Setting up Time Machine to use an external drive attached to another mac

I have an external drive connected to an iMac G5 (OS X 10.5.6) that is used by Time Machine on that mac. I would like to set up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro (also OS X 10.5.6) to back up to that same drive. File sharing is enabled on the iMac but I can't seen to mount just the iMac's the external drive. Rather, the MacBook Pro mounts the entire iMac file system --- it shows up as "brian.imac" under the 'shared' heading of the finder window; the iMac's individual volumes show up as folders. Time Machine doesn't seem to recognize these as allowable destinations. What am I doing wrong?

Brian Curtiss wrote:
When I click on "brian.imac" on the MacBook Pro it opens the iMac's file system in the finder window. The iMac's external drive appears as a folder in this window. Clicking on that folder opens the external drive in the finder (the icon along the top of the finder window even looks like a drive, not a folder), but the 'drive' doesn't appear on the desktop or along the left side of the finder window.
that's normal.
The iMac external drive is listed as an attached drive if I click on the "brian.macbook" under the "Devices" heading of the finder window (along with the built-in drive, mobile me drive and 'network,).
This should be enough. normally, at this point the drive should appear as a possible TM drive choice. I don't know why it doesn't work for you.
You can try the following terminal command. It should not be needed but maybe it will help
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
With the iMac's external drive's finder window (on the MacBook Pro) still open, clicking "Choose Backup Disk..." in the "Time Machine" system preferences window brings up an empty list. How do I get Time Machine to recognize the iMac's external drive as a valid choice?

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burgessiii22 wrote:
Thanks for the answer Linc, but how do I check to make sure the back-up process is working if I don't think I need to restore?
Create a test file with Text Edit (or any other program) and save it to your desktop.
Run Time Machine from the menu bar.
When the Time Machine icon in the menu bar stops spinning, drag your test file to the trash.
Open Time Machine and go back 1 page. You should see your test file on the desktop.

Time Machine has locked my external drive. HELP

Time Machine hosed me again. After several unsuccessful attempts to backup on my PowerMac G5 dual 2.33 Ghz, I was able to complete my first full backup to an external 2 gig DROBO (USB 2.0 interface). It took 20 hours to do 180 gigs.
Now I have just discovered that Time Machine has made that external drive READ-ONLY! I cannot write to the drive and neither can Time Machine.
Does anybody know what is up and how to fix this short of using root UNIX shell which terrifies me. I just want to take it off and cut my losses, but the drive also has a ton of music on it that iTunes uses.

Okay Jeffery, I think I've found the solution, especially if you are seeing the "Unknown" user in your Get Info window's Sharing & Permissions setting for your drobo.
I had written earlier about my work-around for getting my drobo to work right after getting the "read-only" error from Time Machine. But unfortunately it was a temporary and temperamental fix. There were times then I had to eject the disk and launch Disk Utility to run a repair on the disk which would take more than half an hour on my drobo. But all the while my permissions had this "Unknown" user. Well I decided to "Go UNIX" and see if I could fix this problem once and for all.
I opened up Terminal and typed "*ls -la /Volumes*". This gives me a directory listing of my mounted drive volumes. I noticed that all of my drives, internal, external, USB and FireWire, all had "root" as the user and "admin" as the group, _EXCEPT for my drobo!_ So I forced it to conform by changing it manually by typing "*sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/Drobo\ Backup\ HD/*".
sudo = temporarily enables root mode by asking for your password before executing.
chown = changes ownership to...
root:admin = "root" is the user and "admin" is the group.
*/Volumes/Drobo\ Backup\ HD/* = My drobo drive is named "*Drobo Backup HD*", but UNIX sees spaces as command separators, so you have to use the "\ " to signify spaces within a name.
After doing this over a week ago, _I have not had any other problems_ with using my drobo as a backup drive. It has never come up with the "read-only" error in Time Machine, the Sharing & Permissions setting do not have any "Unknown" users or groups, I don't even need to wait for my drobo before logging in like I did in the past. I just boot my Mac and everything with my drobo and Time Machine just works... No problems!
It seems to be permanently fixed for me, so if you are willing to try this solution, I'm sure it would work for you. If UNIX terrifies you too much, and you do not trust yourself editing the commands above, let me know the name of your drobo drive on your desktop and I will post a message with the EXACT UNIX commands customized for just for you, so all you have to do is copy and paste them into your Terminal window to do it. But like I said, I've done this over a week ago and I not had one single problem.

Time Machine can't find external drive after installing Lion

Time Machine can't find external drive after installing Lion. I have a Laice 1 terabyte external drive that worked fine with Snow Leopard and now no show ... tried connecting it to front port and Mac Pro can't see it. Also lost Office,Quicken, and Final Cut Pro says: " You can't open application because Power PC apps are no longer supported" this is Not a good surprise!

Does the drive work when just directly connected? If so, have you prepped the drive?
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Time Machine Backup across multiple external drives

Hello all-
I have about 1.5 TB of data in my computer (video editing- fills things up fast)... I was wondering if it were possible to tell Time Machine to recognize multiple external drives as the backup volume? I'm not talking about creating cloned backups of my data on different drives, I'm talking about plugging in three 1TB external drives and having Time Machine use them as targets for the backup image.
Thanks

Yes, you can use Disk Utility to create a +Concatenated Raid Set,+ also known as a JBOD (Just a bunch of disks). See the Help for Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
This is kind of the opposite of partitioning: it combines 2 or more disks into a single volume. The three disks won't appear on your desktop or Finder sidebar individually, just the one volume.
I'm not sure that's necessarily the best solution, though. Is all that data on a single internal HD, or do you have, say, OSX, applications, and most of your data on one drive, and media on a second? If so, it might be better to use TM on your main OSX drive, and something else, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! on the media.
That would greatly reduce the time needed for a restore, as you'd only have to restore the drive that failed.
It could also reduce the amount of storage needed, as you might not need (or want) TM's hourly backups of the media files, and keeping all the previous versions. Using another app would allow you to back that data up somewhat less frequently, such as once or twice a day.
But, of course, it all depends on your situation and preferences. As usual, there are many options.

Does Time Machine require a dedicated external drive, or can it include other files?

After a misplaced library file, I'm having problems restoring some of the content on my MacBook Pro. I have a Time Machine backup on an external drive, but the drive also includes lots of other files that I want to exclude from the restore process. I'm concerned whether the Migration Assistant will scoop up everything on the drive.
The laptop is still running on Snow Leopard 10.6.8 for specific reasons (although I have Lion 10.7.5 on my iMac). I presume Time Machine and the Migration Assistant are the same on both operating systems -- but I'd better ask here first.
Thanks for any help with this question.

David Henderson7 wrote:
Another good idea. Thanks, FatMac!
For a long time, I was leery of putting too much stuff on one drive. It breaks, and you lose everything. But you're right -- the prices allow for even two 3TB externals that could manage backups of backups for paranoid types like me. And that's in addition to the internal drive.
Welcome to paranoidville. Staples has been selling Toshiba Canvio 3 TB externals for $120 and even though they must have green drives inside because they run a lot cooler than Seagates (of course they do, also, have ventilation), being fed from an SSD I've seen transfer rates of 130+MB/s connected to USB 3.0 ports. I have one set up with 4 partitions and maintain a rolling backup of the boot disk with BU dates recorded for each partition. A second Toshiba has a single periodic BU of the Mac Pro as well as a bootable backup of the rMBP and what passes for a Windows 8 backup of a Lenovo laptop. A third has the rMBP TM partition and a series of rMBP backups (that was originally used for testing and using the rMBP for a week without touching the rMBP SSD in case there was an image retention problem or some other issue, since the internal SSD can't be securely erased and I had 14 days to simply return it).
You can never be too rich, too thin or too backed up.

I need to create a second back-up of iPhoto from Time Machine to a separate external drive. The old iPhoto in TM will not open. Please help!

I need to create a second back-up of iPhoto from Time Machine to a separate external drive. The old iPhoto in TM will not open. Please help! And thank you!

Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

Time machine back up other external drive?

Hi folks,
My HD is filling up fast. What I need to know is if I move say, my music and photos to an external drive, will time machine back up the music and photos when they reside on the external drive? I have time machine running on an external drive dedicated to time machine. I'm using OX Mavericks.
Thanks,
Steve

Mine is set up similar. I use TIME MACHINE as a back up and then my redundant back up is to a 2 terabyte USB External, so now I have everything backed up twice.

Can I choose which backup for Time Machine to use if I have backups from two macs on one drive?

I have Time Machine backup on an external drive. I want to mirgrate all my files onto the new Mac Pro but migration is getting hung up and cant find the drive. Can I set up Time Machine for the new mac on this same drive and then select the old macs backup from within Time Machine?

Most likely, some folders were excluded from your backups as the result of a failed or aborted software installation.
Starting from a clean installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

Errors when transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive.

Hello,
I need some help transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive. Let me explain what happened.
I have a Mac OSX Mountain Lion that was upgraded to Mavericks when the upgrade came out. Prior to upgrading, I've been backing up WD Passport Mac with the proprietary software "WD Unlocker on it". It worked flawlessly but after upgrading to Mavericks, I decided to backup and noticed that once i inserted the WD Passport, my screen will flicker, windows will close and reappear.
I decided to read up on this and discovered that Mavericks is not compatible with the "WD Unlocker " program on the Passport drive. Since I already have a backup in place, i decided to restore my computer to factory settings and when I attached the Passport drive with my backup on it, My device will see the backup but it will keep spinning for hours without restoring my backup. I decided to read further on this and I got the same Mavericks compatibility conclusion.
I then copied my entire backups.backupdb folder to my Mac desktop and formatted my WD Passport external drive and got rid of the proprietary software "WD Unlocker".. Once this was completed, I then tried to copy my backups.backupdb folder to my external drive within finder. Each time i tried, i get error messages and permission messages. Even when i changed the permission on the backups.backupdb folder to read & write for everyone, i still get the permissions error.
Please helppppp. I have over 500gb of vital data in my backup.
Thank you.

Since you don't really have a question, I will give you a very broad information source for the next time you have a Time Machine question.
Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Oh, you cannot use a computer whose only disk drive is the target of a an OS X cloning operation regardless of what software is used for the clone. You can, however, use the source drive except if you try to clone using Disk Utility.

Transfer Time Machine backup from one external drive to another

Surely this has been covered, but I can't find it.
If you have your time machine backup on an external drive and get a new (larger) external drive, what is the best way to transfer the backup from one drive to the other (and define the new drive as the backup drive)? Straight copy ? Then to define the new drive, rename old drive to something else and name new drive the backup name?

I haven't tried this yet but a few other methods are described at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071128055047339

Setting Up Time Machine with a Partitioned External Hard Drive

I recently bought a new external hard drive (MyPassport) and I was advised to partition it in order to keep my movies/music files separate from the rest of my files. So I partitioned it, but now I can't figure out how to set up the Time Machine with 2 separate hard drives. Is there a way to set it up so that I can use Time Machine for both, one for movies/music and one for everything else?

I recently bought a new external hard drive (MyPassport) and I was advised to partition it in order to keep my movies/music files separate from the rest of my files. So I partitioned it, but now I can't figure out how to set up the Time Machine with 2 separate hard drives. Is there a way to set it up so that I can use Time Machine for both, one for movies/music and one for everything else?

How do I use time machine to backup to external drive on other machine on network

I have 2 x McPros, 2 x iMacs and 2 x MacBook Pro all integrated in the same home network. I have a DroboPro Network which can only be recognised as a Shared device by one MacPro only. There are 2 DroboPro 8 Bay RAID devices attached via Firewire to one MacPro.
With Mavericks how can I ensure that
a. The networked Drobo can be seen by all computers as a shared device (it is connected via Ethernet to central Gigabit switch)
b. That, failing the networked Drobo sharing, how can I ensure all computers on network will always have access for Time Machine backups using the DroboPro attached via Firewire to the one MacPro.
Many thanks, it's probably right under my nose.
Darrin

Time Machine will only back up internal and directly connected external drives. It will not back up a network attached storage device. You'll have to use some other software to back up the NAS.

Beginner's question: Using Time Machine with a WD External Drive

Hello folks,
Could someone help me with some basic questions?
I have a MacBook with Mac OSX 10.5.5. It has Time Machine but I've never used it before. I've just obtained a Western Digital External Hard Drive which is Mac compatible but, I'm told, may not be formatted for Mac.
1. If that's the case, how do I format it for Mac so that I can use it with my MacBook? Or can I just plug-and-play?
2. Once ready to use, I'd like to use the external drive for two purposes: (a) to create back-up images of my entire computer using Time Machine, and (b) as a second drive where I can just drag-and-drop selected files when needed (e.g. so that I can put photos in a photo folder on my external instead of on my MacBook hard drive). Will my MacBook let me do this, or will using Time Machine effectively reserve the entire external hard drive for Time Machine and not allow my to drag-and-drop files?
Thanks! And Happy New Year!

Question 1:
1. Launch Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utility folder.
2. Click the "erase" tab
3. Select your entire WD disk on the sidebar (the uppermost icon).
4. Format: "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"
5. Name the Disk
6. Click on "erase"
Question 2:
What is the size of your drive? If it is large enough you can partition it but Time Machine backup will "grow". So if it's important to you to save all backups you'll want to give it the whole disk. If not, you can partition the disk at the same time you format it.
Follow the steps here. It will accomplish both Q1 & Q2.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Setting up Time Machine to use an external drive attached to another mac

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