Can i put time machine on my ipod

[Tom Foolery]

i just got an 80 GB ipod i want to know if i can put time machine on my ipod. does the time machine HD need to be constantly plugged in, i.e. can i take it out when ever i want

and on a side note. can somebody explain time machine to me. what's the point of deleting a file if it's just gonna be saved on time machine anyways. sounds to my like a fancy trash bin. but please correct me

thanks

 

[Me1000]

i just got an 80 GB ipod i want to know if i can put time machine on my ipod. does the time machine HD need to be constantly plugged in, i.e. can i take it out when ever i want

and on a side note. can somebody explain time machine to me. what's the point of deleting a file if it's just gonna be saved on time machine anyways. sounds to my like a fancy trash bin. but please correct me

thanks

I was able to do it with my 8GB nano back in the beta's but I have since sold my nano, and it doesnt like my 4GB 1st gen nano as a backup drive, however you can always try...
yes you can unplug the iPod whenever you want, however it sort of defeats the purpose of hourly incremental backups if it only does it when you have it plugged in,

The point of time machine is to backup your stuff automatically, to reduce the human error factor. This way if you accidentally delete something you will be able to restore it once you notice it is gone,

 

[QuarterSwede]

I was able to do it with my 8GB nano back in the beta's but I have since sold my nano, and it doesnt like my 4GB 1st gen nano as a backup drive, however you can always try...
yes you can unplug the iPod whenever you want, however it sort of defeats the purpose of hourly incremental backups if it only does it when you have it plugged in ...

It backs up once you plug it back in as well. So far it works well for my PB and my wife's MB. It doesn't have to be plugged in all the time to be useful.

 

[f1]

Don't use your iPod as a time machine backup volume, u'll burn it out much faster.

 

[Tom Foolery]

what do you mean burn out

 

[macdim]

I don't think the iPod was meant to be used as an external hard drive and constantly be read/written to. The casing is small, and especially the HD based ones can get quite warm. Heat is bad for hard drives, and inevitably, the life of the iPod could be compromised. External drives are extremely affordable nowadays, so this really shouldn't be an issue anymore. Also, the flash based iPods do have a limited number of times they can be written to before their integrity is compromised as well. The number may be extremely large, I forget the actual values.

 

[Tom Foolery]

well could i back up my system once every full moon without doing any damage

 

[macdim]

True, but if you really value your backups, you should find something more reliable. Especially something you won't be carrying around with you that is at risk of being dropped .

 

[ryanmcd02]

Samsung's new solid state drives are supposed to last over 2 million hours, and they say that their hard drives typically last less than 700,000, for comparison.

 

[HLdan]

How are people getting TM to work on their iPods? I have a 60GB 5th Gen and TM doesn't even recognize it. The iPod appears on my desktop, I have it set to disk mode in iTunes and I can drag and drop files to the iPod for storage but when setting up TM it doesn't see the iPod on the desktop.

What is everyone else doing?

 

[Me1000]

well could i back up my system once every full moon without doing any damage

If you were going to do that, why not just use an app like Carbon Copy Cloner and do backups like that?

How are people getting TM to work on their iPods? I have a 60GB 5th Gen and TM doesn't even recognize it. The iPod appears on my desktop, I have it set to disk mode in iTunes and I can drag and drop files to the iPod for storage but when setting up TM it doesn't see the iPod on the desktop.

What is everyone else doing?

Like I said, I was using a beta, and it showed up... but a lot of functionality has been taken out of time machine since then! Unfortionatly!

 

[f1]

Seriously, external hard drives are not that expensive right now. Save yourself the trouble of burning out your iPod and wasting storage space on there. The iPod simply isn't made for this.

 

[Tom Foolery]

then what is a good cheap external drive

 

[VideoFreek]

There are plenty of threads discussing the pros and cons of the various brands (Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Lacie, etc. etc.). Do a search.

If cost is really a concern, probably the cheapest way to go is to build your own: buy an enclosure (as low as $20) and then install the HD of your choice in it. Couldn't be simpler! Enclosures are available for SATA or IDE hard disks (I'd go with 3.5" SATA), with all possible combinations of connectivity (USB2, FW400/800, eSATA).