Regular copy of the Time Machine backup disk?

I have an external harddrive with alle my Time Machine backup data.
Is it a recommended procedure to just "drag and drop" copy the content (for extra backup temporarily) to another hardrive for a backup or do I have to use carbon copy or any other special software? What would be the most elegant and safe way of doing this?

Funny you should ask at this very moment. :-) I just ran it to see what the current version was and was informed that it was just upgraded to 2.7.2.
I like SD, but then again I've been using it many years. Its scheduling features are good and once the initial clone is made, subsequent clones using Smart Copy (incremental copy) usually take from 10-30 minutes depending on what I've changed during the day.
It's also fairly unobtrusive. Aside from a single bounce of the dock icon, copies happen unaided. All of those copies I mentioned up-topic just happen at various times during the day while I'm working on the computer and I rarely notice they're happening.
If you do decide to try it out there's one important thing to be aware of, any drive that will be used as a boot drive for an Intel Mac must be partitioned with a GUID partition map. You can do that in Disk Utility.

Similar Messages

  • HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    Inherit a Backup
    Inherit a Backup (2)

  • My HDD is taken by the Mavericks Installer as the Time Machine Backup Disk

    When trying to reinstall OS Mavericks (the Mavericks present installation is presenting some issues), as I did on my iMac and worked fine, the original HDD cannot be selected because it is recognized as the Back Up Disk. The time machine set up, at Systems Preference, is OK.

    See post by jaystad.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23499613#23499613
    http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html

  • How do I get back iphone app information from a DELETED Time Machine Backup disk

    Hi People,
    here is what happened:
    I have been using an iPhone App (Audio Memos Free - The Voice Recorder) to record song ideas (I am a songwriter). I have been using it for years.
    I backed up my iphone to itunes, and backed up my mac on Time Machine. After a month or so I did a fresh OSX install on my mac, copied all of my files back from Time Machine into my mac, and tried to set up Time Machine. I was not able to do so, so I had to format the Time Machine Backup disk and doing a "fresh" mac Time Machine Backup.
    After a week or so, my iphone asks me something like "you do not possess the rights for one or more applications". do not know what i did, but after 1 minute my iPhone was wiped out of all my apps and app contents. I had also the icloud app sync, so i did not worry, recovered from icloud notes, contacts, and all other things. so i did another backup to itunes.
    Now i discover icloud did not recover or save the "Audio Memos Free" app content. I know the data are hidden into the Time machine Backup HD, but i do not know where to search for the itunes backup in it.
    I know it is in library, but library won't show up.
    Any help would be much appreciated.
    PS there is a chance that, even without a data recovery, my latest itunes backup was containing these songs, but i do not know how to fish that out of the Time machine drive.
    Thank you in advance.

    I would email iTunes Customer Service:
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/browser/
    CG

  • Time Machine Backup Disk Encryption Password

    I use a partitioned external drive to backup my stuff. Had enabled encryption option for the Time Machine backup disk and forgot the same. Can not find an entry in Keychain, any inputs on how to retrieve the password or unlock the particular partition?

    Thanks for your reply. Call me stupid, but I had set-up the encryption in August and didn't use the back-up since then. Even though hint is visible, it doesn't help.

  • Time Machine Backups disk not automatically unmounting after backup completes in Lion

    I am using Time Machine over WiFi on a 3rd party USB drive shared as an AirDisk through an Airport Extreme router. Ever since switching to Lion (clean install), I have noticed that the Time Machine backup disk will not automatically unmount after a backup is completed. This creates a problem when my MacBook Pro comes back from sleep. Specifically, the WiFi notification icon in the Finder toolbar indicates that WiFi is connected, even though it's not connected to a network, and I am unable to connect to any networks for what seems like several minutes until the Time Machine backups disk disappears from the desktop and WiFi actually connects.
    Since the disk was not cleanly unmounted, Time Machine then keeps complaining that the sparse bundle file is locked and cannot be mounted every time it tries to do a backup. I have to either disconnect/reconnect the USB drive physically from the router, or restart the router every time this happens to resolve the issue. That is getting really annoying to have to do every time. I suppose I could manually unmount the Time Machine disk after every backup but it's ridiculous to have to do that every time I want to put the computer to sleep.
    Is anyone else experiencing this issue and is there a fix?

    For others who might be having this problem - I was able to resolve it by connecting my backup disk to my mac via USB, completely erasing it, and starting over from a new backup. Disk Utility was not reporting any errors when I verified the disk, but I went ahead and repartitioned it and started fresh. The disk now automatically unmounts after backups complete.

  • 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.

  • Restored system from Time Machine backup disk but the system could not start-up

    On MacBook Pro early 2008, restored the entire system from Time Machine backup disk to the entire disk.
    The previous system on the backup disk had FileVault turned on.
    The restore completed successfully and I was prompted to restart the system via the new restored system disk.
    I heard the normal start-up sound, then the Apple logo, but it stuck at the logo screen. And the cooling fan run at almost full speed?
    I have been waiting for a few hours, guessing it might FileVault the disk.
    Finally I have to shutdown the machine as it stuck at the logo screen forever.
    Anyone has the same issue? Any ideas?

    BTW, I also tried Repair the system disk, Fix permissions via Disk Utility.
    I guess I must lose some files either during the backup or the restore.

  • Hello, since I actualized my Mac with Maverick it doesn't recognize any  external hard disk ,... only the one to make copy on the time machine. Can anybody help me? thank you!!!!

    hello, since I actualized my Mac with Maverick it doesn't recognize any  external hard disk ,... only the one to make copy on the time machine. Can anybody help me? thank you!!!!

    Hello Laurabcn,
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    For more information, take a look at:
    USB and FireWire Quick Assist
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1151
    Have a nice day,
    Mario

  • Time Machine Backups disk image displays the wrong capacity

    I have a USB hard drive partitioned and connected as an airdisk on a time capsule. The drive "TIME" is partitioned for 300 GB and serves both my MacBook (MB) and MacBook Pro (MBP).
    If I connect to TIME from Finder, it shows 155.68 GB free of 300 GB total.
    When MB runs Time Machine, the Time Machine Backups volume mounts and shows 155.68 GB free of 300 GB total.
    Here is what is weird - When MBP runs Time Machine, the Time Machine Backups volume mounts and shows 155.68 GB free of 429.5 GB total.
    Why does the MBP show a different and inaccurate total?
    I tried reconfiguring Time Machine to point to a different backup drive and then back to TIME hoping it would just 'reset' but that did not work.
    Something I just thought of - I did move that sparse from a different volume that was larger. I bet the total size is saved in the information in the sparse.
    Can anyone confirm this?
    Will this cause me any problems in the long run?

    redemily wrote:
    Something I just thought of - I did move that sparse from a different volume that was larger. I bet the total size is saved in the information in the sparse.
    That's possible, depending on how you moved the sparse bundle. If it had a smaller maximum size than the volume it's on, Time Machine would automatically resize it to the size of the volume it's on, making it larger (effective with 10.6.3).
    I don't know if it will make a larger one smaller, though.
    Will this cause me any problems in the long run?
    No. Time Machine will figure out how much space there really is anyway. But if you want to change the size, see #A8 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

  • Restore can't find the time machine backup

    I am trying to restore my system from a time machine backup and the Restore option doesn't recognize my time machine backup. Any ideas on how to force it to see it?
    Some background:
    I am running Mountain Lion on a 2008 iMac. About 1 week ago, my internal HD failed. I had the hard drive replaced and then hooked up my external HD time machine back-up to restore my system. I started the computer with the command-R option and selected restore from time machine backup. It recognized the hard drive itself, but when I get to the screen to select the backup, it tells me there are no backups on the selected volume. I have run the repair in Disk Utility and the drive checked out ok. I have since installed Mountain Lion again on the internal drive, but didn't bring any files.
    Also, while the main computer was down I connected the external drive to another computer and used the show hidden files steps to find some files on the time machine backup and copied them to the other computer.
    I don't know if this relates, but I want to share all of the info: Back when the HD originally failed, the computer froze. When my son restarted the computer, it then asked what language he wanted. Then it began a restore process and asked him to select a volume to restore the system to. This is the bad part- He selected a partitioned drive where I had stored some files that didn't fit on the hard drive. It erased that drive and began restoring the system. Of course he didn't tell me about any of this until about 2 hours later, so we lost the contents on that drive. This partitioned drive is the same drive where my time machine backup resides. One partition is the Time Machine backup and the other was external data.
    Any ideas? I know I can manually restore the files, but it would be nice to be able to automatically do it. Also, is there a way to read the excluded list? I found the file that this is on...
    Thanks,

    Inherit a Backup
    Inherit a Backup (2)

  • Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

    Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
    After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
    2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
    Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
    2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
    2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
    2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
    2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
    2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
    2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
    Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
    What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

    John Seal wrote:
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
    Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
    Any time Disk Utility says you need to repair a disk, you need to repair it. Period.
    So run it. If it fails to repair everything, run it again (and again) until it either repairs everything or can't repair any more. If it can't repair it, post back and we'll discuss options.
    There's no point in running +Verify Disk+ on an external drive; just run +Repair Disk.+ The only time +Verify Disk+ is needed is for your internal HD (because you can't repair the disk you're running from).
    And you need to do that again because of the forced power-down. Any time there's an abnormal shutdown, it's possible the file system on your internal HD can be damaged. Usually it isn't, but it's possible. If that says you need to repair it, you'll have to boot from your Leopard Install disc and use it's copy of DU. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

  • Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be found

    While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
    Now I get the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be Found"
    I have rebooted the computer with the disk connected and the disk still doesn't show up on the desktop.
    I rebooted the computer with the disk powered up but the firewire disconnected, then connected the firewire. The disk still doesn't appear on the desktop.
    I tried Disk Warrior, and Disk Warrior doesn't see the external Time Machine disk.
    What to do?

    Dan Mackey1 wrote:
    While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
    That might corrupt your backups, but shouldn't make the disk completely un-usable.
    Disconnect it and power it off for several minutes, turn Time Machine OFF, then Restart your Mac again. Let your Mac get powered-up and running before connecting and powering the disk on. Then see if Disk Utility can see it.
    Is this a dual-mode disk? If so, try connecting via USB -- it may work that way.
    Can you tell if it's running? Is it one with a light, and/or can you hear it run or feel it vibrating?

  • Error Dialogue: "Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found"

    Hello -
    I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
    Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
    Any idea what the best course of action is here.
    ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again. While completely fishy - I don't remember agreeing to any software update dialogue about erasing my Time Capsule - I took them at their word. Not sure if this is related, but thought I should mention it.
    Thanks Crew!

    MattLat wrote:
    Hello -
    I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
    Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
    Any idea what the best course of action is here.
    The +sparse bundle+ containing your backups may be corrupted. Repair it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
    If that doesn't help, try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 there.
    ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again.
    That's the first I've heard of that. They may have been referring to the +Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0+ update several weeks ago, that some folks got but others didn't. If it finds a problem, it sends the message in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076 The existing sparse bundle is renamed and locked, and a new one made.

  • 10.5.6 - spotlight wants to index the Time Machine backup

    Since I upgraded to 10.5.6, spotlight keeps trying to index the Time Machine backup. It won't let me add it to the privacy list - I get an "unknown error". Any ideas how to stop it doing that?
    It seems that while spotlight's trying to index, Time Machine won't go any further than "preparing backup".

    Spotlight does often seem to interfere with large TM backups.
    Apparently it has to do with Spotlight busily indexing things that TM has just put on the drive, but maybe hasn't completely released or finished with. Exact cause unknown.
    But it won't hurt to exclude your TM drive/partition from spotlight -- you'll find several threads in the Time Machine forum where this has helped greatly. After it's done, remove the exclusion if you want. Note that the TM disk may not get indexed until your next restart.
    Also, download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Then you'll get a bit more info on what it's doing.
    If you see a message about a "deep traversal," when nothing seems to be happening, just be patient. This means TM must examine ever file and folder on your system to figure out what needs to be backed-up, so it will be a very lengthy process.

Maybe you are looking for