Mac Pro :: Swapping Around Drives & Time Machine
Sep 18, 2009
Been trying to figure this one out, but can't seem to find a clearcut answer. Here's the dilemma: My 2 1/2 year old MP got replaced under AppleCare by my local Apple store with a new Nehalem MP when they couldn't fix it. The 3 user installed drives in my old MP were good, so they moved them from my old MP to my new one. One of those was the boot drive in my old MP, so the Apple store tech made it the boot drive in my new one. I had the drives arranged in order on my old MP (being the anal engineer that I am), however now my old boot drive is in bay 4, the newer MP boot drive is in bay 2, etc., i.e. all mixed up. Being that the old drives were almost 3 years old I decided to clone my old boot drive to the newer one and make it the startup drive, assuming that it being newer it would be more reliable long term. That all went fine.
Now I know that the OS doesn't care in which bay what drive is but does Time Machine? If I swap around the bays to put my boot drive into bay 1 from bay 2 will that confuse Time Machine and make it backup everything again, i.e. wasting backup space??? I.e., does TM go off of physical name and location or does it go off of logical name?? I know it doesn't matter which drive is where, but I just like having things in a certain order to troubleshooting purposes just in case.
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Apr 12, 2012
I would like to always have one external hard drive attached to my iMac for Time Machine backups, and another external hard drive off site - periodically swapping the two. The though is that if there is fire or theft, it won't help to have a hard drive onsite attached to the computer, because both the iMac and the hard drive could be lost. Is Time Machine smart enough to allow me to configure two drives, so that whenever I plug in one of the drives, it can figure out what needs to be backed up?
Info:
27' iMac i7 Quad-Core, Mac OS X (10.6.2)
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Apr 21, 2012
I just got my 500 Gb HD in the mail and want to swap my hard drives while keeping all of my data. Does time machine work like this? Can i back my 120Gb HD up and then install my 500Gb HD and then put my files back on?
Info:
Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Sep 27, 2010
I have a question regarding Time Machine functionality. Here's my situation. I have two hard drives in my Pro: one that operates as a Boot drive, and one for storage. Right now I have Time Machine set up to backup my storage drive, but I was wondering if it was possible to have plug in a second external drive and use it to back up the Boot drive. I searched for a similar thread, but couldn't really find anything. Has anybody successfully done this?
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Aug 23, 2009
I have a 15" MBP with 256ssd installed and a 13" MBP with a 250gb 5400 drive. I prefer to use the 13" as my main computer and want to take the 256ssd drive from the 15" and put it in the 13". Then take the 250gb drive from the 13" and put it in the 15" How hard is this to do? I've not done something like this before. Since I'm swapping an ssd with a regular hd is it as easy as following the instructions on this forum, remove the screws and swap the drives? After that's done I'll need to overwrite the 15" software and load the OS and drivers for the 13" on to the ssd drive. Is that as simple as taking the restore disk for the 13" put it in the drive and reinstall the OS? Or, should I just take it to the local authorized Apple Dealer and have them do it? (We don't have an Apple store nearby.
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Oct 12, 2009
I'm thinking about purchasing a used MacBook Pro that has a bad DVD drive. I have a PowerBook G4 that the logic board went out on and I was thinking I could put my PowerBook drive in the MacBook. Does anyone know if this will work? The look so similar, but I'm not sure.
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May 4, 2010
I know the hard drives are swappable between computers (providing it has the same interface). My question though relates to formatted OS drives however. I have two Mac Pro's (MacPro1,1 and MacPro3,1). Can I swap the drives between them without losing software or reformatting? The reason I ask is with Windows, it seems to build the system around a specific motherboard configuration. Were you to replace the motherboard in that system, Windows will crash on bootup due to different kernel level drivers on the hard drive.
The reason I'm asking is because I like the way I have everything setup on my MacPro1,1, but want to get the speed boost from the MacPro3,1. Will this work or will I require a clean format of both drives when I swap them.
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Apr 20, 2009
I've been having a few problems with my TM backups since I got my new iMac (my MBA is working fine).
Something strange that I've noticed is when I enter into Time Machine (the program). Sometimes I see a bunch of my backups with times and dates where I can scroll through the different saves and restore if I want to. Other times though when I go into TM I only see the current save point. I can't scroll back and it only says Today on the right without any other save points. It is almost like I've only done one TM backup.
The other strange thing that I see is if I look at iStat. Sometimes it shows two Time Capsule hard drives and other times it shows only one. If I choose to change disk in Time Machine preferences the Time Capsule is listed twice. I don't think it has anything to do with a partition (which I never did) because both drives show the same used and free info (something like 377 free of 461) and I only have a 500GB drive.
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Sep 2, 2010
i have two exact same 17 inch MBPs i am thinking on selling one , one has a lot of stickers and marks on it and the data on that is not at all important (i can format the hard drive no problem). the other one body has very clean and data on that is important lots and lots of photos and videos. i want to sell the one which has clean body so i can get better $ for it. it is possible to just swap hard drives between these two identical MBPs and sell ? would that make any different in performance and also the serial number on ABOUT THIS MAC is that written on hard drive or some place else?
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Sep 22, 2010
I added a second harddrive to my Mac Pro. As it happens, it is larger than the primary harddrive. What I would like to do is use the larger harddrive as my Mac OS disk, while using boot camp to set the smaller one up with windows. when I set up the larger one with 10.6, do I have to use the install disks, or can I just copy all of the files from the old disk to the new? Are there any hidden files that I need that might get left behind?
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Jan 12, 2011
I have a older mac mini and a 6 month old macbook pro, the mini's hard drive is full, can I take the one from the mbp, wipe it, and put it in the mini and get a larger one for the mbp? If so are there any recommendations for a HD larger then 500GB for my mbp?
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Jun 21, 2012
I have a 1tb, 5,400rpm harddrive on my old laptop (mid 2009) and wish to transfer it for the one in my new 15" Macbook Pro, 750gb 5,400.(Mid 2012)Â
What steps are needed to make this successful?Â
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
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Jun 23, 2008
Sometime I plug and unplug hard drives of my PC while it is on. Will there be a problem to do that on the Mac Pro? If the computer supports this, do I need an internal drive that is also hot-swappable in order to be safe?
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Dec 28, 2010
I have a Mac Pro and currently have two drives in it, a system drive that's using as the startup disc and for most of my use. The 2nd drive is more like a server drive which is used on that system but also shared with all computers on my home network. i use it for things like clipart, backups of itunes from the laptops, media files, etc.
I just installed a 3rd hard drive and have been planning to set it up as a Time Machine drive for my Mac Pro. I have several questions though.
I assume when I do this it will just work as a Time Machine drive for my main system/startup drive, correct?
Is there a way I can use Time Machine for the 2nd drive in my system? In a sense setting up two Time Machine backups, one from the main drive to this new backup drive and the 2nd from the server drive to a 4th drive I can add in the future?
If the 2nd question is a No, is there a way I can set it up so that Time Machine simply backs up both the main drive and that 2nd, server drive, to the Time Machine drive? I really prefer not to use this option since both drives are 1TB and the hard drive I have just gotten as the time machine drive is 1.5TB. I think that should be okay for my main drive since it is only 30% used or so but with backing both onto it I don't think I have enough space to do it well.
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Dec 21, 2010
I've looked up a few threads on the subject but found no definite answer...
I'm wondering if using two separate external Firewire hard drives for backing up an iMac with the aid of Time Machine will work and be safe (not messing up things etc.)?
One external drive is now attached to the iMac, backing things up every 3 hours (I found the default hourly backup a bit too much so I installed Time Machine editor in order to change this). It works just the way it should.
But in case of theft, fire etc. it would be nice to have yet another backup drive as well. Naturally that drive would be stored in an off-site location and thus not backed up to that often, but at least I wouldn't lose absolutely all my files if my computer + regular backup drive was to be stolen or damaged in a fire, just the very latest files.
So let's say I pull out that drive every 2 weeks or so, disconnect the regular Time Machine drive, attach the "off-site stored drive" and tell Time Machine to do a backup right away. Would my computer be able to tell the two drives apart (I'd give them different names of course), understanding that the "regular" backup drive should just continue backing up as it left off last time, or will it get confused?
I like Time Machine because it's maintenance-free, so I'd rather not use some other, separate and complicated backup software for the "off-site" drive if I can avoid it.
By the way: my backup drive is a 2.5" external Firewire drive which means that it takes its power from the Firewire 800 cable totally eliminating any additional power supply and cables. Just one cable and a small enclosure.
Neat and tidy and very much recommended!
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Aug 15, 2009
is it possible to get two hard drives, (lets just say FW400 750gb for the sake of the discussion).
Put one of them at home and set up time machine, then put the second at work and 'change disk' in time machine prefs to the new one, and everytime you change locations just tell it to change disks to the one matching your location - and have both disks being full Time Machine backups without having to 'do a full from scratch backup' every time?
Then it seems like you could use something like MarcoPolo to have it automatically change those preferences based on which networks it sees or something, so that it is just time machining automatically and properly no matter which location you are at.....would this work?
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Apr 9, 2012
I have 2 drives on my iMac but only one is showing up..how can I get them both to back up? The one that is getting backed up is from my old laptop, and I really don't need it as most of the data is in my newer iMac drive. If necessary, I would like to switch the back up to the newer system.
Info:
iMac (24-inch Early 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Dec 14, 2010
I searched and couldn't find an answer on this.
Can time machine work on multiple drives?
Currently, I have time machine backing up my iMac on to an external drive.
I also have a third drive filled with movies and music. I would like to set iTunes to play directly off of that drive but I don't want to risk losing that stuff.
Can I set time machine to back up my iMac on HD2 AND ALSO back up HD3 to HD4?
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Mar 10, 2008
I'm sure this is answered somewhere, but does Time Machine backup any mounted drive when it does a backup, or only the internal drives, or only the boot?
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Dec 8, 2008
I have a 500 gb external that I've been backing up Time Machine onto--I also use the drive to store my movies (about 100 gb and increasing) but I'm getting to the point where time machine is taking over. Apple suggested partitioning my drive--does anyone else think that this will work or is there some other option that I have? I've thought about manually deleting certain Time Machine back ups but hate to have to do that constantly.
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Jan 11, 2009
I would like to maintain an off-site backup, and plan to rotate a hard drive on a monthly basis. I'm running 10.5.5 with Time Machine. I understand that I may need to initialize a new backup drive every time I switch drives? Any thoughts? Is Time Machine really the best way to go here?
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Mar 10, 2009
So right now I have 2 external hard drives, a 2TB MyBook Mirror edition, set at RAID 0 so its a full 2TB, and a 1TB MyBook Home Edition. I also have three LaCie 1TB drives to back up the MyBook drives.
How I back up is basically copy the contents over to the backups once a month. The problem is, using USB (my only option) takes about 24 hours per TB. Backing up 3 days a month? Not fun.
Can Time Machine do this better? I still have Tiger, so can't test it yet but it seems tedious to do things my way. I would rather be able to plug them in and sync every few weeks and not have to replace every file, just the ones that changed or were added. Can this be done?
I don't keep the drives connected 24/7 so it would have to be manual, and also can Time Machine back up a 2TB drive to 2 1TB drives? The are stuck in enclosures so i have to connect the 2 separately through USB, can't use RAID.
If Time Machine is not the answer, is there some third party program the would not require me to re-copy every file? It would be great if I could save some time doing this.
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Jul 18, 2009
Just a quick question, if I add a second drive in an Optibay, will TM back up both of my drives?
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Aug 4, 2009
How can TM take backups of external drives that are connected?
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Nov 2, 2009
have all of my music/videos on an external Maxtor 750 GB USB drive. I have all of my photos on the 750 GB internal drive of my iMac.
I want to get a 2 TB external for BU purposes.
Can I set time machine to BU both 750 GB drives on the 2 TB drive?
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Apr 6, 2010
Currently I keep my time machine backup on an external usb hard drive which is a seagate hd in an enclosure I bought a while ago. I want to maintain a second copy of the time machine back up.
Is it better to buy an external RAID enclosure, put the current drive in there, get another drive, and then just have time machine backup to that drive?
Or should I just get another enclosure and another drive? If I do it this way, can I automate the time machine backups across two drives in any way, or I have to manually run it twice?
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Mar 20, 2012
I have a larger external harddrive that I purchased to use as a Time Machine backup drive, and I want it to back up not only the harddrive of my MacBook, but also a small external harddrive that I use as a "media drive" to hold all my iTunes and iPhoto content. If the small media drive is plugged into the MacBook while the Time Machine back up is ocurring on the larger external drive, will it back up both the MacBook harddrive and the media drive, or do I have to manually select this somewhere?Â
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Mar 26, 2012
I have two Western Digital drives for backup, one with pictures and one with other files. When I select the disc for backup on Time Machine how do I select both?
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Jun 26, 2014
I'm running OS X 10.9.3 and now that Time Machine supports it, I have two external drives set up for Time Machine backups. One (the one I've been using all along) is 750GB and has not very much space left. The second, which I recently installed, is 1TB and has approx 625 GB of space left. The reason I installed the second drive is because my first was running out of space and I would regularly get the message saying that the drive is full and older backups were getting deleted. So I'm curious, why isn't Time Machine using the space on my newly installed, second, Time Machine drive? Why is it still clearing out old backups on my original drive? Is there any way I can stop this? Or are the old backups going to continue to get deleted from my original drive until some sort of parity is achieved between the backups on the two drives?Â
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Sep 7, 2010
I have an portable external hard drive that I'd like Time Machine to back up at the same time it backs up my laptop hard drive. How do I set Time Machine to do both drives at once?
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