Where to Post Time Machine Question?

My question title says it all. How do I find the area in which to post a Time Machine question? Or do I just do it here? Thanks.

There is no place to post a question on Time Machine

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine question.

    Hello. Im not sure exactly where to post this, i couldnt find a Time Machine section. Ill make this as short as possible.
    I have a 2011 mac mini with snow leopard 10.6.8 and my wife just bought quick books accounting software which requires 10.8 mountain lion, so i just bought it, although i havent installed it yet and here is why. I started another thread the other day about weather or not i HAD to update to Yosemite, all the reviews are making me nervous so im opting for Mountain Lion. So, in my thread a member asked me how i back up my mac mini, well i dont and never have. But i recently got a 1TB external hard drive which im going to return for a 2TB. This member was talking to me about mountain lion and suggested that i install it on my external hard drive so that i could keep my nicely working Snow Leopard as well as having Mountain Lion for my wifes quick book program. As we spoke, the member said he wasnt sure id be able to back up my mac mini with Time Machine onto the 1TB as well as install Mountain Lion onto it and i also plan on putting a few thousand pictures on it. Can someone tell me if this is possible? I know ZERO about time machine and backing up for that matter. Ive never done it. So another question, if i was to back up using Time Machine and a 2TB external hard drive, would that also back up all my photos in iphoto, my photoshop program and Toast editing? Would all of that be backed up? Am i making any sense? LOL.
    Thanks.

    zowenso wrote:
    So, are you saying that I should have a totally different external hard drive to use for time machine back ups?
    Would it be safe to store all my pictures and the installation Mountain lion back up on one external hard drive or am I going to have to get a separate one for each?
    Also, what if I just did the standard update to mountain lion and didn't save it to an external hard drive? Could I then use one external hard drive for my pictures and the time machine back ups?
    Yes. Use a different drive for your Time Machine back ups.
    You could use a 2TB external USB drive, partition it into 2-1TB partitions, install OS X Mountain Lion on one and point your Time Machine back ups to the 2nd 1TB partition. I think you should be able to use this 1TB partition for both your Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion Time Machine back ups. Just point each to that 1TB partition. All of your data (photos, music, documents, Quickbooks data, etc.) would be backed up by Time Machine as it backs up the entire drive (OS/Apps/Data). So, if you use that 1TB partition for both back ups, both drives (SL on your Mac Mini and ML on the external 1TB partition) will be backed up.

  • Creating disk image & time machine question

    I have really screwed the pooch here. I run Adobe photoshop CS2 and Acrobat Pro 7.0 on my mac. I lost the install disks in a move last year, BUT I had created a backup disk image for both and had them saved in a folder on my backup drive. Last week, when I had to take my mac in for hardware issues, I needed to do a backup of my data files and didn't have enough space on my backup drive, so I accidentally deleted that folder with all my install files. I have my licensing info for both programs - so that's not the issue - the issue is trying to figure out how I can locate either replacement disks or .dmg install files for the programs. I've searched the Internet, posted in Adobe forums but no luck. I called Adobe and they told me they don't offer disks or files for previous versions and asked me if I wanted to upgrade.
    So I have 2 questions:
    1. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on disks or disk image files for installing these two programs
    2. Is it possible to create a disk image of an install (.app) file? I know how to create a disk image of an install disk, I've done it before. But I was wondering if there's a way to make one of an install file.
    I know that I have time machine and have backed up my HD and apps. But I am extra paranoid now that I don't have a backup of the install files...and god forbid if I had to do a reinstall and for some reason my time machine backup fails me. Any help is appreciated. Thanks Jen

    Check through the TM backup and see if you've those images. You might get lucky, but since you moved those to the ext HD you might be up the proverbial creek without the paddle.
    1. Check ebay and buy replacement disks
    2. You can put anything into a disk image. Whether or not that'll allow you to use it to install something is another question.

  • Time Machine questions: Handling backups for multiple Macs to one FW drive

    I am reviewing the Time Machine thread and seeing a lot of helpful information, but I would like to ask something I haven't quite found yet.
    We have 2 Leopard Macs, a MacBook Pro and an intel iMac... with plans to upgrade another MBP from Tiger to Leopard at some point.
    In planning for Time Machine, we set up a 1 TB drive, attached it via FW 800 to the iMac, partitioned it GUID for Intel, and made 3 partitions, one for each planned Mac we want to back up to it.
    I started Time Machine on the iMac first and the first backup of about 100 gb took maybe 4 hours.
    Then we tried to start the Time Machine backup for the MBP over the network (wireless). It was understandably much slower and quit with some error last evening, so I took advantage of the pause to move the notebook to a wired ethernet connection. It got even slower so this morning I directly connected it FW 800, erased what had been backed up, and started over. So far, so good. 6GB out of 100 in 10 minutes or so. The idea being, if we can get the first backup completed faster over wired connection, maybe doing the incrementals over wireless network will be okay. Sounds like some folks are doing that successfully. I am hoping that works out.
    Questions: Was it necessary to partition my 1TB drive into a partition for each Mac's Time Machine backup? I did make each partition bigger than the hard drive it is designated for.
    To get the MBP to mount the external FW drive on its desktop, I had to disconnect the drive from the iMac. Is there any way I can connect the FW drive to both the MBP and the iMac (the drive has two FW 800 out connections, so it is physically possible)? I'm thinking (from reading posts of others with notebooks) that one strategy is to connect your notebook to your Time Machine drive at night and let it back up, but it'd be great if I could leave the iMac connected while doing so. Is there a way the volumes on the drive can mount on both desktops?
    When I try wireless again, I'm seeing mixed posts regarding whether the MBP will need a password to log in to the remote volume each time, or only the first time when the Time Machine backup is established... if I could get clarification on that, it would be helpful.
    Thanks!
    thanks

    What do you see on your notebook when you click on your TimeMachine icon in the Dock?
    My notebook is mounting the backup drive on an hourly basis, running a backup, and looking like it is doing something... but when I then look at TimeMachine, I can't see the backups. (On my iMac with the drive directly attached, I see a progression of windows showing all the hourly backups the last 24 hours, etc.) I just called Apple to ask why this is so, and they told me they couldn't help me because wireless Time Machine backups aren't supported.
    I know backups to a hard drive attached to an Airport Express Base Station are not supported. But when they say "You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. +Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices+"... well, how can you DO that?

  • HT3275 where did my time machine back up go to on new hard drive?

    Hi, I recently had hard drive fail on my late 2006 iMac.  Had a new hard drive installed.  Restored my computer from the most recent time machine back up from my external drive, but can't find restored data on iMac.  Any ideas?
    Went to the latest backup and hit 'restore' took about 2.5 hours for the data to transfer to new hard drive.  I can tell it's chewing up the new hard drive space but the data/profile from my old mac is nowhere to be found on the new hard drive.

    It might have created a new user and loaded under that.. new user being the old user. But if you have issues do it again, only this time pick where the backup will go.
    http://pondini.org/TM/16.html
    The other questions might also be relevant as a new hard disk will make the Mac appear to the TM backup as a new computer.
    See 14-18 for restore info.

  • Time MACHINE question regarding hard drive restore...

    Ok so i need to restore a hard drive with time machine. im going to be wiping my imac HD for a fresh install, hopefully things will run a little quicker. its seeming a little laggy these days. what im worried about with time machine though is that its going to restore all the little fragments of past installed/uninstalled programs and certain logs and settings ect.. the things that are currently bogging down the system. i know that time machine has a list of exclusions of what it doesnt restore.. but do i have to worry at all about time machine installing these things that i dont want? i would much rather just manually restore the system if this is going to be the case.
    also, if i would manually restore the system from the time machine drive, i dont think i can just drag and drop backup folders from time machine and then pick and choose individual files and folders can i?
    any help would be much appreciated!
    just a heads up.. please dont reply if you're giving me your opinion because you enjoyed your experience with time machine restoration. im looking for fact and reality of what time machine does and does not restore. thank you

    D00bysnacks wrote:
    Ok so i need to restore a hard drive with time machine. im going to be wiping my imac HD for a fresh install, hopefully things will run a little quicker. Its seeming a little laggy these days.
    That's rather a drastic step, which most likely won't help much, if any. Unlike with Windoze, you're usually better off to diagnose and fix the actual problem. See Baltwo's post here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11853228&#11853228
    what im worried about with time machine though is that its going to restore all the little fragments of past installed/uninstalled programs and certain logs and settings ect.. the things that are currently bogging down the system. i know that time machine has a list of exclusions of what it doesnt restore.. but do i have to worry at all about time machine installing these things that i dont want?
    If you tell Time Machine to do a full system restore, yes, it will do that. With certain exceptions, such as system work files, trash, most caches and logs, it will put your system back just as it was. That's it's purpose, after all.
    i would much rather just manually restore the system if this is going to be the case.
    Really? See the pink box in #11 Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. Actually, it would be worse, if you don't use +Migration Assistant+ for your data.
    also, if i would manually restore the system from the time machine drive, i dont think i can just drag and drop backup folders from time machine and then pick and choose individual files and folders can i?
    You can't restore OSX that way. You can copy your data, but that may not work in all cases, and you'll likely have all sorts of permissions problems, as OSX will think the backups belong to a different user.
    just a heads up.. please dont reply if you're giving me your opinion because you enjoyed your experience with time machine restoration. im looking for fact and reality of what time machine does and does not restore. thank you
    You want free help, but only if it agrees with your version of reality? That's pretty cheeky.

  • A Few Little Time Machine Questions

    I just got a 1TB External Drive from Western Digital (My Book Studio Edition.) I just used Time Machine on my Mac Book Pro and now all my files are backed up. But I have a few questions:
    1. Does this mean that I don't have to manually drop and drag files into the External Drive?
    2. Does this mean I can delete files off of my computer and retrieve them later from my External Drive? (If this seems like a dumb question, it's rooted in my misunderstanding of Time Machine - I'm not sure if it temporarily backs things up, backs things up only when you command it to, or backs things up permanently.)
    Thank you!

    crimson_ghost,
    Your questions appear to be answered, but I'll chime in too with some (perhaps) additional information...
    Time Machine is mainly a backup and recovery tool. It makes a comprehensive backup of your entire installation, including all installed applications and all user data. The intention is that you will be able to completely recover from any potential disaster, such as a total failure of your internal hard drive.
    Each backup that Time Machine makes is a complete "snapshot" of your installation at the time of the backup, complete with each and every file on your computer. Time Machine is able to make this "complete" backup each time it runs- without consuming much, if any, additional disk space on the backup drive- by using an advanced file system feature called "multi-linked files." In this scheme, the data for a given file is only copied once to the backup drive, but multiple "hard links" that point to that data can be created. In effect, it is like having multiple phone numbers, all of which ring to the same phone. Each backup will contain one of these "hard links" that points to the data associated with a given file that has not changed since the last backup. If the file is new or has changed, the new data is copied to the backup, and a new string of hard links will be created. Since each additional hard link consumes almost zero space, many, many backups can be made without using much disk space.
    An additional benefit of this Time Machine scheme is that we are able to "go back in time" to retrieve a file that may have been deleted from the "source," and there is a truly innovative interface for doing so. Some of the OS X and iLife applications even have "Time Machine awareness" built in, and the interface can be accessed from within those apps. Pretty cool.
    However, this does not mean that Time Machine can be used as an "archive" tool. It can not be used in this manner, and you should not depend on using it this way! Especially if Time Machine is used in its "default" mode, where backups are made every hour, part of its routine is to regularly "thin" the backups. This process involves the removal of old backups that do not conform to the "one backup a day for the past week," "one backup a week until disk is full" rule. At some point, Time Machine will also begin to "expire" the very oldest backups, then remove them to make room for new ones. If you attempt to use Time Machine for "archival" storage of files that have been removed from the source (your installation), you will ultimately lose them.
    Now, given the way Time Machine works, it will eventually consume all- or close to all- of the disk space given to it. So it makes sense to limit what we allow it to use. How much is appropriate, and how do we limit what it can use? That's easy enough to answer...
    Time Machine needs at least twice the amount of space necessary for the initial backup. I say "at least," because it will work best when given closer to 3 times the amount of space needed. If your installation of OS X, including all your user data and applications, amounts to 100 GBs for example, you'll need to give Time Machine at least 200 GBs, and my recommendation would be more like 300 GBs. If you do not give it at least this much space, your backups will eventually fail. Time Machine first makes a new backup when it runs, and then goes about checking to see what can be deleted from the older backups. Because of this, it must always have plenty of "headroom."
    Giving Time Machine more than the stated "3X" figure, though, is wasteful of precious disk space that could be used in more beneficial ways. For instance, by using that disk space for "archival" purposes
    In order to limit what we give to Time Machine, it is necessary to partition the external drive. Multiple logical volumes can be created, and we can size these volumes to meet the needs of Time Machine. For various reasons (I could explain, if needed), I always recommend that the first partition be used for Time machine backups. If you do not know how to use Disk Utility to partition your external drive, just ask.
    Scott

  • Re.Time Machine Question

    Hi
    I have bought a Seagate 2TB Backup Plus drive to use with Time Machine which I bought from the Apple Online Store. Following the instructions on the Apple website, I plugged the machine in, went through the set up process and ticked the 'show in menu bar' option. However, I can't get the Time Machine icon to appear in the menu bar and I have an (unwanted) icon for the external drive itself in the top right hand corner of the home screen wallpaper which I can't get rid of.
    The backup itself seems to be working fine as the machine because when I plugged it teh first time, it said tha the initial backup was taking place and the date and time of subsequent backups is displayed. However, I can only get this info by going through the settings menu and clicking onto the Time Machine logo there.
    How can I get the Time Machine icon to appear on the menu bar and how do I get rid of the hard disk icon?
    Thanks

    LSC wrote:
    OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
    I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
    In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
    So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine?
    yes, you can. you can do it using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. there are no ifs or buts about it. where is that "conflicting info" coming from?
    If not, how can I do it.
    I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

  • Crashed OS MacBook Lion Time Machine Question

    I have an older back up of my MacBook in Time Machine on a external hardrive.
    Is is possible to add to the backup in target mode? The computer will not boot right now, but I can get to the volumes via target. I can access the revovery HD when I hold down the option key starting up.
    The MacBook has some sort of infixable sibling error, which is getting pregressivly worse. Additionally I've up graded to Lion since the Origional back up and partioned the drive, so it wouldn't really match the origional Time Machine back-up.

    I really appreciate both your efforts but let me clarify a few things here before you continue posting incorrect information.
    #1 - I have not done anything in the Finder that will hurt anything. Opening a folder in finder is like going to the terminal and running a "ls" command.
    #2 - The reason for my original post is becaue this is def. a bug or undocumented feature. Time Machine backups should be backwards compatible.
    There is no reason for me to open Time Machine and not be able to open an older backup done in Snow Leopard, UNLESS, it is an expected issue. If this is the expected behavior, the first time one connects the drive, the system should provide some type of warning.
    Time Machine displays my older backup dates in Time Machine, but I can't select them to read, restore or anything. Then I went to the finder to open the connected USB drive to confirm if the files were there or not, as my hard drive space is still occupied.
    You CAN manually copy files from a Time Machine backup drive. This causes NO ISSUES, unless you start messing with the files that Time Machine uses to organize the data being displayed on the app.
    I am a systems engineer, web developer, and systems analyst. I work on multiple operating systems (Unix, Windows, Solaris, Linux all flavors, and Mac OS). I have been working with operating systems since the MS-DOS no-Windows era. There is a very slim chance that I will mess up any operating system, especially OS X.
    So, let me re-phrase my question: Is OS X Lion Time Machine backwards compatible or can it not ready Snow Leopard Time Machine generated backup files?
    Thank you for any well informed replies.

  • Restore from time machine questions

    Since update from snow leopard to time machine mac mini runs very slow.  Too much beach ball.  I want to do a clean install of lion and restore from time machine and have multiple questions.
    1. I'm not sure if my time capsule password is the same as my airport, and if it is not where can I find it
    2. If I install the os can I just tell the time machine that I am migrating to a new machine and that would be the most simple and painless?  And if I did would that just restore broken extensions?
    3. Will my keychain be restored?
    4.What do I restore?  Documents?  All my files? Macintosh HD?  Applications?  Documents?
    5. I'm using parallels primarily to run the windows version of Quicken. Will time machine restore that or do need to reinstall parallels and windows etc?
    6. If I restore Applications folder will programs work or do I need to reinstall the programs?
    7. Do I install Ilife or Iwork?  Mobile me?  Widgets?  Printers, keyboard, etc?

    Since update from snow leopard to time machine mac mini runs very slow.  Too much beach ball.  I want to do a clean install of lion and restore from time machine and have multiple questions.
    1. I'm not sure if my time capsule password is the same as my airport, and if it is not where can I find it
    2. If I install the os can I just tell the time machine that I am migrating to a new machine and that would be the most simple and painless?  And if I did would that just restore broken extensions?
    3. Will my keychain be restored?
    4.What do I restore?  Documents?  All my files? Macintosh HD?  Applications?  Documents?
    5. I'm using parallels primarily to run the windows version of Quicken. Will time machine restore that or do need to reinstall parallels and windows etc?
    6. If I restore Applications folder will programs work or do I need to reinstall the programs?
    7. Do I install Ilife or Iwork?  Mobile me?  Widgets?  Printers, keyboard, etc?

  • Mountain Lion-Time Machine Questions

    Hi all,
    Recently I bought a new Macbook Pro and upgraded to Mountain Lion. This laptop comes with one internal hard drive ~ 750GB. I have two questions regarding Time Machine:
    1. Can I partition my disk into two partitions so I can use one partition for Time Machine backups?
    2. Can the partition for Time Machine backups have less space than the other one?
    I know the disavantages to do so, but I just want to know if it is possible. Does Time Machine allow it?

    Post in the OS X Mountain Lion community in the "Time Machine" section.

  • Time Machine question re: full system restore

    OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
    I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
    In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
    So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine? If not, how can I do it.
    I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

    LSC wrote:
    OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
    I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
    In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
    So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine?
    yes, you can. you can do it using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. there are no ifs or buts about it. where is that "conflicting info" coming from?
    If not, how can I do it.
    I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

  • External drive and time machine question

    I am new to Mac, and just bought a 24 in 2.4 imac after they didn't update them at Macworld. I have a question about the my external hd that i am using for time machine. Can i partition that somehow to use part of it for file storage and the other part for time machine backup? Also, if I have already performed the time machine backup, can i still do it if possible.
    Thank you for your help

    Hi indycolt
    Yes I agree with Kappy!
    I just added a partition to my External Time Machine backup last week, without losing any of the backups. I had about 220GB of free space on a single partition TM backup and felt like that was a waste of space. So I went to disk utility selected the "External HD / Partition" then the "+" box, moved the partition divider to where I wanted it and then "Apply". I now have 120GB left for future TM back-ups and a 100GB partition of now usable space.
    Dennis

  • Time machine questions... how to use with an external drive etc.

    Hi,
    I am about to start using Time Machine. I have a few questions:
    1. Can Time machine be used to restore data and applications / application settings?
    2. I have a CalDigit VR eSATA drive which is 1TB RAID 1 which I was going to use as the Time Machine target drive.
    Does Time machine store all of its data files in one main folder with many sub folders?
    If my TM backup data takes up 600GB on the drive can I safely store other data on the 400GB or is it best to partition the drive HFS+ Journaled 600/400 and leave TM to its own dedicated partition?
    3. Does TM keep adding data until it runs out of disk space and only then delete older BUs?
    4. Is TM a good backup software for total recovery or is something like SuperDuper better? I would almost never use TM to recover a file that was deleted... but I am looking for a way to protect against data lost in the case of HD failure.

    If you haven't found this yet, take a look here: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=leopardtimemachine
    That should give you a rough idea of the "look and feel."
    1. Can Time machine be used to restore data and applications / application settings?
    Yes, unless you tell it not to, it saves everything (except some system caches, temp files, etc.). If your HD fails, you can recover your entire system to a new/repaired HD via your Leopard install disc (it has the restore utility) and your TM backups. OS, apps (Apple and 3rd-party), preferences, settings, data, the whole system.
    Does Time machine store all of its data files in one main folder with many sub folders?
    As you may be able to see in the video, the small Finder window is very much like the main one; you can see your data in the same way. TM presents a "picture" that appears to be a full, separate backup of the way your Mac looked at any time. Of course, that's an illusion. It only actually copies files/folders that have been added or changed since the last backup.
    You can't tell which items are "real" and which are the "multi-links" representing a file that didn't change on that particular backup.
    For more info on the internals: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_mac_os_x_leopard_timemachine.html
    3. Does TM keep adding data until it runs out of disk space and only then delete older BUs?
    Sort of. After an initial Full backup, it does incrementals (hourly, if you let it). Then it converts the first of the day to a daily backup, which it keeps for a month, and deletes the other hourlies after they're 24 hours old.
    After a month, it converts one per week into a weekly backup and deletes the dailies.
    It keeps the weeklies until it runs out of room, then begins deleting the oldest. But because of the "multi-links," it doesn't delete it's copy of anything that's still on your internal HD. So it manages it's space and deletions automatically and intelligently.
    4. Is TM a good backup software for total recovery or is something like SuperDuper better?
    They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Many of us use a clone plus TM. The clone advantage is, of course, being bootable. TM isn't. TM's advantages are the very fast incremental backups (it doesn't have to examine every file and folder to see what's changed): the ability to restore old items; and the ability to restore your entire system to a previous state, even if that's a prior version of Leopard!

  • I am really hating Apple right now. Where is my Time Machine backup?

    OK, kinda a long story. Pardon the ranting, but if feels like everything is going wrong and I'm getting pretty tired of it.
    I was going along nicely with my Mac. Then I had a time-sensitive iMovie project that was going totallly screwy. I ended up buying Lion hoping that would fix the problem. It didn't spent several more hours trolling forums and figured out it was a weird problem with the software.
    So... then I was stuck with Lion. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Rosetta Stone, etc. don't work on it. Not cool. Would have been nice if I was warned before doing this. So, I figured I'd go back in my Time Machine backup. However, I was really busy and didn't get to it until a few weeks later. I'd never actually used Time Machine, but when I went into it I was astonished to find that it backed up on the hour, filling up the external hard drive so it only kept backups for a few weeks. And of course, it was too late to backup to my old OS. So not cool. Who in the world needs an hourly backup??? I'd much prefer a weekly backup a little further back. That's just absurd.
    So, anyway, I had the old Time Machine backup. I figured if I messed up, I could always restore to the recent Lion backup. So, I restored to Snow Leopard from the disk, wiping the hard drive. Then, I tried to go in and get my files off of the external hard drive/Time Machine backup. It didn't recognize I even had an external hard drive plugged in.
    So... I decided to go back to Lion, maybe I needed to be in Lion to access the Lion backup. Spent hours putting Lion back on. And... still doesn't even recognize that there's an external hard drive plugged in. What gives?
    I've been trying to think of what all could be the problem here. Did I just think I was backing up to the external hard drive this whole time, when really I was backing up to the computer? No, because it would send me reminders when the external hard drive wasn't plugged in. Is the cord or something broken to the external hard drive? I suppose it's possible, but just a few hours before I saw the Time Machine backups... And there is power to it.
    Please help! I don't know how all my data was lost!

    OK, solved my own problem, but am posting here in case someone else has the same problem. It totally does not make sense, especially considering that it stopped after I reinstalled Lion, but the good thing is I have my files back.
    I scoured the web and found a lot of other people are having the same problem. Most of them didn't have a clue how to fix it. This discussion was the most helpful to me: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2569766?start=30&tstart=90
    So, I went to the WD page and followed the instructions. The first suggestion was to plug it directly into a wall, because it may not be getting enough power from a power cord. I did this and it fixed the problem. Who would have guessed?
    Anyway, if anyone else is having this problem, go to your manufacturer's website for help. Here's WD's help: http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1164/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvd GltZS8xMzI2MzIzMjUwL3NpZC82dmo0blZOaw%3D%3D

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