Time Machine-Compatible Disk Formats

Time Machine Question - from total Mac NEWB:
I've completed by first Time Machine backup (to Time Capsule). No issues. Next I want to INCLUDE an external USB 3.0 drive to the backup set. This drive is used for archival storage for my Windows Virtual Machine's data files (work stuff, sharing w/PC Laptop). I have this disk formatted as exFat, so no problems reading from Win or Mac.
Complication: Apparently Time Machine does not support exFat formatted drives. I can see the external drive from Time Machine Preferences, but I cannot select it.
What format should I use to simultaneously support: Mac, Win, Time Machine??

Kappy he also has an External USB drive.
QUOTE:
Next I want to INCLUDE an external USB 3.0 drive to the backup set. This drive is used for archival storage for my Windows Virtual Machine's data files (work stuff, sharing w/PC Laptop). I have this disk formatted as exFat, so no problems reading from Win or Mac.
END QUOTE:
But after I reRead his post I see his problem. He is trying to include that USB drive formatted exFAT to the Mac TM backup.
It is saying it doesn't support exFAT drives because it may not be able to write that format when doing a restore.
To the OP.
Bad Idea to included any external drive to a TM backup system. TM is more for internal drives so if you have a drive failure you can replace the drive and then use the TM backup to restore your system the the last time you may a backup. If you include an external and that external is not connected to the system when doing a restore the restore will fail.
You are better off buying a second external and copying the data from the Mac Win external to that other drive. IE having a second copy of all that data.
Basically the same thing would happen if you tried to use a Windows Backup system to include that external drive.

Similar Messages

Is a Time Machine compatible hard drive formatted with Mac OS?

I have a 1 terabyte Buffalo LinkStation Live NAS, and it says that it's Time Machine compatible; does this mean the the drive is formatted with Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? Thanks.

Probably not but the device supports AFP protocols which is necessary for communication with OS X.

How do I get back iphone app information from a DELETED Time Machine Backup disk

Hi People,
here is what happened:
I have been using an iPhone App (Audio Memos Free - The Voice Recorder) to record song ideas (I am a songwriter). I have been using it for years.
I backed up my iphone to itunes, and backed up my mac on Time Machine. After a month or so I did a fresh OSX install on my mac, copied all of my files back from Time Machine into my mac, and tried to set up Time Machine. I was not able to do so, so I had to format the Time Machine Backup disk and doing a "fresh" mac Time Machine Backup.
After a week or so, my iphone asks me something like "you do not possess the rights for one or more applications". do not know what i did, but after 1 minute my iPhone was wiped out of all my apps and app contents. I had also the icloud app sync, so i did not worry, recovered from icloud notes, contacts, and all other things. so i did another backup to itunes.
Now i discover icloud did not recover or save the "Audio Memos Free" app content. I know the data are hidden into the Time machine Backup HD, but i do not know where to search for the itunes backup in it.
I know it is in library, but library won't show up.
Any help would be much appreciated.
PS there is a chance that, even without a data recovery, my latest itunes backup was containing these songs, but i do not know how to fish that out of the Time machine drive.
Thank you in advance.

I would email iTunes Customer Service:
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/browser/
CG

How do I manually erase my Time Machine backup disk?

I have a 500GB external hard drive with only 43 GB left after years of serving as a Time Machine backup disk for another computer. I wanted to use the same disk for my new computer. The new computer's backup is 130 GB, and when I connected the old external drive, Time Machine said "The backup disk needs to be 130.37 GB for the backup but only 47.24 GB are available. Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files." So I manually deleted the files I found on the external drive onto my computer's trash.
Big mistake. Apparently, there are still only 47.24 GB on the external, but there are no apparent backups or files on it. Furthermore, I can't restore the deleted files to the external hard drive because there isn't enough space on it. Too late, I did some searching and discovered that you can't delete files from a Time Machine external drive manually; you can only go through the gear icon in Finder and remove backups in that way.
So why does my external drive say that it has only 47 GB out of 500 even when there is nothing on it? Is there any other way to manually erase/reformat it?

Try opening Disk Utility and select the highest level drive name on the external drive. Click on the Partitions tab. Remove all the partitions on the drive by selecting each and clicking the "-" sign in the lower left corner of the partition table view. Then choose 1 Partition from the dropdown of partitions to create. Make sure the format shows Mac OS Extended-Journaled. Click Apply.
The above should delete everything on the drive and create a new single formated partition.

Time Machine backup disk changed name to "3-/9=/=87"

I upgraded to Leopard, and attached a LaCie drive, which Time Machine recognized and used as its backup disk. After formatting the drive, the name was changed to Time Machine Backup disk, but now it has changed to 3-/9=/=87. I tested Time Machine to ensure that it is indeed restoring files, and it is. Any ideas on the name change, and if it will affect Time Machine?
Many thanks.

My solution
I found that after trying a few things in the aforementioned thread that in System Preferences > Sharing > Options if I disabled SMB and only enabled AFP on my Mac Pro, which has my Time Machine disk and is accessed over my local network LAN by my Macbook Pro laptop, only then did the Time Machine disk show up in the Time Machine preferences in my remote laptop TM settings.
I suspect my laptop had been connecting to my desktop via SMB instead of AFP and thusly TM would not work.

Is there Time machine compatible PC server software?

I'm a photographer and running a dual hard drive Macbook Pro and I've reached the point where my NAS backup drive is not big enough for Time Machine to backup to. In order for me to upgrade the backup drive I'm looking at about £500 ($750) as I need one big enough not just big enough.
I have an old PC that is currently running Windows Server and is connected to my network, which obviously isn't Time Machine compatible. As buying HDD is cheaper than pre-boxed NAS drives, I wanted to use this instead.
Is there any server software that is compatible with Time Machine and I can use to build a home server? If not, I'd best start saving and hope my laptop doesn't crash or get stolen.
Thanks in advance.

No, there's no supported means to target archival storage onto a Windows box with Time Machine.
As you're likely aware, Time Machine only supports specific devices as targets, and the file server are currently OS X Server, Time Capsule devices, and the most recent generation of AirPort Extreme devices with attached disks. Not Windows Server boxes, Linux or other gear.
More than a few folks and a few discussions and various hackery have allowed random devices to appear to work (and it's possible your NAS device has seen this same hackery), but whether those configurations will continue to work or will react appropriately during the inevitable network and device glitches is very far from certain. Among these sequences, whole-disk installs and related system restorations are key, but are also something that doesn't necessarily get thoroughly tested.
A Mac Mini running OS X Server can host a fair amount of connected storage, if you decide to replace or supplement your NAS.
For more information on Time Machine, start reading here.
It is possible to roll your own backups and to use third-party tools to perform the backups onto remote devices, and one of the more common recommendations here are based on a command line tool known as rsync. Copy your files over, and either acquire or custom-create your own archival processing. (If you're interested, search for previous discussions of rsync and backups for some of the available options, and there are tools and scripts available. rsync is pretty ugly to get going initially — it's arcane — but it works pretty well, and various folks have already figured out the syntax and posted example scripts.) Carbon Copy Cloner is an alternative to Time Machine, and there are others.
On the subject of creating your own custom software for these and related tasks, it's also possible to use software that targets photo studios and their related processing, and that manages the photos and videos and other assets, and that can manage backups and related processing, and various of these will deal with reprints and purchases and related. That's a bit further along than a backup device or a Time Machine backup, but it's something that might replace the requirements. (You probably don't care nearly as much about OS X and most other stuff here as that can be re-downloaded or reinstalled, it's your photos and your customer data that are key here, and that are not replaceable. That stuff is the core target for your backups.)

If i use time machine and then format my macbook will i find back everything i have on my external drive once i have restored the content on my macbook like itunes library, folders and all?

I'm currently using the Time Machine system on my Macbook.
I would like to format the computer but before doing so, I'd like to be sure that all my files will be there when i restore the time machine on my formatted macbook like my iTunes library and all that.
Thank you for your answers!

I'm currently using the Time Machine system on my Macbook.
I would like to format the computer but before doing so, I'd like to be sure that all my files will be there when i restore the time machine on my formatted macbook like my iTunes library and all that.
Thank you for your answers!

HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)

Migrating content from an encrypted Time Machine external disk (will not easily work)

I recently purchased an SSHD to upgrade my Mac. I preferred not to completely restore from Time Machine, but rather to install a new copy of Mavericks on the new disk and then migrate my TM content afterwards. At the end of installation, Mavericks proposed the option to migrate data from a TM backup, which I chose.
It turns out that the Migration Assistant did not recognize any disk, perhaps because it was encrypted, nor displayed any way to select the volume and unlock it by entering its password. Despite what Pondini says the Time Machine backups disk was not seen by the Mac: as workaround I had to create a fictitious user, log in, unlock the disk (that was immediately recognized by the system) and then run the Migration Assistant from there (by the way, after 4 hours I finally logged into my migrated account and found out that apps were not imported at all!)
I find all this quite not…applish! I could have preferred to unencrypt the TM disk rather than
Is there anyone facing this same experience? Hope that this, if it's a bug, will be fixed, otherwise I'll have to make a TM backup on a secondary disk (which I don't own so big).

Well a google search would appear that disk utility will show you the disk regardless if it's mounted or unmounted. you're best bet would be to unmount the disk in finder, shut down the computer completely, unplug it from a power source, and then unplug the firewire...
I think this is your safest bet but then again, I'm not that worried about ejecting my disks.
you get no error messages when you right click and eject the disk in in disk utilty? you said you have a my disk, do you mean My Book by western digital? I know that they load software onto the machine for encryption purposes. have you tried ejecting the disk from there? I uninstalled said software so I can't tell you if there is an option for that or not.

Restored system from Time Machine backup disk but the system could not start-up

On MacBook Pro early 2008, restored the entire system from Time Machine backup disk to the entire disk.
The previous system on the backup disk had FileVault turned on.
The restore completed successfully and I was prompted to restart the system via the new restored system disk.
I heard the normal start-up sound, then the Apple logo, but it stuck at the logo screen. And the cooling fan run at almost full speed?
I have been waiting for a few hours, guessing it might FileVault the disk.
Finally I have to shutdown the machine as it stuck at the logo screen forever.
Anyone has the same issue? Any ideas?

BTW, I also tried Repair the system disk, Fix permissions via Disk Utility.
I guess I must lose some files either during the backup or the restore.

Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be found

While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
Now I get the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be Found"
I have rebooted the computer with the disk connected and the disk still doesn't show up on the desktop.
I rebooted the computer with the disk powered up but the firewire disconnected, then connected the firewire. The disk still doesn't appear on the desktop.
I tried Disk Warrior, and Disk Warrior doesn't see the external Time Machine disk.
What to do?

Dan Mackey1 wrote:
While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
That might corrupt your backups, but shouldn't make the disk completely un-usable.
Disconnect it and power it off for several minutes, turn Time Machine OFF, then Restart your Mac again. Let your Mac get powered-up and running before connecting and powering the disk on. Then see if Disk Utility can see it.
Is this a dual-mode disk? If so, try connecting via USB -- it may work that way.
Can you tell if it's running? Is it one with a light, and/or can you hear it run or feel it vibrating?

Error Dialogue: "Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found"

Hello -
I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
Any idea what the best course of action is here.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again. While completely fishy - I don't remember agreeing to any software update dialogue about erasing my Time Capsule - I took them at their word. Not sure if this is related, but thought I should mention it.
Thanks Crew!

MattLat wrote:
Hello -
I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
Any idea what the best course of action is here.
The +sparse bundle+ containing your backups may be corrupted. Repair it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
If that doesn't help, try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 there.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again.
That's the first I've heard of that. They may have been referring to the +Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0+ update several weeks ago, that some folks got but others didn't. If it finds a problem, it sends the message in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076 The existing sparse bundle is renamed and locked, and a new one made.

Migration Assistant won't see my Time machine backup disk

Hi,
I've seen some other discussions but they apply to slightly different situations and turn out to be too complex for me to follow. My situation is this. My Dec 2008 Macbook running Lion just died. Not sure what the problem is but it seems to be the hardrive. It will take me a while to get it fixed and in the meantime I have a farly new mac mini running Lion.
I also have been making Time Machine backups to an external drive. I read that I could migrate content from a time machine backup and I connected the backup to my mac mini and launched Migration Assistan (MA), seleted the option to migrate from a Time Machine backup. MA is stuck trying to find my disk even though it shows up in Finder. This is the screen I'm talking about http://screencast.com/t/AC0OiVzxx
I'm hoping there is the equivalent of a little on/off switch that I'm not seeing and you can direct me too.
How can I get MA to see my Time Machine backup disk? Thanks for your help.

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

John Seal wrote:
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
Any time Disk Utility says you need to repair a disk, you need to repair it. Period.
So run it. If it fails to repair everything, run it again (and again) until it either repairs everything or can't repair any more. If it can't repair it, post back and we'll discuss options.
There's no point in running +Verify Disk+ on an external drive; just run +Repair Disk.+ The only time +Verify Disk+ is needed is for your internal HD (because you can't repair the disk you're running from).
And you need to do that again because of the forced power-down. Any time there's an abnormal shutdown, it's possible the file system on your internal HD can be damaged. Usually it isn't, but it's possible. If that says you need to repair it, you'll have to boot from your Leopard Install disc and use it's copy of DU. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

I need to backup my mails from a time machine backup disk from a powerbook leopard to an IMac snow Leopard...can I do this?

Hi everybody...
I need to backup my complete history of emails. I have a time machine backup disk I used in a powerbook intel, second generation with Leopard OS. Now I have an Imac of 24 inches, with Snow Leopard OS. Can I use that backup disk (TM) to put the mails that used to be in the powerbook into my IMac?
My original powerbook is broken, so I cant do anything there...

You should be able to find and restore emails that were on the old Mac via Time Machine. Emails that were on the server, not the Mac, won't be there, of course.
See the blue box in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Time Machine-Compatible Disk Formats

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