Time Machine not backing up 2nd external drive, remove option grayed out

I have two external hard drives, 300gb (firewire) and 500gb (usb). Time Machine is backing up to the 300gb. In Time Machine's options, the 500gb is excluded from being backed up, and the remove option is grayed out.
The 300gb Time Machine Backup drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended. The 500gb drive is formatted as MS-DOS (FAT32).
I know the backup drive needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended, but will it not even back up other drives that are FAT32?

I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

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When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

Go to System Preferences (under the Apple menu) > Time Machine and click the Options button. Click the "+" button in the lower left. In the resulting dialog, check the Show invisible items checkbox. Go to your home folder and look for Trash. Click the Exclude button in the lower right.

Time Machine not backing up other external hard drive

Hi,
I recently upgraded to Leopard and am trying to use Time Machine. I have one external hard drive that is used specifically for the Time Machine Backup, it's called "Backup Drive". The other hard drive is called "Captured Memories" and is used to store my graphic design files. Time Machine seems to backup my iMac because there is a folder called iMac and it contains the files, but the folder for Captured Memories is blank. I was getting errors saying that the backup failed but when I clicked the "Back Up Now" option on Time Machine, it doesn't list the error - but the Captured Memories folder is still blank so it didn't back up that external drive. I also changed the Spotlight preferences so that it does not search the Backup Drive.
Both the Backup Drive and the Captured Memories drives are the same, they're both Seagate Free Agent Pro drives, 1TB each.
The Free Agent Pro drives both have a sleep timer that I cannot adjust, does that have anything to do with why Time Machine won't backup the Captured Memories drive? If that is the case, what other software can I use to backup the Captured Memories external drive? I want it to sync to the Backup Drive because I am constantly saving and moving files around on the Captured Memories drive.
I was using a Memeo backup software that came with the Free Agent Pro drives but the problem I was having is it would make copies of files rather than move them. For example, I have a folder on the Captured Memories drive that is called, In Progress and one that is called In Proofing. So once a project is complete, I move the file to the In Proofing folder. The Memeo software would copy the file to the In Proofing folder rather than move it. So I'd end up with 2 copies of the file, one in the In Progress folder and one in the In Proofing folder.
Does anyone know how I can simply have the drive backed up like that?
What do I do?
Please help! I really need to make sure that the Captured Memories external drive is being backed up!

I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

Using Time Machine to back up an external drive?

I have an external HD containing my iTunes library attached to my Airport Extreme Base Station. Is it possible to use Time Machine to back up the AEBS-attached HD onto a different HD? I would connect the new HD directly to my MacBook and in an ideal situation, Time Machine would create a fresh back-up of my AEBS HD (iTunes library) every time I connected the second HD to my MacBook.
I may be making this more difficult than it needs to be. I just want to be able to back up my iTunes library to a second HD which I still have to purchase.
Any ideas?

Yes, just be sure the drive is online and not in the exclude list. Note that TM can only backup to one designated backup drive. If you add a second drive for backup, TM cannot use it and the currently designated backup drive simultaneously.

Using time machine to back up additional external drives

My mac mini contains a 160 gb hard drive. Aiming to keep this free, I connected a 500 gb WD mac-specific hard drive. I also use this drive when attempting to access work files on my macbook pro. When using time machine, which backs up to a 1 TB WD hard drive (also attached to the mac mini), I cannot figure out how to use time machine to back up simultaneously the contents of the native (160 gb) drive in the mac mini and the contents of the portable external drive (500 gb). *Is there any way to set time machine to accomplish this?* Please help - I really need to continually back up the contents of the portable drive as well.

carbon copy cloner will do this. you set up a scheduled job (can be daily, weekly, etc. & even every hour!) & is free to use (donations accepted).
http://www.bombich.com/ccc_features.html

Time machine not backing up my external hard drive

I tried removing my external hard drive from the excluded list which is available in "option"(time machine prefrences)... but it just does not back the external HD on the time machine hard disk... it does not give any message, when I open options back I still find the HD in the list which I have already removed from there... i recently upgraded to mountain lion, it all worked fine in snow leopard before... please help!

Sorry, i don't have an anwser, but i have a similar sounding issue...
I've been using TM to back up both my Mac HD and a Western Digital 'My Book' 1TB containing data (music, videos etc.) to a second WD My Book 2TB for ages - and it has been working fine... then about mid july i up graded my Mac hardware and alos to ML and did a full migrate etc. now, the HD backs up fine but the external 1TB My Book doesn't - i 'see' the drive volume in the backups folder but there's no content...
I'll let you know if i find out more.
J

HT201250 How do I use Time Machine to back up an External Drive to another External Drive?

Hello,
I have two 8TB Western Digital External Hard Drives with Thunderbolt ports. I have already set up a 500GB G-TECH Mini to use as the Time Machine backup for my MacBook Pro. Now, I would like to set up one of my 8TB drives to be the back up for my other 8TB drive, yet I seem to only be able to back up the MacBook Pro with Time Machine.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Connect both 8TB externals to the computer, then do the following:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the 8TB drive to which you will copy. Source means the 8TB drive you will copy.

Time machine not backing up entire hard drive on initial back up. Why?

I bought a new 2TB desktop hard drive to use in backing up my 27" iMac (2011, OSX 10.7.5) and performed the initial backup today. The backup went smoothly but I was perplexed with something I saw.
Disk Utility tells me that my internal hard drive (Macintosh HD) contains 173.95GB of data but the initial backup that TM did contains only 94.2GB. So, why is there such a large (~80GB) discrepancy between the two drives?
I did not elect to exclude any items from the backup in the TM preferences.
Many thanks,
Bob

If it wasn't clear, I used Time Machine to perform this initial backup. Sorry.....

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

Using Time Machine to back up an external hard drive dedicated to Adobe Lightroom 5

I recently began to use Adobe Lightroom 5 (I continue to use Aperture, as I have for years). All of the Lightroom image files and catalogs are on one external hard drive, which I use on my iMac, my Macbook Pro, and in the digital labs of a school where I'm taking a course.
Not yet having developed a protocoI for creating a back up of all my Lightroom image files and catalogs that I could use in the event of my Lightroom-dedicated drive's failure, I have just done a drag and drop of the whole drive's contents to another external drive (which, as it happens, I have been using for some time for my Aperture vaults).
I am thinking of removing the dedicated Lightroom drive from the excluded list of my iMac's Time Machine (which uses yet another external drive), so that I can easily and automatically create back ups of changes to the Lightroom external drive without having to do the cumberome and inelegant drag and drop at some yet-to-be-determined frequency. (The Macbook Pro uses a Time Capsule for its Time Machine; I envision using only the iMac's TM external drive for Lightroom backups.)
What is the simplest and most desirable way to actually execute the backup? I envision that it would be this: that every time I want to do a Lightroom back up, I'd mount the Lightroom external drive on the iMac (or keep it mounted if my work session has just been on the iMac) and then ask Time Machine to "Back Up Now." When the backup is finished, I'd dismount the dedicated Lightroom drive.
A related question is what if anything would be the effect on my Lightroom work if a Time Machine back up began while I was working in Lightroom? Or if for some reason an hourly TM back up began and I needed to quickly end a Lightroom session before the backup was completed?

Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up?

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up? I have an external drive with data I need to add to my overall back up with what's on my mac. I have a separate drive already active as the Time Machine backup disk. I can see how to EXCLUDE disks, but how do I ADD that new external drive to regular backups?
I have 10.8.5 system on my Mac laptop.

Remove the drive from the list of items set to be excluded. It needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for this to be possible.
(110504)

Can I use Time Machine to archive like an external drive?

I've backed up my computer to Time Machine and everything from my computer is there, but I have a new project which needs me to archive 21 pieces of artowrk that have multiple photo images for aech, and they are large size originals. Can I upload these files to a folder in Time Machine or directly on my external drive, so I don't have to have all of these files taking up space on my main computer?

You can, but it is not recommended.
Apparently you cannot partition an existing Time Capsule volume if that is what you are using.
Excerpt from ASC contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ:
3. Can I use my TM disk for other stuff?
Yes. Time Machine will not delete anything you put there.
But it's much, much better to partition an external drive into 2 (or more) parts, also called volumes. Assign one to Time Machine, for its exclusive use for backups; use the other partition(s) however you want.
(Unfortunately, though, you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal disk. See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some alternatives)

Time Machine not backing up

Why is my Time Machine not backing up my documents, folders and files.
I have a Mac oss 10.5.4. 2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1.5 GB. I have been trying to remove files as I'm running all my programs slow. I recently installed the recent ILife upgrade.
Often I would go in and turn off the hourly time machine backup because as I was working on memory intensive programs such as Photoshop I found it may have been linked to crashes. This is particularly concerning as the backups aren't accessible anyway.
Okay, this is the stupid part - on my part - I included my (House) folder in the files not to back up. I was mistaken as to this being a way not to have redundant back ups.
However; the only file now that is in the do not back up is the (time machine backups) and still nothing is saving - particularly concerning? iphoto file. see below.
Now this is concerning! I restored all photos from "March 13, 2008" - it's september. to IPHOTO from Time Machine. I don't know what changed since then(?) I thought it would add these folders into my i photo cache. This of course has involved a software upgrade since to iphoto. I was prompted for upgrade to the restore. So I said yes, to assure the photos added? where in a compatible format. However; instead it has erased all my photos SINCE. Are my photos irretrievably lost?
Why won't my files back-up for retrieval? Can I restore my settings from March 13, 2008 when my Time Machine back-up worked?
I find it horribly confusing that I no longer can access the photo cache, instead having the 'iphoto cache' icon.
This feels like PC headache. I am about to give up!

One thing you can check (using disk utility info button) is that the disk used for backing up must be in the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, and must have Access Control Lists enabled. Permissions must be set so that you are allowed to use the disk, and the disk can’t be read-only. There must also be sufficient room on external disk for the entire TM backup. Since apple recommends just using TM on the disk, one thing to contemplate if having problems you can't resolve is to reformat as the above and start from scratch.

Time Machine not backing up. Very slow, essentially hanging. I have 10.7.5 Mac OS X Lion (11G63). I have put in all updates. I tried to put my folders into "private" in the Spotlight (b/c I read that might be the problem). Still not working.

Time Machine not backing up. Very slow, essentially hanging. I have 10.7.5 Mac OS X Lion (11G63). I have put in all updates. I tried to put my folders into "private" in the Spotlight (b/c I read that might be the problem). Still not working.
Thanks in advance for any help!

For all things Time Machine see Pondini's excellent information here...
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
Start at Troubleshooting.

Can i resume a Time Machine backup of an attached external drive (no system, just data) on a different laptop?

I am trying to find out if I can use a Time Machine (specifically on a 2013 Time Capsule) backup of an external drive (only data, no system) attached to a laptop, and then connect that same external drive to another laptop and resume the backup? Or is the Time Machine backup of an attached external drive a laptop "dependant" backup?
Additional info: The laptops in question are 15" MacBook Pro and a 17" MacBook Pro from 2011 running OSX 10.9 (Mavericks)

You are welcome.
I don't think there is a need to start a new discussion unless you want to.
You should have more than one backup of each computer. Hard drives do fail. Time Machine can alternate drives or have a Time Machine and a clone.
The concern arises because i was told that when a wireless Time Machine backup is interrupted the sparsebundle gets sort of "locked" or "damaged", and although the backups can be accessed, no further Time Machine backup is possible. One must that a brand new backup.
Apple support article. Don't let the title bother you. Look at Additional Information, which explains what happens when a backup gets interrupted. I also am including a link for troubleshooting. C3 explains what you can try if the backup is interrupted.
Time Machine First Backup Interrupted
Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine not backing up 2nd external drive, remove option grayed out

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