Time Machine Incremental Backups

I have just purchased a new MacBook Pro and restored my old MacBook on the new one using my Time Machine backup. Now I want Time Machine to continue backing up using the old backup and not starting a new backup from scratch. In effect, I want Time Machine to do incremental backups. I have read about Time Machine tying the Mac address of the old MacBook to the old backup I already have and as such, my new MacBook will have to create its own backup from scratch. Is there a work around this problem? Any helpful hints are welcome.

iMinds wrote:
Thanks for your suggestion. Yes, I did a full system restore, by booting the new Mac from the Leopard Install disc and selecting Utilities then Restore from Backups from the Menubar. What else can I do?
Eeeeek! You now have the old Mac's entire version of OSX on the new one. I'm surprised it booted up at all. You may not have the correct hardware drivers and other things for the new Mac.
I'm sorry to say, you need to start over. You need to do an *Erase and Install* using the Leopard Install disc that came with the new Mac, to put the correct version of OSX back on it. Then you can Migrate (transfer) everything else from your TM backups.
See the *Erase, Install, & Migrate* section of the Glenn Carter - Restoring Your Entire System / Time Machine *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Once that's done, TM's next backup will be a full one. Everything you put on the new Mac's internal HD is new *to that Mac* as well as new *to that disk,* and TM's whole role in life is to back up everything that's new or changed. You cannot prevent it.
Also, your old backups will not appear if you use the normal +Enter Time Machine+ option on the new Mac; you'll need the Browse option as per item #17 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Plus, they won't be deleted by TM as the disk fills up, and it needs room for new backups. So your best bet will probably be, once you're sure everything transferred over properly, to simply erase the TM disk via Disk Utility and let TM start fresh.

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine hourly backup seems a tad large

    Hi all
    Occasionally, my hourly Time Machine incremental backups to my Time Capsule seem a tad large. One hour the backup is a sensible size, then an hour later, when I've been doing very little on my machine, the backup is massive (as in, several gigabytes).
    Not only that, but the backup seems to grow in size as its happening. the pictures below should help illustrate.
    The backup is listed as being 719MB, only an hour after a more modest backup. Time Machine seems to be claiming that is has transferred all of the required backup:
    !http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4988/picture2gih.png!
    But then, only two minutes later, see how the situation has changed:
    !http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3739/picture3m.png!
    And the situation continues:
    !http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9339/picture5.png!
    Any ideas? This issue happens intermittently (although it is happening now... that last image was taken a few minutes ago and the backup was still going - up to 3.1GB - before I told it to stop).
    I'm not certain if Time Machine is actually transferring this amount of data to the Time Capsule or not.
    Cheers.

    Hi,
    I had the same problem today as well. The last backup was done this morning at 2 a.m. When I turned my PowerBook G4 on again this afternoon, the backup size continually grew, just like on your machine, Rob. I aborted the backup a couple of times, deleted the inProgress file, but it always got bigger and bigger. After downloading Time Machine Buddy and Time Tracker, I just let Time Machnine "do it's thing". Luckily, I had enough free space on my WD MyBook 500 GB I use for the backups, because it stopped only at 24.8 GBs, after initially displaying 61,3 MB in the menu bar, and requesting 1.05 GB according to Time Machine Buddy.
    Time Machine Buddy protocol:
    Starting standard backup
    Backing up to: /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.05 GB requested (including padding), 32.74 GB available
    Copied 139261 files (24.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.16 GB requested (including padding), 7.36 GB available
    Copied 7042 files (2.0 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Starting post-backup thinning
    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-202501: 7.36 GB now available
    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-192342: 7.37 GB now available
    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-123736: 7.37 GB now available
    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-113526: 7.38 GB now available
    Post-back up thinning complete: 4 expired backups removed
    Backup completed successfully.
    So I took a look at Time Tracker to see what was backed up. I was suprised to see, that the biggest chunk was my Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support folder. This folder is 23,9 GB in size, mainly because it contains Final Cut Studio media and templates. Time Machine backed it up completey. This seems weired, because none of the files I looked at in this folder were changed during the last couple of months, if not the last year, since I installed them. I don't know why Time Machine would backup all of those unchanged files.
    For the sake of completeness, the external drives contains other, non-backup, files as well.
    I hope this gives you some more information to work with Pondini.
    Greetings,
    Claas

  • Time Machine everytime backups everyting!

    My main system disk "Macintosh HD", 500 GB
    Media disk is exernal disk named "Media", 1000 GB.
    My Time Machine disk is named "DeLorean" and its external 1,500 GB.
    I have about 340 GB more free space in the Time Machine disk than my data currently uses up.
    My problem is that the Time Machine VERY often starts its backup FROM THE SCRATCH!
    Doing FULL BACKUP! Deleting over 800 GB of data. If you see my logs, you will see it doesnt like something about the external "Media" disk.
    It does this thing called "Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/Media reason:must scan subdirs|"... * see logs later.
    Funny thing is, if i delete/erase the backup, or let it do the FULL backup when it wants, it usually after that does the normal smaller backup just fine.
    BUT if I unmount the Media disk even once and do one incremental backup(which it does fine), then after i mount the Media back, next time it does this FULL backup and says in the logs about the Deep even scan.
    All my disks are encrypted via FileVault2. Shouldnt time machine still work or is this setup fine?
    Here are the logs. Yesterday i even shuffled all my disks and erased the Media and the time machine disk and encrypted them again.
    You can see the first full backup starting at 2 am, then ONE succesfull incremental backup while both disk were still mounted. When i woke up at (13:20 pm) I did one incremental backup without the Media (ummounted it) and then again new one with media mounted (13:29 pm) and BAM ! It started FULL backup (deleting 800+ GB of data). Nothing has been changed on the media disk during that time. Weird !
    Logs showing fresh first new backup stuff:
    Dec 18 01:03:48 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 81.9 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1469 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 02:03:49 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 172.8 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1516 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 03:03:50 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 264.8 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1563 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 04:03:50 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 357.1 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1615 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 05:03:51 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 449.1 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1666 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 06:03:51 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 541.5 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1696 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 07:03:52 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 633.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1741 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 08:03:52 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 725.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1786 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 08:10:55 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1796 files (736.3 GB) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 09:03:53 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 773.9 GB of 1047.6 GB, 621723 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 10:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 803.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 936589 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 11:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 878.4 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1019840 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 12:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 951.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1107382 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 13:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1034.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1110125 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 13:13:49 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1140722 files (1041.4 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:13:58 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: 1.72 GB required (including padding), 341.53 GB available
    Dec 18 13:13:58 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:14:15 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 6665 files (1.7 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:14:17 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copying Lion Recovery set
    Dec 18 13:14:42 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Backed up Lion Recovery to /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:14:45 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Dec 18 13:14:45 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Dec 18 13:14:45 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Backup completed successfully.
    Ends.
    This backup i Initiated after i woke up, with both system disk and external "media" mounted:
    Dec 18 13:22:02 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:22:02 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:22:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: 1.70 GB required (including padding), 340.96 GB available
    Dec 18 13:22:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Dec 18 13:23:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Dec 18 13:23:48 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:23:55 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 1780 files (8.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:23:56 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:23:56 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:23:59 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 1596 files (268 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Backup completed successfully.
    Ends.. This seems to work like it should.
    Now, see the time stamps, i just toke some coffee and came back....
    This next backup is done while "Media" drive has been umounted:
    Dec 18 13:28:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:28:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:28:01 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:28:04 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Copied 1455 files (78 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:28:04 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Copied 115 files (93 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Backup completed successfully.
    Incremental backup seems to finnish ok, without the "Media" drive.
    This backup is the third one done just after couple minutes after i mounted the "Media" drive back on:
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/Media reason:must scan subdirs|
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Finished scan
    Dec 18 13:31:51 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: 884.92 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:31:51 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
    Dec 18 13:31:52 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted backup /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb/imac/2011-12-18-131415 containing 8.7 MB; 341.40 GB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:31:52 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Removed 1 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted backup /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb/imac/2011-12-18-132359 containing 736.30 GB; 1.05 TB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted 2 backups containing 736.31 GB total; 1.05 TB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Dec 18, 2011
    Dec 18 13:35:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Copied 526 files (4.3 GB) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:35:03 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backup canceled.
    I canceled that scan(it would take about 12 hours again
    OK. Couple questions:
    - Why time machine does this deep scan? What does it actually mean?
    - Why time machine thinks that it needs to do a 800GB worth of new backup. Those data have not changed a bit (they are movies).
    - How its related to the unmount/mounting the Media drive?
    I would really hope some answers from somebody. I have strugled with this issue almost a month now.
    Thanks!

    ECONOMAN wrote:
    Time Machine Incremental Backups S...L...O...W and seem to bog down things so as to make the machine unusable. Why doesn't it simply backup changes, not the entire drive (less exclusions)?
    Normally, that's exactly what it does. So start by calming down.
    And, it gobbles processing power so I can't even check mail.
    Can you schedule the frigging thing or do I just stop it all the time in order to get anything done?
    It's cute, but kind of worthless.
    First, are these backups larger than you think they ought to be? If so, that's likely at least part of your problem. See #D4 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum, for some possible causes and a way to find out just what's going on.
    If that's no help, or they're still slow, try all the things in #D2 of the Troubleshooting Tip.
    If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.

  • Time Machine same backup size every time

    Anyone have any idea why Time Machine would backup the same amount every time? Every hour mine backs up 1.8 GB, unless I've added more than that to my hd.
    I only back up the internal drive on my macbook to a 500 GB Time Capsule via wifi (802.11n only, 5GHz). Not that I figured it would make a difference, but it still does it if backed up via ethernet.
    I've also noticed that as soon as it completes the backup, it will backup all over again - and not because an hour has passed. I'm not sure if it does this every time (but I think i does), or if it does it more than twice when it happens.
    Thanks in advance!

    See if the following might give you some ideas as to why...
    *_Incremental Backups Seem Too Large!_*
    Open the Time Machine Prefs on the Mac in question. How much space does it report you have "Available"? When a backup is initiated how much space does it report you need?
    Now, consider the following, it might give you some ideas:
    Time Machine performs backups at the file level. If a single bit in a large file is changed, the WHOLE file is backed up again. This is a problem for programs that save data to monolithic virtual disk files that are modified frequently. These include Parallels, VMware Fusion, Aperture vaults, or the databases that Entourage and Thunderbird create. These should be excluded from backup using the Time Machine Preference Exclusion list. You will, however, need to backup these files manually to another external disk.
    If you do a lot of movie editing, unless these files are excluded, expect Time Machine to treat revised versions of a single movie as entirely new files.
    If you frequently download software or video files that you only expect to keep for a short time, consider excluding the folder these are stored in from Time Machine backups.
    If you have recently created a new disk image or burned a DVD, Time Machine will target these files for backup unless they are deleted or excluded from backup.
    *Events-Based Backups*
    Time Machine does not compare file-for-file to see if changes have been made. If it had to rescan every file on your drive before each backup, it would not be able to perform backups as often as it does. Rather, it relies on a process called FSEvents. This is a system log that records changes that occur with all the directories on your Mac. Moving / copying / deleting / & saving files and folders creates events that are recorded in this log. At the beginning of each backup, Time Machine simply looks at this log to determine what has changed since the last backup. [http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14]
    Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your directories. Every one of these changes is recorded by the OS as an event. Time Machine will backup every file that has an event associated with it since the installation.
    Files or folders that are simply moved or renamed are counted as NEW files or folders. If you rename any file or folder, Time Machine will back up the ENTIRE file or folder again no matter how big or small it is.
    George Schreyer describes this behavior: “If you should want to do some massive rearrangement of your disk, Time Machine will interpret the rearranged files as new files and back them up again in their new locations. Just renaming a folder will cause this to happen. This is OK if you've got lots of room on your backup disk. Eventually, Time Machine will thin those backups and the space consumed will be recovered. However, if you really want recover the space in the backup volume immediately, you can. To do this, bring a Finder window to the front and then click the Time Machine icon on the dock. This will activate the Time Machine user interface. Navigate back in time to where the old stuff exists and select it. Then pull down the "action" menu (the gear thing) and select "delete all backups" and the older stuff vanishes.” (http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html)
    *TechTool Pro Directory Protection*
    This disk utility feature creates backup copies of your system directories. Obviously these directories are changing all the time. So, depending on how it is configured, these backup files will be changing as well which is interpreted by Time Machine as new data to backup. Excluding the folder these backups are stored in will eliminate this effect.
    *Backups WAY Too Large*
    If an initial full backup or a subsequent incremental backup is tens or hundreds of Gigs larger than expected, check to see that all unwanted external hard disks are still excluded from Time Machine backups. Time Machine will attempt to backup any hard disk attached to your Mac, including secondary internal drives, that have not been added to Time Machines Exclusion list.
    This includes the Time Machine backup drive ITSELF. Normally, Time Machine is set to exclude its’ own backup disk by default. But on rare occasions it can forget. When your backup begins, Time Machine mounts the backup on your desktop. (For Time Capsule/AirDisk users it appears as a white drive icon labeled something like “Backup of (your computer)”.) If, while it is mounted, it does not show up in the Time Machine Preferences “Do not back up” list, then Time Machine will attempt to back ITSELF up. If it is not listed while the drive is mounted, then you need to add it to the list.
    *Recovering Backup Space*
    If you have discovered that large unwanted files have been backed up, you can use the Time Machine “time travel” interface to recovered some of that space.
    Launch Time Machine from the Dock icon.
    Initially, you are presented with a window that represents “Today (Now)”. DO NOT make changes to file while you see “Today (Now)” at the bottom of the screen.
    Click on the window just behind “Today (Now)”. This represents the last successful backup and should display the date and time of this backup at the bottom of the screen.
    Now, navigate to where the unwanted file resides.
    Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
    Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
    *FileVault / Boot Camp / iDisk Syncing*
    Note: Leopard has changed the way it deals with FileVault disk images, so it is not necessary to exclude your Home folder if you have FileVault activated. Additionally, Time Machine ignores Boot Camp partitions as the manner in which they are formatted is incompatible. Finally, if you have your iDisk Synced to your desktop, it is not necessary to exclude the disk image file it creates as that has been changed to a sparsebundle as well in Leopard.
    Let us know if this resolved your issue.
    Cheers!

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

    I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
    The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
    I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
    I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
    What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
    Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
    If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
    Thanks
    Andrew

    Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
    Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
    Appreciate your help Csound1.
    Regards
    Andrew

  • On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
    If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
    If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

  • How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme

    How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme?  I used to be able to but now time machine will not recognize my hard drive to select as a backup when plugged into my airport extreme.  I'm not sure what happened or changed.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks

    First thing to do is go to the Pondini tips page, then follow the link to his full TM site for all the details.

  • 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/

  • Using time machine to backup Logic Projects

    Hi
    I was wondering if it is possible to use time machine to backup my Logic Projects. I have a seperate internal drive that I use to keep all my user data on, like my Logic projects. I want to use time machine to back up these projects onto a external firewire drive.
    Can timemachine only backup your systems drive and therefore I would need to have my Logic projects based stored on it?

    Yes - time machine can back up any drive. I am using 3 drives: system drive, a USB2 drive for Time machine backups and a firewire 800 drive for Logic Studio projects, instruments, samples, audio, etc. TM backs up my system and FW drives to the USB drive.
    Time machine options (in system preferences) allow you to exclude/include drives so you just need to set it to include your second internal drive.
    The only thing I'm not sure of is whether this effects the loop browser. Oddly, when I was experimenting with using aliases for Apple loops, Logic actually found the TM backup files when it couldn't locate the original GB loops! After some file moving and index deleting I cleared all loops but now I have duplicate entries again in Logic - possibly due to TM, but I have not verified this.
    -Scott

  • Using Time Machine to backup a iMac G5 and restore to an intel iMac

    Is it possible to use Time Machine to backup my iMac G5 and restore my backup to a new intel iMac?
    The reason being is that I my mother-in-law's company bought her a new intel Mac and she wants to trade with me since she only uses her Mac for e-mail, photos and accounting software.
    I was thinking of making sure her data is preserved by using the migration assistant to transfer her data to my iMac G5 and then using my time machine backup to restore to her intel iMac. I have concerns about this method after reading about the intel/powerpc issues with time machine. I also have concerns that perhaps the version of MacOS 10.5 installed to my iMac G5 will not be optimized for intel.

    Well, not entirely. You cannot install or restore a PPC version of OS X to an Intel Mac because the PPC system will not work on an Intel Mac. You can copy your personal files, most preference files, and third-party applications (although it would be preferable to update all PPC-only apps to universal binaries which perform better on Intel machines.
    Another possible concern is if your mother's company is transferring the ownership to her or simply purchasing the unit for her to use. In the latter case the computer belongs to the company, not your mother. She cannot then give it to you because it isn't hers. This problem should be resolved beforehand because the company may one day want the computer back.
    Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
    From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
    In your /Home/Library/ folder:
    /Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
    /Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
    Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
    /Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
    /Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
    /Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
    /Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
    /Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
    If you want cookies:
    /Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
    /Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
    For Entourage users:
    Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
    Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
    For FireFox:
    /Home/Library/Applications Support/FireFox
    /Home/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
    Credit goes to another forum user for this information.

  • Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

    Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
    Is there a way for me to set Time Machine to backup both my iMac's internal drive and the external hard drive that would contain my movie files? I've been using Time Machine for my backups for a few years now, but backing up the external as well has me stumped. If Time Machine could be used then all the necessary file accociations etc would be safely backed up as well - that's why I don't want to have to manually backup the external.
    Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

    7string48 wrote:
    Thanks so much Pondini!!  You just quickly answered a question that none of the Mac people in 3 stores or Apple Care have been able to answer.If you can format it HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work.  If not, it won't.  
    I'm not too surprised about the Apple Stores, as they don't get much training on Time Machine.  But AppleCare sure ought to know. 
    Oh...what about if the external drive is an array...like a Drobo with it's own proprietary formatting...I guess that would not work...??
    I've never used a Drobo.  A number of folks here have used them as their Time Machine drives, but I don't recall seeing anyone try to back one up with TM, so can't say for sure.  But if you can format it as HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work.  If not, it won't.
    At least part of the reason is, Time Machine uses the File System Event Store, a hidden log of changes that OSX keeps on each Mac-formatted disk/partition, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up.  See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
    See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of backing-up multiple volumes with Time Machine.
    However, even if it will work, that may not be your best strategy, depending on your circumstances:
    Since Time Machine keeps copies of things you've changed or deleted, the destination needs to be considerably larger than the data being backed-up.  How much larger varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a general "rule of thumb" is, it needs at least twice the space to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
    If you have a large internal HD, fairly full, plus a large external HD, and the files on the external don't change frequently, you might want to use Time Machine for the internal, and a different app to a different disk or partition, on a different schedule, for the external.  Especially if space is a consideration, you might not need to keep previous versions of files on the externals.  See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for some alternatives.

  • Can I use time machine to backup on my server HD?

    I've mac Leapard with Time Machine but never made use of it because:
    - I don't have and don't want to have an external HD.
    - Don't have Time Capsule, and cannot afford it.
    Yet I was wondering if it was somehow possible to use Time Machine, to backup directly to my server (online) for example.

    -(.)^(.)- wrote:
    Time Machine backups are NOT supported for NAS devices except Time Capsule or a USB HDD connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station. All other options are hacks.
    I would add that even if a network drive were available, unless it was formatted HFS+ with either GUID or APM depending, it would not be acceptable anyway for TM.

  • Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini (256gbSSD + 2tbHDD)?

    Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup what I have on my Mac Mini?
    My Mac Mini has one 256 SSD and one 2tb HDD. I want to use Time Machine to do a backup of everything.
    Would an external 2tb My Passport Drive by Western Digital work for the backup?
    It seems like it would not work because the total storage on the Mac Mini is 2304 gigabytes (SSD + HDD).
    And the external Western Digital drive is only 2048 in gigabytes versus 2304 gigabytes the Mac Mini has.

    No. A Time Machine backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drive it backs up. You would need at least a 4 TB backup drive for Time Machine.
    Might I suggest as an alternative that you not use Time Machine but a third-party backup utility that simply overwrites older files with new ones such that the backup drive can be the same capacity as the drive backed up.
    Suggested Backup Software
      1. Carbon Copy Cloner
      2. Get Backup
      3. Deja Vu
      4. SuperDuper!
      5. Synk Pro
      6. Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

  • Time Machine:The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. .....

    Hi,
    I upgraded to Mountain Lion when it was released and yesterday I began getting this notice from Time Machine:
    "The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. Time Machine will try to make more space available by removing expired backups during the next scheduled backup."
    I have a one terra external hard drive with exclusively Time Machine.  It says it has 3.4 gigabytes available, but isn't deleting old backups and making room for new, like before.  I tried the "encrypting" solution, but it still keeps on giving me this message.  Should I erase and format?  If so, what option should I chose to format?
    My Hard Drive has 240 gigabytes, so 1Tb should be more than enough.
    Thank you!
    Gloria

    SuperDuper and Time Machine are two completely different backup utilities. If you want something like what SuperDuper does then don't use Time Machine. You have many other options that won't use up all the space on your backup drive:
    Backup Software Recommendations
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    Do the following to erase your drive:
    Erase a Drive
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • Is there a way to use Time Machine to backup my Macbook Pro to an external drive connected to my iMac?

    I recently purchased a Seagate Goflex Desk 2TB and I've already used Time Machine to backup my iMac running 10.5.8 to the drive. Is there a way to backup my Macbook Pro running 10.6.8 to the drive using Time Machine while the drive is still connected to my iMac? Any help is appreciated!

    Choose Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu, provide the first computer's IP address, log in, and set it up in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
    (59008)

Maybe you are looking for