Using both Time Machine and External HD

Does it make sense to use both Time Machine for internal back up AND an external hard drive to move files to free up space?

colinlaunchpod
I want to be able to back up both the iMac & the 2TB My Book to the 3TB My Book, and back up only the iMac to the Time Capsule (due to limitations of space on the Time Capsule. I can't find a way to do this.
Huge mistake, thats making a single choke point of failure, very very bad idea.
its all about redundancy, see here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection

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Partitioning an External 320gb drive for use with Time Machine and...

I want to be able to use my Western Digital 320GB external drive for use with Time Machine and to use as extra storage space on both my Mac and when I boot into Windows Vista.
Is this possible?
I was playing around in Disk Utility and would I partition the part I want to use for Time Machine with the Mac OS Journaled, and whatever I want as space for windows, use a MS - DOS format?
Has anyone done this before?
Cheers-

Unless you are using 64 bit version of MSWindows (64 bit XP/Vista), it won't be able to handle a disk with GUID partition table (GPT). Disks with Apple Partition Map (APM) or GUID partition table are the only ones that Time Machine will work with (not MBR disks). Note also that the MBR/APM/GPT are at the DISK level and not the partition level, so don't mix the format with partitioning scheme. Time Machine disks are meant to live in the Mac universe (for now, anyway) and sharing with the MSWindows 32-bit universe is not possible.
See http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=macpcdiskdd06sv8.png for some additional background.

How do i use airport as both time machine and hard drive? currently on Yosemite 10.10.1

how do i use my 3TB airport time capsule as both time machine and hard drive? currently on Yosemite 10.10.1.....Many Thanks.

Choose Computer from the Finder's Go menu and double-click it. If needed, use the Connect to Server command to log into it.
(119763)

HT3275 Why I'm losing space on my internal HD, after i started to use the Time Machine, and after deleting all my files i still dont have any space on my internal HD!

Why I'm losing space on my internal HD, after i started to use the Time Machine, and after deleting all my files i still dont have any space on my internal HD?

Why I'm losing space on my internal HD, after i started to use the Time Machine, and after deleting all my files i still dont have any space on my internal HD?

Use external drive for both Time Machine and storage for Back to My Mac

Hi all,
I have been "a Mac" now for over a year and just keep finding cool new things that make me happy I switched. The latest thing is Back to My Mac offered with my Mobile Me account. With a rather convoluted mix of PC/Mac/iOS devices to manage - best $99 I ever spent btw...
I also have a 1TB Time Capsule that I have been using with Time Machine to back up all four of my Mac computers at home. Needless to say, the 1TB is really struggling to handle the amount of data being backed up and certainly leaves no room for anything else.
What I wanted to do was to attach a larger external hard drive via a powered hub to the USB port on the Time Capsule and use it for Time Machine backups while using the internal 1TB drive with Back to My Mac so that I can have remote access to all my data from anywhere without having to leave my computer running at home all the time in order for my laptop to "see" it when I'm away. And, yes, the amount of that data far exceeds what any level of Mobile Me subscription can offer! I should also mention that the hard drive is the only USB device connected through the hub to the Time Capsule at the moment. There are no other devices that might be "getting in the way".
I'm thinking maybe all this is asking too much without the addition of a dedicated file server (Mac Mini, perhaps - not a purchase my budget wants to make).
I understand that the Time Capsule doesn't support partitions, so I bought a Western Digital 2TB Elements drive, connected it to my Macbook Pro and used Disk Utility to reformat the drive from the incompatible NTFS it shipped in to a single, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition. I then made two folders on the drive, one for Time Machine backups and one for Back to My Mac remote storage/access. Great.
However, when I connected the 2TB drive to my Time Capsule I could not see it at all. Time Capsule was reporting problems in the way of a disk error. From within my Airport Utility, I could see the trouble was the external drive. The utility suggested connecting the drive to a Mac and using it's Disk Utility to troubleshoot.
I followed through, checking the disk, etc. and ended up reformatted the drive on my Macbook Pro yet again with the same specifications as before but without the folders and reconnected it to the Time Capsule. Same deal. But now, I can't even remotely connect to the Time Capsule at all. I can see the Time Capsule in the shared area of my Macbook's Finder but can not connect. The connection tries and fails even before it gets to asking me for username and password credentials.
Long story short, first of all, I suppose I would like to know if I'm asking for the impossible?
Second, if what I want to do *is* possible, what steps do I need to take to make it so?
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions you might have.

Well, I have now reformatted/partitioned my poor WD Elements 2TB drive about a dozen times as well as restarted my 1TB Time Capsule so many times it's no wonder it's as confused as I am! <G>
Last night, at your suggestion, William, and in respect for your continued support, I tried creating two 1TB Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partitions on the WD external USB drive, both with GUID partition tables. Both volumes mounted to my laptop's desktop flawlessly and without issue.
Once the external drive was connected to the Time Capsule, however, it was a crap shoot as to whether or not the drive was recognized at all, reporting a problem with the disk, or, even at one point, mounting one of the two volumes but not both. <sigh>
I read somewhere on the Internet that you need to restart the Time Capsule for volumes on an external USB drive to be recognized.
So I tried that. I connected the freshly partitioned/formatted disk to the Time Capsule and restarted it. This succeed in removing the issue of reporting a nameless drive with a capacity of 0MB. It then reported the drive with its correct name but would not recognize whatever volumes in whatever partitions that particular crack at it contained with the exception of the once, as I mentioned above, when only one of two volumes mounted correctly and was listed with the right name and capacity on the Time Capusule's Setup's Disk tab.
At this point I have given up on my goal to use the external drive with Time Machine to back up my Macs or to hope I will ever be able to see its contents remotely via Back to My Mac. All I would like to do now is simply find a reason why I can't get it successfully connected and playing nice with my Time Capsule in the first place!
Any further suggestions or advice as to what steps I might take next would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all.

Using a single external drive for both Time Machine AND for manual backups?

I'm new to Leopard and haven't launched Time Machine yet. I would like to use a single (500 GB) external hard drive to use with Time Machine, plus I would like to use whatever portion of this external drive Time Machine isn't using to keep some other files upon it as well--things that I can drag-and-drop manually and then trash from my computer's HD (avi files, etc., so that they don't take up space on the computer). Is there anything special I need to do with the external hard drive before I let Time Machine have its way with it, so that I can also do drag-and-drop manual file backups with it?

I’m not terribly knowledgeable, but I’ll tell you what seems to be working for me.
I also have a 500GB external drive which I had planned to use for TM for my MBP. I partitioned it (using Disk Utility) into two partitions. One I created nearly the same size as my MBP drive, the other I used for TM.
I used the smaller partition for a backup using SuperDuper prior to upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. Once I tested that I was able to boot from it and that all my programs seemed to work, I upgraded to Leopard and told it to use the other partition for TM.
It then created a TM icon for the other partition and, to the machine, it looks like a separate drive. I’ve seen no performance hit at all.
Just one man’s experience, though I haven’t yet tried to retrieve anything.
Good luck.

Using Time machine and external HD at the same time

Dear All
I'm intending to buy an external HD both for the purpose as a external HD and for time machine use.
Is this possible? If so, how do I configure it?
Thanks.
Jojos

Apple Partition Map works just fine on an external HD (including booting from a clone made with SD). GUID is only required for the internal HD on Intel-based Macs. There is a lot of misinformation going around on this topic.
Is Apple spreading the misinformation Barry? This OP originally asked about Time Machine and an external drive. He later asked about bootable backups. I tried to take all that in consideration in my reply. Apple has consistently said in everything that I have read in the Knowledge Base that when using Time Machine with an Intel Mac to use the GUID partitioning scheme.
There are also recent posts around these forums, as well as around the internet, where folks have had bootable volumes that were not GUID and they encountered strange behavior on their Macs that they report was resolved by making sure that their bootable volumes on external drives were in the GUID partitioning scheme.
Dah•veed

Problems with time machine and external hard drive

Hi all
In 2009 with my imac I bought a WD external hard drive which the computer says is 148GB formatted. I recall that the hard drive contained folders with files for the running of the hard drive when I bought it - and after it had been plugged in to a mac and used as a time machine, it no longer worked on windows computers.
Now I have used 195 GB on my computer's internal hard drive and wish to stop using the external hard drive as a time machine and instead use it for swapping files between computers and the like.
How can I wipe the time machine back ups and start using it as per usual again? do i need to obtain the WD files from somewhere?
thanks in advance
Nick

Hi Nick,
Avoid the WD files completely, not needed & often a problem.
You need to erase the Drive, & to use it on both Format it MS-DOS/FAT32, on the Mac or PC, but will have a 4 GB filesize limit, as well as other limitations.
One option not mentioned yet is MacDrive for your PCs... allows them to Read/Write & Format HFS+, so no need to reformat it...
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

Time Capsule both: Time machine and file server

Hi!
We have 3 macs that has access to a Time Capsule we use just as a file server.
Now, I'll like to do backups of all the data, and I was thinking about using Time Machine in all the computers to backup in Time Capsule.
My question is, can I use Time Capsule as both? With Time Machine and also as a file server?
Thanks,
Júlia

Time Machine can be used to backup your Macs to the Time Capsule. You set this up on each Mac by opening System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock and then opening Time Machine to select the Time Capsule as the destination for backups.
Time Machine will keep separate files for each Mac on the Time Capsule and your regular files on the TC will be left alone. Ideally, Time Machine needs about twice as much space for each Mac to allow for a good history of future backups.
Backup each Mac one at a time since the first backup will copy everything from the Mac over.
Things will go 3-5 times faster if you connect the Mac to the Time Capsule using an Ethernet cable for this procedure.
Once the "master" backup is completed for each, you can switch back to wireless to backup incremental changes since these will only take a few minutes on average.
As you know, Time Machine cannot be used to backup the regular files that you already have on the Time Capsule disk. If you need to backup these files, post back for a few suggestions on applications that can handle this task.

All itunes data gone...can I reload from Time Machine and external HD

Okay, so maybe I was the stupid one and deleted all of my ITunes library....don't yell, I just wanted to free up some HD space...
Fortunately I use Time Machine and an external HD to back everything up..can I reload my Itunes library from Time Machine and the external HD..can anyone walk me through the process?

docutale1 wrote:
Hi there,
I've done some searching and i haven't been able to find the answer to this problem. I am wondering if someone can help me with this.
My HD was faulty so i had it replaced. my complete 300gb music library was backed up on an external HD. The iTunes program was running on my local HD. So i ran the local iTunes off of my ext. HD.
Now that i have a new HD and i restored everything from Time Machine,
Did you restore the entire disk from Time Machine?
Boot from your System install DVD then Restore from backup and select the Time Machine drive?
See this -> http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html

Time Machine and external HD in one?

I have a 2 TB Western Digital external hard drive, which I use for Time Machine backups. I have been considering buying an extra (they are on sale next week where I live) to use for stuff that takes up space on my Mac (like photos, videos etc.), but before I do so, I would like to know if I can partition or do something with the HD I already have, to use 1 TB for Time Machine and another TB for whatever I like to put in there. Is this possible, and if it is not, do I have any other choice than to buy an extra HD?
Cheers

This is from the disk utility help ...
Partition a non-startup disk
If you want to partition a disk that you won’t use to start up your Mac, follow these steps.
Partitioning a disk erases all the files on the disk. Be sure to copy any files you want to keep to another disk before you partition the disk.
If you’re partitioning an external disk, make sure it’s connected to your computer.
Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.Open Disk Utility
Select the disk that you want to partition and click Partition.
Choose the number of partitions from the Volume Scheme pop-up menu.If you can’t choose the number of partitions, follow the steps for partitioning a startup disk.
Click each partition and type a name for it, choose a format, and type a size. You can also drag the divider between the partitions to change their sizes. If a partition’s name has an asterisk beside it, it’s shown larger than its actual size in order to display its name clearly.
Click Options and choose one of the following:
If you’ll be using the disk on a Windows computer, choose the Master Boot Record partition scheme (also known as “fdisk”).
If you’ll be using the disk only with Mac computers, choose GUID Partition Table.
Click Apply.
Note that all files on the disk will be erased when the partitions are created. If you want to try to keep your existing files, you can try this...
Create new partitions on a disk
You may be able to create new partitions on a disk without losing any of the files on the disk. Each partition works like a separate disk. You may need to create a new partition if you want to install multiple operating systems on your computer. You can also create partitions to help organize your files.
As a precaution, back up your data before creating new partitions on your disk
Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.Open Disk Utility
Select the disk where you want to create a new partition and click Partition.
Select an existing partition in the Volume Scheme list, and click Add (+).Disk Utility splits the partition into two, leaving the data from that partition in one of the new partitions. If the partition is less than half-full, Disk Utility creates two partitions of equal size. Otherwise, it creates one partition large enough for the data, and another partition with the remaining space.
Resize the partitions as needed.You can drag the dividers between the partitions in the Volume Scheme list, or you can select a partition in the Volume Scheme list, and then enter a value in the Size field.
Choose how to format the partitions that will be erased or created.For each new partition, select it, enter a name, and then choose a format.
Click Apply.

Time Machine and External Hard Drive

I have a 1T external hard drive and Time Machine has backed up my entire Powerbook G4 laptop on it. I would like to free up space on my laptop by deleting some things that I want to save on the external drive, but don't need on the laptop, how can I do this? Every time I try to delete something from the laptop, it simultaneously disappears from the external drive. Please help!
Also, I keep reading about partitioning - what is this and how do I do it?

Hi
I think the point to address is that an intrinsic part of "backing up" is that you always have two copies of something. One original, and one if you lose the original, either if you accidentally delete it, or the hard drive crashes, etc. What you want to do is backup a file through Time Machine, and then delete the original - which is NOT a sensible backup procedure (because now you still have only one copy of your file).
That aside, Time Machine is designed to be a continuous backup of your system at any point in time. So if, last week, you had a certain file A on your main drive, but you deleted it yesterday, you can check in Time Machine and you'll see it in last week's backups but not in any you made today. You should always use the Time Machine interface to do this - don't go into the backup folder yourself and try to look around (and certainly don't delete anything you find there), since that will be misleading.
If you did want to delete ALL copies of a certain file from your backup, you should go into the Time Machine interface, locate a point in time where that file exists, highlight the file and go to the Action (gear) menu in Finder and choose "Delete all backups of this file".
It seems that what you actually need to do is make an archive of files you don't need on a regular basis (which can then get deleted from your main drive). Burn them to a CD or DVD, or copy them to another hard drive, but don't delete them from the Time Machine backups (better safe than sorry).
Partitioning is a way to convert a physical drive or other storage device into one or more logical volumes, so that the Finder sees them, and displays them, as separate drives. So you could have a single external drive, but create three separate partitions (using Disk Utility) which mount as three separate drives. Under Mac Help, search for "partitions" - there are several useful documents there.
Matt
Matt

Can I use old time machine as external hard drive

I just bought the new 2 TB time machine, and I have an old 2 TB time machine. Can I use the old TM as an external hard drive? If so, do I just use a usb cable to connect it to my computer? Thanks for help.

You cannot use it by USB..
You can use it via the network.. bridge the old TC and plug it by ethernet into the new one.
You can then access it and use it via network the same as the new TC.

I have a western digital hard disk that I am using with time machine and I wanted to do a recovery of my operating system but when I do it i'm not able to see my time machine savings because it needs a password to be activated what can I do ?

How can I do the recovery of my mac mini with my western digital password protected hard disk (it's my timemachine) when I do the process of recovery everything goes well until I have to choose the date of a previous saving from which I can do the recovery nothing appears.

In the sidebar of a Finder window, select the icon representing your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) At the top level of the volume are folders with these names, among others:
Applications
Library
System
Enter Time Machine and select the most recent snapshot, which is behind the frontmost window. Are those folders present in the snapshot?

Use time capsule both for time machine and external disk

is there a tuto on how to configure the time capsule to be able to use it both as a time machine back-up utility and a storage external disk for music files and video files, for example?

Mixing Time Machine backups and other data on a TC's internal HD presents some conflicts. See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some workarounds.
Also . . . how are you planning to back up the "other" data?

Using both Time Machine and External HD

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