Time Machine & storage

Hi Everybody
I have this Iomega external hd formatted to use with Time Machine but I would like to also use it for storage...I suppose that I'll need a partition for that but can I add it now and leave the existent backup volume untouched? Could you kindly explain how can I do it?
Thanks a lot
jv

Sorry if my English is not always clear, it is a second language for me. Be glad you do not have to hear me try to speak English!
What I was trying to say above was that your TM backup is a critical piece of data. It is the only other copy that you have mentioned of everything of value to you on your HDD. Since you are determined at this point to use the ext HDD for both TM and another storage, then you need another partition.
A program such as iPartition says that it can create a new partition on your ext HDD without affecting the current partition, in this case TM. But there is no guarantee that the will be the case. While making the other partition an app such as iPartition could mess up the other partition and at some point in the future when your int HDD has perhaps bailed on you and you loose the data and then you check the TM backup and find that that has also bailed because creating the new partition messed it up, why take the chance?
Just use Disk Utility and erase the ext HDD and create your two partitions the size you want and then make a fresh TM backup onto the TM partition.
Dah•veed

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine storage for backups.

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    Thank Shootist007
    I know.
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  • HT201250 time machine- storage?

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    how do i make time machine save files that i have deleted from my computer's hard drive?
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    does time machine re-back up files that are already on the hard drive and waste space or just fill in the blanks when i add new files to my computer?
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  • Using MacMini for Time Machine Storage & Work?

    I have recently got my brand new Macbook Pro and absolutely love it!
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  • Time machine storage problem

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    I think you should just get one big drive and partition it.
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    If you decide you want to increase the size of your TM partition in the future, you can do that now in Leopard with out erasing and reformatting your whole drive. The new Disk Utility allows you to change partition sizes without reformatting.
    Now the BIG downside to what I propose is that you won't have a backup of what ever you store in the non-Time Machine partition on your external drive. But I personally am willing to take that risk for the files I store there.
    If you do want to back those up too, then your Time Machine partition should be equal to or greater than the sum of your internal drive + the non time machine partition.
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  • How do I restore my settings from my Time Machine storage to my new SSD?

    I installed a new 256gb SSD as my main drive in my Mac mini and kept the 1tb drive as a secondary drive inside.  The secondary drive still has all my files and everything else yet the SSD has the iOS. 
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    Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
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    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Can't imagine something not being covered there.

  • Change Time Machine Storage Location

    I currently back up two computer to a network disk [Disk A]. I want to switch the Time Machine backups to a different network drive [Drive B] without losing any of the current Time Machine history. How do I do this? Whenever I have tried to do this in the past the Time Machine only goes back to the day that I switched the backup location.

    If your TM backups are on a USB or F/W drive attached to an Airport Extreme, or another Mac on the same local network, you can duplicate the TM backups on one drive/partition to another, via the Restore tab of Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
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    Message was edited by: Pondini

  • My time machine works but the time machine storage bar is not moving its staying at "748.8mb" for about 5 hours already: What shall I do?

    Here is what my time machine preferences look like now:
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    Thks,
    The Computer Questionaire

    If the image didn't show try this:

  • Time Capsule and Time Machine USB storage

    Will hard drives connected to the USB port on the time capsule be able to be used for Time Machine backup? Looking through all the literature put out today, it doesn't specifically say so. It does say you can connect a USB hard drive for network storage but it doesn't say you can use that for expanded Time Machine storage.

    Disk sharing on an AEBSn seems to work fine on a local network, but my experience is that it often will not work correctly for PCs connecting from the Internet.
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  • I would like to use time Machine to back up to a network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it

    I currently have a mini server (OSX10.8.5, server 2.2.2) that I am using Time Machine to back up 4 external drives that are connected to the server via firewire 800. I would like to use Time Machine to back up to a windows network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it for use.
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    The supported targets for Time Machine backups are local (direct-connected) disks, and network targets include Time Capsule, a disk hanging off the current-generation AirPort (though not earlier AirPort devices), and OS X Server systems.
    The Time Machine storage is based on the HFS+ file system, so I would not expect TM to work with SMB file services.
    While there are hacks to allow Time Machine to access network drives, I would not consider those to be reliable. Skim the forum and the 'net for related details, and for previous discussions of setting this up and the related issues that can arise.
    Remember to test the recovery with whatever you decide to use; whole point of backups is the ability to restore the data, after all.
    If you want to learn more about Time Machine, Pondini is an excellent resource.

  • Can I use both newly cloned MBPR retina and old-MBP with same Time Machine

    When my new-MBPR retina cloned from the old-MBP back up in Time Machine via migration assistance, will this newly-cloned MBPR continue thereon backing up with the same old-MBP back up in Time Machine? I.e. continuing same timeline?
    And what happen to my old-MBP back up, if I continuing to use my old-MBP with the same Time Machine on? Will TM recognised 2 different MBP and thus creating 2 back ups? I seem to have problem to keep 2 MBP running with same TM. Programs not responding even force quitting them!
    And what should I do to use both? Appreciate your help. Thank you.

    OK, but in general I can use this one device as both file storage and Time Machine.
    I thought that (for some reason) once I set up the Time Capsule to act just as Time Machine storage I would be unable to access it as a plain file storage.
    I have just tested it now, and it seems it can work as both - file storage and Time Machine. I can see the Time Machine backup file on it and folders where I can dump regular files.
    The only thing I would need to occasionally do is delete some old backups to keep Time Machine segment below 1 TB just so I have plenty of space for regular files.
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  • Not Sure if Time Machine is Working Correctly

    I’m relatively new to Time Machine and just noticed something yesterday that I thought was a bit odd. I’m not sure if this is how Time Machine is suppose to work or if I screwed something up.
    Last month I bought a Drobo for use as a Time Machine storage location and for miscellaneous storage. I connected the Drobo to my MacBook Pro via firewire 800, and created a 500GB partition for Time Machine. Everything appeared to work just like it was suppose to, it backed up around 147GB’s of data. For the month of October I would periodically connect the Drobo via firewire and it would do it’s thing. Sunday I had the bright idea of connecting the Drobo to my Airport Extreme’s USB port to see what would happen with Time Machine. I opened the application up and at first it didn’t know where the backup folder was so I pointed it there. Once I did that Time Machine immediately started backing up around 147GB’s of data all over again.
    I wondered why it was backing up everything again and just for the heck of it I opened the destination directory in Finder, and what I found surprised me. There are folders for each of the times Time Machine backed up in the Month of October but there is no directory for the one which occurred November 9th. Instead I see a file called MyName__0017f2c8c06c.sparsebundle.
    Does Time Machine do a complete backup every month? When I opened Time Machine all of my data is there including stuff from October but I can’t find November’s files on the hard drive. I know they are there somewhere because the storage space reported remaining is around 150GB’s, so somewhere I have 2 complete copies of all of my data.
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    what you see is completely normal. TM backups to network drives work differently than those to directly attached drives. when TM backs up to a network drive it creates a sparse bundle disk image and backs up to that. if double-click on MyName__0017f2c8c06c.sparsebundle it will mount as a disk image (it might take a while to mount) and your November backups will be there. backups to network and to directly attached drives are not interchangeable which is why it did a full new backup when you moved the drive to AEBS. It doesn't do a full backup every month normally.

  • Time Machine read only error & dissapears

    I have been running time machine on a MacBookPro MacOS x 10.5.8 for 2 years.
    Last week for the first time I got the "External Drive is Read Only" error. I followed the instructions in Troubleshooting on verify and repair but it didn't work (details below). I bought a new external drive configured for MAC OS Extended Journaled format and it worked for 5 days before giving me the same error and the same problems reported on verify. I don't want to use the install disk again because it didn't work last time (and it is 10.4.9 not Leopard - I upgraded by download).
    I am at my wits end here. Given that the problem occurred on two different external drives I suspect a problem with my OS.
    Details of errors (more or less the same both times):
    Time Machine Error - Time Machine "Backup volume is read only"
    Finder initially showed that the back up folder was read/write for my user ID and the drive was read/write for the system (not sure because the drive now doesn't appear in finder or in Time Machine ("storage location cannot be found" message)
    Disk Utilities: Repair disk option was unavailable Verify disk was available
    Verify disk showed a lot error messages including a lot in red: e.g. "Incorrect number of directory hard links" "Incorrect number of threads" "Invalid Directory Item Count" "Invalid volume file count" - on the second drive (not the first) it could not complete the verify - error message Verify disk failed: Error: 'Filesystem verify or repair failed.'
    Repair disk was available on the Installation disk (10.4.9) - I ran it on the first external drive but it could not repair ANY of the errors. I haven't tried to run it on the second drive

    mysteryrare wrote:
    I upgraded to Leopard by going to the Apple site and purchasing the upgrade from there. It was a download.
    I never heard of that. I've always been told that OSX isn't available that way. (It must have been a massive download!)
    I will try Apple support but I am in Australia and it can take a while for things to get here.
    Yes, but if you ever have to reload, or even do a +*Repair Disk+* on your boot drive, you'll need it.
    The Disk utility is v 11.1 (252.4) dated 2007.
    Yes, that's the right one (I was afraid you had a Tiger version).
    I did not format the second drive myself. I purchased it as a Mac only external drive. I checked the format before and in Disk utility - it is definitely Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in both the disk and the partition. The Partition Map Scheme is "Apple Partition Map" which is supposed to be alright for an intel machine (which mine is). Should I change it to GUID?
    No, that's fine for TM. Only if you want to install OSX on it do you really need GUID. It's likely not a problem here, but most drives come with various software from the makers, often backup and/or management apps. On occasion, some will be running occasionally or constantly, interfering with TM or other things. That's why we usually recommend that a new drive be erased and reformatted.
    I did format the first drive myself before I used it. My memory of how I set it up is a little fuzzy but it worked for a long time. After the Time Machine failure, the Disk Utilities showed different format for the drive and the partition - which bothered me a little and was one of the reasons I bought a new drive. I was thinking about reformatting the drive but now I won't until I know what has gone wrong.
    That could have been part of the problem with the first one, but it's doubtful.
    So what do we do now?
    I don't recall hearing that DU wouldn't even offer +*Repair Disk+* on a drive it could recognize. But if DU won't repair the file system, and you don't have +Disk Warrior+ or other such apps, your only choice is to erase it and let TM start over. In this case, it's probably worth the time to see if DU can write to the entire disk.
    Select the top line of the drive, then click the Erase tab. Then click +Security Options+ at the bottom, then +Zero Out Disk+ and OK on the next screen, then confirm.
    That will, of course, take quite a while. If it fails, the disk is toast. But it should be covered by warranty, at least.
    If the zero-out succeeds, it doesn't necessarily mean the disk is good, but since it's new, it probably is. TM will, of course, do a new, full backup, which will also take a while.
    What sort of disk is this? LaCie had a run of bad power supplies lately (your symptoms don't seem to be the same, though), and WD has some firmware updates. You might want to check with the maker for driver and/or firmware updates.

  • Using External HD connected to Airport to use for Time Machine - Problems

    Hello,
    I have an Airport Extreme (1 USB port on back) and want to use an external HD as the Time Machine. Originally I had the HD connected to the Airport and just using as storage. We have 2 Macbook Pros and both could see this HD when used this way.
    I have since decided to use the HD as a dedicated Time Machine storage device (my MacBook crashed). I was instructed to reformat HD (which I did) and plug into each laptop to initialize the Time Machine (which I did). Both laptops saw the HD and did a backup.
    Unfortunately when I went and plugged the HD back into the Airport it was not reconized by either laptop and I could not initialize Time Machine (TM did not "see" the HD as the storage device.
    I can still plug the HD into each laptop and it will do a backup but would like to get this conected so it is automatic.
    Both laptops have Snow Leopard installed
    Any thoughts or suggestions?
    Thx
    Jim

    Sorry, the older "round" (looks like a flying saucer) AirPort Extreme cannot support a hard drive. It will only support a compatible printer at the USB port.
    You need the "square" AirPort Extreme to be able to connect a hard drive at the USB port. It looks like this AirPort Extreme. Or, do you mean to say that you have this model?
    Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

  • Why does Time Machine folder sizes exceed physical capacity?

    I have a MAC G3 Server Serving multiple MACs as a Storage, Media Server, and Time Machine storage. These other external MACs are all running Version 10.8.3. Only the Storage server is running 10.5.8.
    All of the extenal Macs use Time Machine to backup to the served Storage media volume called "Time Machine".
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    Yet when I am on the G3 Server, and perform a "Get Info" on the "Time Machine" volume, and also the folder that contains the Server's backups, the stored capacities exceed the physical capacity of the drive to which the volume resides.
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    Size: 3,456,930,478,415 bytes (3.46 TB on disk) for 122,254 items
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    Kind: Volume
    Capacity: 2.0 TB
    Available: 169.92 GB
    Used: 3,456,930,478,415 bytes (3.46 TB on disk) for 122,254 items
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    My guess is that there is some sort of deduplication involved.
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    Also, is the deduplication inhererant on the volume (File System) level, or only specifically for Time Machine, via symbolic links?
    Thank you in advance.
    Jeff Cameron

    This is due to the way Time Machine stores files. While there is only one copy of each version of each file stored, there are multple links to that file, and each link is reported in Get Info at its restored size.
    How Time Machine Works its Magic

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