking the easiest would be to add another external hard disk to my iMac, make it sharable and have the Macbook Time Machine backup over the wireless network to that disk. That way it can back up no matter where it is in the house.
But I am new enough to the Mac that I don't know if that is 1) possible 2) the easiest. I got the sense that I could buy an Airport and attach a hard disk to that but it seemed like a kind of expensive solution.
Any comments/ideas? I am trying to do this as simply as possible without it costing a bunch.

bobmcgraw
Yes, in theory. This is exactly how i have been using time machine... however I have just come up against a major issue with this.
I was backing up my Macbook Air, by using a drive attached to my iMac, and the iMac was sharing the drive. I could happily connect, and configure time machine on the Macbook to use the drive, and away it went.....
Looking at the drive itself, I had a folder for my imac backups... and for the Macbook there was a 'sparsebundle' image.
All seemed well, and Time Machine functioned as expected on the Macbook Air.
The problem occurred when I decided to replace my Macbook Air with a new macbook. Once I had set up the new machine, I thought I could use the time machine backup to restore the new macbook with the old macbook Air's details (in much the same way as I would assume that I could restore back to a new unit if the old machine had failed).
Even with the time machine volume mounted on the new Macbook, the 'sparsebundle' Macbook air was simply not recognised as a backed up machine. Whenever I tried to use the migration assistant to restore back my data, the ONLY time machine backup that it would find on my Time Machine drive was the iMac's one... not the Macbook Air's.
So.... in short... If you chose this option, It is fine for backing up, and restoring as far as it goes... but beware if you ever need to restore the machine in its entirety using migration assistant or the like - as it doesn't seem to work.
Now I have discovered this, I really need to re-think my setup - perhaps share the volume by plugging it into my Airport Extreme Base Station.
The unfortunate situation is that the current backup is absolutely useless in its present form, as one of the things I need to protect myself against is machine failure,and I need to be able to restore a new machine to look like the old one. In this situation I was able to connect BOTH old and new macbooks to the network, and use migration assistant to migrate from one to the other. All was well there, but this would not have been an option if I did not have access to both machines.

Do I need to encrypts backup disk for Time Machine to encrypt backups?

I have a new LaCie disk that I want to dedicate as my backup. In case it is ever stolen, I don't want others to be able to retrieve files.
I've seen screen shots where Time Machine has a checkbox "Encrypt backups". This seems like what I want, right?
But I'm first erasing the disk to get it ready for backups. Do I choose:
"Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" or
"Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)"
I.e. will the option in Time Machine not appear unless I format the drive as encrypted?
Thanks.

See #31
Time Machine FAQ

Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

Do I need to use all the hard drive for time machine or can I partition it

You cannot partition a TC disk.
See pondini about mixing data and backups.. but remember this.. the TC has no way to back itself up and TM cannot backup files on the TC. Anything not backed up on the TC will be lost at some future point.
http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html

I just purchased Time Capsule today. I ONLY want to use it as an external drive. I do not need it for Time Machine. I can see the TC in my finder, but when I click on a file or video to drag and drop, I get message that TC can't be modified. Help please

I just purchased Time Capsule today. I ONLY want to use it as an external drive. I do not need it for Time Machine. I need to free up room on my computer. As of now, I can't even load updates. I can see the TC in my finder, but when I click on a file or video to drag and drop, I get message that TC can't be modified. Help please!

I agree with Kappy.. passing files and especially via wireless is slow as slow.
Just need to be sure your TC is the new AC model??
And the OS on the computer is Lion?
Have you completed the setup of the TC via the utility? You do still need to get internet via the TC so it has to be plugged into the main router..
Give us the full picture of the network.
Then we can help you get into it.. whether you should put your files on it is another question.

I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?

I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?

If the external drive can be seen at all in Disk Utility, follow the instructions for repair here.

Does an external hard drive ALWAYS need to be connected to my mbp with retina display for Time Machine?

Does an external hard drive ALWAYS need to be connected to my mbp (OS 10.10.1) with retina display for Time Machine? Or can it be connected once a week or whenever I want? I used to have an external drive always connected to my previous mbp, but it made moving my mbp around a bit of a hassle with it connected...

When the backup drive is not connected, some of the free space on the internal drive will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. Local snapshots will protect you from unintended file deletions, but not from a drive failure. You should only go as long between backups as you're willing to lose data. If losing a week's worth of work is acceptable to you, then that backup frequency is OK. Otherwise, it isn't.

I need to configure a new hard disk as backup disk for time machine. The set up program is running and it says it will take 9 days to backup about 56 GB. Is it normal ?

I need to configure a new hard disk as backup disk for time machine.
The set up program is running since two hours and it says it will take 9 days to backup about 56 GB.
Is it normal ?

Roberto 17 wrote:
I started this morning at 12 and after 5 hours now the backup is about 6 GB up on 56 GB.
The new HD is a WD My Passport Edge 500 GB capacity
5 hours to do 6 GB of transfer is NOT normal, even for USB 2.0 so there's something wrong here. I'd say cancel it, wipe the drive and then test the integrity of the drive. Do some file transfers over to and see if it's behaving normally. It could be a bad USB cable, it could be a bad drive or bad enclosure. As it's new, I suspect you haven't really put it through its paces yet and it's important to do that first before commissioning it to serve as your "reliable backup."

Need a external HD 40% bigger than internal for Time Machine backups??

I've heard that using Time Machine as my backup program I need a hard drive that's about 40% bigger than the source (internal) hard drive I want to backup. Some in these forums have said I need a external HD 2x or 3x as big as the internal hard drive for Time Machine backups!
What's your general rule, and does Apple recommend a certain percentage increase of the target over the source hard drive?

There is no set rule, except that the drive being used for Time Machine must be at least as large as the data (not drive) being backed up.
So if you have an internal 500GB drive, but you only have 300GB full, and with exclusions (things that you select NOT to back up), only 200GB needs to be backed up, then a 320GB external drive could do an adequate job (even though the internal drive is 500GB).
During the first backup, Time Machine will back up everything (that is everything you have set it to backup). So the external drive volume used for the backup must be at least the size of the data being backed up. After that, Time Machine creates an incremental backup states every hour, for things that changed during that hour. But because it is Time Machine and not just Backup Machine, the previous versions of the files that changed are also retained. Therefore, over time, the Time Machine backup archive will take up more and more space.
Once you run out of space, Time Machine will tell you and start deleting the oldest backup states to make room for the newest states. So if you have a really huge volume for your Time Machine backup, you can +go back in time+ further (probably back to the date you started using Time Machine) than if you have an adequate but smaller size drive for that purpose.

What size HDD do you need for Time Machine is it the size of iMac HDD?

Ok, looking to buy iMac, to use Time machie do you need the same size HDD that is in your iMac? ie Im looking at getting the 250Gb iMac, so do I need a 250Gb external HDD to use time machine?
I plan to also get a NAS drive so can time machine be used with this or do you need n external HDD attached direct to the iMac all the time to use time machine?
cheers

the loc-man wrote:
so you can pick and choose what backup? eg Music, Pics, Docs, emails etc?
Yes you can choose everything or just parts.
does it compress stuff though to utilize the space better?
No, look here for more detail. http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html
its not like a ghost image?
Not that I know of.
so if the iMac had to be re-installed could you then reconnect the Time machine HDD and restore everything?
You could insert the Leopard disk and instead of doing a new install you could restore directly from the Time Machine Back Up. This depends on if you do a full back up or just parts of your system. Either way it is easy to recover your system using Time Machine.
Also if the external HDD is used for time machine is that all it can be used for? or can you also use it on other computers both Mac and PC?
It is best if you use Time Machine on a partition by itself. Then the other partition can be used for normal stuff.

Green Desktop Icon (for the external HD) for Time Machine

After I choosed my external Lacie HD as the BackUp Volume for Time Machine, the icon (on the Desktop) didn't change into the green (original) Time Machine Volume. How can I change that? Thanks a lot for your help, Beat.

I had a similar problem where my HD desktop icon originally changed to the green TM icon then reverted back to the original icon after I made some changes to TM preferences. To get the green TM icon back select the HD icon on your desktop and Get Info (Command-I). At the top of the Get Info dialog box next to the drive's name, click on the icon of the HD. It should have a light blue halo around it when selected. Once selected press the Delete key and the green TM HD icon should appear in place of the original HD icon.
That worked for me.

Need advice on new hard drive for Time Machine, and have Firewire questions

I have an Intel iMac 2.66GHz with 500GB internal drive. I am going to buy an OWC 1TB drive to use for Time Machine.
I also have an older 160GB external drive with Firewire 400. I'd like to continue using it for extra storage, and would like both the iMac's internal drive and the 160GB external drive to be backed up to the new drive.
OWC's 1TB drive is available with Firewire 400 & USB 2. For an additional $30, it will also have Firewire 800. If I get the Firewire 800 drive and daisy-chain the iMac > new 1TB drive > old 160GB drive, will the iMac to 1TB drive run at 800, or will the 160GB drive's limitation of Firewire 400 pull the speed of the whole connection down to 400? (If the latter is true, then it would be a waste of money to get Firewire 800.)
Also, will it make much difference whether I use Firewire 800 or 400 for a drive dedicated to Time Machine?
Finally, the 1TB drive with a 32MB cache costs $20 more than one with a 16MB cache. Is a 32MB cache worth the extra expense for using with Time Machine?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Patrick Houlihan

Patrick Houlihan wrote:
If I get the Firewire 800 drive and daisy-chain the iMac > new 1TB drive > old 160GB drive, will the iMac to 1TB drive run at 800, or will the 160GB drive's limitation of Firewire 400 pull the speed of the whole connection down to 400? (If the latter is true, then it would be a waste of money to get Firewire 800.)
I believe it will operate the entire bus at the slowest speed, but can't say for sure.
Finally, the 1TB drive with a 32MB cache costs $20 more than one with a 16MB cache. Is a 32MB cache worth the extra expense for using with Time Machine?
I went with the cheaper, smaller cache OWC drives for my backups on the theory that if caches speed repeated access of the same data, and a backup is always a single-pass stream of non-repeating data, then with a backup the data that goes in the cache doesn't need to be fetched again and therefore the cache isn't much help for backups. I'd love to hear if that's true.
I didn't answer the one about FireWire 800 for Time Machine because my Time Machine backups are over the network to Time Capsule. However, having a faster Time Machine drive interface should be faster. FireWire 800 certainly speeds things up for non-Time Machine backup software like SuperDuper which I also use.

WD My Book Studio Edition II - any good for Time Machine?

Hello all,
A quick question regarding the Western Digital *My Book Studio Edition II*. Is it any good as a Time Machine drive?
Our 1.5TB Maxtor OneTouch™ III Turbo Edition is loud, but runs problem free for Time Machine. So far all our Maxtor drives have been reliable. But the price for the WD is almost a third of the Maxtor, so time for a change...
Amazon users say it has FireWire related issues. Has anyone else had these problems? Would love to know as the price seems very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WDH2Q20000N-Studio-Interface/dp/B0016P7H3Q /ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241609711&sr=8-1
Appreciate any and all help. Thanks in advance.
Jim.

This is what I have:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW934AL2/
And in it I put two 640 Caviars. Software from OWC allows me to separate the two drives if that's what I wish. I did at first but then went back to their set up and just partitioned down the middle, one for cloning, one for TM. Works pretty well. The software allows one to create a Mirrored Raid also.
I have another back up clone so I'm not worried about losing a drive in the set up. Besides, in almost 20 years I've never had an HD fail. And in regard to the OPs first choice, the My Book, which personally would you rather see go? The one entire My Book unit, or a single $80 HD in an enclosure?
Drobo... impressive and very expensive, was that the point of mentioning it? We're talking about Time Machine here.

Using External Hard Drive For Time Machine

Hi. I will be buying a new iMac and plan to use an external hard drive by Lacie for Time Machine backups. I haven't used an external hard drive for this purpose before -- previously I've always used Apple's Time Capsule. So, I don't know if I can leave the Lacie hard drive unejected and powered on even when I've shut the computer down. The Time Capsule never needs ejecting from the desktop and is always on, but I'm not sure if the same can be done with an external hard drive when using it for time machine backups.
So, I just need to know if, when using an external hard drive such as a Lacie for Time Machine backups, I can 1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer? and 2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
I'd appreciate any advice or information.
Thanks in advance.
John

pulp3au wrote:
1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer?
What are you referring with "unejected"? You should know that LaCie drives have got three modes: "On" (permanently turned on), "Auto" (when you turn off your computer, your external disk turns off or you unmount it) and "Off". Choose the one you want.
pulp3au wrote:
2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
Of course. You can leave the external disk turned on when your Mac is turned off without any problem. In "Auto" mode you won't have to do anything in order to turn it on again

EHD recommendations for Time Machine back-up?

Hi!
I need to buy a 2 or 3 TB EHD, preferably Firewire, for Time Machine back-ups of my iMac and EHD. Can anyone tell me what's a good reliable brand at a reasonable price? I've found several Western Digitals, Seagates, Iomegas, and LaCies, but none of them get stellar reviews. Frankly, I'm afraid to trust any of them based on what I've read.
I currently have a 1 TB Seagate GoFlex Desktop that's a huge pain in the tush because it powers down regularly and then ejects from my desktop giving me an error message. I get sick of this happening all day long, so now I don't trust Seagate at all.
I've had an internal WD hard drive fail after a year and a half in my previous iMac. So, any suggestions? I want to pay $150 or less, so if I can only get a USB one for that, it's okay as long as it gets great recommendations.
I'd love to hear what others have had good luck with.
TIA!

i have actually very good experiences with LaCie drives, particularly the d2 Quadra.
however, the Mercury Elite line by OWC is also recommended often.

Need a good Desktop HD for Time Machine

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