Time Machine and connecting an external HD
Hi,
Sorry if this topic was already posted. I searched for an anwer, but could find it.
I have:
Macbook
Mobile External HD
I bought a time capsule and am waiting till the postmans divers it!
I use my External HD to store my iTunes music and library on and also my photos and iPhoto library.
I want to use my Time Capsule to make backups of my Macbook without using annoying wires...
If I connect my external HD to the Time Machine, will I be able to connect with my iTunes Library and iPhoto Library? In this way I do not have to connect the External HD to my MacBook and am completely wireless within my home network (correct?).
Once I leave my house with my Macbook, can I disconnect the external HD from the time capsule and take the HD with my Macbook to wherever and still be able to use the iTunes library?
Jaap74 wrote:
hmmm.....just checked.
It says: MBR and Fat32....
well, well, what a coincidence we raised that issue
So I guess I need to reconfigure my HD. I will definitely need some assistance, if you don't mind.
i don't, that's what this forum is for
I have another external HD that I can use to stall my files on, which currently are on the HD. What I am afraid of is that if I move my files to the other HD, reconfigure and set them back, that iTunes doesn't recognize my library (and same with iPhoto).
don't you worry. format that 2nd HD for Mac using disk utility. under the volume scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. click on the partition button and wait until the process has completed. This will format the drive for OS X
next follow the instructions here and here to move the lib/folder to the (temporary) external HD
now you can format the main HD (using the instructions above) and move the lib/folder again using the same instructions. this may be a little time consuming but you will avoid major problems in the end !
Similar Messages
-
I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?
no.
-
QUESTION.
Hallo , my question is ;whenever I delete a photo and restore it through Time machine and Western digital external hard drive , I am able to restore the photo but not the titles and descriptions . Western Digital inform me that it isn't their external hard drive problem and suggest that it is an Apple software problem ?
I am using a Macbook 4.1 , with Mac OSX 10.5.8 . I photo 7.1.5 , last modifie4d 01/05/2010 -universal . Should I be upgrading Iphoto ?
I hope that someone is able to help in this matter , as i have to restore 12000 photos !
Thanking you in anticipation.
Alan from WigtonHallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan -
Time Machine and backing up external hard drives
Time machine will not back external hard drives I have connected to my Mac Pro. It works fine with the 3 hard drives mounted in the computer. Is this the way Time Machine is intended to work or am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance for your assistance.
According to Disk Utility, GUID and AFP are both ok for a non-bootable drive with either CPU. The difference is when you want to make a volume bootable.
Since TM volumes are not bootable, it shouldn't matter UNLESS you have some other bootable system installed on the drive.
Right now, the drive on my Intel iMac is partitioned AFP and the one on the PPC powerbook is GUID. They both appear to be behaving themselves. The iMac has had one instance (since the last partition job) of a massive backup which occurred right after I changed the exclude list and the PPC has had no massive backups (other than the initial one). On that one, I built the exclude list BEFORE the initial backup.
- gws -
Time Machine and SuperDuper on External Hard Drive?
Hi!
I really need a back up solution and after reading a lot of different articles and forums I think using Time Machine and SuperDuper may be the best option for me so I'm looking for advice:
Should I partition an external hard drive and have part of the partition for Time Machine and part for my SuperDuper clone? If I do this how much space should I give to each partition (the computer is 250GB and I'm using about 90GB, I mostly deal with documents, photos and music, I don't have movies or many huge files on my computer)
Will a 500GB external hard drive be sufficient and if the Time Machine partition becomes full as I assume it will in a few months if I understand correctly it will just start overwriting older back ups?
I know the ideal might be to have an external hard drive dedicated to time machine and one dedicated to SuperDuper but to be honest I can't afford 2 hard drives at the moment so I plan to partition (unless you strongly advise against it) and I'll also back up extremely important files with Dropbox. I'm at that stage where I just need to start doing back ups and I like the idea of it happening in the background via Time Machine and doing a weekly clone with SuperDuper. I'd like to get started immediately.
Any advice or problems I should be aware of would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!Effie Darrow wrote:
Should I partition an external hard drive and have part of the partition for Time Machine and part for my SuperDuper clone?
imagine that drive croaks. both backups will be lost @ the same time ...
If I do this how much space should I give to each partition (the computer is 250GB and I'm using about 90GB, I mostly deal with documents, photos and music, I don't have movies or many huge files on my computer)
see this read about how much space you should give TM: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/1.html.
as for a SD clone, the size of your startup disk will suffice.
Will a 500GB external hard drive be sufficient
see above
and if the Time Machine partition becomes full as I assume it will in a few months if I understand correctly it will just start overwriting older back ups?
deleting them, yes.
I know the ideal might be to have an external hard drive dedicated to time machine and one dedicated to SuperDuper
that would indeed be ideal.
but to be honest I can't afford 2 hard drives at the moment
USB drives are dirt cheap right now but stay away from WD drives.
good luck !
JGG -
I hate to say it.. But I have never backed up!! I have thousands of pics of my son on this mac book, it got wet and NOW I'm backing up (as i type) to a Seagate external hard drive- I plugged it in, and then Time MAchine launched automatically. It looks like it's backing up my whole computer, is it backing up everything? photos, address book, documents etc? If my computer crashes tomorrow, how would I restore all of this information on a new computer?
Help, I'm computer iliterate- hence the reason I got a Mac (so easy to use). I need reasurance that it will back up! How do I continue to back up? Leave the external hard drive plugged in? I'm telling you I'm below the knowledge of "Backing Up a Mac for Dummies"Time Machine makes a backup of the whole OS.X volume automatically, so you will have an exact copy of your hard disk in your Time Machine external disk. Also, Time Machine will make backups every hour, always that your Time Machine disk is connected. If you want more information, visit this site > http://pondini.org
To restore this in a new Mac, you have to use Migration Assistant. Just connect the Time Machine drive into the new computer, open Migration Assistant (it's in /Applications/Utilities) and follow the steps. You will be able to select what you want to transfer.
Also, if you have a brand-new Mac, you can do this during the initial setup. Setup Assistant will ask you to restore a backup, so connect the Time Machine disk and follow the steps -
Time Machine and partition on external drive
Planning to buy a big external drive, but, is it possible to partition the external drive and make TM work on one ?
Absolutely, in fact it is recommended to give TM its own partition. Use the first partition of the drive (that's the one that ends up at the top of the list in Disk Utility).
Make sure the partition is double, if not three times, the size of what you will be backing up.
Note that you have the option (Sys Prefs-TM-Options) to exclude drives and folders from backups. This may save a lot of space and is useful for the applications folder (as you likely have that stuff on CD/DVD), for music (if you have it on CDs), the downloads folder etc; see [this page|http://www.ryanblock.com/2008/05/good-folders-to-exclude-from-time-machine -backups] for more ideas on what to exclude so as not to backup unnecessary stuff. Also, if you work with scratch disks (in Photoshop or video applications, for instance), exclude them as well as that's just unnecessary.
/p -
Time machine and files on external drive
When I first got my MacBook Pro, I left some old files on the external drive that I had been using for files. But then when I set TM up, I used that external drive, not realizing that I can no longer retrieve files except through TM. Now, that TM has filled up, I need to reset some things and do it right this time. I figure I will need to erase the entire drive and start over with partitions.
Am I out of luck to retrieve those files that were not associated with TM? If not, let me know how to find those files.
thanksTechnically you can but it is not a very good idea at all. The reason it is a flawed idea is if the HD fails (not really if but when) you will have defeated the whole idea of backup. A failure means you will lose the data files you stored on it and it's backup! A good backup plan has at least 2 forms of backup because backups can fail too. I would strongly recommend getting at least one additional external HD and use it for storing the data files you wanted off the internal HD and use the second for a Time Machine backup drive.
Personally I have 3 external HD's attached to my computer. Disk 1 is my Time Machine backup, Disk 2 is a Bootable Clone of my internal HD and Disk 3 stores my music, photography and movie libraries.
Please read these articles, they will discuss different backup strategies and I think you will see that each suggest redundant backups.
Backup Plan I
Backup Plan II
Backup Plan III -
Issue with Time Machine and WD Elements external drive
I am experiencing continuous problems with Time Machine set to back up to a WD Elements 1TByte external disk; appears to backup files perfectly but I'm plagued by recurring message 'The disk was not ejected properly...'. Dealer assures me that the disk is fine. No problem if Time Machine is disabled. But then I have no back up...
christopherfromadelaide wrote:
In fact, when I turn off Time Machine, I still get the ... message, which flashes up every 30 secs or so, and only goes away when I unplug the external drive.
That indicates that the problem may not involve Time Machine at all.
To be sure everything else is ok, verify your internal HD and repair the WD drive, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting
If the problems persist, try different port(s), cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may only make marginal/intermittent contact in another). Also make sure the WD's power cable is snug and secure, and it's plugged-in to a good power source. -
i am using for first time the time machine and an external hard drive because I want to erase my macbook and start from zero files. Am i keeping my files in the portable hard disk when I will connect it again with the macbook or the time machine will erase all?
I would like to know if after I erase all my data, empy hard drive inside the macbook, the time machine will erase all my files that I have saved in my "WD "My passport" external hard driveWelcome to Apple Support Communities
Time Machine has to erase the external disk in order to make backups. Before setting Time Machine up, copy the files of your external disk to the hard disk of the Mac in order not to lose them, and then, set up Time Machine. The first backup will start automatically.
If you want more information about Time Machine, read the Pondini's site > http://pondini.org -
Is possible to have a time machine backup on an external hd connected to either a primary or secondary router and not have "back to my mac" using 10.7.3?
The bottom line is that Apple does not support Time Machine backups at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme. If they don't support their own router, they certainly don't support other routers from other manufacturers.
Connect the drive directly to the Mac using either USB or FireWire.....or....use a Time Capsule. Either of these setups will be supported.
If you want to try the unsupported method(s), you can certainly do so. But, I would suggest that you have a secondary backup plan in place if this is important data that you will be backing up. -
Time Capsule, Time Machine and external HD connected to time Capsule
Hi. I am a new mac user and have an imac.
I have a 1T Time capsule with an external hub connected to the time capsual. The Time caspsule creates a wireless home network which has the internet connected to it.
To this external hub I have a printer connected along with 2 external WD 500 Hard Drives. I wanted to use one of these WD 500 HD to store my iphoto library and data. I then wanted the time machine to backup the WD 500 HD to the time capsule, which currently is where the time machine backups are stored.
I can see all devices and they all work. I can only see the external HD's via the time capsule in finder.
I can't seem to get the time machine to backup the external HD to the time capsule. In summary - the external HD is connected an external hub to the time capsule. The Imac accesses it via a wireless home network which is created by the Time capsule.
Is this possible?Hello DazImac. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
I can't seem to get the time machine to backup the external HD to the time capsule. In summary - the external HD is connected an external hub to the time capsule. The Imac accesses it via a wireless home network which is created by the Time capsule.
Is this possible?
Sorry, but no. Time Machine will not back up network drives ... which a USB drive attached to the TC's USB port would be treated as. -
I want to set up the Time Machine and I would love to use the Time
Capsule but since I already have a wireless router I need suggestions on
what other
external disks Apple could recommend to use with the Time Machine and
how to configure that disk.
A complication that I need to resolve is the fact that I am using Vmware
Fusion to be able to use Windows on my Mac. Now it seems that Time
Machine is not backing up my files
on that virtual Windows without additional configuration and my question
is whether you can advise me here or whether this is only a matter for
the Fusion virtual machine.If you want to use Time Capsule you can.. you simply bridge it and plug it into the existing router.. wireless can be either turned off or used to reinforce the existing wireless.. eg use 5ghz in the TC which is much faster than your 2.4ghz.
You can also use a NAS.. many brands available but the top brands are synology, qnap and netgear readynas series. These will all do Time Machine backups although how well always depends on Apple sticking to a standard. There are cheaper ones.. I bought a single disk zyxel which was rebadged and sold through my local supermarket. It actually works very well for TM at least on Snow Leopard. Major changes were made in Lion and again ML so do not instantly think it will work on later versions. I haven't tried it yet with those versions.
Any external drive can be plugged into the mac. Use the one with the fastest connection or cheapest price according to your budget. USB2 drives are cheap and plentiful. But no where near as fast as USB3 or FW800. So just pick whichever suits the ports on your Mac. Interesting Apple finally moved to USB3 on their latest computers.
TM should exclude the VM partition file.. it is useless backing it up from Mac OS side.. and will slow TM as it needs to backup that partition everyday for no purpose.. TM cannot see the files inside it to backup just the changes.
You need to backup windows from windows. Use MSbackup to external drive.. if you have pro or ultimate versions you can backup to network drive. But MSbackup is a dog.. at least until the latest version it cannot restore the partition without first loading windows. There are about a zillion backup software versions for windows.. look up reviews and buy one which works for you. I use a free one Macrium Reflect which does full disk backups and is easy to restore.. to do incremental backups though you have to pay for it. -
I have a 1TB external hard drive (NTFS) that has all my files from my old PC, how do I create a partition on it for HFS without formatting it so that I can use it for Time Machine and the like?
There aren't any 3rd party apps or anything. I use PC's and Mac's at school and the only computer connected to a printer at my house is a PC so i need access to both
-
How to store photo's on external drive and still use Time Machine and secondary back up plan
So, My Macbook Pro is now going on 4 years old and I've accumulated around 15,000 photos in iPhoto now. I would like to move everything (or at least everything older than 12 months) onto a portable external drive, but i'm not sure the best way to do this and still keep a good back up plan. My current process is the following -- I have external HD same size as my current internal drive on the MBP, which is formatted that i use Time Machine. I also have a paid subscription to Crash Plan online cloud back up that is connected to my laptop drive (CrashPlan is constant and easy, so I just USB plug in MBP to EHD a few times a month and that's it). If I were to move most of my picture/video's/important docs to an external drive, how would I back that up with Time Machine, and if I did, how would I back up my laptop drive with Time Machine also, and what drive would I assign my Crash Plan online account too? Cant seem to wrap my brain around the easiest and best method. (In short, I want most pics/video's stored off the laptop so that my HD is not consumed; but still easy to access if needed, and easy to back up) Also driving this need for a solution is the fact i would like my next lap top to be an Macbook Air, which I know I can't keep my current set up would not work. Any thoughts are appreciated.
if your internal drive has 250 GB and the external drive with the iPhoto library as well, your TimeMachine should have at least 1 TB.
I have read over some of CrashPlans support docs and it sounds like it will be able to back up and restore the iPhoto library, and as long as you restore the entire library and not single photos, it will save and restore all metadata as well.
I studied their documents to. They are saying they can backup any filetype. And they are saying the iPhoto libraries or Aperture libraries will be backed up automatically, when they are in in the Pictures folder, because the Home folder will be backed up.
On their screenshot you can see, that the libraries are backed up as a nested set of folders, and not as a package. That let's me doubt that the dependencies within the package will be treated correctly. To restore from the backup they recommend to restore the set of nested folders. What I could not find anywhere in the documentation is any information on the filesystem they are storing the backup on. If it is not Apple's MacOS Extended (Journaled, not case sensitive) the restored library may be corrupted, because the internal links in the databases may not work. Try to find out something about the filesystem on the backup servers, before you entrust your iPhoto library to that servers.
Maybe you are looking for
-
Copy Protected CDs and iTunes - long but important
Hey all, I didn't search all the posts but I haven't seen much mentioned about this topice so I thought I would bring it to your attention. If this is a repeat, I apologize. The basic issue is this: some new CDs (especially from Sony) have a program
-
I Am trying to sync my iPad to my other computer and it says I need 10.6 I can't find to download
-
Put up with Infinity for over a year. About to rag...
Title says it all. I had no real problems with BT broadband until I upgraded to Infinity. Then the fun began. Currently scraping along at 4Mb download speed. Cannot physically bring myself to phone BT AGAIN, and go through the same ludicrious set of
-
Two months ago I upgraded (perhaps downgraded is a better term, depending on perspective), anyways changed machines from my trusted 1 Ghz Powerbook G4 Ti to a White MacBook Intel 2.1 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo. My main question here is does the MacBook put
-
9.3GB of "Other" data on iPad, after switching between iTunes libraries
I have a New iPad, and there's 9.3GB occupied by "Other" storage I can't seem to get rid of. Here's some background that may be relevant. I recently bought an iPad, connected it to my Mac and synced the Music library. I later switched to a PC, and wa