Trouble backing up external drive with time machine

I have a small USB stick that I use to store important documents but documents that I don't access very often.  I have an additional 500 GB hard drive that I use for backing up with Time Machine.  I want Time Machine to backup both my internal hard drive (Macbook Air 2011 Lion) as well as the small USB stick. I've searched the forum and discovered that I needed to reformat the USB stick, which I did (it is now Mac OS Extended).  The USB now appears in the list of excluded drives in Time Machine preferences, which I removed.  Thinking that Time Machine would be backing up my USB stick now, I backed up and then turned the computer off.  The next day, I looked at the external drive, and it didn't seem to have a backup of the USB.  I entered Time Machine and the USB is "greyed out" which means it wasn't backed up. I've retried backing up several times by including the USB in Time Machien preferences, but it seems that when I click "save" it doesn't actually save because when I open Preferences up again, the USB stick is in the list of excluded items again.  Have I done something wrong?  Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

I don't use Time Machine but my view is that it is too dangerous for sticks which may be removed - I understand that it may delete previous backups if it discovers that the stick no longer exists.
You could:
manually copy the stick to your main drive from time to time
use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup the stick
use a utility to mirror the stick to your main drive

Similar Messages

  • Had to wipe my drive so I could do a clean install of snow leopard Now I look every where on how to move bookmarks, address book and I cal settings.  I have them back up on a external drive with Time machine but can not move, copy or restore my old sett d

    Had to wipe my drive so I could do a clean install of snow leopard.   Now I have look every where on how to move bookmarks, address book and I cal settings.  I have them back up on a external drive with Time machine but can not move, copy or restore my old settings.  The instructions I have found or no help or needs more clarafication on what to do.

    Use migration assistant to move your files.  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

  • 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.

  • Using the same external drive with Time Machine on new mac?

    I recently got a new mac because my old one broke. Thankfully, I had a fresh backup on Time Machine ready to restore onto my new computer. But when I try to use Time Machine with my new computer, it keeps wanting to do a whole new backup. It won't recognize the latest backup to only add new or changed files.
    Here's a breakdown of my events:
    new computer
    restore Time Machine on new computer at install
    want to continue using the external drive with Time Machine from where I left off (only adding new files since the last backup) on my new computer
    Time Machine wants to do a whole new backup
    Question: How can I continue to use my existing external hard drive with Time Machine on my new computer, picking up where I left off (not a new, complete backup)?
    My old computer was Snow Lepoard, my new one is Lion.

    Bergers wrote:
    new computer
    restore Time Machine on new computer at install
    That should have left a "trail" in your SystemMigration log, so Time Machine can figure out what happened and automatically "inherit" the old backups.  But sometimes, obviously, that doesn't work.
    Since it didn't, there's a chance you can do it manually.  See #B6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • External Drive with Time Machine, booting from external drive with utilitie

    I'm using Time Machine now with
    a LaCie 1TB external hard drive.
    Everything works fine.
    But, I've been wondering:
    Can I place a program like TechTool
    on the external drive (that Time Machine uses)
    and boot from that external drive.
    I would like to be able to do that,
    because diagnostics and repair programs
    only works properly and fully when they run from
    external drives. Anything on the internal drive can be repaired
    and examine. Impossible to do if Techtool is on the same
    drive that's been examined.
    Any thoughts as to what I should do?
    Thanks
    iMac, Leopard, Time Machine, Lacie Quadra 1TB drive.
    P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
    (from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
    Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?

    pitou wrote:
    P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
    (from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
    Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?
    As V.K. says, you can't boot from TM backups.
    But you can restore your entire system from any one of them, per the procedure in #14 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
    You can also selectively restore from them, while running normally. See #15 in the FAQ Tip.
    You might want to review these:
    Time Machine Tutorial
    Time Machine 101
    How to back up and restore your files
    Time Machine Features
    Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
    and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip.

  • HT201250 Backup using lacie external drive with time machine

    Hi, I recently backed up my macbook with a lacie external hard drive using time machine.  However, when i try to open my photos, which says there is 11.67GB there, nothing happens.  It only opens an empty file.  After my backup i deleted the photos from my laptop, after all i was trying to clear disc space on my macbook.  Can i resolve this or can i open the file in a different way?  Help

    One should always confirm copied stuff is where they think it is before deleting the original stuff. See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

  • Retrieve iPhoto files from external drive with Time Machine

    I can retrieve all other files with Time Machine (including photos in Pictures) but not my iPhoto pics. Have read a few suggestions but having trouble following.
    Thanks in anticipation, Ernest.

    If you are trying to restore individual photos saved in iPhoto, you cannot do that. Instead, you need to restore the whole iPhoto library.
    To prevent the lose of the most recent photos, go to the folder where you have got your iPhoto library (by default, Pictures) and copy it to another folder. Then, in that folder, open the Time Machine app (in /Applications/Utilities), navigate through your backups and restore the iPhoto library you need

  • Backing up client to server external drive with Time Machine - problems...

    Hi,
    I'm running 10.5.2 server on a MacMini (G4 1.25GHz/1GB) which has an external firewire drive that has been set as a sharepoint for Time Machine backups. The problem is that from the client MacBook (10.5.2 - connected on a wireless g network) I can select the drive in the Time Machine preferences but when I accept the changes it resets to the 'off' position.
    Hmmm? Any ideas?

    The server wasn't set up in Advanced. I'm not trying to back up the server itself but the client.
    Can anyone offer any ideas!?

  • External Drive with Time Machine Disappears

    I use time machine to backup my hard drive to a Book Studio External Hard Drive.  But after a day or two, the icon for the backup will disappear off the desktop and the system stops doing the automatic backcups.
    It is relatively easily bring it back online but within a day or 2 the icon will disapper and the backups stop again. 
    Thanks for any help
    All my best and Thank you

    You are using Lion.. it is a statement almost.. but it seems lion has 10x the issues with forgetting its own name as well as every other network device.. but you can say I am in error.
    There is probably no fix until apple decides it really should do something about it.. in the meantime the windows solution is the only useful one.. turn it off and on again.. !!
    There was one suggestion.. which I find hard to believe.. that if you prevent the disks spinning down in the computer then it will stop the issue.. how that relates to anything I don't know but it gives you something to try.

  • Can't use two external drives with time machine

    I have 2 external drives.  I tell time machine that I have 2 and it asks if I want to use both.  I say yes and it says it will alternate between them.  However, after backing up to both, it then will invariably say that one doesn't have enough room for backup...as if it is trying a new backup......  rather than just adding changed files.  Why is it doing this and how do I remedy?

    It then will invariably say that one doesn't have enough room for backup
    Unfortunately, these kinds of things are common with Mavericks. All that you can do is erase the drive and start over again with a new backup. Or, if you do not want to erase the drive, set it aside in a safe place and add a new drive....and Mavericks will make a full backup to that one to start things off.

  • Backing up external drive to time machine on Lion

    Is there a way to include by 1 T external drive files on my time machine backup that is housed on another 2T external drive?  If it matters at all, I have these drives plugged into my Airport Extreme.  There's gotta be a way, but Apple says they don't support it.  Blahblahblah!

    Interesting. I'm looking for a related answer. I just hooked up a 2TB USB drive to my APX and it works fine (tho SLOW) but in looking for something else I found this. You might want to check it out:
    http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
    The whole site is valuable, btw.
    It's true, Apple doesn't support this setup. But beyond that, it sounds like a less-than-optimal way to do backing up. What I'm trying to find out if this is true with ANY router/external combo or just APX?
    alan b

  • Backing up External drives to Time Machine - what happens if the drives are not connected at the same time?

    I have 2 x 1 TB drive that I use interchangeably. 1 holds Video and the other Photos. I only have 1 connected when I'm working (using Premiere or Lightroom). I have a 2 TB NAS for making redundant copy of the other 2 drives.So far I've been doing the copying manually.
    I'm considering of using Time Machine to make proper backup sets (though I'm always only interested in the latest set). I know that I can set Time Machine to backup to Nas over the network and include any external drives connected to the mac at the time.
    The questions now are:
    Will Time Machine fails if it can't find any of the external drives?
    Does Time Machine handle backing up the external drives one at a time - only when it's connected - without thinking the files on the "missing" (or disconnected) volume had been deleted?
    Thanks

    Hi Ronald,
    I can't answer the TM question, but Tri-Backup handles those situations perfectly...
    http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html

  • External Drive with Time Machine

    We have an iMac and use an external 500 Gb drive connected by firewire to use as the Time Machine Backup. It works just fine but when we shut down the iMac the drive LED remains on and you can feel the drive turning. If the iMac is powered down how can this happen?

    Colin Cadle wrote:
    when we shut down the iMac the drive LED remains on and you can feel the drive turning. If the iMac is powered down how can this happen?
    I believe that some of the ports of an iMac remain powered when the iMac is off. If you unplug the iMac I'd expect that drive to lose power.
    By the way, you posted your question in a discussion section for Apple's Time Capsule Wi-Fi router. Your question might have been more appropriate for one of the iMac sections: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=132

  • Backing Up Shared Drive with Time Machine

    I have an Airport Extreme with a shared hard drive connected to its USB port. I have TM running on an iBook connected wirelessly and would like to include the shared drive in the TM backup of the iBook. The shared drive is mounted on the iBook when I start TM so everything appears ok. I use a Firewire hard drive connected directly to the iBook as the TM backup drive.
    However, as a test of the backup , when I start the TM application on the iBook and try to access the network drive in the Finder window, the Airport Extreme appears under Shared devices but it not clickable. I therefore assume the shared drive is not being backed up.
    What's up here?

    Barney-15E wrote:
    I'm pretty sure TM only backs up direct connected drives.
    That is correct.

  • Backing up complete drive with time machine now that I'm on Snow Leopard?

    Just upgraded to snow leaopard and now I'm doing a backup. Usually takes 5 minutes or less. No TM is telling me I don't have enough space on my drive because it needs to do an entire backup of my HD. What gives? So now i need to keep two complete backups and buy a new external HD or is there some way to continue incrementals from Leopard to Snow Leopard?

    this may help:
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/C4.html
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/D3.html.
    JGG
    edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Maybe you are looking for

  • If I forget the password to my iPod 5, how can I be able to unlock it?

    I don't know how to unlock my iPod because I forgot the password to it...

  • How can add or open  a document like word,excel  from forms ?

    Hello, I want to open a excel file from my forms from a specific location , i have to write the code in when-button-pressed button i.e when i will click on add button it will open a dialog box there i need to browse the excel file then it will add th

  • Photoshop working extremely slow

    I just downloaded creative cloud yesterday. Now my photoshop cs6 and photoshop cc are both working extremely slow, and sometimes will just stop working. I have an iMac desktop. HELP!!!

  • Fade scrolling text in and out at the bottom and the top

    Hello, I'm new to Final Cut Pro X previously I have used Final Cut Express. Making the scrolling text fade out at the top of the page as it scrolls is easy in Final Cut Express. I've spent over 1 hr & cannot find how to make the scrolling text fade o

  • Oracle VM and Citrix

    Hello is there somewhere an official position from Oracle regarding the fact that Xen is nos a Citrix product. That was not tha case at Oracle VM realease time, I guess it sould change some things in the future. On should really be worried, taking in