Select source for Time Machine

Hello
Maybe I'm missing something, but I want to use time machine to back up one external disk to another external disk?
I guessing I can only back up the startup disk to a external.
any workround on this would be good
thanks
LJ

lowJackson wrote:
Hello
Maybe I'm missing something, but I want to use time machine to back up one external disk to another external disk?
I guessing I can only back up the startup disk to a external.
no. but you can have just one TM backup disk. all disks (internal and external) will be backed up to the same disk. if you want different backup disks for different volumes, use a different backup program for that. for example CCCloner and Superduper can do that.
any workround on this would be good
thanks
LJ

Similar Messages

HT201250 My backup drive I used for Time Machine filled up

and told me it deleted old backups. Well, thank you very much (not). So I ejected that one, plugged in the new one, selected it for Time Machine and told it to start backing up. Am I'm going to be okay with that? I'm sure there's probably a more sophisticated way to do this. But frankly, I bought an Apple to avoid doing all that nerdwork. For future reference, was there another method I was supposed to use?

I don't know what that HT1427 means. I suppose it's secret coding that goes to the mother ship.

Can I select certain drives only for Time Machine backup?

I have several internal drives and several external drives connected to my MacPro desktop computer. If I backup everything in all of the drives using Time Machine, the capacity on my designated external drive for Time Machine backup will soon be filled. Is there any way to selectively backup via Time Machine from only designated drives, not all drives connected (internally or externally) to my computer? Is so, how can that be done? I assume that Time Machine will start deleting data when its capacity is exceeded. If that is so, and I remove the designated Time Machine drive at that point and replace it with a new drive, will the removed drive thereafter be able to be reinserted and the prior material read and transferred as needed? Is there any way to utilized Time Machine after I insert the replacement drive to only archive new material saved after the switch of drives?

Yes, mount the drive by opening a new Finder window and clicking on your base station's name in the left column that says 'Shared'. Then double click on the drive name to mount it on your desktop. From there, open Time Machine prefs and select that mounted drive as your backup disk. Time machine will then back up to it. Theoretically.
If you want that disk to automatically mount every time you login to your computer, go to Sys Prefs Panel and select 'Accounts'. Then click 'Startup Items'. From there, drag the mounted drive's icon from the desktop in to that startup items list. It will then auto-mount from there forward.
I have had many problems backing up this way with Time Machine. It will, 9 times out of 10, fail over a wireless backup with an Airport Extreme Gigabit base station and a 1TB Western Digital My Book. Nothing seems to fix, so I have given up. When TM is finally fixed - I will use it. Until then, it's junk software as far as I'm concerned.
But - best of luck. The instructions above are how it's 'supposed' to work..

Lion won't install can't select hard drive that is used for time machine backups

I installed Lion, agreed to the eula but both drives are greyed out. My Macintosh HD - ( this dirve is used for time machine backups) and my external drive (this drive does not use the GUID Partition Table scheme...). Though I don't use time machine, I tried turning it on and selecting the external drive with no luck. I'm stuck - any ideas?

"Backups.backupdb" if the file in Time Machine. As the discussion says, you have to find that file and trash it. Try spotlight to locate it. If that does not work, down load OmniDiskSweeper from the Internet (free) and go through an organized search to find "Backups.backupdb". If that takes too long or is too tedious, then if you have everything backed up, erase the HDD and start from square one.
Ciao.

Select certain files for Time Machine backup?

Is it possible to select only certain files for Time Machine backup? Or does it automatically backup everything, including what you don't want saved?

Time Machine will backup all user files unless you select the ones you do not wish to have backed up. see the attached from System Preferences:
Ciao.

Unable to select two drives for time machine backup?

I had a notification from Time Machine saying "This backup is too large for the disk..." and that I needed to omit items or select another drive. I've read online that it's possible to select multiple drives for Time Machine backups (so it switches between the available drives). When I go into Time Machine preferences and click "Select Disk" the drive I want to use in addition to my current Time Machine is there, but when I choose the additional drive I do not get the option to replace or "Use Both" (like pictured). Instead the additional drive is selected as the sole Time Machine and the current Time Machine drive is replaced.
In short, Time Machine is not giving me the option to "Use Both" - why would this be and how do I remedy this?
Thanks.

The reason is that that feature is Only offered in "Mountain Lion" OS X 10.8; and you are using "Lion" 10.7.
Hope this helps

Macbook Pro -yosemite install stalls at disc select with ''This disc is used for Time Machine Backups' - help !

Having downloaded Yosemite it installed fine on my iMac but on my Macbook Pro installation has frozen at the Disc Selection stage (where you want it to install) with the message 'This disc is used for Time Machine Backups'.
I cant find a way past this to complete the installation.
Any ideas anyone ?
Many thanks.

Time machine needs its own partition to operate. So you are not going install a OSx Lion on that volume.
If there is enough room you may be able to partition the drive on the fly with DiskUtility
Are you saying you clean installed Lion and you are trying to move your user Data over with TM via the migration Assistant? Please explain.

When attempting to upgrade my iMac from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I receive the message "This disk is used for Time Machine Backups" when I try to select the lone available hard drive.

When attempting to upgrade my iMac from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I receive the message "This disk is used for Time Machine Backups" when I try to select the lone available hard drive. I have ensured that Time Machine is turned off. Upon some Google research, some who reported this problem were told to delete the folder backup.backupdb, but I do not have this folder on my Mac. Any suggestions?

The folder would be at the root of your hard drive. Double-click Macintosh HD and look there.
If it isn’t there, I’m not sure what it is seeing.

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.

New larger disk drive for Time Machine ..having trouble using it.

I must be missing something simple here. My Time Machine drive was getting pretty full so I went out and bought a larger drive. I assumed I could copy everything on the old drive to the new one ..then start up Time Machine and point it to the new drive and be in business. Not so. When I tried to copy the contents from one disk to the other the process locked up after about an hour. All activity stopped and I had no files on the new drive. To troubleshoot I simply copied a small folder from the smaller Time Machine drive to the new one..and it copied fine. However I noticed the date on the copied file was current so I assume my process is not a good one anyway as all the dates will be lost. Guess that will screw up Time Machine (after all what is time if its all the same ?). So ..how do I use a new larger drive for Time Machine..without loosing all the old stuff that is already saved. If I just select change disk from the Time Machine panel I assume I will only get backups from now ...and nothing older (from the old disk). I do not want to keep the older disk connected. So what am I missing here ??

Pondini wrote:
And I forgot to add: Disk Utility will do it.
I missed your post this morning.
I looked around and found the keys to get Disk Utility to do it. No $$ needed.
Thanks for the info.
For the rest of the viewers:
*How to change the Time Machine backup disk and migrate the current data to the new disk*:
This procedure performs block transfers, not file-by-file transfers. It avoids all the extended attribute, ACL and hierarchical problems. It just works - it's a Mac!
System Preferences:
..1 - Time Machine:
....1.1 - Turn OFF
..2 - Spotlight:
....2.1 - Privacy:
......2.1.1 add current TimeMachine volume to prevention list
......2.1.2 add new TimeMachine volume to prevention list
Disk Utility:
..1 - Select the target drive in the left pane
..2 - Select Partition tab
....2.1 - Volume Scheme: *1 Partition*
....2.2 - Options: *GUID Partition Table*
....2.3 - Select Apply -> Partition
..3 - Select Restore tab
....3.1 - Drag source Volume into Source window
....3.2 - drag destination Volume into Destination window
....3.3 - Check box: *Erase Destination* ( +this is the critical step+ )
....3.4 - Click Restore button (Wait for transfer to complete, minutes to hours depending on size & disk connections)
The source and destination volumes will now have the same name. Change the volume name(s) as desired.
System Preferences:
..1 - Spotlight:
....1.1 - Privacy: add new TimeMachine volume to prevention list
..1 - Time Machine:
....1.1 - Turn ON
Done!

HT201250 Can I partition my external hard drive and use one partion for time machine and the other one for data that i may want to use in different computers?

I have this doubt. I've just bought an external drive, especifically a Seagate GoFlex Desk 3 tb.
I want to know if it is recomendable to make a partion exclusively for time machine and let another one so I can put there music, photos, videos, etc that I should need to use or copy to another computer.
May half and half, 1.5 tb for time machine and 1.5 tb for data.
I have an internal hard drive of 500 GB (499.25 GB) in my macbook pro.
Any recommendation?

As I said, yes. Be sure your Time Machine partition has at least 1 TB for backups.
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

I am trying to install Mavericks on my McbookAir, but it won't install, saying that my hd is used for time machine backups. I have an external HD connected to my mbAir that I'm using for time machine.

2012 Macbk air, with OSX 10.8.5. See my question above. Mavericks won't install on my Air's HD, says that both the HD - AND - the external HD (which has a different name from the laptop HD) are used for time machine backups. I've deleted my time machine plists, restarted, repaired permissions, turned time machine off, repeatedly selected the external drive in time machine preferences. HELP. (Install went perfectly on my desktop Mac, which also has an external HD for time machine).

I need to add that the only place I have the "Backups.backupdb" folder is on my backup external disk, and it's not on my HD :-( . If it were, I'd delete it!

I am setting up a time machine backup to a external Hard drive. I want to backup by Mac book Pro running OSX 10.8.5. I would like to Partition the disk and use one partition for Time machine backups and the other for my Lightroom backups. How to do this?

I want to create a two partition disk. One partition for time machine, the other for Lightroom backup. Currently Time Machine is using the entire drive and it is doing the intial encryption and is about 29% complete after two days. I've decided that I want to turn encryption off and partition the disk. So I do I start over?

With the external drive attached, open Finder>Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Select the external drive from the list in the left side panel of the DU window. In the main window panel, click Partition in the buttons top center of that panel.
Select the number of partitions you want and adjust their sizes.
For the first partition, click to highlight the partition, then select the format, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and then the partition table as GUID [both of those are the defaults]. Click Apply and it will ask to confirm and erase and format that partion...oh, give the partition a name, like Backup.
Then repeat those steps for the second partition..and remember to name it...something like Lightroom.
Close Disk Utilitty and you are ready to send TM to the one partition, and do your backup of Lightroom to the second partition.

Can i switch another hard drive for time machine

can i replace my time machine usb HD with a new larger one I have bought?

Sure you can. The real question is, can you transfer your old TM database to the new drive. This I would not attempt to do. I would add the new drive and point time machine to it in system preferences. This will cause you to do a full backup for the first time but you will know all the links are good this way. Before you remove the old TM drive, think if there is anything you want to restore.
My steps would be:
1) look through time machine to find anything you may want to keep, restore it if you want it
2) turn off time machine
3) power down and swap drives
4) power up and and format the new drive if needed, then open time machine preferences
5) select the new drive for time machine
6) sit back and let it do a full backup
How big is your internal drive? How full is it? How big is the new TM drive?

I want to use my 1TB Seagate Hard drive for time machine and transferring files from Mac to PC.

For about a year I've been using my 1TB external hard drive for only time machine. To be honest, it wasn't until today that I tried to connect my hard drive to a PC and realize it isn't compatible. I read about partitioning the hard drive so that it can work both for time machine and transferring files between pc and mac. I'm not what you would call tech savvy, so I was wondering if I can get some advice on how to do this.
Thanks in advance.

To do it, you have to partition the hard disk, so you will have one partition for Time Machine and another one to store files and use them in a PC and Mac. To create the partition, follow these steps > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html
In order to read and write in the external disk on the PC, you have to select "MS-DOS (FAT)" as "Format". If you choose any other option, the PC won't be able to read your external disk. Apart from that, note that you can't use files bigger than 4 GB with FAT. If you want to use the external disk with files bigger than 4 GB, you have to format your new partition in exFAT, and you have to do it on a PC

Select source for Time Machine

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