Time Machine Backup Storage Options

Hello,
My Lacie HD stopped working. What options are there for backing up my Mac's HD?

I spent some time this week researching external drives in order to buy one for my brother's birthday.
I read many reviews and found there's good info to be had from alatest.com and, in particular, from user reviews on newegg.com as they sell most drives.
La Cie, afaik, takes other manufacturers' drives and puts them in designer enclosures, cf their Porsche and Poulton drives. They also have the "ordinary" Desktop series which i prefer to the designer models, even though there's no power button. Also the cache is generally 8 MB if i recall correctly.
However i'd recommend going for a manufacturer that makes its own drives, such as WD, Seagate/Maxtor.
I considered the WD MyBook models but they received pretty average reviews. As always WD uses the latest tech so most drives have 16 or 32 MB cache. All spin at 72k though. But the generally so-so reviews made me avoid that model.
WD also has a more ordinary desktop drive, which can be had cheaply. Pretty ok reviews if i recall correctly. But boring looking and only usb.
I also looked at the Seagate FreeAgent drives. They seen more reliable than the rest and come with good software...if you run windows. Then again us Mac people don't need those utils I did note reports that the baseplate of that drive gets HOT. However that doesn't concern the "Pro" version, which is also made of metal rather than the ordinary FreeAgent drives.
Ultimately i went for a mobile, ie usb powered (non-power supply) 2,5 inch 54k rpm drive because it suits my brother better. In this field, it turned out that WD does rather well with its Essential and, particularly, Elite drives. The latter goes to 320 GB, which is very good for this type of drive but likely too small for TM use. One review said the Elite is as fast as an internal 54k drive, which is pretty good.
If i were to advise i would recommend a TM drive, it'd be the FreeAgent Pro drive. It has lots of connections (firewire, esata, usb), seems well built (metal casing) and goes to 1 GB.
Good luck/p

Similar Messages

How to revert a Time Machine backup storage?

I recently just used the WD Elements SE external storage device as my Time Machine backup. But when I did, I cannot get the WD to work on my Windows anymore. And can anyone show me how to revert a Time Machine backup storage back just to its default state so i use it on the Windows? It's a priority.
And if you can somehow show me how to get a Time Machine backup storage to work for the Windows as well then that would be even better.
Thank you.

Sorry, you can't get a TM backup to work with Windows.
To use the HD as storage for both Mac and Windows, you'll need to reformat the disc as FAT32, or FAT64 if both systems support it.
To reformat from Disk Utility on the Mac;
Turn off Time Machine.
In DU, highlight the WD drive in the sidebar (the actual drive, with the makers name and size)
Select the partition tab
Set the partition sceme to 1 partition
Under the options button, set the partition map to Master Boot Record (MBR)
Set the file system to MS-DOS and name the new volume.
Click 'apply'
The clean volume will now appear below the drive in the sidebar.
Be aware that there is a limit to file sizes on FAT32 volumes of a little over 4GB.

Restoring System from Time Machine backup - only option is older backup

I have two drives in a Mac Pro - a system drive and a data drive. Yesterday morning the system drive died. The computer hung and when I manually restarted it, I got the circle with a line icon, and then on a subsequent restart, after resetting the PRAM, I got the ? folder icon.
I restarted with the install disk in, and booted into Disk Utility. I attempted to repair the system drive, but it was reported to be corrupted and not repairable.
I installed a new drive, booted back into Disk Utility, formatted the new drive, and initiated a "restore from Time Machine".
My problem is, once the list of "complete" Time Machine backups came up, the most recent one listed was for October of this year, almost 3 months ago. In that time, Time Machine has been on and running without issue. I know there were Time Machine updates made for this computer the morning of my crash, and the day before, etc. But in terms for restoring my system, my most recent restore point is late October.
I went ahead and restored to that most recent Time Machine "complete" backup, and several hours later my system is back up and running, but as it was three months ago, not yesterday morning.
Why, if Time Machine has been performing hourly backups without fail, was I unable to restore to something more recent? If I connect to Time Machine (on a Time Capsule) from the computer in question (after the restore) and browse the backups on it, the most recent folder I see is 2011-01-14-190729 - still not as recent as I would hope (maybe the drive going bad was causing errors with very recent backups) but much more recent than October.
I would really like to be able to get my system back to a much more recent snapshot than it's at now. (I have disabled Time Machine backups on it in the meantime so as not to overwrite the backups I currently have)
Any suggestions?

Will Henderson wrote:
I would really like to be able to get my system back to a much more recent snapshot than it's at now
See #14 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
On the list of backups (point g there), click the "pop-up" menu; there may be two entries there. If so select the other one -- it may have the backups you want.

I want a new and more powerful (non-Apple) wireless router but I still want to use my existing Time Capsule to continue with my Time Machine backups and I still need the Time Capsule's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features and capabilities

THE SHORTER STORY
My goal is to successfully use my existing Time Capsule (TC) with a new and more powerful wireless router. I need a new and more powerful wireless router in order to reach a distant Denon a/v receiver that is physically located in a master bedroom some 50 feet away from my modem. I need to provide this Denon a/v receiver with an Internet connection so that it can obtain its firmware updates and I need to connect this Denon a/v receiver to my network in order to use its AirPlay feature. I believe l still need the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features because I am not sure if the new wireless router will provide me with the NAS like features / capabilities I need to share files between my two Apple laptops with OS X 10.8.2. And I know that I absolutely need my TC's seamless integration with Apple's Time Machine (TM) application in order to continue to make effortless backups of my two Apple laptops. To my knowledge nothing works with TM like Apple's TC. I also need the hard disk storage space built into the TC.
I cannot use a long wired Ethernet cable connection in this apartment and I cannot use power-line adapters. I have read that wireless range extenders and repeaters are difficult to successfully set-up and that they will reduce data speeds, especially so when incorrectly set-up. I cannot relocate my modem and/or primary base station wireless router.
In short, I want to use my TC with my new and more powerful wireless router. I need to stop using the TC to connect to the modem. However, I still need the TC for seamless TM backups. I also need to use the TC's built in hard drive for storage. And I may still need the TC's NAS capabilities to share files wirelessly between laptops because I am assuming the new wireless router will not provide NAS capabilities for OS X 10.8.2 (products like this/non-Apple products rarely seem to work with OS X 10.8.2/Macs to provide NAS features and capabilities). Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone please advise on how to set-up my new Asus wireless router with my existing TC in such a way to accomplish all of this?
What is the best configuration or set-up to accomplish my above goals?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!!!
THE FULL STORY
I live in an apartment building where my existing Time Capsule (TC) is located in my living room and serves many purposes. Specially, my TC is at least all of the following:
(1) Wi-Fi router connected to Comcast Internet service via Motorola SB6121 cable modem - currently the TC is the Wi-Fi base station that connects to the modem and has the gateway address to the Internet. The TC now provides the DHCP service for the Wi-Fi network.
(2) Wireless router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to several Wi-Fi clients - two Apple laptop computers, an iPod touch, an iPad and an iPhone all connect wirelessly to the Internet via the TC.
(3) Wired Ethernet router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to three different devices - a Panasonic TV, LG Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV each use one of the three LAN ports on the back of the TC to gain access to the Internet.
(4) Primary base station in my attempt to extend my wireless network to a distant (located far away) Denon a/v receiver requiring a wired Ethernet connection - In addition to the TC, which is my primary base station, I am also using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. I cannot use a wired Ethernet connection to continuously travel from the living room to the master bedroom. The distance is too great as I cannot effectively hide the Ethernet cable in this apartment.
(5) Time Machine (TM) backup facilitator - I use my TC to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops using Apple's Time Machine (TM) application. However, I ran out of storage space on my TC and therefore added external storage to it. Specifically, I added an external hard drive to my TC via the USB port on the back of the TC. I now use this added external hard drive connected to the TC via USB as the destination storage drive for my TM back-ups. I have partitioned the added external hard drive, and each of the several partitions all have enough storage space (e.g., each of the two partitions used by TM are sized at three times the hard drive space of each laptop, etc.). Everything works flawlessly.
(6) Network Attached Storage (NAS) - In addition to using the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops via TM, I also store other additional files on both (A) the hard drive built into the TC and (B) the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB (there are additional separate partitions on this drive for these other additional and non-TM backup files).
I use the TC's NAS feature with my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Again, everything works wirelessly and flawlessly. (Note: the Apple TV is connected to the network via Ethernet and a LAN port on the back of the TC).
The issue I am having is when I try to listen to music via Apple's AirPlay in the master bedroom. This master bedroom is located at a distance of two rooms away from the TC's current location in the living room, which is a distance of about 50 feet. This apartment has a long rectangular floor plan where each room is connected to the next in a straight line. In order to use AirPlay in the master bedroom I am using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. This additional base station connects wirelessly to the WiFi network provided by my TC and then gives my Denon receiver the wired Ethernet connection it needs to use AirPlay. I have tried moving my iTunes music directly onto my laptop's hard drive, and then I used AirPlay on this same laptop to connect to the Denon receiver. I always get a successful connection and the song plays, but the problem is that the connection inevitably drops.
I live in an apartment building and all of the many wireless routers in this building create a great deal of WiFi interference on both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. I have tried connecting the Netgear product to each the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but neither band can successfully maintain a wireless connection between the TC and the Netgear product. I also attempted to maintain a wireless connection to an iPod touch using the 2.4 GHz band and AirPlay on this iPod touch to play music on the Denon receiver. Again, I was able to establish a connection and successfully play music, but after a few minutes the connection dropped and the music stopped playing. I therefore have concluded that I have a poor wireless connection in the master bedroom. I can establish a connection, but it is intermittent with frequent drops. I have verified this with both laptops by working in the master bedroom for an entire day on both laptops. The Internet connection in this master bedroom proved to drop out frequently - about once an hour with the laptops. The wireless connection and the frequency of its dropout are far worse with the iPod touch and an iPhone.
I cannot relocate the TC. Also, this is an apartment and I therefore cannot extend the range of my network with Ethernet cable (I cannot drill through walls/ceilings, etc.). It is an old building with antiquated wiring and power-line adapters are not likely to function properly, nor can I spare the direct power outlet required with a power-line adapter. I simply need every outlet I can get and cannot afford to block any direct outlet.
My solution is to use a more powerful wireless router. I found the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router which will likely provide a better connection to my wireless Internet in the master bedroom than the TC. The 802.11ac band of this Asus wireless router is totally useless to me, but based on what I have read I believe this router will provide a stronger connection at greater distances then my TC. And I will be ready for 802.11ac when it becomes more widely available.
However, I still need to maintain the TC's ability to work seamlessly with TM to backup my two laptops. Also, I doubt the new Asus router will provide OS X 10.8.2 with NAS like features and capabilities. Therefore, I still would like to use the TC's NAS capabilities to share files on my network wirelessly assuming the Asus wireless router fails to provide this feature. I need a new and more powerful wireless router, but I need to maintain the TC's NAS features and seamless integration with TM. Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone advise on how to set-up my existing TC with this new Asus wireless router in such a way to accomplish all of this?
Modem
Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
Existing Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Apple Time Capsule
Apple Time Capsule MC343LL/A 1TB Sim DualBand (purchased June 2010, likely the Winter 2009 Model)
Desired New Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Non-Apple Asus
ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router
Extended Wi-Fi Base Station - Provides an Ethernet Connection to a Denon A/V Receiver Two Rooms Away from the Modem
Netgear Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter for TV & Blu-Ray (WNCE3001)
Addition External Hard Drive Attached to the Existing Apple Time Capsule via USB
WD My Book Studio 4TB Mac External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Existing Laptops on the Wireless Network Requiring Time Machine Backups
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) OS X 10.8.2
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010) OS X 10.8.2
Other Existing Apple Products (Clients) on the Wireless Network
iPod Touch (second generation) is model A1288.
iPad (1st generation)
Apple TV (3rd generation) - Quantity two (2)

Thanks Bob Timmons.
In regards to a Plan B, I hear ya brother. I am already on what feels like Plan Z. Getting WiFi to a far off room in an apartment building crowded with WiFi routers is a major pain.
I am basing my thoughts on the potential of a new and more powerful router reaching the far off master bedroom based on positive reviews on cnet.com, pcmag.com and pcworld.com. All 3 of these web sites have reviewed the Asus RT-AC66U 802.11AC wireless router as well as its virtual twin cousin 802.11n router. What impressed me is that all 3 sites rated this router #1 overall in terms of both range and speed (in both the 802.11n and 802.11AC flavors). They tested the router in real world scenarios where the router needed to compete with a lot of other wireless routers. One of the sites even buried this Asus router in a media room with thick walls and inside a media cabinet. This Asus router should be able to serve my 2.4 GHz band wireless clients (iPod Touch and iPhone 4) with a 2.4GHz Wireless-N band offering some 50 feet of dependable range and a 60 Mbps throughput at that range. I am hoping that works, but it's borderline for my master bedroom. My 5 GHz wireless clients (laptops) will enjoy a 5GHz Wireless-N band offering 150 feet of range and a 200 Mbps throughput at that range. I have no idea what most of that stuff means, but I did also read that Asus could reach 300 feet and I got really excited. My mileage may vary of course and I'm sure I'm making some mistakes in my interpretation of their data. However, my Winter 2009 Time Capsule was rated by cnet.com to deliver real world performance of less than that, and 802.11AC may or may not be useful to me someday. But when this Asus arrives and provides anything other than an excellent and consistent wireless signal without drops in the master bedroom it's going right back!
Your solution sounds great, but I have some questions. I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Airport Utility (version 6.1 610.31) and on its third tab labeled "Wireless" the top option enables you to set "Network Mode" to either:
Create a wireless network
Extend a wireless network
Off
Given your advice to "Turn off the wireless on the TC," should I set Network Mode to Off? Sorry, I'm clueless in regards to how to turn off the wireless on the TC any other way. Can you provide specific steps on how to turn off the wireless on the TC? If what I wrote is correct then what should the rest of this Wireless tab look like, or perhaps it is irrelevant when wireless is off?
Next, what do you mean by "Configure the TC in Bridge Mode?" Under Airports Utility's fourth tab labeled "Network" the top option "Router Mode" allows for either:
DHCP and Nat
DHCP Only
Off (Bridge Mode)
Is your advice to Configure the TC in Bridge Mode as simple as setting Router Mode to Off (Bridge Mode)? If yes, then what should the rest of this "Network" tab look like? Anything else involved in configuring the TC in Bridge Mode or is it really as simple as setting the Router Mode to "Off (Bridge Mode)"?
How about the other tabs in Airport Utility, can they all stay as is assuming I use the same network name and password for the new Asus wireless router? Or do I need to make any other changes to the TC via Airport Utility?
Finally, in regards to your Plan B suggestion. I agree. But do you have a Plan B for me? I would greatly appreciate any alternative you could provide. Specifically, if you needed a TC's Internet connection to reach a far off corner of your home how would you do it? In the master bedroom I need both a wired Ethernet connection for the Denon a/v receiver and wireless Internet connection for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Power-Line Adapters - High Cost, Blocks at Least One Wall Outlet and Does Not Solve the Wireless Need
I actually like exactly one power-line adapter, which is the D-Link DHP-540 PowerLine AV 500 4-Port Gigabit Switch. This D-Link power-line adapter plugs into your wall outlet with a normal sized plug (regular standard power cord much like any other electronic device) instead of all of the other recommended power-line adapters that not only use at least one wall outlet but also often block the second outlet. You cannot use a power strip with a power-line adapter which is very impractical for me. And everything about my home is strange and upside down. The wiring here is a disaster and I don't have faith in its ability to carry Internet access from the living room to the master bedroom. And this D-Link power-line adapter costs $90 each and I need at least two to make the connection to the Denon A/V receiver. So, $180 on this solution and I still don't have a dependable drop free wireless connection in the master bedroom. The Denon might get its Ethernet Internet connection from the power-line adapter, but if I want to use an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch to stream AirPlay music to the Denon wirelessly (Pandora/iTunes, etc.) from the master bedroom the wireless connection will not be stable in there and I've already spent $190 on just the two power-line adapters needed.
Extenders / Repeaters / Wirelessly Extending the Wireless Network
I have also read great things about the Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Range Extender (Repeater) SR20000G and the My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender. The former is very powerful and the latter is easier to install. Both cost about $150 ish so similar to a new Asus router. However, everything I read about Range Extenders points to them not being very effective for a far off corner of your house wherein it's apparently hard to place the range extender in the sweet spot where it both gets a strong enough signal to actually effectively extend the wireless signal and otherwise does not reduce network throughput speeds to unacceptable speeds.
Creating a Roaming Network By Hard Wiring with Ethernet Cable - Wife Would Say, "**** No!"
Even Apple seems to warn against wirelessly extending your network (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145#) and otherwise strongly recommends a roaming network where Ethernet cable is used to connect two wireless base stations. However, I am in an apartment where stringing together two wireless base stations with Ethernet cable would have an extremely low wife acceptance factor (WAF). I cannot (both contractually and from a skill prospective) hide Ethernet wire in the walls or ceiling. And having visible Ethernet cable running from room-to-room would be unacceptable, especially to the wife.
So what is left? Do you have a Plan B for me? Thanks in advance for your help!

Use TC 2TB for Time Machine Backup and Storage simultaneously?

Hi
I am planning to buy a TC 2TB.
I would like to know if the TC can be used as a Time Machine backup device and for storage simultaneously?
for example:
Can I use 1TB for Time Machine backups and 1TB for storage.
Please let me know if this is possible?
Thank you

I tried for ages to seek a relatively easy way to do this.. i.e. partition it, it's a huge pain! You can, but i'm pretty savvy and got bored and confused! What I did do was switch the TM back-ups to manual so they don't end up filling the disk. Trust me it's the easiest and best option!

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

The external drive must be connected to the Mac using either USB or FireWire
You must remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are "excluded" from backups in Time Machine Preferences.
Here's how:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Options
Look for the name of the hard drive in the list of "excluded" items and click on it to highlight it
Click the -- (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of "excluded" items....so it will now be backed up
Strongly recommend that you do the first backup using Ethenret from your computer to the Time Capsule since the entire contents of the external drive will be copied on the first pass. Ethernet will be 3-5 faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will nornally be much smaller....unless you add large files to the external drive.

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
... Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?
To be clear, if you are asking if you can use the volume containing your Time Machine backup to store additional, non-Time Machine files, the short answer is yes.
It's not a good idea though, since the Time Machine backup will eventually fill all available space, after which it begins to remove old, "expired" backups to make room for newer ones. The presence of additional files doesn't change that fact, and Time Machine will not erase them, but you will encounter a dilemma should you want to store additional files on that volume when there is no remaining space. You will have to make room for them on your own, by deleting existing files. Furthermore, since Time Machine cannot back up its own volume, those additional files will not be backed up by Time Machine.
The easy solution for what you describe is to purchase additional external storage. External USB hard disk drives have become very inexpensive; about $55 will buy a perfectly suitable 1 TB drive.
You can also choose to replace your MacBook Air's internal storage with a larger capacity one. Look for a suitable replacement from OWC / MacSales:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina
That gets a little more expensive but it is the optimum solution.

Time Machine Backup Options with old powerbook

I'm looking for some suggestions on the following. I have two computers running Leopard, my wifes iMac and my Macbook. I have an older powerbook (running tiger) that jumped out of an airplane, bounced hard, and rattled its monitor hard enough to be unviewable. I can, however, connect to it and control it via Chicken of the VNC.
What I would like to do is unclutter my wifes workspace by removing the 2 external HD's connected to the iMac, connect them to the powerbook and run our Time Machine backups through the powerbook onto the external harddrives.
How can I connect and use those drives with Time Machine if the powerbook is running Tiger, not Leopard?
If that isn't doable, what other options are there to make those hard drives mountable over a network?
Is there any other way to keep those hard drives out of sight while still running our backups to them?
Thanks for your help,
-JJ

Even with an 802.11n wireless card you will have to change your wireless router to one that also supports 802.11n. Every element of your home network will have to support 802.11n in order to use it. If the router doesn't support it then the network will default to 802.11g. 802.11n has a throughput rate of about 140 Mbits/sec which is only a little faster than 100BT Ethernet. Still quite slow. Not even as fast as USB 2.0 which is slower than FW400 in this type of use.
Frankly, if you can't use Gigabit Ethernet then I don't think you will be very pleased with using networked backup or storage.
The better option is to connect an external Firewire drive to each computer and use TM or third-party backup software. Use FW800 if the computers have a FW800 port. You can always use wireless for file sharing between the computers. Put the Pismo in the closet.
That's my opinion.

The storage location for Time Machine backups can't be found

I recently purchased a Time Capsule and have successfully backed-up both a PC (via ethernet) and my MacBookPro via wireless. However, after a few hours of inactivity on my MacBook Pro, the Time Capsule icon on my desktop is gone. When I launch Time Machine, I get the following message:
"The storage location for Time Machine backups can't be found". I have browsed the forums and noticed some answers to similar queries to check the "Remember password" option when establishing the connection. I do not have this option when I reconnect. What am I missing?

Glasses,
It does work! I have successfully use DW on my TC both wirelessly and via ethernet. Ethernet is of course much quicker. And I have run into more DW errors trying wirelessly, so I avoid that method whenever possible. As for other NAS device - I wouldn't know.
Glenn
BTW RetroBot - That post was over 6 months ago!

HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

I cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac wit

i cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac with time machine no option appears if i reinstall from Mac OSX error comes and cannot able to recover from disk utility please help how can i reinstall mac OSX

Guitar21,
your MacBook Pro has booted into its Recovery mode. From the OS X Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get to the login screen now?

The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library.

I recently tried to look up my pictures on my time machine back up on an external hard drive. As soon as I try to open it I get the following message.
"The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library."
I have tried holding down the option key but still couldn't few the photos.
I want to know if there is anyway I can actually view these photos. I have over 85gbs of photos on the hard drive. I have tried googling and looking at pervious forums with the same problem but nothing is working.
Please help!

Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "Restore items backed up with Time Machine."

My MacBook Pro recently shut down on me all of a sudden. When I restarted it, it popped up with a gray box with 'OS X Utilities,' then listed various options such as 1. restore from time machine backup, 2. reinstall OS X, etc. what do I do now?

My MacBook Pro recently shut down on me all of a sudden. When I restarted it, it popped up with a gray box with 'OS X Utilities,' then listed various options such as 1. restore from time machine backup, 2. reinstall OS X, 3. get help online and 4. disk utility. what do I do now? I have not backed up to Time Machine in a few days, so I'm not sure I should restore from time machine backup, is there something else I can do? Help!

Guitar21,
your MacBook Pro has booted into its Recovery mode. From the OS X Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get to the login screen now?

Partition external HD to use it for time machine backup and nas storage

i have a macbook pro with retina display with 500gb of ssd storage runing yosemite and a airport extreme latest model.
what i want to do is to use an external drive (1TB) and use it to hold all my files of my macbook, and i want to make time machine backups for each drive over airport extreme.
so i have made in my mind a backup plan and im not sure if it will work.
im planning to buy a 4TB external HDD and make 3 partitions, one for my macbook of 500gb, another for my external drive of 1TB and a third to use it as a NAS.
im not an expert in storage but i have read a lot from internet.
Thanks.

so i have made in my mind a backup plan and im not sure if it will work.
It won't work with TM..
TM will either backup the internal disk plus external or internal only.. it cannot backup external only. So there is no point using 3 partitions.. just two will work fine.
You can buy Carbon Copy Cloner and it will work fine doing backups of internal and external as separate items.. but it is better over network to backup as sparsebundles.. much faster than direct copying.. but it does work.
As a NAS.. an Airport Extreme plus USB drive.. is slow.. might be ok over wireless.. because the wireless is even slower.. but it is not ok over ethernet. A Time Capsule or a cheap single disk nas will work a lot better.
So your plan can be made to work.. just need some adjustments.
BTW be very careful what USB drive you buy. Not all work on the USB of the Airport routers.
USB drive compatibility with Airport Routers. Help make database.

My time machine backup disc has apps from Mountain Lion that won't open now that I have Yosemite. They all say need to be upgraded to Yosemite. Go to app store. But app store sees that I have yosemite so doesn't even show me an udate option. How can

My time machine backup disc has apps from Mountain Lion that won't open now that I have Yosemite. They all say need to be upgraded to Yosemite. Go to app store. But app store sees that I have yosemite so doesn't even show me an udate option. How can Update these files??

How do you know they won't run in Yosemite? You're not trying to fiddle with stuff in your backup from the Finder, are you? If so you are likely to render that backup unusable.
WHen when you restore them from your backup, they should be updateable.

Time Machine Backup Storage Options

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