Using Time Machine for two computers, not simultaneously.

Using a WD external HD via Firewire 800 to backup my main computer with Time Machine. I use my 13" MacBook Pro while away from home for weeks, then putting it away when home. (Note: not networking between them.) I do want each computer to be identical so that when I leave with my MacBook, my programs and data are the same. I do have MobileMe at both locations. Can I update the MacBook before going back to it by disconnecting Time Machine from my iMac, connecting Time Machine to my MacBook Pro via Firewire 800 and restoring?
Thanks for your help.

Similar Messages

Time Machine with two computers - "You do not have sufficient access privileges"

I am currently running an Intel-based iMac at home and was recently given a new Intel-based MacBook Pro to use for work. The iMac at home is running Leopard and the MacBook is running Snow Leopard. After I loaded all of the necessary files from the home computer to the work computer (using the files on my external that I use for time machine backups), I decided to use the same external hard drive to use as the Time Machine for both computers. However, now whenever I try to access the Time Machine Backups from the opposite computer, I am told that I "do not have sufficient access privleges." E.g., when I try to open the TM MacBook files on the iMac or vice versa, I recieve this message. Opening the files that were backed up on the same computer is no problem.
Any thoughts? Thanks!

kabbydriver- No, no, no, no no! Do not screw around with permissions on the sparse bundle or the mounted disk image. Dude, this is the third bad advice from you I've read in the last hour. Isn't it enough that one of your responses violated the forum terms of use and had to be deleted? It's time to give it a rest; come back another day.
UCOdoublebass- You need to create a different Time Machine backup for each Mac. Two Macs cannot backup to the same Time Machine backup image. Read this to get started learning about your options:
http://www.macworld.com/article/131841/2008/01/multiplebackup.html

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro. I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive? If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

Hi all - is it really possible to use one license for two computers or is it just a rumor?

I heard that it would be possible that you can use one license for two computers. Is that the truth? And if so - how does it work?
Thanks
K

Adobe CC or any perpetual previous version allows you to install & activate it two times (on the same computer or other different one).
As per End user license agreement, only one computer can be used at one given time.
Please refer to:
Licenses and terms of use | Adobe
Adobe - Adobe product license agreements
Hope it helps you.
Regards
Rajshree

My document.numbers can not be opened how can i recover the version from yesterday i was not using time machine and it was not in icloud. is there an app i can buy that might help

my document.numbers can not be opened how can i recover the version from yesterday? i was not using time machine and it was not in icloud. is there an app i can buy that might help

Thanks Andy,
I wish I could have told my sister about this as she could not open my homepage back before my new iWeb site. She now can open my site without the yet in case denial window does appear = I thank you.
I think my iWeb site works as Noone has said otherwise from any platform etc...
Alex L
I do agree that should not have to be a consideration for any users so i agree that it would be great if Apple could allow simplicity to run seemlessly.
I have had this problem since Homepage, and here is
what has worked for me. I send out the link, and
then for PC users I send the link with "<" after the address (without quotation
marks. e.g., <http://site.com>).
I also put a note that if that doesn't work, to just
copy and paste the link into a browser. With that I
have only had 1 person say they still can't open.
Everyone else gets it to work.
It's a lot to do and seems like a hassle, but you get
used to it.
Hope this helps!
Andy Martini
PS - APPLE! When are you going to fix this??! It
seems like such a small thing yet you guys have been
stumped for YEARS on this!

Upgraded new iPad to iOS 5 after successfully using the machine for two weeks. The apps I downloaded are still here, checked for updates, all okay. However, when I try to use iBooks app or even USA Today, icon shakes, settles down then nothing. Help.

Upgraded new iPad to iOS 5 after successfully using the machine for two weeks. The apps I downloaded are still here, checked for updates, all okay. However, when I try to use iBooks app or even USA Today, icon shakes, settles down then nothing else happens. Several tries, settings appear correct. Suggestions? Safari operates correctly, music icon matches (not from iTunes, simply music on my MacPro and iPod). Is Cloud the issue, perhaps? But everything worked before the upgrade. Using my home network. Hope this info suffices. Appreciate any guidance.

Problem solved. Saw the solution in a more recent post. Downloaded a free app, then all my other apps started to work again.

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

HT2497 Using Time Machine for home wifi just fine. Switched to cable modem from DSL. Now having trouble connecting laptops to wifi. ISP says it is not their fault. Mac books won't connect on their own.

Changed from DSL to cable modem. Now Mac book pro won't connect to wifi - Time Machine?
One Mac ok, other not. Help?

Thanks. We have been using an existing Time Machine for wifi. Cable modem replaced DSL router and was hooked up to Time Machine. What's odd is that 3 computers and iPad2 are connecting to home wifi just fine, using exact same network and password as before. My Mac book pro and an older iPad are not. IPhones are also connecting to home wifi just fine. I managed to get my Mac book pro hooked one time by copying ip address from a Mac that was working (entered manually) then turning that one off. That's not what I need.
The error message is "no ip address".

Can I use Time Machine on two different Hard Drives?

Hi, I have a Time Capsule on which I make my Time Machine back up every time, but I also want to back up all my data on another external HD using Time Machine as well... how can I do that? Thx

Alfonso, let me give you a warning. What you want to do should work, but does not work well for me. Here's my story:
I have Time Machine (TM) backing up a MacBook Pro to a Time Capsule (TC) on my home wired network. First backup (BU) took 24 hours. Subsequent incremental backups were very fast and convenient. All was working well.
About 6 weeks setting up TM/TC, I had to take my MacBook in for repairs. Being paranoid, I wanted a second backup, so I connected the computer to an external LaCie drive via FW800. Second BU also took 24 hours, even over the MUCH faster firewire connection. That really hacked me off, so I got CarbonCloner and made a bootable image on another external LaCie drive over FW800. That took only 2 hours.
I got the computer back from Apple after repairs and directed TM to start backing up to the original TC drive (no changes to the drive during repair). The TM software decided it had to do another initial backup! As I write this, it's been running 36 hours and has completed only 19 of 76 GB. This is MUCH MUCH worse than the first initial backup.
I want to like this TM software because of the convenience, but it is really crap and unusable in my opinion. With my setup, I simply cannot switch to a second backup drive without triggering another lousy initial LONG BU process. Frankly, I really regret buying TC and trying TM.
I used to use Retrospect with great success with the two external LaCie drives, but they went into the toilet when EMC bought them and spun them out. The quality of the software has really suffered and it is very buggy now.
So, unfortunately, it looks like my best strategy is to use CarbonCloner and the two LaCie drives.

Using Time Machine with two external hard drives

Hi. I use Time Machine to back up the hard disk on my MacBook Pro onto a Western Digital external drive. For secure storage of family photos and things we don't want to lose, I would like to do the following:
For a week or two, back up my MacBook Pro onto a Western Digital drive. Let's call this WD Drive 1. Then walk downstairs and put WD Drive 1 in a fireproof safe. For the next week or two, back up my MacBook Pro onto a different Western Digital drive. Let's call this WD Drive 2. Then put WD Drive 2 in the safe, take out WD Drive 1, and use WD Drive 1 as the back-up medium for the next week or two. Then keep alternating between WD Drive 1 and WD Drive 2 every couple weeks. This way, I will always have up an to date back-up on the WD drive that is connected to the MacBook Pro, and I also will have a two-week old back-up on the WD drive in the safe in case of a fire or something.
Can Time Machine be used in this manner, alternating between two different external back-up disks? Will Time Machine "know" when I change external drives and manage all back-up files appropriately?
Thank you!

pomme4moi wrote:
Can Time Machine be used in this manner, alternating between two different external back-up disks? Will Time Machine "know" when I change external drives and manage all back-up files appropriately?
Yes. Each drive will have an independent set of backups; and each will be a complete "snapshot" of the way your system looked at the time of the backup.
When you swap drives, the first backup will be somewhat longer, and may involve a "deep traversal," while Time Machine "catches up" with all the changes since the last backup to that drive.
And try not to go too long between swaps; it's undocumented, so we don't know the exact parameters, but after at least 10 days (apparently), Time Machine may do a new, full backup instead of an incremental one of changes only.
And you only need to worry about Time Machine deleting old backups if you've deleted the originals from your system; TM will never delete the backups of anything that's still there.
But . . .
As MusicWind says, thats' probably not the best strategy. One of the reasons you want dual backups is because no hardware is perfect -- it all fails, sooner or later, right? Similarly, no app is perfect, either. The "works" of Time Machine are more complex than most backup apps; it's pretty reliable, but if you're going to have dual backups, you're probably a bit safer with a different app for your secondary backups.
I don't know about SuperDuper, but CarbonCopyCloner does have an "archive" feature, where it will keep copies of things you've deleted. I've never used it, so don't know just how it works.
Also see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.
p.s.: Don't try copying Time Machine's dated folders; you'll get a complete copy of your entire system.

Using Time Machine for an external startup drive

I've never used Time Machine; I just kept on using my older backup startup drive software when starting with Leopard three years ago.
My husband is getting a new iMac with an external drive for backup because I convinced him that Time Machine is so easy to use. Yes, I have a lot of faith that Apple knows what it is doing.
However, I don't know how Time Machine works for making an external drive bootable. If it's not super easy for that purpose, I'm thinking that it might be easier to partition his external in setting things up for him, and putting SuperDuper! on one of the partitions.
What do you think? Would Time Machine all by itself be super easy if he needed to startup from the external drive? Do you have to do anything other than to hold down the option key during startup to boot from an external drive backed up by Time Machine?
He's getting an iMac with a 1T drive and an external Iomega 2TB eGo Desktop Hard Drive.
I'm assuming that his new iMac will be coming with Snow Leopard, but it hasn't arrived yet and I don't know for sure about that. But I think if it doesn't come with Snow Leopard, I'd upgrade it for him before installing anything else.
Thanks for any help!
Mary

Thanks so much to you for taking the trouble to help me learn something about Time Machine. I think I've learned enough now to get it set up for my husband without doing anything particularly stupid.
Dave, there's no chance my husband would swing for a second external drive. I had to talk him into having one at all. He's not into managing a computer and doesn't want to think about stuff like backups. Once in awhile I'm in synch with that kind of orientation too, but then I recall the times I've been overjoyed to have good backups for myself... and my backup software is extremely reliable and easy to use.
Pondidni and Thomas, thanks so much for all the links. I've spent enough time reading them that I think I've made up my mind to go with a SuperDuper! partition for the expected way to boot from the external drive. It's also a great reassurance that it would be possible to use a Time Machine backup partition for restoration via an install CD if SuperDuper! should fail, though. SuperDuper! did fail for me once, but fortunately I had another partition with a SuperDuper! backup.
If the single backup drive fails, of course, that would be a nasty inconvenience. On the other hand, at this point I doubt that the actual losses in that unlikely event would impact my husband so horribly as it might for many who have work or school-related necessities stored on their computer. This is mainly a fun computer that he has at home, and if there ever are particularly important documents that he can't afford to lose, extra backups of those files could go onto a CD, DVD, or keychain drive. The chances of needing that are pretty slim.
I know that eventually the backup drive will fail if it's used over a long enough period of time, but he seems ready to follow my advice to only even connect and turn on the external drive once a week and leave it connected only during the time it's actually actively making backups. (Unless some very important work is going on, in which case he knows to keep it connected during that period of time.) An external drive will likely last a good while longer than average under that kind of very limited use.
Thomas, I do also believe in having extra backup external drives and hope to get one for my own computer in the near future. I noticed in shopping for my husband how much less expensively you can get a large external drive now than just a few years back.
Thanks again so much to all for helping me to think through how I can help him get started with his own backups.
Best wishes,
Mary

Use Time Machine for transferring data to new drive

2008 pre-unibody 17" 250GB MacBook Pro4,1 - 2GB RAM, 10.6.8, 2.5ghz
How can I use Time Machine to transfer data to hybrid 1TB Seagate SSD?

Hi V.K., was just reading your instructions for jumper25 about transferring all info to a new HD and had a question. I am in the same situation where i have bought a new 320Gb to replace the OEM 120Gb in my MBP. Everything is very straight forward from what you have posted but i only have the original Tiger 10.4.9 install DVD and I am running Leopard 10.5.5. Will I be able to use my Tiger install disk and then use my TM back up even though it Leopard? Or will I need a Leopard install disk to complete? Also is there another way around this problem if i can not use the Tiger disk such as mirroring the 120Gb disk on to my 320Gb?
Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.
P.

Using Time machine for the first time.

2 questions.
1) Can I have more than one time machine ( 3 internal HD > 3 Time Machine for example) on the same computer?
2) Can I assign two different HD to the same Time Machine?
Thanks
MP

Yes, but if you are using Snow Leopard you will need to manually switch between configurations.
Yes, you can backup multiple drives to the same Time Machine backup drive.
Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Configuring external Seagate drive so that I can use Time Machine on two separate machines

I am using both an iMac and a Laptop (Macbook Pro) and wish to use Time Machine to back up both machines. However, in my ignorance it seems not to recognise which machine it backs up and thus overwrites itself from the 'other' machine. Can I do this please? And if so how is it best done?

It should not overwrite the other backup, so something isn't quite right.
You should just turn on Time Machine and tell it to use that disk.
How is the drive connected?

Should I upgrade to Mac OS X v10.7 before I use Time Machine for the first time?

I bought a macbook pro in 2008. I recently purchased an external hard drive and I can't decide what's the best option:
1. Use Time Machine using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ?
2. Upgrade to Lion before I use Time Machine (first time)
3. Or just drag my photos and music manually (those are the only things I need to back up)
Thoughts?

I see. My only fear is there seems to be a lot of people who orginally were using Time Machine on SL, then upgraded to Lion and now Time Machine becomes screwy.
Also, if I buy a new Mac (eventually) with Lion, I worry that if I've been using TM on SL, the transition to Lion wont be smooth. I may be overthinking this, but I just want to get it right.
But I see your point: I need to get a full back up of my system as it is now before I make any changes. Thanks for your help.

Using Time Machine for two computers, not simultaneously.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for