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Backup to USB: How to do it?

M

MacNoobGuy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 18, 2012
497
0
Hi all, I'm running OSX Mavericks. I've got 2 external USB drives. I want to back them up, but each one has different files. How can I back them up without losing any files? I want to make one of them the main drive and the other one I want to make the 'back up' drive. Are there any tools I can use to do this?

This is another way to describe my situation:
I have two disks, disk 1 and disk 2.

on disk 1 I have a bunch of files....say files a,b,c,z
on disk 2 I have a bunch of files....say files a,q,r,z

I want to merge disk 1 and disk 2 onto a single disk, say disk 1.

Disk 1 will then have a single copy of a,b,c,q,r,z

Also, I'm using Time Machine and it's been great. However, I only have one Mac so if the Mac dies I won't be able to access the Time Machine backup.

Is there an App I can use to copy files from my Mac Mini internal HDD to the external drive? I want it to be done automatically without me needing to use the copy and the paste function.

Thanks!
 
if the mac dies, you move to another mac...and get your data from time machine.
meanwhile, carbon copy cloner (as mentioned) is great...
 
fisherking said:
if the mac dies, you move to another mac...and get your data from time machine.
meanwhile, carbon copy cloner (as mentioned) is great...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies guys, but how do I solve my issue with differing files?
 
MacNoobGuy said:
Thanks for the replies guys, but how do I solve my issue with differing files?
Click to expand...

It sounds like you need to organize your files and your external disk set up, before settling in on a backup strategy.

I'd say, if you have the storage, put the data on your Mac, and then use the external disks for backups (its always good to have to separate backups).
 
Questions:
Do you wish to "combine" the contents of the two drives only once?
Or - do you wish this to be an "ongoing process"?

If all you need to do is a "one-time" merging, just do it with the finder.
Manually copy file a, then file b, then file c, etc.
Just take care, keep notes, until you get the job done.

If you wish to keep the two drives backed up on an ongoing basis, I suggest that it might be simpler to PARTITION your target drive.

Then, backup up each source drive to its own partition.

Use a cloning app (such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to clone the contents of "drive a" to "partition a", then clone "drive b" to "partition b".

This will be BY FAR the easiest and quickest way to back up drives a and b -- and keep them "incrementally backed up" as time goes by.

Trying to keep a "running backup" while "merging" the contents of the drives each time can be done, but might be more trouble than it's worth.

Easier is better.
 
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