External HD for iMac

[msbisa]

Hi guys,
I'd like to buy a new external HD for replacing my actual Packard Bell 320GB which speed is 20Mb/s in both Write and Read. I'd like to use the new external HD for storing my photos and I thought at the WD Elements Portable 1TB USB 3.0 or the 2TB version which is on sale in Amazon IT at 50€ and 99€.

Do you think that this should be worth it?

I've another question: I'd like also to use my 320Gb HD as a second backup, is it possible to configure Time Machine like that: when I plug in the HD it makes the backup and then I'll unplug it?

Best,
Matteo

 

[matreya]

Hi guys,
I'd like to buy a new external HD for replacing my actual Packard Bell 320GB which speed is 20Mb/s in both Write and Read. I'd like to use the new external HD for storing my photos and I thought at the WD Elements Portable 1TB USB 3.0 or the 2TB version which is on sale in Amazon IT at 50€ and 99€.

Do you think that this should be worth it?

I've another question: I'd like also to use my 320Gb HD as a second backup, is it possible to configure Time Machine like that: when I plug in the HD it makes the backup and then I'll unplug it?

Best,
Matteo

Those drives should be fine, however, if you're going to back up everything to Time Machine, you want a larger hard drive than the combined storage you want to backup. So, no, the 320GB drive will fill up really quickly.

My suggestion is to get the 1TB for your photos, and the 2TB for time machine.

 

[msbisa]

Those drives should be fine, however, if you're going to back up everything to Time Machine, you want a larger hard drive than the combined storage you want to backup. So, no, the 320GB drive will fill up really quickly.

My suggestion is to get the 1TB for your photos, and the 2TB for time machine.

I expressed myself badly. I want to back-up with TM (on my 320GB HD) only the photos, not the whole Mac

Thanks

 

[matreya]

I expressed myself badly. I want to back-up with TM (on my 320GB HD) only the photos, not the whole Mac

Thanks

I'm pretty sure Time Machine doesn't let you choose not to backup the main system drive...

 

[msbisa]

I'm pretty sure Time Machine doesn't let you choose not to backup the main system drive...

I'm pretty sure that Time Machine can do this... you can select the folder that you want to exclude for the backup. I made this about 1 month ago with the 320GB drive
If I'm wrong just tell me.

Thanks a lot,
Matteo

 

[RMo]

I'm pretty sure that Time Machine can do this... you can select the folder that you want to exclude for the backup. I made this about 1 month ago with the 320GB drive
If I'm wrong just tell me.

You can add locations to Time Machine's "exclusions" list, but it is not possible to exclude everything and then selectively add. However, if you want to approximate backing up just your photos, you can probably exclude all top-level folders on your HD besides Users, then exclude all Users subfolders besides your own, then exclude all folders (check "Show Hidden" to get Library and whatnot) within your own profile except Photos.

However, if you're using another drive to back up your entire system and are trying to use the new drive to back up only photos, you should know that Time Machine settings apply to all Time Machine drives. You can have more than one, but you can't configure the exclusion list differently, so I don't think this would work for you. There is a workaround I read about a while ago, but it's dated now and I don't know if it would still work. If you do want one regular backup drive and one for just your photos, you may find it easier to just manually copy your photos folder over from time to time yourself. And if you don't have a regular back up at all, you may wish to reconsider that, but I digress.

 

[msbisa]

You can add locations to Time Machine's "exclusions" list, but it is not possible to exclude everything and then selectively add. However, if you want to approximate backing up just your photos, you can probably exclude all top-level folders on your HD besides Users, then exclude all Users subfolders besides your own, then exclude all folders (check "Show Hidden" to get Library and whatnot) within your own profile except Photos.

However, if you're using another drive to back up your entire system and are trying to use the new drive to back up only photos, you should know that Time Machine settings apply to all Time Machine drives. You can have more than one, but you can't configure the exclusion list differently, so I don't think this would work for you. There is a workaround I read about a while ago, but it's dated now and I don't know if it would still work. If you do want one regular backup drive and one for just your photos, you may find it easier to just manually copy your photos folder over from time to time yourself. And if you don't have a regular back up at all, you may wish to reconsider that, but I digress.

Thanks a lot,
I'll go for the manual backup