Setting up external HDD for Time Machine...

Hi folks
I've got a 3TB external HDD and want to set it up for a Time Machine backup. Because of its size, I want to create 3 partitions so I can use it with both a Mac and PC, one NTFS, one exFAT and a Mac OS X Journaled. Would this cause any problems with the Time Machine backup because it's on a partitioned drive? Or should it really be on a single partitioned drive?
Thanks in advance
Gary

While it should work I recommend you not do it.
It is best to keep backups on their own drive, separate from any other use. Additionally 1tb seems on the small side for a TM backup. The latter the drive TM has to work with the faster back in time you will be able to keep. Remember when TM runs out of space it will delete the oldest backups.
Given the price of HDs today ( I saw a 4tb external drive at NewEgg for a little over $100 last week), 1tb drives can be had for a lot less) I can see no reason to partition the drive.
regards

Similar Messages

External HDD (for Time Machine backup) detected but won't mount on desktop

I have been using this external HDD as my Time Machine backup for many months now. No desktop display settings have been changed (I checked), but now it won't mount on my desktop. I suspect one of my kids was banging around on the keyboard, as they have done in the past, and renamed it. Unfortunately it appears they renamed it to NULL this time around. I didn't think that was possible, but I've plugged it into 3 different Windows and iMac machines, and in all cases the external drive gets detected, but then in all cases it doesn't mount. The Volume Label does appear blank in the device properties.
Is there a way to access my drive again to rename it? Will that allow it to mount again? Or is there a way to access it to just reformat the whole darn thing?
Thanks!
Tom

I don't think it's possible to have a null name for a drive so i suspect there is a problem with it. open disk utility. does it show the name of the drive? try repairing it (repair disk not permissions). if that doesn't help you can always reformat it with Disk Utility. select the whole drive ( model, not name) and use the partition tab.

Limiting Space used on external HDD for Time Machine

I'm really clueless on how this works and I would appreciate your thoughts on this. I recently bought an external HDD and I want to limit the allocated space for TM to only half of the capacity. I recently formatted the external HDD to FAT32 in order for me to use it with my other systems.
Is it possible to make this work? I saw an article wherein you can create a disk image in the external HDD, will that work?
Below are some specs of my external HDD:
Objective: Use Time Machine on my 1TB External HDD while limiting the space to only 400MB for back-up.
External HDD Settings: Iomega External HDD formatted as FAT32 and Master Boot Record

Hello,
Here is the best solution I can think of without using any extra software to alter your Time Machine settings.
You could use Disk Utility to divide the 1 TB external HDD into two partitions (400 GB + 600 GB).
(/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app)
Warning: Using Disk Utility to divide the drive into two partitions will erase everything on them.
Once that's done, when you reconnect your hard drive to your computer, and open Time Machine in System Settings, you could assign Time Machine to the 400 GB partition.
Here is the catch though, Time Machine cannot backup to FAT32, so you would have to format at least the 400 GB partition as "Mac OS Extended Journaled" with Disk Utility. If you want to use that drive with other non-Mac systems, best solution would be to share it over the network.
That is the best I can think of for your problem. Hope that helps.

Using external HDD for Time Machine and files in one single partition ?

Hello everybody.
I've been searching for some time now and have encountered some contradictory answers, so I turn to you.
I would like to know if it's possible (one) and safe (two) to use a single partition for both Time Machine and file storage. I've read that this should be ok, since TM is actually only a single folder, which means the rest can easily be used as a standard Finder drive. Some people say however that this is not good to do so, because TM will run out of space quicker. But if the -let's say- 30Gb used for files where used by TM after a month, that would be the same, wouldn't it ? It would simply erase older backups. But is it safe to do so ? Will Time Machine not makes errors when accessing files or doing an entire system backup ? I don't won't to make a new partition really, that's why I'm asking you here, to let me know some arguments about it.
Thank you very much for your answers.

Marekova wrote:
Yet, overlooking that, you say "safe: mostly", why is that ? where's the "danger" or, what where you thinking when you said that ? Aren't these simple folder's ? Do you mean that, because during a full backup, these "stranger" files could be a problem ? It would be great if that was clarified, since I've found no indication about it elsewhere, has anyone tryed it ?
Oh, yes folks have tried it. That's why I (and many others) recommended against it.
Here's a similar thread from just the other day: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1926893 Note the responses from the top 2 "gurus" on this forum.
I probably should have asked you what you mean by "safe." If you mean, will TM delete other files on it's partition, no, it won't. If you mean, can there be problems, then yes, there can be conflicts and difficulties, as mentioned.
As to whether TM backups are simple folders, no, they aren't. They look like normal files and folders, but they actually contain what are variously called "hard links," "multi-links," and (my own personal favorite term) "ghost clones." Think of them as very fancy aliases. So they're not to be fooled with directly, by us mere mortals.
If you want more on this: http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14
and/or: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_mac_os_x_leopard_timemachine.html
and, if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=leopardtimemachine
You should also know that, for some reason, TM stores it's backups differently when it does them wirelessly. In that case, they're in a "SparseBundle," very different from the structure used for directly-attached backups.
All the more reason to put each Mac's backups in a separate partition, and if you want to store other data there also, a 3rd partition for that.
I've been using Mac since many years now, but I have no idea about backups, so excuse me if the statements appear a little childish.
Nope. Even those of us who are "older than dirt" and have used many flavors and varieties of backup systems for decades are in a whole new world with Time Machine.
And most of the folks on this forum who found themselves in deep trouble got there because they assumed things or didn't ask.

External HDD for Time Machine etc

A recent switcher (December 28), I am looking for a reliable external HDD to use as a data archive and, probably, system backup. I have a 24", 2.8GHz iMac with 500GB HDD.
Because a LaCie d2 external HDD stopped working suddenly, I'm a touch paranoid about losing my data; hence, I'm considering RAID 1 (1TB total). I've looked at various models by different manufacturers but most, if not all, seem to have 'showstopper' faults. Thus, I'm in a quandary.
I'd be grateful for any useful advice and accounts of experience with such devices in OS X, especially 10.5.

engstrom wrote:
I went with the Icy Dock external drive enclosure because people here have had success with it:
Another vote for IcyDock. Best quality external enclosure I've ever seen -- and
many Newegg customers and independent reviewers seem to agree. Google it.
I also purchased a Seagate enterprise class 500 GB hard drive to put in the Icy Dock:
[Seagate ST3500320NS|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294&ATT=22-148-294&C MP=OTC-Froogle&nmmc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Seagate--22148294]
Very cool! That appears to be an enterprise-class (24/7, high-reliability)
version of Seagate's second-generation perpendicular recording drives.
I have the ['workstation-class' version of that drive|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288] in my Icy Dock;
AFAIK, they're the fastest 500 GB drives available (105 MB/s, sustained).
IMO, that's the main advantage of buying the external enclosure and drive
separately: YOU get to choose the drive.
I figure that as hard drive capacities go up and prices go down I can always
replace the drive that I use in the Icy Dock - the Icy Dock has a tray that hold
the drive and you can remove the tray by pushing a button and flipping a lever,
it's very easy.
Yep, and [extra drive trays|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994038] are only $16, so it's cheap & easy to keep several
drives "on tap." A drive swap takes about 30 seconds.
Looby

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
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). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

HDD for Time Machine and other stuff

Just a very short question.. Can I use my external harddrive for Time Machine and for example putting files on it to take it to my friend, or the otherway around, put files on it and take it back home?
The reason I ask this is that I hooked up a USB HDD and it said I needed to clear all the data on the disk first before using Time Machine.

As you probably already figured out.. I don't know anything about External HDDs. That's why I want you to ask which of those LaCies you would suggest for TM with 40GB of used data and it needs to be fast:
1: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11022 (320GB)
2: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11013 (320GB)
3: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10695
4: http://www.lacie.com/nl/products/product.htm?pid=10811 (only a Dutch link, I'm sorry)
Hope you're able to help because your help is fabulous so far!
Message was edited by: FiveMenM

HT3275 New macbook, old external drive for time machine

I got a new macbook pro a few weeks ago and set it up using my last backup from time machine. I want to use the same external drive for backups but there is no room. Can I delete all of the old files from the old computer or do I need to keep them?

kat.hayes wrote:
I want to use a 3 TB external drive for Time Machine to backup multiple 500GB hard drives in my Macpro. I have lots of large video files from HD cameras.
1. Will Time Machine backup all of the hard drives in the Macpro?
As long as they're formatted HFS+, yes. Be sure there's enough room, though -- Time Machine needs considerably more room than the data it's backing-up. See #1 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

My 320GB external drive for Time Machine now only has enough capacity to keep a backup of one day. All my other backups are gone. What can I do to fix this situation?

I've been using a 320GB external drive for time machine for the last several years. The backups always worked fine and when necessary I was able to look at & restore older data from the time capsule. Recently, I keep getting the message that a backup cannot be completed and an older backup will be deleted. Usually this wasn't an issue because I still had several months of information on disk. Now a one-time backup takes up 315GB and therefore I only have a backup of the previous day. I don't understand this because I thought that the backup only saves information that has changed and doesn't copy everything everytime. What do I need to do to get my backups to a reasonable size so that I can keep at least 1 month data stored on it.? Please don't tell me I need a larger drive ... that would be too easy.

Get a larger drive for your TM backups.
The recommended size is 3 times what you are backup. So if 315 GB is a backup then you need a 1 TB drive.
Allan

I used a partitioned HDD for time machine, using a partition already containing other data files. I am now no longer able to view that partition in Finder. Disk Utility shows it in grey and "not mounted". Any suggestions of how to access the files?

I used a partitioned HDD for time machine, using a partition already containing other data files. I am now no longer able to view that partition in Finder. Disk Utility shows it in grey and "not mounted". Any suggestions of how to access the files? Does using time machine mean that that partition is no longer able to be used as it used to be?
HDD is a Toshiba 1TB, partitioned into two 500GB partitions.
OS X version 10.9.2

Yes, sharing a TM disk is a bad idea, and disks are cheap enough so that you don't need to.
Now
Have you tried to repair the disk yet

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.

External drive for Time Machine

I want to use a 3 TB external drive for Time Machine to backup multiple 500GB hard drives in my Macpro. I have lots of large video files from HD cameras.
1. Will Time Machine backup all of the hard drives in the Macpro?
2. What is a good external hard drive to handles these types of files?
Thanks.

kat.hayes wrote:
I want to use a 3 TB external drive for Time Machine to backup multiple 500GB hard drives in my Macpro. I have lots of large video files from HD cameras.
1. Will Time Machine backup all of the hard drives in the Macpro?
As long as they're formatted HFS+, yes. Be sure there's enough room, though -- Time Machine needs considerably more room than the data it's backing-up. See #1 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Looking at external HD for Time machine backup and for XP OS?

Bought a 24" iMac desktop with a 500 GB HD and am going to be running up to Best Buy to snag a Western Digital external My Book 750 GB HD. Mainly this external is for Time Machine backup, photos, iTunes library, etc. but I'd like to fire up boot camp and install Windows XP OS. Question is, can I install the XP OS on the external HD so I don't have to divide and possibly mess up my internal Mac HD? Also, when I do install XP OS, how much space for a partition? XP will be mainly for just a few PC games that are PC only like Company of Heroes.

Hi Saius,
yeah, the more the better...
BootCamp requires the use of XP with SP2. Without SP2 (SP1 or earlier) it either does not install or if installed can produce some odd errors.
If you have access to a Windows XP PC you can try these instructions to slipstream the SP2 together with your 'old' XP CD to a new XP SP2 CD.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxpsp2slipstream.asp
Before spending some unneccessary dollars might be worth trying.
It's not very difficult to do this (done it myself some years back).
Also it is a good idea to use your external HD and make a bootable clone of your OSX volume using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
That way in case something goes wrong, you can easily revert back.
Personally I would not use Time Machine for that task.
Have Fun and thanks for the star.
Stefan

Adding a Dedicated External Drive for Time Machine

Hello,
I want to use a dedicated external drive for Time Machine backup and another drive for a SuperDuper backup. Before even adding another drive, I'm already pulling and replacing usb connections from the back of my computer.
Can anyone tell me if a splitter is a workable solution? Something like this:
7-Port USB High-speed Hub with Splitter Cable -- http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=8997&r=183 -- or perhaps other recommendations ..
Thanks.

...I recall reading that USB 2 was faster ... but I think they said faster than FW 400, but the drive I have is FW 800.
USB2 is 480mbps and Firewire400 is 400mbps. On paper, this would appear that USB2 is faster than Firewire400. But USB2 cannot handle large data transfers very effectively. I can't explain the technicals, but suffice to say that the figures I gave of 40min-versus-2-hours-for-25GB is typical of Firewire400 versus USB2.
Firewire800 is 800mbps, so would potentially be even faster. However the physical hard drive that's installed in the Firewire enclosure would be the bottleneck as a normal "platter" hard drive is much slower than Firewire400 or 800. If it were an SSD drive, then you'd likely see a very significant difference.
But regardless, USB2 cannot keep up with a large data stream like Firewire can. Potentially USB3, which is up to 5Gbps, would be faster than either Firewire 400 or 800, although I suspect would be on par with Firewire3200 in the real world. However since there are no adapters for either USB3 or Firewire3200 for the Mac, it's a moot point for now. (Your drive is not USB3, there are only a few USB3 drives available, and you'd need a Mac Pro to add the adapter in anyway, if they existed.)
So are you saying that FW 800 is faster than USB 2.0 -- and that I should be using the FW connection to get better throughput? And that I can resume daisy-chaining multiple external drives through the one port?
Definitely Firewire would be faster than USB. And I have 5 external hard drives daisy-chained through a single Firewire800 port on my Mac. So daisy-chained Firewire is the way to go.
Like I said, for the small, incremental, hourly Time Machine backups, the speed difference is insignificant. But when the day comes that you have to restore your hard drive, (i.e.: hard drive dead so you buy new blank hard drive. Or you just want to replace with a larger drive,) if say your Time Machine backup is 80GB, that restore would probably take several hours over USB2. On my Firewire400 drive, my 100GB Time Machine restore of my Macbook Pro took about an hour and a half. (The data transfer was about an hour, but OSX took awhile after that to finish up the restore.) YMMV, of course, but IMHO, use Firewire over USB2 as much as possible. If you're lucky enough to have a Mac Pro or iMac and can use multiple internal hard drives or eSATA, then that would be even faster than Firewire800. Only owners of a Macbook Air or non-Firewire Macbook should resign themselves to USB2.

Brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

Setting up external HDD for Time Machine...

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for