Time Machine with Multiple Disk

I wanted to know if it is possible to have multiple time machine disk. I was thinking about have one disk at home, and taking another disk offsite. I was thinking about switching these disc out like once a month or something like that so I always have a copy of my Itunes Library and other important files off site, and also so that I have another backup incase both my Imac hard drive, and my backup drive both stop working at the same time.

Can you "fool" Time Machine into backing up to two separate volumes by giving them the same name?
You wouldn't connect them at the same time... you'd connect one at work during the day and the other at home at night time.
That way one backup (the one at work, say) stores all your changes during the course of the day and then the other one (say at home) backs up all your changes made at night.
They would each, of course, back up all changes made since last connected (for example, as soon as you connect your "home" drive it will automatically back up all the changes you made during the day in one fell swoop, then make incremental backups during the rest of the evening).
PS: I am using SuperDuper right now to clone a TM backup to another drive but I want to be able to use both drives in turn to make incremental backups (once I've completed the clone).

Similar Messages

Time Machine with multiple users on single computer

Hi All,
I have an iMac at home with multiple user log ons. I'm about to get the Time Capsule and start using Time Machine (currently I use backup).
When I switch on Time Machine, does it switch on for all users, or will each user need to turn on Time Machine?
If I have to switch on Time Machine for each user, will each user's time machine back up the entire computer (so I'll have two complete copies on my computer on the external drive)?
If this does occur, can I control what Time Machine backs up so TM only backs up user specific information?
Thanks in advance,
Chris

When you first backup it will backup your whole system (user directories, system directories, applications, etc) unless you specify folders to exclude. When a user account is added to the computer, their home folder will be added to the backup in a similar way to if you added a new application. It will back up the directory structure exactly as it is on your main hard drive. The backup will essentially keep a copy of the whole hard drive on the backup drive.
The Time Machine will either be on for the whole system, or off for the whole system. It is not on or off for a specific user account. Users (depending on if they've got admin privileges) may have control over turning time machine on or off, but this does not change who can access the backups. All users will be able to invoke Time Machine to get to their backed up files.
Time Machine does not make separate backups for individual users. Instead, it preserves the permissions for backed up files, so while every user can access the backups, they cant just browse other users' files on the backup. The same restrictions on the main drive are carried over to the backup. Still, a standard user who's lost a file will be able to go into Time Machine, access a backed up version of the file, and restore it. Unlike standard users who are restricted from seeing other users' files in the backups, Admins are also restricted but they can be authenticated to view other users' files if they want to.

Time Machine placing multiple disk images on Desktop

Hi,
I have recently set-up a 2TB Time Capsule for one of my clients.
Each time Time Machine does an hourly backup - it places a Disk Image icon on the desktop called e.g.'Backup of Anya' - which is basically the sparse disk image mounting from the Time Capsule on the Desktop temporarily whilst TM backs up to it - the problem however is the disk image does not auto-unmount when completed ...
An hour later it will mount another Disk Image backup on the desktop - and so on and so on and so on ...
by the end of the day there are close to 10 unmounted Time Machine backup disks on the desktop - and subsequently in each machines 'Devices' panel in the Finder - all across the network ...
Does anyone know why or how this is happening?
It's my understanding the the image should automatically unmount when TM has completed its hourly backup.
I'm stumped ...
See sample screenshot from my client ... https://idisk.mac.com/macfinger/Public//image002.jpg
MACFINGER

Start with Pondini's Tips and FAQs at the top of this forum.

Time Machine with multiple HDs

Hi,
tried searching but couldn't find an answer so here goes:
Can you use multiple HDs with Time Machine? As in: I have 3 external 500gb HDs. Can I get three more to back up each one?

TM will only back up to one drive at a time. Other applications, such as SuperDuper, will back up to multiple drives. You could use Backup in Applications to back up selective files to another drive.
Joe

Time machine with 2 disks

Hi, we recently bought a new iMac with Mavericks and a Lacie 5big thunderbolt series disk. At the Lacie disk we configured as they were 2 hard dsik of 4 Tb each one and added to time machine. Today the user called saying that time machine only made 2 copies one general at 4pm and the other one at the second disk at 7pm and no more copies until 10pm.
I know that time machine makes copies every hour, every day , every month, etc; so we were thinking why it only made 3 copies in that mount of time and why it took the second disk. In the old iMac with Lion this never happened.
Any idea about this?.
PERCY

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes.) You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard."
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamp of the last "Starting" message that corresponds to the beginning of an an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Time Machine with multiple hard drives

I use a very large external hard drive for time machine. I back up to this time machine, the two hard drivs that are inside my macbook pro, 512GB ssd, and 250GB SSD that is in the optical drive. I then backup a 1TB portable hard drive which holds all my movies and then I backup another 1Tb portable hard drive which holds all my "reserve" files, which means they are files that are no longer important to be on my computer. Old pictures, music, etc.
Now, I can't plug all of these drive's in at once. So, let's say I have to do a backup and I have nothing plugged in but the time machine external hard drive. Will it only backup the two hard drives that are in my computer and then later somehow let me go and restore the other drives? Or will it attempt to restore all 4 drives at one time? Because if the one in my computer mess's up, the other's may not be messed up and I do not want it to restore those.
I have used Time Machine before to restore my system. But never since I have started adding extra drives for Time Machine to backup.
I am also planning on adding, yet another drive for it to backup which is a 1TB portable hard drive that I keep raw files on for photography. I'm just curious how this works when and if the time comes.

well superduper is FREE, CCC isnt.........CCC can do the daily updates etc,. Superduper DOES NOT. the CCC and Superduper CLONES are bootable.......so, if your HD crashes, you can throw in the CLONE, and youre back and running in mins, rather than hours etc .
You should NEVER consider a backup a "backup", ........2 copies is 1, and 1 is none.....always have 2 copies of important files / pics etc etc,......... DECADES of work have been lost by people who thought their stuff was safe because they had a (meaning 1) backup.
Simplicity? Yes, Simplicity is my religion. CLONE your HD with programs and settings, ......and use a 2nd HD updated daily / weekly etc (preferable 2 such 'seecond' harddrives, copies of each other) with all personal stuff / work / pics / vids/ documents.....
superficially time machine is simpler, "smack a button and everything backs up".......in REALITY however when it "all goes up in flames"................the pro method (and my method) is QUICKER and more reliable by far to get down and running.
Ive restored other peoples from total crash and burns via Time machine.......and "my" way............my way always ends up faster by a mile. Also personal / work etc files are kept autonomous to the system data / programs OS,.....as it logically should be.
Time machine is the fastest incremental backup........but its as slow as paint peeling if you need it in case of a TOTAL CRASH.......wherein a bootable clone can be thrown in , in less than 20 mins.

Problem Time Machine with Hard Disk iOmega 750 GB USB Desktop

When time machine try to format the HD on Mac Os Plus format: fail. Time Machine can't format he HD and it disappears. I try to format in disk utilities and only can in MS DOS FAT mode, in Mac Os Plus: fail. Please help me. Thanks.

Just found the solution in a post from Christopher Wolf. (Thanks again, Christopher!)
"If you attach a drive which is greater than 512GB in size and comes pre-formatted using the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme then you will need to re-partition the drive using either the Apple Partition Map or GUID Partition Table partition scheme before it will be usable by Time Machine.
To re-partition the drive, open Disk Utility, select the entire drive, select the Partition tab, select "1 partition", select the "Options" button, and then select either "Apple Partition Map" or "GUID Partition Table", click OK to dismiss the sheet, click "Apply" to repartition the drive. All existing data on the drive will be erased! "

Verifying Time Machine with Disk Utility

Is it normal for it to take a while (13 minutes) to verify a Time Machine drive using disk utility? My computer specs are listed below fyi.

It depends on how much data (more how many files that total size) is on the disk.
It will also vary depending on whether it's a USB, FireWire 400, or FireWire 800 connection.
In general, 13 minutes isn't terribly long -- TM backups have a rather unusual and complex structure, involving "hard links" at both the file and directory (folder) level, so there's a lot to do.
And don't bother running +*Verify Disk.+* Just run +*Repair Disk.+* The amount of time required is the same.
+*Verify Disk+* is really only useful to check your internal HD while you're running from it, since you can't repair the disk you're running from.

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk). Can I do this?

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk) for a few weeks. This same disk was used to back-up the Pro earlier, and to migrate from the Pro to the Air. Can I do this "back-migration" from the Air to the Pro? Is it maybe better just to migrate the specific folders (Outlook email, Office docs) I am sure I need?

Do not attempt to copy files/folders from a Time Machine backup. Only use the Time Machine application to restore from the backup.
Click on a Finder window and select Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "restore" and select "restore items backed up with time machine" from the hints list. You will find these two articles:
Recover items using Time Machine and Spotlight
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can use Time Machine with Spotlight to recover lost or deleted items.
Note: You can retrieve earlier versions of TextEdit documents from within TextEdit. For more information, see:
View and restore past versions of documents
Open a Finder window and type a search word or phrase in the search field in the upper-right corner.
Select a location to search in the location bar.
Refine the results by specifying search criteria. Narrow down Spotlight search results
Open the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, then choose Enter Time Machine.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the Time Machine backups. Your search is performed in every window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore.
The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.
Restore items backed up with Time Machine
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can easily bring back lost items or recover older versions of files.
You can use Time Machine within many apps. If the iCloud Documents & Data feature is turned on, you can recover older versions of iCloud documents as well as regular documents.
Open a window for the item you want to restore.For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder. To recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail. To recover an iCloud document, open the document’s app, choose File > Open, then click iCloud to view the iCloud documents for that app.If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
From the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, choose Enter Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the snapshots and backups.White tick marks represent snapshots stored on your internal drive (portable computers only). Pink tick marks represent backups stored on your backup disk. If a tick mark appears dimmed or grayed, there’s no backup available or the backup disk is not connected.
For more information about an item, double-click it.The windows in Time Machine behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar, and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore. You can restore individual items, multiple items, folders, or your entire hard disk.The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it is returned to the Documents folder.

Using Time Machine on multiple devices w/ Time Capsule on an exisitng Airpo

I recently moved home and my house already has an Airport Extreme network. When living alone, I used my TimeCapsule.
I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro that I had setup on Time Machine to back up wirelessly to Time Capsule.
How can I do this with the already existing Airport Network? Because I can't connect the Time Capsule to the actual modem from the cable company. I don't want to pay to get a second modem and I don't want a second network in my house.
*I just want the Time Capsule setup to wirelessly use Time Machine for both of my devices.*
Is this possible?
I looked in all the forum pages and could not find an answer.
Thank you,
Naitasia

I assume that you can "see" your Time Capsule if you open AirPort Utility and click Manual Setup, correct?
All you need to do is:
Connect an ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the AirPort Extreme to the WAN (circle of dots) icon on the Time Capsule
Open AirPort Utility - click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons
Wireless Mode = None
Click the Internet icon
Connect Using = Ethernet
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Update and the TC will restart in about 30 seconds and you have a green light.
On each of your Macs:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Select Disk
Click your TC to highlight it
Click Use for Backups
That will get backups going again. Post if you have any questions.

Using Time MACHINE with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Please click here:
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Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme AirDisk
|
Note: If you got here by clicking a link that looks like this:
_. . . discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2299608#Q1_
Note the number at the end, after the +*pound sign,+* (#) and click the corresponding item below:
Please pardon the inconvenience.
|
QUESTIONS
*Q1. Can I use the USB drive(s) for Time Machine backups AND other data?*
*Q2. How do I set up Time Machine to back up to a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme?*
*Q3. How do I delete backups?*
*Q4. How do I back-up my backups?*
If you don't see your question here, try Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
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PROBLEMS
*P1. The Backup disk image could not be created.*
*P2. Time Machine could not complete the backup . . sparsebundle could not be accessed. (Error 109).*
If you don't see your problem here, try Time Machine - Troubleshooting
This is the 3rd version of this tip. It was submitted on May 16, 2010 by Pondini.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

Hi, Nubz!
Yes, I just saw that, and am still chuckling.
Maybe that will mollify the Jive gods?
Thanks again,
Jim

Using Time Machine with a network Drive

I recently bought a WD My Book Live network drive to use as my Time Machine backup. I was previously using a USB external HD for Time Machine with no problems. I have set up the new network drive but when I go in to Time Machine to select it as the drive to back up to, it is not showing up. The only drive I see is my old USB external HD. I have the latest firmware for the network drive and I am running Mac OSX10.5.8. Any suggestions?

If you bought the WD in a USB enclosure it probably came formatted with NTFS (Windows). Time Machine can't use NTFS drives or SMB (Windows) network shares as a backup destination because that format does not allow the proper permissions to be set. If this is the case with your drive, open Disk Utility and reformat your new drive (NOT you system drive!!) with HFS+ aka 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' and then the drive should show up as a target selection in Time Machine.

How to use Time Machine with an external drive?

Hi…I’m new to this, I hope someone can help me=)
I’m trying to back up my Macbook Pro 10.6.8 using Time Machine with an external drive Seagate Backplus Slim. I’ve tried several solutions that I’ve found through different forums but still wouldn’t work.
Every time I opened Time Machine, it has this appearance:
Then when I click “Select backup Disk”, it goes on like this:
And after I click “Set Up Time Capsule”, it has this:
It keeps saying that it couldn’t find AirPort wireless, even though I have good WIFI connection.
Anyone know what I should do? Please help….Thanks everyone

Ayuphie ~ In your Time Machine Preferences panel, slide the OFF-ON switch to the ON position:

Does Time Machine back up disk information in addition to all files?

Hi
I want to know if Time Machine back up disk information of my current Apple computer.
These information may include GUID/Apple Partition Map (such as partition names and layout). I check my backups in the Time Capsule, and it seems that only files in the hard drive have been backed up. I kind of know Partition Map doesn't reside in files, but hidden in the hard drive, so I wander if Time Machine does back up them? If so, where are they?
Thank you in advance!

DavidCQ wrote:
Thank you for your information! It seems that Time Machine can only do with Apple OS, and for other OS such as Windows , we need use other tools.
If it's Windows as a guest in a virtual machine, the backing file will get archived. That's certainly a backup, but a woefully inefficient one as it'll drag the whole backing file out each time. Most folks will thus disable that file in Time Machine.
If it's Windows via Boot Camp or Linux in a GPT partition, that'll require using Windows- or Linux-focused tools.
One of the few available OS-agnostic approaches for backing up data is a disk image. Time Machine is not an OS-agnostic backup tool.
As for Windows or Linux or OS X or most any other operating system, each has its own tools and requirements for performing an operating system backup and for recovering and restoring, and it's very rare for any other operating system around really has any clue what those requirements are for a given OS.

Using external NAS drive for Time Machine and multiple Macs

I just installed an external NAS drive from OWC's sister company Newer Tech. It is 500g with ethernet and usb2.0 connections. It works very well with easy setup with Time Machine with no hassle.
However, in very fine print that I missed in the ad, it supports 20 computers but not for Mac only for PC. OWC customer service said I could return it but I'll keep it anyway since it works well but only for one computer at a time in read/write mode.
Anyone know of a way around this? Are there any drivers from other vendors that would allow this to be used with the multiple Macs on my home network?

Very doubtful, but even if there is a workaround, you do not want to take that kind of risk with your backups.
See the pink and yellow boxes in #2 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine with Multiple Disk

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