back up of itunes library any quick way?

[GilesM]

My iTunes is stored on an external hard drive.
I have another external drive to act as a back up for the library.
I also have a 3rd hard drive being used for Time Machine.

Is it the case that the Time Machine drive will not back up my iTunes library because it is on an external drive?

If that is the case, so far I have made a back up by dragging over the entire iTunes directory from one drive to another.
However, this is quickly out of date (I tend to get one or two CD's each week).

Is there any way to make incremental back ups or do I have to keep going as I am?

Can I get Time Machine to do this for me?

 

[dXTC]

Yes.

Open the Time Machine Preferences Panel. You should see an Exclude List button. Click it, and you'll see all the drives/partitions that Time Machine excludes from its backup. Select the drive/partition you want TM to include, and remove it from this list.

Warning: The very next TM backup will take a while, as it backs up your entire library. Subsequent backups will be incremental.

 

[GilesM]

AAHH!!! yes, I see what you mean, thank you!

Now I am going to have to buy a big drive to be my Time Machine. The included estimate is 311 GB! -- or ---

I get another drive and set it up as "iTunes time Machine" and then get Time Machine to back up only the iTunes directory.
Then I can run the two "Time Machines" at once, one for my imac and one for iTunes only Will that work?

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[dXTC]

You can only run one instance of TM per computer; it will consolidate everything that's not excluded into one backup mechanism.

Get yourself a BIG external (1.5 Tb or larger) and dedicate it to TM. You might have to consider Drobo if your music/media collection gets much bigger.

 

[GilesM]

Right, so, I am going to have to have a large drive as a Time Machine. Time to consider the alternatives I think.
Thanks for the info, It is much appreciated.