Sync 2 external drives to 1 redundant backup.

I have two extrenal drives on my desk that I use for backup:
An older 1TB LaCie drive (still works great but is a bit of a monsters, not terribly portable) that I use for the storage of all my images files,
and a new 500GB WD My Passport Edge for when I need portability and I use for Time Machine backups.
As loosing everything in one shot to theft or fire keeps me up at night, I purchased a 2 TB WD Mypassport Ultra that I would like to use as a second backup and keep off-site.
I would like a the simplest/best way to occasionally sync both my current drives, each to its own a folder on the new 2TB drive.
I don't need any utility that has all sorts of bells and whistles. Just a basic sync. I don't mind if I have to do it manually.
Is this something I do with the disk utility on my mac? If not what would be the best (and fairly basic) software to do this?
Thanks

Hello Photog17,
I would recommend using Time Machine, as it is a simple, elegant, automated backup solution that also allows for multiple backup destinations.
OS X Mavericks: Time Machine overview
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14112
Cheers,
Allen

Similar Messages

Auto mount/eject external drive for time machine backup/restore

I have an Iomega ultramax drive connected via firewire 800 for my Time machine backups.
This drive will automatically spin down after a period of non-use. I like this as it means lower power usage and lower risk of data loss (head crashes etc..).
My problem is, when the drive spins down like this, some file open operations pause until the drive spins up again. I cannot remember exactly which applications I have had the problem with, but I assumed that this was part of the OS. This delay can be up to 5 seconds or so and is really annoying.
Assuming this is not just a specific third party application thing. My suggestion to Apple is to do one or both of the following:
1) Multi thread the file open dialog (process?) so that is comes up instantly, and then adds the drive when it has spun up.
2) Modify time machine so that it can automatically mount/eject the external drive just when doing backups and restores.
Currently I have a bit of a messy work around to this problem where I have a loadd scheduled shell script that runs every hour that mounts the drive, runs time machine to backup and the ejects the drive. It works, but is not perhaps as nice a solution as it could be.
Does anybody else suffer from this problem?

Yes that is correct, the drive spins down and remains mounted.
To be perhaps clearer. The problem is not essentially a time machine problem, it is to do with whatever implements the file open capability that other apps use. In the above sitation, there is always a delay for the drive to spin up when I go to open a file (perhaps five seconds) in other applications. I assume this delay is caused by the file open process waiting until some data is retrieved from the external drive before giving me the option of choosing a file. This delay is annoying, as I do not ever want to open a file from my external drive (this is dedicated to time machine backups) when I am using pages, or any other application other than a time machine restore.
This particular issue is similar (but I suspect nowhere near as bad) as one of my pet hates about windows XP. In windows it appears that the explorer will wait for a response on all its connected drives (hard disks, mounted cds, network drives), so any sort of network connectivity or hardware delay will cause explorer to freeze. As explorer seems to be embedded in most things you do with the OS, this can cause anything or everything to freeze (web browsing, you name it).
In my setup, as I have the external drive totally dedicated to time machine backups, another thing that would fix the problem for me is the suggestion number 2 I suggested where time machine auto mounts for the backup and then ejects after the backup. With the feature, then the external drrive will only ever be mounted for short periods of time (the above problem does not ocurr if the external drive is not mounted), and when it is mounted it will be spinning, so I will never have my file open delay. I would however have a short delay when doing a time machine restore for the mount of the drive, but this is a much rarer event the using file open in all my other apps.
Thanks for the info on the feedback link, I will post this to that.

Use external drive for Time Capsule backups AND file storage?

I have an external drive formatted by my MBP. I'm using it to store my iTunes music library and iPhoto pics. Can I use the drive for Time Capsule backups as well?

Yes, but that is not recommended. Storage and backup should be kept separate to reduce the chances of a disk failure. This is especially important because you cannot even partition a Time Capsule drive. Go get a separate drive for your storage needs. Get another drive for a second backup and use a different method of backup than Time Machine

Using a Second External Drive For Time Machine Backup

I have been using Time Machine for almost a year and the external drive I'm using is almost full. Can I switch to a second external drive? If I decide to keep using the same drive is there a way to keep my original backup? Is there information that I need from that first backup that I did?
Thank you!!!

bvasel900 wrote:
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
I have been using Time Machine for almost a year and the external drive I'm using is almost full. Can I switch to a second external drive?
Yes, if that's what you want to do (see below). If you start "fresh" on a new drive, your first backup will be a full one; everything on your system. Or, you can copy your current backups to it via the procedure in item #18 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum. TM will then continue making it's usual "incremental" backups, and you can erase the old disk and use it for other things.
If I decide to keep using the same drive is there a way to keep my original backup? Is there information that I need from that first backup that I did?
Probably not. As Mr. Peck noted, TM will automatically delete your oldest backups when it needs room for new ones (unless you have the +*Warn when old backups are deleted+* box checked in TM Preferences > Options).
But unless you've been deleting things from your internal HD, counting on TM to keep it's backup copies indefinitely, you won't lose anything you need.
That's because of the "magic" of Time Machine. Each backup is an "incremental" backup, copying only the items that have been added or changed since the last backup. But by using "multi-links" to the backups of items that did not change, each backup is, in effect, a full, complete copy of your entire system!
So when TM deletes your oldest backup, all it will be deleting are it's copies of things you changed or deleted long ago.

How to remove an external drive from time machine backup

In time machine I also backup to an external drive. I recently bought a new external drive and thats working fine. However, it still wants to backup to my previous drive which I dont want to use. In time machine preferences I see the old and new drive listed. Both are greyed out so I cannot deselect the older drive.
Suggestions?

mhattonmd wrote:
So when I open time machine preferences I see time machine and both external drives listed. If I click on options I see both external drives but I cant select either as they are both greyed out.
If you see them both listed on the initial screen of TM prefs, they are both selected as backup drives. They are not being backed up. They are being used by Time Machine as a destination. You need to use “Select Disk…” to remove the external drives from the destination drives. Select Disk does not choose the drives you want to back up. It chooses the drives you wan to back up to.

Use of an external drive for itunes library - backup options?

Hi,
I have a dell laptop with 60GB of memory and I just purchased an 80GB ipod classic. I cannot upgrade the storage in this laptop. Originally I was thinking I would just buy a new laptop. But given that all laptops now come with Windows Vista and reading about all the issues that users have had with Vista and Itunes I do not think that would be a good idea. Do you agree that I should just stick with my Windows XP Machine?
So I was thinking I would change my music library so it resides on an external drive. My only concern with this - is how do I keep a backup of this external drive? From reading all the forum posts if this external drive failed it can be done moving the information from an ipod back to another drive using third party software but it sounds risky.
Any thoughts on how others are handling this would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Karen

Karen, most 3rd party software is pretty easy to use. The one thing I need to point out that relying on the iPod can be pretty risky, too. What if iPod is lost or stolen? What if you have an iPod problem that requires a restore? I would suggest that as a secondary backup for the EHD, you either burn data discs or possibly consider a 2nd EHD, since you can buy them pretty cheap these days. Right now, I backup to 2 different EHD's, then burn data discs as needed of my iTunes library, just in case I would be unlucky enough to lose everything.

Cannot install Yosemite as it keeps telling me both my internal and external drives are time machine backups

Cannot install Yosemite. Keeps telling me that both my internal and external
drives are backing up with TIme Machine. Any suggestions?

Is it actively backing up, or are you encountering a dialog stating that Yosemite cannot be installed because the disk is being used for Time Machine backups?
Read OS X: Cannot install on a volume used by Time Machine for backups
If for some reason you have a folder called Backups.backupdb at the root level of the hard disk on which you want to install Yosemite, move it to the Trash.

IPod cannot sync with external drive

I had to transfer my iTunes music folder to an external drive as I was running out of space on my laptop. I'm also using my desktop now instead of my laptop. However, it is now only updating a few songs and I don't know where they're from as I moved all the files to my external drive.
I've configured the iPod to update from the external drive but it cannot recognise it. Do I need to reset my iPod before I can sync up to my external drive?

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data - How-To Geek

MBA (Gen 1) USB External Drive for Boot and Backup? Recomendations?

I just ordered a 1st generation MBA with the SSD. I want to order an external USB drive that I can use to back up and boot the MBA. I have read that the USB port on the MBA does not provide enough power to support some external drives(?).
I like the G-Technology drives, looking at the G-Drive Mini. Will the USB port on the MBA provide enough power to run that drive?
Any recommendations?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TQ571ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTgzNTAwMg
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TR043ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTg5NDg1NA
I've used both of those drives on a MacBook Air for storage and a Time Machine backup without fail. The LaCie rugged is a personal favorite with the triple interface (as I use on a MacBook Pro with FW 800).
My experience with the G-Drive Mini that I had was a bit "unique." Whenever I'd plug the drive in, the backlight would not come on unless the unit was connected to power. I later found out it was my drive, drawing excessive bus power and G-Technology replaced it under warranty. But I did notice, when hooking the drive up to various port testers that it was drawing significantly more power across the USB port than my LaCie.
Ironically, a co-worker has been using his G-Drive Mini with his MacBook Air since March with nothing but praise.

Itunes won't sync yosemite (external drive)

I have an external drive and with the new update (of yosemite and the new itunes) my music library won't sync.
It is on an external drive. I have tried the previous method (preferences, advanced, itunes media folder location--change)... but it does not seem to register it and it will not sync!!
Very frustrating

OK, after searching the forum I know to hold the Shift key when starting iTunes. But I have to do this every single time???!!! That's the same as changing the preferences, practically.

Using separate external drives with Timemachine to backup internals?

I have a Macpro with 4 internal drives. Can I use 4 separate external drives with Timemachine to back up each of the 4 internals?
Thanks.

I do not want to use them all at the same time, I want to be able to plug in one external drive to backup all of my photos on my 2nd internal drive and later plug in another external drive to back up all of my videos on my 3rd internal drive.
Can Timemachine be used this way?
Thanks.

Time Capsule external drive very slow for backup

I am experiencing very, very slow backup times using an external drive attached to my Time Capsule. When I recently added a 3 TB Rocstor external drive to my mid-2011 iMac using FireWire, I included it in the drives to be backed up. The internal 2 TB of storage in my Time Capsule was no longer enough, so I plugged a 4 TB WD My Book Studio drive into the Time Capsule's USB 2.0 port and specified this WD drive as the only backup storage. The first backup took almost 48 hours. Now the Time Machine keeps trying to back up about 400 GB - 500 GB (though there haven't been any changes) and is transferring about 400 KB/sec over Ethernet from my iMac to the Time Capsule's external drive. What am I doing wrong? (I recently upgraded the iMac to OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite.)

Frankly, I have no way to gauge your network setup, so I can't really tell you what you should expect. I can tell you from my own experiences using a local network based on a 3rd Gen. Gigabit Ethernet AEBS that using Ethernet the average throughput (not interface) was in the neighborhood of 16-20 MBs/sec. The average throughput for a USB 2.0 drive connected directly was about the same.
This works out to an average throughput of around 60 GBs/hour. Depending upon file sizes and number of files being transferred a USB 2.0 drive might reach 100 GBs/hour, but that is a rare outcome. The USB 2.0 drive interface speed is about the same as FireWire 400 - 400 Mb/s or roughly 50 MBs/sec. This is what I know from measurement. Do not expect Ethernet to be any faster for throughput.

HT3275 Why does Time Machine backup fail when an external drive is included in backup?

Time Machine will not perform a backup when I have an external drive (formatted Mac OS Extended - Journaled) included in the backup. My understanding is that it should. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.

timtom122353 wrote:
"The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
Ah, not one of Apple's more informative messages.
There's a problem with a file on that disk. See #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it.

2 external drives for samples/recording/backup - advice needed

Hi, all!
Recently, I experienced a system drive crash which had taken to nowhere land all my system software, as well as a lot of music applications including Logic Studio, Kontakt 3, plug-ins, etc. However, all my samples and recording projects were residing on a separate external drive and survived.
Now, to prevent such occurrence in the future, I am planning a backup system which includes the following:
G5 Dual 2.5 with 8 GB RAM running OS X 10.5.6
Echo Audio Layla 3G with an interface card installed in one PCI slots
PCI-X SeriTek/1VE2+2 interface card residing in 133 bus slot and connected via eSata ports to:
internally:
drive 1 - VelociRaptor 300GB - system (Logic, Kontakt, etc.)
drive 2 - VelociRaptor 300GB - backup of drive 1 (smart backup with SuperDuper)
externally:
drive 3 - OWC Mercury Elite 750GB (samples and recordings)
drive 4 - OWC mercury Elite 750 GB (backup? RAID 1 with drive 3?)
Drive 4 has just arrived and I would like to get the advice of the most efficient way of using two external OWC drives: RAID 1 configuration, or simply backing up the contents of drive 3 to drive 4 via SuperDuper? Forgive me my ignorant question as it is my first time dealing with various RAID configurations: will my drive 3 be erased if I try to arrange two Mercury drives as RAID 1 through disk utility?
Many thanks in advance for your help.
sercher

I use both methods, for different reasons.
I do use SuperDuper to clone my system drive, but I also use other strategies. The benefit of SuperDuper is that it makes a bootable backup. The drawback is that you have to manually run it, and it is advisable to not use your system while it is running.
For this exact reason, Raid 1 has huge benefits over a manual backup scheme, especially for drives writing new data often, or in great amounts. Whatever you write to disk 1 is simultaneously written to disk 2. No manual intervention necessary. If you use an external drive enclosure with a raid chipset in it, the setup is dead easy. Software raid is a different story although it achieves the same level of security. You would have to erase drive 3 to set up software raid with D.U., and it would be less efficient as it uses your system cpu.
Although I keep a bootable clone on hand as I said above, I use this mainly for testing new software (ie. 10.5.7). I use my laptop for many other purposes as well, so new data is added to the internal drive regularly, so I want constant backups: my strategy looks like this:
System backed up constantly using Time Machine (incremental, constant and transparent).
Bootable clones made weekly with SuperDuper.
All media data written to a hardware raid enclosure (I use a G-Raid mini 2, but there are much less costly alternatives). All photos in my Aperture library are referenced and reside on the raid drive, and all audio captured is also written to this drive.
Don't mean to step on any toes, hope this is useful info.
Jake

ITune 9 sync to external drive WITHOUT copying to default folder.

Hi,
My current library is too large to fit on my local HDD, so after preforming a needed reformat,I decided to move my backed up media (mp3's, ipas...) to my external drive.
When I installed itunes, I changed "itunes media folder location" to the external drive (D:\itunes). I then consolidated the library.
The problem is this as follow:
When I drag an app ipa from my external hard drive (E:) to itunes it backs up the ipa to another external drive folder (D:\iTunes\Mobile Applications) which I specified (which is what I want it to do).
BUT, it also copies the ipa to the ORIGINAL "C:\Users\Name\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Mobile Applications" disk location!
I don't want itunes to copy the ipas from E: to both the original "C:\Users\Name\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Mobile Applications" location and "D:\iTunes\Mobile Applications". I only want a copy of ipa at D:\iTunes\Mobile Applications, not the original location.
Please help, itunes is really ******* me off.

You have to read through this : http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/
I keep my iTunes Media on a separate HD in my computer and back it up to an exterior HD.
So, I confess it, I've made my share of moving the library mistakes and they are time consuming to put right.
From your post you seem to have done the necessary steps the "other way 'round"
Done correctly you shouldn't have a media folder at C to confuse iTunes with.

Sync 2 external drives to 1 redundant backup.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for