Time Machine External Hard Drive (primary storage and backup)

Hi all, Recently purchased a 500G Mac Mini as a dedicated HTPC and have a question regarding Time Machine (I didn't see a dedicated forum page for TM). I have 2 1.5TB external hard drives (Free Agent for Mac). One houses all my iTunes and Movie files (connected to the Minin via FireWire 800), the other is for back-up of the first drive (connected to the Mini via USB). Can Time Machine be used for automatic back-ups from drive 1 to drive 2? Also, Time Machine also back up the Mini's 500G internal HD (assuming there is space/I don't max out the primary 1.5TB drive) as well as the primary external HD (in other words, back up from 2 sources)? Are there any special settings I need to apply for this set-up?

Hello! From my playings around with Time Machine I do not think you can program it to backup 1 external drive to another. Its main purpose is to backup your internal hard drive to an external source. Be careful however because it makes hourly, daily, weekly and i think monthly backups of different sizes, so after a while, if you take something off your computer and forget it, you could loose it. That said, you can drag and drop from one drive to another and still use time machine. For example 'backup' external drive 1 to drive 2, then use drive 2 as a time machine. You just wont have as much room, and time machine will not mess with whatever folders you drag and drop because its not apart of the time machine 'folder'. Hope this helps a bit.

Similar Messages

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    Time machine external hard drive requires repair every time I turned the computer off or after I ejected the external hard drive?

    What kind of repair?

  • I just had my hard drive replaced and restored everything from a Time Machine external hard drive backup and now my "note" widgets won't load. Any ideas ?

    I just had my hard drive replaced. I restored it using a Time Machine backup on an external hard drive. When I open Dashboard none of my "note" widgets will load. The other widgets open, such as weather, weather radar, calculater, dictionary, stock...  Even the iPhoto Mini widget works, just not the notes ( Sticky Notes and K-Notes ).  Any ideas on how to fix this ?

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  • Time Machine, external hard drive and more

    Guys, I am very excited about the release of Leopard and in preparation, want to obtain separate external hards drive for use with Time Machine. I've got a Mac Pro 3Ghz with 3 Terabytes of hard disk space, 4Gig Ram. What would I need in terms of size for an external hard drive (I'm not sure if I will need all the extraneous stuff, maybe just want to back up most of the system files, etc and perhaps some other directories).
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    2. Should I obtain separate external hard drives for my 24" iMac as well as my C2D MacBook?
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    John

    Hi Adam Jackson, nice site you have and thank you for taking the time/effort to provide the information. It is very informative and valuable!
    1. I notice that other people have good luck with LaCie products so I bought the 1Terabyte external. I see it on Google for $322 and not real concerned about the cost.
    2. The 24" iMac is the C2D version as is the MacBook. I actually sold my earlier models on eBay to buy the C2D models because I wanted 802.11n. Both machines are pimped out to max, including the MacBook w/3Gig of RAM. Now my Mac Pro came with Airport Extreme built-in and I have it turned on so my other machines can share the connection via WiFi. That is very cool.
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    John

  • How to create mirror backup of my Time Machine external hard drive

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  • Time machine external hard drive in windows not working.

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    Thanks,
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  • Time Machine External Hard Drive Back Up

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  • Time Machine, External Hard Drives, Drobos, questions....

    I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but feel free to point me somewhere else if not.  I'm a professional photographer transitioning into some video work and am currently working out a media drive / backup drive solution to suit the needs of a one man band.  Currently I have a couple of 2TB MyBooks running, and backup from one to the other each night, which isn't the most elegant solution but has worked so far.  I've just ordered a Drobo and hard disks to give me a little more peace of mind, but because the Drobo isn't known for being the fastest solution in the world (at least the basic model isn't), I'm also purchasing a G-Tech Raid drive to use as my active media drive. 
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    Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions people can offer, and sorry that was such a huge ramble.

    I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but feel free to point me somewhere else if not.  I'm a professional photographer transitioning into some video work and am currently working out a media drive / backup drive solution to suit the needs of a one man band.  Currently I have a couple of 2TB MyBooks running, and backup from one to the other each night, which isn't the most elegant solution but has worked so far.  I've just ordered a Drobo and hard disks to give me a little more peace of mind, but because the Drobo isn't known for being the fastest solution in the world (at least the basic model isn't), I'm also purchasing a G-Tech Raid drive to use as my active media drive. 
    I'm hoping the following is possible and hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about using the following setup.  I plan to use Time Machine as a backup solution, which saves me continually having to copy and check files are all in the right place each night as I do at the moment when manually backing up.  I believe it's possible to have the G-Raid drive, which is where all media will be placed when importing, as part of a Time Machine backup that will put the contents of my iMac (which is not much, just core software) and the G-Raid onto the Drobo, and keep things updated when files are changed, updated or deleted. 
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    Is it better to partition the Drobo and create a section that is the same size as the current media drive I'm using (500gb, 1tb, etc...) and point the Time Machine to use that section, and then switch to a new partition when putting in a new media drive, or is that unnecessary and overcomplicating things?
    I'm assuming that a lot of people tend to have 1 external hard drive working as their media drive, and another running time machine and backing up whatever's on the media drive, and that these drives are the same size, and a swapped out for new ones simultaneously when full.  But if you are using a much larger backup drive, like a Drobo, then what do you do in the above situations?
    Basically, I want a simple solution that allows me to have a fast (firewire 800 max as I'm using an iMac atm), media drive attached and which is backed up to a drive with redundancy, like a Drobo, and where I can change out that media drive without a problem and changes made on it are mirrored on the backup drive (but where data doesn't get deleted on the backup drive if I need to change out the media drive).  My data needs are met with the above mentioned drives and I don't yet need to start investing in more advanced systems to deal with what I'm doing, I just need a solution that is simple, doesn't require excessive time spent tweaking and monitoring things, and where my data is safe if a drive fails.
    Finally, I'm guessing if the above scenario is possible then I'll be connecting the G-Tech to the Firewire 800 port and the Drobo to the USB, but I thought I'd ask whilst I'm here whether anybody knows if you can daisy chain the Drobo to the G-Tech via Firewire and still have it operating as a separate backup drive using Time Machine; if this method is possible would people reccomend it over using the iMac's USB port?
    Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions people can offer, and sorry that was such a huge ramble.

  • How to stop my Time Machine external hard drive preventing iMac from sleeping?

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    Can you see the drive in Disk Utility? If so, try selecting it and using the Mount button in the top menu. You can also run repair disk and repair permissions.

  • Time Machine & External Hard Drive on an Extended Network

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  • My Time Machine external hard drive is not recognised anymore under 10.9.1

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    katlandsf wrote:
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  • Time machine external hard drive stalls start up

    I am relatively new to Apple hardware and this is my first post.
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    Chas F wrote:
    I am relatively new to Apple hardware and this is my first post.
    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
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  • Time Machine, External Hard Drive question

    Hello,
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    Say 'No" to the dialog box that asks you if you want to use the drive for time machine.
    If you plan on using it as a record drive.
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  • HT201250 How to use time machine external hard drive on other devices

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