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Backing up Flash Drive with time Machine

B

big_malk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 7, 2005
557
1
Scotland
Can Time Machine backup flash drives? So every time I plug it in, it backs up anything that has changed.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to save the backups onto the flash drive, which is what a lot of people seem to want to do, but rather to backup the contents of the flash drive onto my mac.

Currently I have an automator script on the flash drive which, when I run it, copies everything into an archive on my mac. But this isn't a very ideal solution, since it copies everything even if it hasn't changed.
 
big_malk said:
Can Time Machine backup flash drives? So every time I plug it in, it backs up anything that has changed.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to save the backups onto the flash drive, which is what a lot of people seem to want to do, but rather to backup the contents of the flash drive onto my mac.

Currently I have an automator script on the flash drive which, when I run it, copies everything into an archive on my mac. But this isn't a very ideal solution, since it copies everything even if it hasn't changed.
Click to expand...
It should be able to. Just add the flash drive to the list of devices you want backed up, and Time Machine will do the rest.
 
I cant see any option to add disks I want to be backed up, only a list of locations I want excluded from the backups?
 
big_malk said:
I cant see any option to add disks I want to be backed up, only a list of locations I want excluded from the backups?
Click to expand...
Oh.:eek: I forgot that Time Machine does that...

Anyway, try plugging in the flash drive then bringing up that screen where you exclude stuff. UNcheck the box for the flash disk.
 
All there is in the list are things I've already added to the exclude list and the backup drive, I can only un-exclude (if that's a word) the things in the list.
So I can't un-exclude the flash drive.
 
I believe Time Machine is only designed to backup the internal drive, though I thought I had heard mention of warnings to exclude other drives, so I could be wrong. Have you tried plugging it in and starting a manual backup from TM? You should be able to then launch Time Machine with the flash drive mounted and see a previous point in time. Sorry if that's confusing, I haven't played with Time Machine much and so I haven't figured out the best way to refer to the way it displays.

jW
 
I did a manual backup with the flash drive mounted, but there was no mention of excluding other drives or anything. It added another snapshot but didn't include my flash drive.
 
Do you have the flash drive constantly plugged in?

big_malk said:
All there is in the list are things I've already added to the exclude list and the backup drive, I can only un-exclude (if that's a word) the things in the list.
So I can't un-exclude the flash drive.
Click to expand...

You're as bad as George Bush. Un-exclude...yes that is actually the word include.
 
Kilamite said:
Do you have the flash drive constantly plugged in?



You're as bad as George Bush. Un-exclude...yes that is actually the word include.
Click to expand...

Well, including something and removing it from the exclude list could potentially be two different things :p

Yes it's been plugged in the whole time I've been trying this.
 
Flash Drive Backup

Hi I just bought a time capsule and was wondering if you ever figured out how to backup a flash drive automatically using time machine. This would be super helpful to me as I carry around all my important work on a flash drive and would love for it to backup automatically. Just wanted to check since it has been a few months since all this was posted.
 
Success! - Errm sort of...

Time machine can back up flash drives, only if they are reformatted - however this unfortunately means you won't be able to use them on PCs, which is a pain for most of us :(

If however you only use you flash drive for working on Macs then follow these steps to ensure your flash drive is backed up :)

1.) Plug in your flash drive and turn on your Mac
2.) Open Disk utility
3.) Save any data on your flash drive you want to keep elsewhere
4.) Select your flash drive from the list in disk utility and click the 'erase' submenu button
5.) Select format : Mac OS extended (journaled)
6.) Click the 'Erase...' button
7.) Your flash drive is now formatted so that TimeMachine can back it up! (should not appear un-selectable in the Time machine Preferences options)
8.) Open time machine preferences, options, then select your flash drive and click the '-' button to include in backups

THIS ALSO WORKS FOR BACKING UP EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES :D

Hope I helped :)
 
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