Two Usages for External Backup Drive?

Hello, I am Steven and new to Time Machine
I have purchased a 320 GB Maxtor external hard drive as my backup disk
But I also want to use that external drive to store movies and music from my other computer (PC desktop); just wondering if that's feasible, to have dual usages at the same time. Thanks

Hi Steven
Welcome to the discussions!
Yes, you can do what you're describing. Here's how I'd recommend it. If you haven't stored anything on the drive yet (or, if you've only done one backup and don't mind starting from scratch), repartition the drive using Disk Utility. You can find this in your Utilities folder.
Once the utility is open, click on the external drive in the left-hand panel, and go to the Partitions tab. Set up two partitions, and make the second (storage) partition large enough to store your other files.
Format the first (backup) partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you want to be able to use the second partition with a PC, format it as "MS DOS (FAT32)", otherwise stick to the Mac Extended as before. Name the partitions something sensible. Once that's done, Time Machine will automatically kick in and ask if you want to use either partition as backup - say Yes to the backup section and No to the storage section. And that's it!
Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Clifton

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Since installing Mavericks on my iMac (was running Snow Leopard) I can only see partial information from my WD My Book Live external backup drive. Finder lets me see the two partitions but only some of the files on that drive. However, the Disk Utility does not see the external drive at all. This is mostly impacting Time Machine which also does not seem to recognize the external drive at all. I cannot enter Time Machine to access my old backups and cannot create new ones.
I would prefer not to re-format the external drive since it has other files on it that I don't want to lose.
All helpful suggestions appreciated!

lettertosteve
PROBLEM SOLVED! It was as simple as going to the WD (Western Digital) site and downloading a few updates for the My Book Live.
You need to NOT connect any WD MyBook right now under Mavericks, you have a high likelihood of severe data corruption
WD is telling its customers to REMOVE WD SOFTWARE especially on WD MyBook
keep your WD MY BOOK unconnected right now until a resolution unless you have a backup of ALL DATA on your MyBook stored elsewhere
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
Bill_S
Community Manager
External Drives for Mac Experiencing Data Loss with Maverick OS (10/30/13)
There are reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9). Western Digital is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications.
Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications on their systems before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading. If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer. WD has removed these software applications from our web site solely as a precaution as we investigate this issue.

How do I delete a folder that I moved to Trash from my external backup drive when a virus was detected? Trash will not delete the folder.

I have tried unsuccessfully to remove a folder from Trash. My anti-virus program (Sophos) detected a virus which had to be manually removed. I tried (unsuccessfully) to find and remove the infected file. I moved the Folder from my external backup drive and placed it in Trash. Now I cannot get Trash to delete the folder. It asks me if I wish to delete "unlocked" or "all" items. Either selection does not delete the folder. I went to change the permissions to "read & write" and unlocked the folder, but it is still there. I tried to "move" the folder from Trash back to the external harddrive but it seems I can only "copy" it and not "move" it. I am afraid that by copying it, I will not have the folder in two locations (Trash & External HD).
Would appreciate any suggestions and guidance on this. I hope that I have explained the problem clearly!
Thank you!

Before deleting it we should know more about this folder and its contents.
If it is invected and is using other apps, or other apps are still using it, then it cannot be deleted in the normal manner.
You might contact Sophos and ask them about it.
If you are using TM or have a backup of your system before the infection occurred, then you can delete the item(s) in Trash, but there is the possiblity of system corruption and the need for a reinstall, if any of these files are necessary for the OS to work properly, even though they are infected.
Sophos may not have been able to remove the infection from inside a file which is why they suggested manual removal.
You might consider downloading and running ClamXav first and see if it can't do better than Sophos.
All that being said, you can always remove the contents of the Trash using the terminal. Usually as administrator, or in some cases as root (su). Unless you are very familiar with the terminal I do not suggest doing this without some study.

Discussion: What file system do you use for external backups and why?

I just got a brand new seagate 2TB hdd to act as an external backup.
I use ext2 with it, because it's USB (sata->usb enclosure), and I'm not likely to connect it direct to a PC anytime soon (also my computer is old and I liek to keep ram usage down as much as possible)...
What filesystems do you use\prefer for external backups.. and why?
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I used to use ext4 on a 1.5TB HD, but recently switched back to ext3—and a tiny NTFS partition for the ext2fsd install file. I realized I use this drive a lot more outside of my Linux environment than I thought, and it was a hassle (and also unsafe) to disable driver signatures at Windows boot just to get a dev version of ext2fsd to work.
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While helping a friend with her external hard drive, I noticed another limitation of fat32: only 65535 file descriptors per directory. She tried to backup her entire NTFS Windows C: drive to a fat32 one. Took us a good while until we figured that out, and I couldn't find much about it on the net.

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Hi Barry,
Many thanks for that but I actually found a way of doing it! Going into Applications/Utilities/Disk Utilities didn't bring up the info I needed but I started playing around and found that the way to do it was to hit CMD and the Spacebar which opened Spotlight and then type in: Disk Utility. This took me to a screen that DID contain the info I needed and it was then very simple to erase everything that was on the backup drive!!
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I have a Western Digital My Book that is attached to my router. It regularly backs up items from my older Mac.
I want to do the same for my new MacBook Pro but don't know where to begin,
Do I use Bonjour to find my external backup drive?
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Hey MMilesGray13
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities. The external hard drive is it part of a networked attached storage; it would just show up on the side bar of Finder.
Mac Basics: The Finder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2470
It would show up in spot number 8
Regards,
-Norm G.

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I just added an external backup drive to my airport router for my desktop and my laptop to use. Initial backups worked, but now I'm getting "... backup disk image ... /.../...MacBook Pro.sparcsbundle is already in use." This message is on laptop even after stopping timemachine on the desktop. The initial backup worked for both machines. Is this a timing problem? It shows the last backup happened earlier this evening, but I'm concerned about the major amount of work I did after that time.
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You can't use that configuration for Time Machine backups, if that's what you're doing.
Mac 101: Time Machine

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I have a MacBook Pro and it cannot locate my Western Digital External Backup Drive. It used to work prior to Maverick but now it doesnt. Do I need a different cord or what can I do so I can use Time Machine with this drive?

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How do I prevent OS X from opening apps on external backup drive?

I have an external backup drive connected to my iMac and powered on 24/7. I do a nightly clone of my boot drive to this backup. I've been having a problem lately where OS X will open an application that is on the external clone of my boot drive instead of the internal boot drive itself. One example of this is when I use Lightroom and choose "Edit in Photoshop", instead of opening Photoshop on my iMac boot drive it opens it on the external clone of the boot drive.
Is there some way I can prevent OS X from "seeing" the applications on the clone, and opening them? Thanks.

Hi,
In System Preferences > Start Up Disk is one device set as the Start Up Disk ?
It may not be clear just looking at the left to right scroll area (depending how many drives and Partitions) but selecting one can often help.
At Start Up the computer looks for a valid Boot Disk.
If it does not seem to be set it is supposed to go through some checks to find out which one to Boot from. Most occasions it will pick the last Drive/partition that it was Booted from. However the order in which the Internal Drives are connected to the system may also pay a part, particularly of the Current required Boot drive is not the original hard drive (Or at least in it's physical place, cable connection-wise).
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11:30 AM Thursday; August 26, 2010
Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)

AC cords for external hard drives?

okay! everyone uses external hard drives, yes?
It's great that they connect to computers via standardized ports & cables: USB, firewire, eSATA.
but why is it that the power cords for external hard drives are completely unstandardized?
I have an external USB enclosure that I can't use because I misplaced the AC cord (my bad!)
my question: is there a chart somewhere that shows the different types of power cords for hard drive enclosures (they're the same batch of options for monitors, external CDR burners etc, optical drives etc.)
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• A little humor to lighten this up a bit: Did you know that all electronics devices are really smoke-powered? It's true! This explains why, if you let the smoke out, they quit working!

Reinstall All Aps from external backup drive

Hello all,
I tried to install Leopard on my G5 and came across an Error that did not let the installation finish. My issue is that all of my Applications and updates were moved to my backup disk. My external backup drive is bootable and does have all of my Applications and Documents. I would like to totally erase the original internal HD and then reinstall the Apps from the external backup drive. Can this be done?
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How can I just get back all of my Applications from the backup disk.
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DickB

Dick Barrett 2 wrote:
Hello all,
I tried to install Leopard on my G5 and came across an Error that did not let the installation finish. My issue is that all of my Applications and updates were moved to my backup disk. My external backup drive is bootable and does have all of my Applications and Documents. I would like to totally erase the original internal HD and then reinstall the Apps from the external backup drive. Can this be done?
Now when I about to try a reinstall of Leopard I will need to bring b ack my Applications from my backup disk, I hope with out the difficult of reinstalling all of the Apps and the various updates to the install.
How can I just get back all of my Applications from the backup disk.
Thanks for you thoughts.
DickB
If you backup is bootable, then you should be able to move everything properly by using the Leopard migration assistant.
Moving an app directly may cause file/app ownership problems which can be fixed, but it is best to use the migration assistant to move as many apps etc, as possible first.

Can i use time capsule for external h drive and also for time machine?

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Hello, vascocaco.
If I understand correctly, you're wondering if you can use your Time Capsule's internal hard disk both for Time Machine backups and as an ordinary drive. Is this your question?
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Hello,
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Thanks.

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I am looking for a backup drive for my macbook pro, any suggestions?

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Two Usages for External Backup Drive?

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