Time Machine disk for other uses?

I have a new 1 TB external drive that I just setup as my Time Machine disk. I also need a place to store a large quantity of photos that will not fit on my hard disk.
It is ok to use the external drive as both a Time Machine disk and a regular storage device? Thanks.

You've posted in the +Time Capsule+ forum, but it sounds like you have an external HD that you're going to connect directly to your Mac.
If that's the case, then you can use Disk Utility to partition the drive, per #5 or #6 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
The downside to that, however, is that while you can get Time Machine to back up the other partition on it's drive, you'll get a warning message that it's not a good idea to have both the originals and backups on the same physical HD -- when it fails (and they all do, sooner or later), you risk losing both copies. So you'll need either some alternate way to back up that partition, or get a second external HD.
If you do in fact have a Time Capsule, and are thinking of connecting your new HD to it, not your Mac, see #Q3 in the Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Similar Messages

  • Copying time machine disk for long time archive

    not certain this is correct forum.
    I have a 1 gb raid ext drive (two 1gb disks in raid 1). I use it as my Time Machine drive. It is now full.
    I want to copy this data to a single 1GB drive, put it in permanent storage, and then reformat and reuse the raid drive as time machine #2.
    This, I hope, would allow me to have the security of a raid setup as my current time machine disk and, when it is full, I can copy to another disk, then continually reuse the raid disk, within reason, of course, as my latest Time Machine disk #4, etc.
    Can I do this and how would I do this?.

    I think you can still do that with incremental backups to a clone, but I'm not certain.
    I poked around Pondini's Time Machine FAQ and didn't see anything about making a duplicate of the TM disk.
    As I stated earlier, I think it would work. And, I would imagine CCC or SuperDuper could clone the TM drive.
    Searching for cloning a Time Machine drive I found this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071128055047339
    and this: http://help.bombich.com/kb/troubleshooting/cloning-a-time-machine-backup
    and this (which is much like the first, with pictures): http://www.macyourself.com/2008/12/10/how-to-copy-your-time-machine-backups-to-a -new-larger-drive/

  • Migration Assistant fails to recognize a Time Machine disk (itself migrated using Disk Utility)

    So I outgrow my Time Machine disk. I listen to the advice (repeated in multiple places) that one can simply use Disk Utility's Restore tab, select the old time machine disk as source and the new one as destination, and click restore to copy block-by-block, then rename the disk.
    This works very well. I have indeed been able to use Time Machine on the new disk without losing any of the history.
    But now I am in trouble. I am also outgrowing my MacBook disk. I put a larger disk in and install Snow Leopard from scratch. Now Migration Assistant does not recognize the new Time Machine disk (perpetually spinning wheel). Renaming the disk to the old name does not help. M.A. does recognize the old Time Machine disk, but that means manually managing the changes (and giving up on the larger TM disk). I reinstall Snow Leopard and do not miss that time the option to restore from Time Machine, but it still does not see the new Time Machine disk.
    How does one convince Migration Assistant to use a Time Machine disk that duly has Backups.backupdb as a root folder and where "ignore ownership on this volume" is not set?

    Thanks, Pondini, but the Time Machine disk passes the Disk Utility repairs and only the spinning wheel was visible under both the Setup Assistant and the Migration Assistant.
    I now have some good news, and some bad.
    First the good news: Lion's Migration Assistant offers the option to copy user (and other) files from the previous OSX disk, not just the Time Machine disk. If this option was already in Snow Leopard, then I missed it.
    Now the bad news..
    I spent several hours reading (Pondini's and others') suggestions to ensure that my Time Machine is as seamless as possible, namely, for the next backup to be incremental. No luck: all user data are copied. Until the interface of Time Machine stops trying so hard to shield us naive users from making decisions on our own, one idea is to keep the iPod and pictures/video collection backed-up by the straight-forward rsync. Then whether Time Machine is really incremental will not matter, and in any case a spare copy of the documents you wrote by hand is nice in case the some blocks of the disk fail.
    But I may have been the one who messed it. In Preferrences \ Time Machine \ Options... I excluded all users except the user "Admin" who restored the user accounts. The idea was to test first whether the mildest user will get a full backup. It may be that Time Machine does not look in the history to see if a given file or set of files already have some copy in the past. If a file does not exist in the very last backup, it is saved to the Time Machine disk.
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  • Using external hard drive connected to desktop as time machine disk for laptop

    I recently purchased an external hard drive for the purpose of backing up my laptop and desktop macs. Both are running Mountain Lion (10.7.5). The desktop is physically connected to both the hard drive and to my modem. I have enabled pretty much every sharing option on both the laptop and desktop. When my router crapped out I began just using the internet sharing capabiilty.
    I have been able to chose the desktop as the disk for backing up my laptop, but I want to use the hard drive (connected to the desktop) as the disk. I cant figure out how to do this yet. I can easily access the hard drive by using either the "connect as user" option. I thought that perhaps I could broadcast the connection somehow as an airport connection, but I don't know how to, or if this is even possible.
    The desktop is a mac mini, and the laptop is a macbook pro. Both were purchased in mid 2011.

    This may assist you:
    http://pondini.org/TM/4.html
    Ciao.

  • Erasing Time Machine disk for reuse

    The disk I have been using for Time Machine backups is now too small for the amount it has to back up. I would like to erase it and put it to a different use, but I don't see any option in any menu for doing this. I would like to swap it out for a bigger drive and keep the smaller one for other purposes.
    Can anyone tell me how to erase a Time Machine drive so that the Mac will see it as just another hard drive?

    Use Disk Utility in your Utilities folder to erase the drive.
    Remember, everything will be gone.

  • Time Machine Permissions for other users

    I just replaced my HD. Had no success with full system restore but eventually did a lot of drag and drop from time machine to my current account. I managed to get my photos, some mail docs, Itunes music those were the main items.
    The problem is that I have two other users on the same computer whose accounts have the "red dash" on their folders indicating that their tm files are not accessible. Even when logging into their acccounts, they look the same.
    What is the best way to get to those documents and restore them through drag and drop. I have no interest in reformatting and trying a full s;ystem restore at this point. Tried that a number of times and it didnt' work and I've put together most of what I had.
    Any ideas or help will be appreciated.
    mcneillclan3

    It sounds like when you created the accounts on the new system, the UIDs (numbers that identify a user account) don't match up with what the old ones were on the TM backups. There is a way to fix it but it's kind of tricky.
    Why did you have no success with the full system restore? Getting it working will likely be the easiest way to fix everything up.

  • Time Machine backup for old computer has been named for new computer

    On my new Time Capsule, I backed up the entire disk from my older computer. While consulting with a live help technician for an unrelated problem, he had me reset the Time Capsule using the newer computer. To resume use of the Time Machine backup from my older computer, I had to gain permission . . . and subsequently discovered the reason why. Reseting with the new computer caused the backup volume to be renamed with the new computer's name.
    Sooo, 1) how do I correct the naming error, and 2) will further confusion occur when I then go to back up the new computer?

    It may or may not ask you to reformat the disk when you set it up as the backup for that new computer. If it does, I think you can cancel it.
    What I would do is open Migration Assistant, then import your applications/documents/etc. onto the new computer, and then use the Time Machine disk for backup (formatting it if it asks you to).
    You'll at least have recent files and stuff like that, which may not be as good as an incremental history but at least it's something.

  • How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac

    How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac?
    The question pretty much says it all.
    I have a Mac Mini with an attached 3TB Hard Drive used for Time Machine Backups.
    I have an Airport Extreme base station which services that machine plus several others.
    I would like to backup my new iMac and a MacBook Pro to the Mac Mini.
    What do I need to do on the mini to export that hard drive so that it can be used as a Time Machine target from the other systems?
    All systems are running 10.6.8.

    Well you would have to do backups over a network which is much slower and has highest chance of becoming corrupt. I think your best option would be to get an apple time capsule to act as a network and back if thats how you wanna do that

  • I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine

    I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine
    and if it yes i want to know if i have 1TB hard disk to use the 500gb for time machine and the other 500gb for normal use

    thank you very much because i am considering to buy the porsche design hard disk 1TB and i want to have it for normal use and for time machine is a pitty to give 1TB for back up only again thanks and i know seperate the back and the working jobs are better but the i have to have 2 hardisks and i want only 1

  • Time Machine Disk can be attached to LAN and still be used with TM?

    I had many Time Machine's Backups with an external Western Digital USB Drive.
    Now I had purchased a LaCie 2big Network. I use it for my Windows XP Network.
    This Lacie has 2 Usb ports. It can be configured to use external disk also with time machine.
    I would like to know if I can use my disk without lose my last TM backups.
    I asked to Lacie support team if I could use my Western Digital without lose alla my previous backups.
    They did tell me that they do not offer support for Time Machine problems.
    I would like to try, but I quit fear to lose everything...
    Did anyone tried to connect an "already time machined" disk to network and use time machine again directly from LAN?
    Thank you...

    first, i should mention that TM backups to NAS devices are not officially supported. the only exception is a Time Capsule and it also works with drives attached via USB to an Airport Extreme Base station. some 3rd party NAS devices claim to support TM backups. your does claim it which means that it should work. however, if you move your current TM drive to be plugged into the Lacie NAS you'll have to start a new backup sequence. that's because directly attached backups are stored differently from remote ones. directly attached backups are stored directly in a folder on the drive and remote ones are stored in a sparse bundle.

  • I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine.  I'd like to get a wireless HD  and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5  year old WD drive.  Can I start over?

    I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine.  I'd like to get a wireless HD  and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5  year old WD drive.  Can I start over?

    no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
    See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
    Peace
    Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
    #1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
    Drawbacks:
    1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
    2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
    3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
    4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
    5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
    6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
    7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
    8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
    9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
    10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
    11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
    12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
    Advantages:
    1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
    2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
    3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
    #2. HD archives
    Drawbacks:
    1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
    Advantages:
    1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
    2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
    3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
    4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
    5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
    #3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
    Drawbacks:
    1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
    2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    Advantages:
    1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
    2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
    3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
    4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
    5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
    6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
    7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
    HD cloning software options:
    1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
    2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
    3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
    #4. Online archives
    Drawbacks:
    1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
    2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
    Advantages:
    1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
    2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
    3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
    4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
    5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
    #5. DVD professional archival media
    Drawbacks:
    1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
    2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
    Advantages:
    1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
    2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
    3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
    4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
    5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
    6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
    7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
    8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data. 
    [*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
    #6. Cloud based storage
    Drawbacks:
    1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
    2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
    3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
    4. *Level-0 security of your vital data. 
    Advantages:
    1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
    2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

  • No green icon for time machine disk ?

    Just a very minor question:
    My time machine disk now appears with the same yellow icon that is used for all "standard" hard disk drives.
    Is there no more green disk icon ? Or can I set this manually ? (if so, how ?)

    Thanks Stef_Heck
    You are perfectly right: at some stage this morning (something like 10 hours after having installed Yosemite) the icon became green automatically.
    So just a question of being patient
    Now 100% happy with Yosemite (while I only was 99,5% happy before.....)

  • Have to wait for Time Machine disk before opening or saving

    I can't tell you how irritating it is, when it click open or save (any program) , to hear my Time Machine hard disk begin to spool up. As soon as hear that sound, I know that means I have to sit and wait for the Time Machine disk to initialize and get all set before I can save my work. This is majorly ticking me off.
    This problem is present on any document i go to save/open.
    Why is the OS trying access the Time Machine disk when I try to open or save anywhay??? There's no reason for that! No one is ever opening up and saving to Time Machine while doing normal workflow! The only thing the Time Machine hard drive should be responsible for is backing up!
    I swear, I'm thinking about disconnecting my Time Machine disk while I'm working and just reconnect it when I'm away from the computer...it's getting that bad. I shouldn't have to do that. That's ridiculous.
    Any ideas?
    Thank you

    Why is the OS trying access the Time Machine disk when I try to open or save anywhay???
    The system will wake ALL hard disks when the save dialog is opened TM is not excepted from this. There is nothing very special a TM volume other than its icon.
    There's no reason for that! No one is ever opening up and saving to Time Machine while doing normal workflow!
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  • Browse other time machine disks and hidden folders

    I recently did a clean install of Snow Leopard, and used the "Browse other Time Machine disks" option to restore my documents from my backup. Now, however, I want to restore a folder that resides in the hidden /usr, and can't figure out how to do so. Normally, the solution would be to open a Finder window go use Go > Go to Folder and type the path to the folder, then enter Time Machine. However, when using Browse for other disks, once it enters Time Machine, it resets the Finder window to Macintosh HD. Does anybody know how to restore hidden folders from a Time Machine backup on another disk (from a different installation of Mac OS X)? Thanks

    Shardsofmetal wrote:
    The problem I have is navigating to the hidden folder in the Time Machine backup. It resets my Finder window when I enter Time Machine, and I can't figure out how to navigate to the hidden folder within the Time Machine interface.
    it should not reset the finder window when you enter TM. open a /usr in finder. enter commandshiftg and enter /user in popup. this will open /usr in a separate window. enter TM from that window. provided you did not exclude system files from backups you'll see past backups of /usr and the view will not reset. if you did exclude system files from backups then the view will reset.

  • Time Machine looking for backup disk/not finding

    Time Machine backed up the HD on my 2009 20" iMac up till Feb. 4 when I downloaded Since then there have been no new backups of my HD and there have been problems wihen I have Time Machine "on" with other applications (TextEdit, Pages, Adobe Bridge CS4) opening or not responding after being open and with Finder not responding. I have also had grey screen freezes multiple times so that I have to use the power button to shut the computer down. When I take TM off of the Automatic backups, most of the problems with applications quitting and the grey screen freezes stop happening. (Although I believe I've had at least one or two grey screen freezes even then.)
    Today I've run Verify Time Machine Backups. It completed that. Then I turned on Automatic Backups again. But then it showed "Looking for Backup Disk". So I selected the Backup Disk. Then I checked back in a while and it still showed Looking for Backup Disk. I removed the selected backup disk, shut down and rebooted, and reselected the backup disk. It is still showing Looking for Backup Disk.
    The Time Machine is a 1 Terabyte size. My iMac is using 203.6 Gigabytes of its 319.21 G space.
    In looking at what my Finder is showing as the name of my Backup Disk, I see that it is showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer (3). It should be showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer. If this is the source of the problem, how do I get my Backup Disk named back to Virginia's Computer? Is it possible to get it changed back?
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    I finally contacted Apple Support. Three support people and seven and a half hours later Time Machine began working correctly. Multiple things were tried. The Time Capsule ended up getting erased. Many files and folders were deleted from several places on my hard drive. It seemed that the final ones that made a difference after the Time Capsule was erased were files that were in my Keychain.
    I have to thank Apple's Support people for persistence, especially Jim who is the one who got things back to normal as far as the Time Capsule & Time Machine goes. I have to keep watch to see if anything acts up now on my hard drive and then the solution will go further. But the issue with the Time Capsule and Time Machine appears to be resolved!
    Thank you, Apple Support!!!

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