MacBook Air :: Using An External HD For Both Storage AND Time Machine?
Mar 14, 2012
Bear with me guys, I'm not sure where to put this question. I figured that because my Macbook Air (and it's limited storage space) was the reason for my needing an external HD I thought this would be the best place. My MBA has run out of storage and I bought a Seagate External HD to move my stuff onto. I guess my question is: What's the best way to combine the external HD with the MBA? Here are a few of the things on my mind:Â
-Most of the space is taken up by my user folder right now such as itunes, photos, etc. If I copy that folder to the external drive it would alleviate a large part of my issue, at least for the time being. Eventually I will hit the storage capacity as I add applications over time I guess, so this is a temporary solution (although I free up 27gb of space this way). Can I designate a folder on the external drive as the default for programs like imovie and iphoto like I can with itunes?Â
-I KNOW there is a way to set the external drive as some kind of default drive but is this feasible? It would be a hinderance if I needed to have it connected at all times to access even applications (which I assume to be the case?Â
-I also wondered about partitioning the external HD and using one partition for additional storage and the other for time machine? It's a 1TB hard drive, and I figure I could make a 100GB partition to use with time machine (my MBA only has a 64gb capacity) and use the other 900GB for files. Is this even possible or does time machine need it's very own separate drive? Anyway, this doesn't necessarily ask many specific questions and I apologize if it appears a little disjointed. I'm looking for help and opinions on the best way to use this new piece of equipment to compliment my MBA.
I have a 500GB external HD but a 250HD on my macbook. is it possible to partition the HD 300GB for time machine and 200 for storage of data and files? If so, how would I go about doing that? I just don't want to waste a 500 GB external if my HD is only 250GB.
I am trying to organize my external storage for a new iMac with an 500G SSD drive. I have a new thunderbolt G-Raid drive and an aging Airport Time Capsule. I was thinking of storing music and pictures, as well as a Time Machine backup of the SSD, and storing a Time Machine backup of my music and pictures on the Time Capsule. Will I need to partition the G-Raid?Â
I just purchased a 500gb External Hard Drive. I was wondering what is the best way to format and partition it so that I can use 300gb dedicated to Time Machine and then use the ~180gb for external storage. The key part of my situation is that I want to be able to access the ~180 gb from both my Mac and my windows based machines. I know I could go into disk utility and partition it, but what format should I use if I want to do both.
The other part is the hard drive is already setup to use time machine since yesterday, however I am willing to format it completely to partition it to use on windows machines (XP and Vista.)
Is it possible to have my MacBook Pro use Time Machine to backup to shared storage on the Mac Pro? Right now my Mac Pro has close to 6TB of storage and it would be nice to be able to use part of the storage as a fake Time Capsule.
While I would LOVE to get a 1TB Time Capsule and use it with Time Machine on my MBA, that is a whole lot of money when I already have a wireless router that works just fine and I can find 1TB of storage for much cheaper than that... My question is, what are my other options? I have a Mac mini so my first thought was to plug a big ol' USB HD into that and have the MBA backup to that... Well I could access files on the HD from the MBA just fine but Time Machine refused to use it for backups...
I have seen little wireless adapter boxes with USB ports for adding printers and HD's to your home network, would something like this work or would I run into the same issue with Time Machine not wanting to use it as a backup device?
I was trying to set up my Time Machine to an external hard drive. I didn't continue because it asked to "initialize" the hard drive which I had a lot of important things on.
I have another external hard drive I'd like to use but, my Time Machine has this error code of -43. What is this and how can I use my Time Machine on another external hard drive?
I currently have a Time Capsule, but I want to get away from that internal storage. I have a Mac Pro that I am thinking of installing a WD Black 2TB into as a backup drive. Backing up my three internal drives and a MacBook Pro. I would like to purchase the AirPort Extreme Base Station (Not Time Capsule) and backup my MacBook Pro to my Mac Pro's WD 2TB Internal HD using Time Machine. Would I be able to do this? My Mac Pro is ALWAYS on. If I can do this, how easy/difficult would the setup be?
Has anyone tried using some of the NAS storage solutions out there as your Time Machine back up? If so, how well does it work? Reason I ask is because I'm thinking of getting one but I don't want to run into the same problem I had with mounting when I tried using an external HDD connected to my home server. I know it's not the same but I'm just asking to be safe.
I have a 500 gb ext HD, that i will be partitioning to 2 sections, one will be mac os extended for time machine, the other will be fat32 for storage and so that i can use the hd with windows and mac.
so my questions are:
1. how many GB should i leave for back up so that time machine works effectively?
2. any suggestions on how i should divide the 500 gb between mac os extended and fat32? such as 250/250 or 400/100?
Late last night I accidentally ejected Time Machine from the Devices section of the Finder window. I've now spent half a day trying to get the computer to recognise my external hard drive again as attempting to use Time Machine results in the message "Storage Machine for Time Machine backup can't be found." I can find my WD desktop 1TB drive with Disk Utility but not in Finder. If I click on the WD Ext HDD 1021 Media in Disk Utility there is the option to Verify in the top menu, but nothing happens when I click on it. All the options verify, and repair are greyed out. I've checked the computer hard drive and done the verify and repair disk and permissions process.
I've turned off the computer, disconnected the external hard drive, turned off time machine, then turned everything back on but still can't get the external hard drive to be recognized. This is extremely frustrating and I have run out of ideas. I know it all started when I clicked on the eject button for the external hard drive in the devices section of the finder. Such a simple mistake, but I have searched everywhere online and can't find a resolution that I can actually try. I can't verify and repair the WD hard drive if these options aren't available in Disk Utility.
I've been using my external hard drive for Time Machine for a while now (a Western Digital My Book) and have only used up about 100 of its 500 GB capacity. However, I'd like to temporarily use the remaining space on the drive as extra storage, since my other hard drive just died. Is there any way to do this without erasing everything that I've backed up with Time Machine already?
I read this thread with much interest. [URL:..] While I don't need quite the storage space that guy needed, I am trying to figure out the best solution for me. New to the mac world, I have new 2.8 gHz 24" iMac (pre 9400m). I want to be able to share (read and write) all of my itunes and iphoto files with all users on the machine, and it seems as if using an external drive requires the least amount of trouble to set up to do this. I think I have 2 routes to go. I could get a raid 1 array like the WD Mybook studio II and forgo backups, using this as my raid protected file storage drive, though that post has me concerned about FW disconnection and Raid, which I don't quite understand. Since I don't need much space, I noticed Newegg has the WD studio 320gig w/ FW800 for $80 each. I figure one for media, one for time machine, and I am done, no messing with raid. I also have a fairly new 320 gig drive in a windows/linux machine I could buy a USB enclosure for and use with time machine, since buying a FW enclosure is equal in price to the WD studio 320g drive. I have been seeing issues with sleep modes on drives connected via firewire (WD especially), and have now researched my way into absolute confusion.
Hope this thread will benefit those who are considering to buy Time Capsule or already a have one.
I'm considering to get Time Capsule for my home network which consist of:
- One MBP (15" Unibody)
- Two Windows XP desptops (connected via Ethernet cable)
- One Windows Vista laptop
Could any Mac users help answer my queries below:
1) Since I'm going to use Time Capsule as backup storage for Time Machine. Can I still manually copy files into its HDD and share those files with other network users?
2) Can all Windows PCs use Time Capsule as a external storage for storing and sharing files even after Time Machine has "marked" it as a backup storage for my MBP?
3) I presume the HDD in Time Capsule is formatted using HFS+. In this situation, do Windows users need to install special software to access the HDD in Time Capsule?
I currently have a 2007 24" iMac with a 500Gb HDD. With my addiction to downloading HD content filling up my hard drive iv'e decided its time to get an external hard drive. I'm gonna be using to back up key data (pictures and documents) and storing the majority of my video media. The reason for the thread is for two questions:1. Do i get a time capsule? Despite the cost i really want one, they look cool and im looking for 1TB of space. Ive read the reviews on the apple store website and there littered with stories of failure after 18 months, if this is the case im not spending ?230 for this to happen.
I am currently considering purchasing a MacBook Pro (just about to press 'buy'). But there's just one question I would like to know the answer to first:
If I use Time Machine with a regular external USB harddrive, how will Time Machine handle it if I plug the harddrive in and out a couple or serveral times a day? You see, I need to move my (future) MacBook around a lot, but I also want to have its data backed up automatically.
I have a MacBook that I'm trying to backup because my husband wants to sell my computer and buy an iPad. I have a WD external hard drive with an iPhoto library currently on it, chronicling the first 28 months of my first child's life; needless to say it's important! The problem is that Time Machine won't back up to the external drive without erasing everything on it! Is there any way around this?
I will probably also need tips on how to put the iPhoto library (28 months to present time, about 2,200 pictures!) on my MacBook onto the hard drive (does that automatically happen upon backup?). Obviously I've done it once, because there is a library currently on the hard drive, but I can't remember how I did it.
I would like to copy the data I have in my time machine to another external HD so that I have two backups; one I can store offsight and one I can have connected to my computer. Can this be done and if so, how does one do it?
Info: MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I have an external hard drive and use it for Time Machine. I have used 401GB out of 465 and want to clear out the 401GB so it will continue to save the latest and greatest on my Mac?
I have an external 500gb drive plugged into my brand new Time Capsule. The 500gb drive basically stores my entire library of music and my iTunes points to this external drive.
Is it possible to have time machine backup all information on the 500gb drive to the time capsule, so encase the external drive takes a dump, I don't loose my entire music library? Maybe time machine is already doing this, I am not sure.
As my 160N series Linksys router neither has gigabit ports, usb connector or dual band networking, I am looking for a replacement.
When it comes to Apple routers I am looking at 2 options - either the base station with an external USB drive or get a 1TB capsule with the buildt in drive and worries regarding reliability.
What I like about the Time Capsule is that it is neat to have all in one, takes up less space and only has 1 plug to attach, while Iike the idea that I can just connect a bigger drive later on the base station solution.
1. Will the connected USB drive function just like the internal drive in the Time Capsule for Time Machine use?
2. Will everything be transparent to Snow Leopard?
3. In case of both units with an attached USB drive - can I control who actually can see the drive and access it?
4. Do they support this DNLA thing so that e.g . PS3 can access an attached drive??
I am not too tech savvy....Am I supposed to keep the external HD plugged in 24/7 in order for Time Machine to work? Is it going to damage the HD if it's constantly being plugged in?
Can I store some pictures on my External HD that I use for Time machine Backups? It is not partitioned and at the moment all I have on that HD is my backups. I know they would already be on the HD if they are on my computer, I just don't know how I go about pulling one folder of pics off the time machine.
I have a MacBook and will be purchasing an external harddrive to backup all my info from OS X. I also have a partition on the drive in the MacBook for windows and would like to use the external as a backup for that as well. Do I have to format the external and partition to backup each OS? I am new to the whole backup of info with an external harddrive.
