Time Machine - Backup from One Ext HD to Another Ext HD?

I'm sure this has been asked before but my searches have come up empty.
I'm currently setup on a 27" iMac (about 18 months old) and currently using Time Machine to backup my internal hard drive to an external raid setup.  However, I keep all of my media files on an external hard drive rather than take up much needed real estate on my internal HD.
My question - is there anyway thru Time Machine to backup my external media drive to another extrnal drive, which is part of my raid setup?  All externals are hooked up to the iMac and the iMac is recognizing all drives.
Or is Time machine limited in nature to only allow copying/backup from the internal drive to some other peripheral drive?
Thanks!!

Time Machine can back up from multiple volumes, but only to a single volume.  
Internal volumes are backed-up by default; external volumes are excluded by default.  Go to Time Machine Prefs > Options.  The external should be listed in the exclusions box there.  If it's shown in black, just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom.   It will be included on the next backup.
If it's listed in gray, however, it's not formatted HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), Time Machine can't back it up, and you can't remove it.
If there isn't room on your external, and you can't expand the partition your backups are on, you'll need a different app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Similar Messages

  • Cannot transfer Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

    Since I bought my 13 inch MacBook Pro in September 2014 I've been keeping Time Machine backups on an external 1TB Lacie Rugged.  This is partitioned into three and one of the partitions contains my iPhoto library. 
    Last weekend I left my MBP disconnected from the power source but with the external hard drive still plugged in.  Long story short - the battery level fell below the minimum needed to operate so it turned itself off and 'disconnected' the external hard drive.  This resulted in a corrupted iPhoto library which is no longer accessible.
    In order to restore my iPhoto Library from another backup I needed to buy a second external hard drive.  Yesterday I bought a 2TB Lacie Rugged which I've now partitioned into 5. 
    I want to move my Time Machine backups from the 1TB Lacie Rugged to a partition on the 2TB Lacie Rugged (to take advantage of the new Lacie's Thunderbolt connection). 
    I read the Apple article -
    HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
    and followed the instructions precisely.  About 2 hours into the transfer I came back to my MacBook Pro and saw a message saying that it was not possible to complete the transfer because I did not have the correct permissions.  The only option was to click the OK button which stopped the transfer.
    Can anyone advise what I should do next?
    Cheers
    Tricia

    Hi Eric,
    Thank you for your response.  I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method.  It worked for me, too.  This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
    The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
    I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me.  From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts  I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem.  I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
    The next problem I have is that I decided I would use the Restore route to transfer my SuperDuper clone rather than start from scratch.  Unfortunately, the partition size on my original backup disk where SuperDuper clone is is 350GB and the size of the SuperDuper clone partition on my new backup is 300GB.
    Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility.  What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility.  I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
    Cheers
    Tricia

  • 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

  • My experiences copying Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

    I am reposting this.  The first one was rejected because it contained 'product feedback' and I was directed to the 'Terms of Use'.  The 'Terms of Use' say feedback is welcome...***?!?
    My 3TB external drive started to die a few weeks ago.  It was still under warranty and I just got the new one yesterday.  I wanted to preserve all my backups (I had every backup for my late 2012 iMac) on it.
    The short of it is that there were like 20-25 million files there or something crazy like that. Finder was going to take forever to count the files.  cp and rsync would take like a week. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, so I just securely erased the old disk and did a new initial backup on the new disk.
    The old disk would only mount in read-only mode, so I couldn't prune the backups down to a manageable size. Unless you only have a handful of backups, or you can internally mount the drives to make it go faster, it's going to take forever to do this.
    Regards, Patrick

    Hi Eric,
    Thank you for your response.  I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method.  It worked for me, too.  This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
    The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
    I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me.  From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts  I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem.  I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
    The next problem I have is that I decided I would use the Restore route to transfer my SuperDuper clone rather than start from scratch.  Unfortunately, the partition size on my original backup disk where SuperDuper clone is is 350GB and the size of the SuperDuper clone partition on my new backup is 300GB.
    Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility.  What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility.  I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
    Cheers
    Tricia

  • How can I copy a time machine backup from one Time Capsule to another ?

    How can I copy a time machine backup from one Time Capsule to another ? I bought a 1 Tb Time Capsule to replace my 512Mb Time Capsule. Now, I like to copy my time machine backup from the old Time Capsule to the new one so I can keep using my backup.

    from this support article: 
    (click on image to enlarge)

  • How do I move time machine files from one external drive to another?

    My original external drive isn't big enough. So I've bought a second larger one. How do I move the earlier Time Machine backups from Ext Drive #1 to Ext Drive #2 so I can access my full history, and leave Drive #1 for other backup items?
    Ext Drive #1= SimpleTech 120 GB
    Ext Drive #2= WEstern 500 GB

    When you are ready to pass the 320GB drive on, I would format it. That will make the entire drive available to him to use as his TM. I would be sure that each drive has a unique name so that there will be no confusion for TM as to which computer goes with which drive. If you want to start fresh with the 500GB drive, I'd format it as mac-extended-journaled. When you connect it the first time to your computer, you will be asked if you want to use it as your TM. If you are not prompted to select it as your TM, you can configure TM by opening system preferences, click on TM, click on "change drive" and choose your new drive.
    Another choice is to follow the steps in my previous response for restoring your current TM to the new drive by booting from a Leopard start up disk and accessing Disk Utilities from there so you can restore the drive. It is essential that the new hard drive is the exact name as the old TM hard drive. In this last scenario you would continue adding to your current set of backups.

  • HT201250 Can I copy a time machine backup from one mac to another?

    I have two Mac Book Pros that I use for work - I have one at home and one at work. I'd like to copy the contents and setup from my work Mac to my home Mac using a time machine backup, and then continue to use the time machine backup back at work. I.e. the time machine would only be used with the home Mac to copy over the contents and setup of my work Mac.
    Can I just do a straight time machine back up in my 2nd (home) mac, or will this override the back up I have from the 1st (work) machine?
    Thanks!

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    Of course. Note that you can restore a Time Machine backup on all the Macs you want, always that the Mac uses the same or a newer OS X version than the one that had the Mac you used to make this backup.
    Also, you can back up different computers to the same Time Machine drive. In this case, Time Machine will create different folders in your Time Machine drive for each computer, so one Mac backup won't conflict with the other computer backup.
    To restore a backup, use Migration Assistant. Just connect the Time Machine drive, open Migration Assistant (it's in /Applications/Utilities) and follow the steps to restore the backup onto the computer

  • Using Time Machine backup from one mac to another

    I had a Mac book pro running 10.7.5 and used Time Machine to backup the system. The macbook died and I want to restore the Time Machine backup to my iMac running 10.7.5.
    Question 1: Is this possible and how is it done?
    Question 2: Will it restore all the software and files from the macbook pro to my iMac?

    It can be done without any problem and everything will be restored from the Time Machine backup.
    If you want to replace the actual content of the hard drive of your iMac with the content of the Time Machine backup, press Command and R keys while your Mac is starting, choose the option to restore the Time Machine backup and follow the steps.
    If you want to keep both content, use Migration Assistant to create a new user with the data of the MacBook Pro. Open Migration Assistant and follow the steps. Then, open  > Log Out, and log in the new user to access to the migrated data

  • HT5096 cannot move time machine backup from one ext drive to another. pls help!thanks!

    my time machine file is about 390GB and it is on a 1TB external harddrive. I have been trying to move the backup to a new 2TB external harddrive. it stopped copying any more files after transferring 466MB. I repeated the same procedure several times,but with same result. any advice? thanks!

    Apple support article:
    Time Machine – Transfer Backup to a New Drive
    Another good source of information:
    Time Machine Troubleshooting

  • Transfering time machine backup from one HD to another

    Got a time machine question
    Say i have HD #1 that i have been using to backup files for january-april. I purchase HD #2 and would like to use it as my new time machine HD. how can i transfer the backups from january-april to HD #2?

    Thanks for giving me that tidbit of information Scott. I'm not sure if this will work, so try this at your own risk, but this should allow you to change the UID of time machine in the preferences manually. You can open the preferences file with the following editor. However the UUID stored in the "BackupAlias" property is not the same UUID that disk utility returns. Does anyone know where you can get the correctly formatted UUID for the new drive? If you can get that, you may be able to manually change the settings after copying over your data with the following instructions.
    1. Copy the backup database from your old drive to your new drive. (The Backups.backupdb directory)
    2. Get the Universal ID for the new drive in a format time machine understands.
    4. Copy/paste the Universal Unique Identifier into a temporary text file
    5. Open up the Property List application from Applications -> Utilities
    6. Select Open from the menu, then open the file "Root HD"/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
    7. Expand the root drop down and change the "Backup Alias" property

  • I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

    I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
    ^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
    I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
    Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

    Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
    Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
    Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
    NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
    LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

  • How can I use the Time Machine Backups from my Old Computer?

    I have two months of Time Machine backups made using my old Macintosh computer which died and I no longer have. I have now purchased a new computer and am trying to use the Time Machine back ups from the original computer, but it will not recognise them. How can I get my new MacBook Pro to use the Time Machine Backups from my old Computer? I phoned the Apple help line and they said I cannot use them and would have to delete them. This sounds crazy if you can only use the Time Machine back up file with one computer and have to delete it when you buy a new Mac. Surely there must be some way to transfer ownership (not files) from an old to the new Mac?
    Thanks
    Richard

    Thanks Kevin for the suggestion posted on MacOSXHints how to "Repair Time Machine after logic board changes".
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101
    It seems as though I am not alone with my frustration with the way Time Machine uses the MAC address of a computer to tell one system from another. This means that if you have your Mac repaired with a new logic board, or replace your system with a new one, you can't resume backups where you left off. Reading through the readers who used the fix using Terminal, it appears that the fix does not always work. I contacted Apple again, but they were no help. Surely Apple should come out with a solution as more and more people use Time Machine/Time Capsule.
    It is CRAZY that after a change computers or a switch in the computer logic board that you cannot resume your Time Machine back ups.

  • How can I "Put Back" a time machine backup from the trash to my external hard drive?

    Basically what happened was I accidentally put an older time machine backup from my external hard drive into the trash on my macbook. Since then, time machine has made new backups onto my external hard drive. How can I either "Put Back" or replace the deleted backup back into my hard drive?
    Whenever I try to move it it says "A newer item named “Backups.backupdb” already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the older one you’re moving?" I click replace and after a few minutes of loading, it says "Cannot replace. An item named "" already exists."

    As long as you don't delete the trash, the files should be recoverable.
    I suspect using the Put Back command could take a long time, so be patient.
    If your Time Machine backups are mixed with your daughter's backups you might want to buy a larger drive and move the Time Machine files to the new drive.
    Regarding missing photos in iPhoto...There might be options to rebuild/recover that data from iPhoto rather than trying to revert to a Time Machine backup.
    Check out this third party app, iPhoto Library Manager. It has a demo.
    http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/
    Options for a larger drive.
    I like the Seagate USB 3.0 Backup plus drives. Works on USB 2.0 ports. They come formatted for PC but easy to format in Disk Utility.
    I don't recommend Western Digital because of the boot problem with some of their drives.
    LaCie makes good drives.
    All Mac formatted drives will cost more and it’s easy to reformat with Disk Utility. Do not use the software that comes with the drives. It’s recommended that you use Apple’s Disk Utility.
    Prices vary but this gives you an idea of what you’ll find. As you notice the second and third TB is usually only $15 more per TB. Normally, you’ll find these prices but right now the 1T is more than the 2T
    Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 $85
    Seagate Backup Plus 2 TB USB 3.0 $99
    Seagate Backup Plus 3 TB USB 3.0 $115
    I have seen the 3T on sale for $99.
    Locally, Best Buy seems to have the best prices.

  • I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

    I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

    OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
    See #E3 in  Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
    And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of  Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • Is there a way to get my photos off an old time machine backup from an external hard drive?

    Is there a way to get my photos off an old time machine backup from an external hard drive?

    You will have to connect the Time Machine HDD and click on the Icon.  You will see one folder called Backups.backupdb.  Click on that and you will have to continue until you find the home folder.  The iPhoto library (where the pictures are, not the application) will probably be in your pictures folder.  You will have to drag that to your desk top.  Then you will have access to individual images.
    Ciao.

Maybe you are looking for