Networking an external back up hard drive

How to share an external drive on an iMac; any ideas? Have lots of photos, music and home movies that are backed up on a Western Digital My Book Hard Drive connected to my iMac. I am currently working on an iMovie that is located on that external hard drive,(due to size constraints). Would love to access and back up to that drive from the other computers on the network but I cannot set up. Strangely enough, when connected to the PC I'm sure it was available to the Macs.

Thanks Duane for the advice. File Sharing is on but I cannot make SharePoints do anything except make me feel like an idiot. I'm going stir crazy and it's 1.40 in the morning. Just incase you can assist, I have it visible and useable in the finder of the iMac, and trying to access from my Powerbook G4. WD 350Gb Firewire connected. Tried alias in shared, SharePoints cannot find it, tried reconfiguring accounts, that cost two and a half hours of grief, and now I figure I need to get a tech in.... I hate that. Makes me feel inadequate. Thanks again and Merry Christmas and Happy New Gregorian Year.
John the unable.

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Adding external back-up hard drive?

Im relatively new to iMac and still finding my way around it. Likewise, I've looked around the discussion forum but unable to find the key words to my problem but Im sure it has been discussed before. If so I apologise.
I have a Toshiba External (Back Up) Hard Drive which was a back up to my Windows Based PC and therefore has numerous images on there. Anyway, how do I get this set up on my iMac without loosing any of the info on the Back Up hard drive, also wish to use this as a back up for images from my IMac too. Do I also need to reconfig my images as I used Adobe photoshop in the first instance or will it change automatically to iPhoto?
Any info / assistance will appreciated but please keep advise / explanations simple as I sometimes tend to throw dummy out of the pram when I get frustrated. Just like now!! LOL.

Here's the problem, in my attempt to explain it a little more clearly. There are a number of different ways data can be written to a drive, called "partition schemes"... think of them like languages used when printing a book. Like languages, some systems cannot understand some drive partition schemes. Unlike languages in a book, however, a system may be able to read a partition scheme, but be unable to write to it.
In the case of a Mac, it can read/write APM (Apple Partition Map), GUID and FAT (an old MS-DOS scheme) drives. However, it can only read NTFS drives, and NTFS is what Windows typically uses. Most likely, this drive of yours is NTFS. (You can tell for sure by selecting the drive in Disk Utility - not the volume, with the familiar name, the drive, right above it with a name that includes the size - and looking in the info at the bottom of the DU window.)
So, your Mac can't write to that drive at all, even though it can read it. Although there is software that can give your Mac the ability to write to that drive, it will never work with the Mac's built-in backup software (Time Machine), which requires that the backup drive be GUID. That may not be an issue, as TM is far from the only backup software out there. Something like [Carbon Copy Cloner|http://www.bombich.com> or SuperDuper may be able to work with that drive, given software that lets you write to NTFS.
Whether or not you ultimately end up making this drive work for backup of your Mac, note that it is important that you have multiple backups of any data you don't want to lose. So, those images need to be stored in at least one other place (preferably two or more). That given, you may want to repartition that drive with a more Mac-friendly scheme after you've gotten some backups of those images made. (Assuming, of course, that you're no longer working with Windows... if that's not the case, keeping a Windows backup on that drive would probably be wise.)
See my [Mac Backup Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/guides/backups> for more on backup strategies in general.

External Ethernet/NAS Hard Drive with Time Machine

Hi,
I'm going to be purchasing a Mac Book Pro once leopard is launched and I'm wanting to get an external hard drive to back up using Time Machine. Now, I'm wanting to set this up through a wireless router so that a can make my backups without having to remember to connect every so often.
Does anybody know if Time Machine works via NAS/Ethernet as the Tech Spec of Time Machine just mentions USB and Firewire? I presume it will work, as it would seem a little daft if it doesn't.
Following on from that, does anybody have any recommendations for external NAS/ethernet hard drives? I was wanting something from 250GB to 500GB. I have seen this one -
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4J9D&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=ext ernalhard+driveethernet&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=50473
And this one -
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128482
Any help is very much appreciated!

Yes, networked drives, servers, etc., will work as a Time Machine target -- all it needs is a folder it can write to. I'll leave the drive recommendation to someone else.

Firewire external mobil disk hard drive is no longer recognized

After last system update, my firewire external mobil disk hard drive is no longer recognized. Any solutions?
Why does MacOS go backwards... gets worse over time?

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work! I have had no trouble with any update Apple puts out (the Combo update is what I normally choose). Are you running 9.2 like your specs. say? You are in the Tiger forum, so I'll assume you haven't updated your Macs specs.
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours may be the 10.4.5 Combo update. Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system.
If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good!
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE

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.

Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3 Hard Drive Not Working with Mac Pro

Hi, I have just purchased a brand new Mac Pro. I have three 2 TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3 hard drives that just don't jive with the new Mac Pro's. When the drive is connected, I cannot access the drive, read/write or even format. Finder completely locks up and the drive cannot even be force ejected. When I try to format, Disk Utility either spits out an error that the drive cannot be read, or simply locks up. This happens regardless of the OS on the Mac Pro. I am currently running 10.10.2
I have ruled out an issues with the drives, as I have tested all of them on a variety of systems and OS's, including Power Mac, Mac Book Pro, PC, OS 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 as well as on Windows. I have tried formatting in every file system including Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), NTFS and exFAT. ALL other systems have no issues with the drives. Apple has replaced my Mac Pro with a brand new one and the drives still behave the same way. Furthermore, I have tested the drives on three other Mac Pro's at work and they all reject the drives. So, on their own, there is nothing wrong with the Mac Pro, or the drives. However, the configuration of them together is wreaking havoc.
I have contacted Seagate, and this was their response:
The most recent version of the Backup Plus drives use the USB Attached SCSI (UAS) standard to increase transfer rates. It's possible that the drivers being used currently on your Mac Pro are having issues using this feature with the standard USB 3.0 drivers installed. I would recommend contacting Apple to check for any driver updates or see if they any suggestions for issues involving drives using UAS.
I have also started a case with Apple Support (Case # 755934373) and am waiting to hear back regarding Seagate's response. I've spent DAYS trying to troubleshoot this and am now at a complete loss. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).
Thanks!

Hi danielsh6,
I recently bought the new Lacie Thunderbolt 2 D2 3TB and I had the same problem as you, i have a macbook pro early 2011, those support thunderbolt but many times there is a bug that doesn't let you connect any thunderbolt drives to your computer. The solution I found was installing this update:
Thunderbolt Firmware Update v1.0
Before doing this I would recommend you updating to mountain lion (not yosemite yet as there is still some glitches and more on preview's macbook pro's).
Hope this helped!
Forest

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

Back Up Hard Drive on desktop?

I had my hard drive replaced about a year ago and the people that did it created a "Back Up OS" on my desktop. It has the icon of a hard drive, but it only has about 17 GB left on it. My hard drive has about 76 GB free, so I know it doesn't have everything automatically uploaded onto it that my hard drive has - I'm not sure what this is. I was curious if anyone ever had anything like this created on their desktop and whether it is necessary. I have an external hard drive where I store large files, is this just another form of a back-up hard drive or is this useless and should be deleted? Thank you!

Hi, txmacgirl. If both the Back Up OS disk and the other disk show the same amount of available space, then Back Up OS is not a separate disk: it's a disk image, i.e. a package of data stored on your one and only hard drive in a format that enables it to look and behave like a separate drive. It's probably an image, or replica, of your previous hard drive (now gone) and all of its contents. If that's the case, Back Up OS contains all the data that you had stored on your old hard drive before it was replaced. The technician who replaced your drive undoubtedly imaged the old drive in case anything went wrong while s/he was transferring your data to the new one, and then copied the image onto the new drive so you would have it if you needed it later.
There are at least two important things to know about the Back Up Os disk image if I've correctly guessed its nature:
1) It takes up the same amount of space on your new drive as was occupied by everything that you had on the old drive. So if, for example, 20GB of space was used on the old drive, the disk image of that drive is using 20GB of space on your new drive.
2) As long as the image is stored only on the new drive and nowhere else, it will be lost along with the more recent contents of the new drive if the new drive ever fails. It won't be a useful backup unless it's copied to a different hard drive. And even if you do copy it to an external drive or a second internal drive for safekeeping, it won't be a complete backup, in that it doesn't contain any new material you've saved since the new drive was installed. It's only a snapshot of the old drive at the time of its replacement.
The technician may also have copied all the contents of the Users folder on the old drive into the new Users folder on the new drive to give you access to all your old files without any extra steps or complications. If you can readily find and use all the old files you expect to be able to find and use without going into the Back Up OS "disk", and if everything else seems to be working fine for you, then there's probably no reason to keep the Back Up OS image. Disposing of it is a three-step process:
a. Select the Back Up OS "disk" and Eject it. It will disappear from the desktop, but it isn't actually gone yet.
b. Find the file on your hard drive called "Back Up OS.dmg" and drag it to the Trash. (Use the Finder's "Find" command if the file isn't right out in plain view.)
c. Empty the Trash. You should now have quite a bit more available space on your new hard drive, and the Back Up OS disk will no longer appear on your desktop at startup.

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive. Help

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Recovering erased data from a back-up hard drive

Hello,
I erased a folder full of data on my back-up hard drive (Western Digital), and need to recover if it possible. I deleted it and then emptied my Trash, but have not written over it yet. How can I recover this folder? Thanks.

Try using an application such as Data Rescue or FileSalvage.
(29668)

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!

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 have a Power Mac G4 (2004) and want to transfer all my files to a new MacBook Pro 15.4". Can this be done thru firewire cable or do I have to transfer to an external Firewire 800 hard drive first?

I have a Power Mac G4 (2004) and want to transfer all my files to a new MacBook Pro 15.4". Can this be done thru firewire cable or do I have to transfer to an external Firewire 800 hard drive first?

Do it with a Firewire cable (buy a 800/400 adapter if you need it) - the USB transfer takes a much longer time.
Start up your old PowerMac G4 holding down the "T" key, for target disk mode.
On your new MacBook Pro open "Migration Assistant" in your utilities folder.
Connect the 2 computers by firewire cable and follow the prompts in Migration Assistant.

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!

HT4796 Can you transfer files from a window based back up hard Drive to a mac ?, example word files , iTunes, picture files thanks

Can you transfer files from a window based back up hard Drive to a mac ?, example word files , iTunes, picture files thanks

Shermanbva,
Here's an article that details the various ways you can get Windows files onto a Mac:
Switch Basics: Migrate your Windows files or system to your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2518
Have a good one,
- Ari

Networking an external back up hard drive

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